avalanche records

Archive for June, 2015

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Now on sale for a bargain £6. Distributor says it is limited to 1,500 and will probably run out early next week.

Track Listing

You can buy a copy online here from the Avalanche shop

http://vsilly.com/avalanche_shop/index.php?id_product=219&controller=product

By Alastair McKay | 19 June 2015

Orange Juice at Regent’s Canal, Near Camden (Photo by David Corio/Redferns)

As that great punk rocker, Marcel Proust noted, remembrance of things past is not necessarily a remembrance of things as they were. Big Gold Dream, a documentary by Grant McPhee, re-imagines the musical history of the post-punk period as it unfolded in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and makes a persuasive argument that something great was happening in the years which followed The Clash’s appearance at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 7 May, 1977.

The Cas Rock

Edinburgh’s historic West Port: Most notable for Burke & Hare, strip bars and… The Cas Rock.

When seminal West Port punk bar The Lord Darnley was taken over in 1992, a name change followed. The bar was refurbished and changed to The Cas Rock Café – the café part swiftly dropped following a few legal noises from the new Hard Rock on George Street.

Devoted to a mix of punk, rock, metal and indie music, the Cas was a tooth-cutting shop for aspiring local talent, as well as attracting a string of household names: UK Subs; Snow Patrol; Idlewild; Annie Christian (signed by Virgin records the night they played); Mogwai; The Fall; Teenage Fanclub; New Bomb Turks; The Meteors; Cornershop; Arab Strap; BMX Bandits; The Vaselines, to name but a few… Today’s Bannerman’s Bar residents, the Rab Howat Band, played to a crammed Cas audience each Saturday afternoon.

Read the full article here http://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/drink/six-lost-edinburgh-pubs-and-clubs-youll-remember/

As some of you will know the Tron Church was already booked out this year for mid July and August but we have not one but two excellent alternatives to cover so we will continue to be open seven days a week. Will make a decision on that soon but neither are far away and will give us more space for the busy Festival period. Plan is to return at the beginning of September permanently and I will be looking to tweak a few things and maybe more ! 

A couple of you have spotted that Espionage has only now just been bought out of administration which explains why the shop next door we were asked to look at was a problem but does not explain why we were told it had been taken out of administration in September of last year. Annoying to say the least and wasted a lot of time but at least there is finally an explanation of sorts. A real pity as it would have made a great temporary home.

http://news.stv.tv/east-central/1321218-espionage-to-stay-open-after-being-bought-out-of-administration/

You will find a recent update on the King’s Stables Road site on the blog and there has been no further news since. It looks like it could end up being a massive lost opportunity not just for the arts but in the long term aim to bring people to the castle end of the Grassmarket and continue either along the West Port or King’s Stables Road. While the current plans to turn the Grassmarket into the new Covent Garden look good on paper I’m not sure the public really care about the ideals espoused. 

http://www.avalancherecords.co.uk/2015/06/19/kings-stables-road-update-public-consultation-plans/

As for the City Art Centre the new exhibition is in and still there is a vast amount of unused space on the ground floor. I have been asked by several people not to give up on this one including a customer who thought the Scottish Music Centre was a fantastic idea and he should know as he had been part of the plans to extend the centre into the gap site before they were scrapped. I’ve had one informal meeting with the council since and the idea has not been completely forgotten however I really don’t have time to keep chasing this up no matter how well received.

My time at the Tron has shown the wider interest there is in Scottish music from Orange Juice and Josef K through to Frightened Rabbit and Biffy Clyro and visitors who I mention the idea to always think it would be great to see more of the history of Scottish music be that the bands or indeed the old labels and venues. A trial of sorts may happen in the not too distant future.

Finding a viable niche for Avalanche is not proving easy. People really love the posters and there is still huge interest in Scottish bands if not the same sales. More and more customers are happy just to accept my recommendations after describing the sort of thing they are looking for. A surprising number simply want my favourite album which is good news for There Will Be Fireworks, Withered Hand and a few others. However this is not enough. The second hand vinyl helps a lot and a core of supportive bands, labels and record companies make a big difference but generally shops are expected to live off crumbs.

There is always interest in the old Avalanche label and Snapper’s “Shotgun Blossom” will be the first to be reissued probably later this year. I’m currently looking at an offer to start a new label financed by a major local company and have offers to associate the Avalanche “brand” with other events and projects though as ever the problem is how this can bring in revenue rather than credibility. I’m very hopeful there will be something to announce very soon. It would be great to get more local band albums on vinyl and widely distributed while acknowledging that new vinyl sales are not all they are cracked up to be.

While HMV and FOPP’s vinyl stocks have improved immeasurably, which of course is easy to do when you are not paying for it, offers of help from both individuals and those in the music industry may mean we will be able to stock a far wider range in the future that gives a genuine alternative to the “look how cheap we have the first Stone Roses album concept”. More on that in the next couple of weeks.

Realistically I’ll need to see how all these possibilities pan out and choose to go with as many as I have the time for. It never ceases to amaze me how fondly Avalanche is remembered. Just recently it was a guy from Dresden who hadn’t been in for 17 years but whose first thought back in Edinburgh was to search us out and get a t-shirt to replace his rather worn bag. I can only say as I’ve said many times before thank you to everybody for their kind words.

We are in need of more used vinyl so do get in touch if having a clear out. We are happy to buy whole collections.

Lots of exciting news and updates to come but first more used vinyl please !

0131 260 9971 or avalancherecords@hotmail.co.uk

I went along to the public presentation of the developer’s plans for King’s Stables Road on Wednesday (17th June) and to be fair the model they had on display showed very clearly what was intended. Unfortunately however that was 250 student flats, a 130 bed hotel that they are hoping will be better than a budget hotel, an “arts cafe” and some artisan studios with more flats above. The courtyard previously assigned to the hotel in an article I’d read is up for discussion.

So where have Peveril the developers found that extra 5 million pounds they offered more than anybody else. Well the two storey building at the back of the courtyard will be an extension of the hotel whereas in other plans all the ground floor was dedicated to the arts. The arts cafe which others sensibly allocated as an arts/retail/cafe space with no commercial rent due will now be run commercially. Other than that is is hard to see were they are finding all the extra value.

Expert advice I received said that the space allocated for studios was really too small and better uses could be found though “artisan studios” of course makes things sound better. Arts organisations have been asked to submit ideas and I’ve no doubt some will sell their souls to the developers rather than explain what could have been. The developers would certainly be better off trying to identify a really good arts leaning cafe than turn to arts organisations but off course that wouldn’t look good with the council. As for making the place an attraction outwith the “arts complex” that seems to have gone completely out of the window.

Given the council’s constant message to me that credibility and deliverability were all important what is most surprising is every element of the developer’s plan simply consists of them asking somebody else to identify what to do. Their plans consist of nothing but blank pieces of paper with headlines written on. “Student Flats”, “Hotel”, “Arts Complex”.

Certainly the idea that this site would be part of an arts hub spreading out to the Usher Hall, Filmhouse, Art College etc has gone. It is a huge blow to the Grassmarket with its well documented footfall problems and a lost opportunity that only makes sense financially and in the very short term. Even then that assumes the developers can get through planning and that seems impossible if they are held to the original brief by the council’s planners.

Make no mistake Peveril have simply done their job securing the site for student flats and a hotel, it was up to Edinburgh Council to make the correct decision given their own brief which so clearly understood the problems faced and what was needed.

There were hopes that the car park in King’s Stables Road would be demolished one day and the transformation of the road complete but for now with the current plans for King’s Stables Road I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.