How Sydney Will Celebrate Record Store Day: Interviews With The Owners

With Record Store Day just around the corner, some of Sydney's finest indie stores give us the low-down on what they'll be doing to celebrate.

BEATDISC
PETER CURNOVIC – OWNER/MANAGER

What does your store specialise in?
New and used vinyl (local and import), CDs and more (covering most genres). We also stock a lot of locals and customer orders.

What's getting a flogging on the store sound system at the moment?
Between The Devil and The Deep – Paper Spine, Ceremony – Zoo, Charge Group – Charge Group, Dirty Three - Toward The Low Sun, Magnetic Fields – Love At The Bottom Of The Sea, No Trigger – Tycoon, Sharon Van Etten – Tramp, Snakeface – Oberon, Ty Segall – Singles

How is your store celebrating Record Store Day?
Stocking exclusive RSD releases, 10% off storewide sale, free customer BBQ, giveaways, ping pong and party!

Are you stocking any exclusive Record Store Day releases?
Yes, bucket loads!

We walk in to your shop with $150 to spend – what do you recommend we buy?
Lou Reed and Metallica – LULU: Deluxe Box Set (cause no one ever will!).

The way people consume music has changed remarkably over the past ten years – what do record stores have to do to remain relevant?
Staying relevant by kicking it old school – bringing in a wider selection of new and pre-owned vinyl, and offering the consumer a completely different experience to what Waffles and iTunes give them (also some fresh air).

Contact details and operating hours:
Shop 11 Queensland Arcade 181 Church Street Mall, Parramatta
Phone: 9891 9330
Email: info@beatdisc.com.au
Web: www.facebook.com/beatdisc or www.beatdisc.com.au
Open 7 Days – 10am-5:30pm Mon-Fri (Thurs till 8pm), 10am-4:30pm Sat and 11am-4pm Sun

REPRESSED RECORDS
CHRIS SAMMUT – OWNER

What does your store specialise in?
Vinyl (new and second hand) and t-shirts. More towards the alternative and punky/garage side of things.

What's getting a flogging on the store sound system at the moment?
The Men Open Your Heart, Swell Maps Trip To Marineville, Total Control Henge Beat, Dick Diver.

How is your store celebrating Record Store Day?
Apart from exclusive releases for the day, we'll have a t-shirt sale, a CD clearance sale plus anyone who spends over $100 gets a $10 gift voucher for their next visit.

Are you stocking any exclusive Record Store Day releases?
Yep, loads hopefully. LCD Sound System, Tomahawk, Black Angels, Lee Hazlewood, M. Ward, Morrissey, David Bowie, Doomriders, Sigur Ros, Botch, Isis, PIL, Arcade Fire, Destroyer, Lost Animal and loads more have all been ordered.

We walk in to your shop with $150 to spend – what do you recommend we buy?
Royal Headache LP, The Faith / Void Split LP, Black Sabbath Vol 4 LP, Stone Roses t-shirt, Smiths' Hatful of Hollow t-shirt.

The way people consume music has changed remarkably over the past ten years – what do record stores have to do to remain relevant?
Have a niche market, stay relevant to younger people and communicate with your customers.

Contact details and operating hours:
356 King St, Newtown
Phone: 9557 6237
Website: www.repressedrecords.com
Open 7 Days, 10am – 7pm

RESIST RECORDS
GRAHAM NIXON – OWNER

What does your store specialise in?
Resist specialises in hardcore and punk music and merchandise. We stock CDs, vinyls, merch, DVDs, books, magazines – basically anything we can get our hands on.

What's getting a flogging on the store sound system at the moment?
Balance And Composure – Separation, Toy Boats – Diamond Teeth, La Dispute – Wildlife, All Pigs Must Die – God Is War, any Ceremony are all listened too frequently.

How is your store celebrating Record Store Day?
This year we have a lot of cool releases available as well as a Record Store Day exclusive 7-inch we released by I Exist. Members from I Exist will be working in the store throughout the day as well. We also have Toy Boats performing in the store from 4pm.

Are you stocking any exclusive Record Store Day releases?
Along with the I Exist 7-inch, we also have Ignite's LP, NOFX's 7 Box Set, Sense Field's Killed For Less, Endpoint's LP, Into Another LP, Poison Idea's 7-inch, Holy Fever's 7-inch, plus several other titles!

We walk in to your shop with $150 to spend – what do you recommend we buy?
The new I Exist 7-inch, Jawbreaker's Dear You, Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today, Carry On's A Life Less Plagued, La Dispute's Wildlife, Burning Fight Book, and I'll throw in a Resist shirt – sweet deal.

The way people consume music has changed remarkably over the past ten years – what do record stores have to do to remain relevant?
Stock good music??? A major problem why albums are selling less than in the past – the quality just isn't as good. They are rushed, uninspiring and are just seen as a way for a band to get something new out to allow them to tour.

Contact details and operating hours:
Basement of 294 King St, Newtown
Phone: 02 9557 8771
Website: www.resistrecords.com
Operating Hours: 10.30am-5.30pm Monday to Friday, 10.30am-5pm on Saturday and 10.30am-4pm on Sundays.

TITLE RECORDS
STEVE KULAK – CEO

What does your store specialise in?
We specialise in music, film, books and cultural must-haves. On the music front, specialist reissue labels such as Ace, Repertoire, Omni, Cherry Red, Water, 4 Men with Beards, Smithsonian Folkways and Sundazed have found a welcome home on our shelves as well as cult contemporary labels like Jack White's Third Man Records, Stones Throw, Honest Jons, Hyperdub, Tru Thoughts and Soundway. Australian indie explosions Sensory Projects, R.I.P. Society and Chapter Music sit beside the worldly likes of World Circuit, Now Again, and Cumbancha and we stock the most comprehensive selection of new vinyl and 7-inch in Australia.

How is your store celebrating Record Store Day?
Across our seven stores we've got 20% off vinyl, 20% music book titles, $10 LPs, $10 CDs, 20% off music DVDs, plus in-store DJ sets from TITLE music gurus, giveaways and free 7-inch records slipped mysteriously in your bag while you peruse the trestles.

Are you stocking any exclusive Record Store Day releases?
Are we ever? We've got Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Blackboard Jungle Dub: 3x10 Coloured Vinyl, Tomahawk's Eponymous to Anonymous 3LP from Ipecac, PiL' One Drop 12-inch, LPs of the Rough Guides To Psychedelic Africa and New Orleans both on 180grm and download card and so much more from Ugly Custard, Quantic & Alice Russell, Hiss Golden Messenger, plus a batch of new gear from the iconic Ace Records and New York's vinyl giant Sundazed.

We walk in to your shop with $150 to spend – what do you recommend we buy?
A Syl Johnson box set and a hug telling you everything's going to be okay.

The way people consume music has changed remarkably over the past ten years – what do record stores have to do to remain relevant?
Think different.

Contact details and operating hours:
TITLE Surry Hills - 499 Crown St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Phone: (02) 9699 5222
TITLE Crows Nest - 92 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest, NSW 2065
Phone: (02) 9437 4997
Website: www.titlespace.com or www.titlestore.tumblr.com
Operating Hours: 10am-6pm