avalanche records

Archive for September, 2015

Feel free to reply karla@stillfilms.org

Hi there Avalanche,

 I’m writing from Still Films in Dublin.

 We’re an independent film production company making a documentary about the Glasgow music scene of the ‘90s.

 More specifically, we’re bringing Mogwai and some of that crew, Chemikal Underground etc, down memory lane and tracing the steps of some of their earlier shows etc.

We’d love to connect with you about your experiences and get some genuine insight into Scottish indie in the mid ‘90s. Or perhaps you can point us in the direction of some people who were ‘on the scene’ a lot back then and might have some interesting material or contacts?

We’re looking for material such as videos, photos, flyers, posters, ticket stubs etc, from that era. We want to use as much authentic material as possible to make sure we capture the spirit and feeling of those days as best we can.

We’re hoping to find pics of bands, live shows, parties (after parties, gaff parties, club nights, DJs, record shops etc), any material about the scene including posters and tickets, but also pics of Glasgow in the ‘90s.

 We are also particularly interested in a small music festival in Mauron, France, in 1997 where Mogwai, The Delgados, and Arab Strap played. It was called ‘Ils ne Mauron Pas’, if you happen to know anything about that, or know anyone that might, we would love to know.

 Thank you very much for your time and help.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 Best,

Karla

While more and more people use the Avalanche site and our social media platforms as a resource to discover Scottish bands they may not have heard of we now sell less and less for the very obvious reason that music is now so easily available for free online. Visitors to the shop will often comment how much they have enjoyed an artist we have recommended or indeed say they regularly check to see what we are saying but rarely will they have bought from us. For a while we lost out quite heavily to the artists selling online but it is clear from talking to people now that these days mostly people just stream and don’t buy from Avalanche or the artist.

There are of course still those folk who do buy from Avalanche both in the shop and online and I thank them for that. However now is the time I think to move on and accept that the financial rewards for supporting Scottish artists will be minimal. It is a regular occurrence that we are asked in the shop to recommend bands, not necessarily even always Scottish ones, and people frantically type all the names into their phone to listen to later. If I’m lucky they will buy an Avalanche t-shirt  and possibly one album as a memento.

I think what brought it home recently was when a young girl from Zurich had me play a whole bunch of Scottish stuff and then bought all the albums she had liked something that would have happened regularly a decade ago but now happens so rarely. Clearly there is now so much music available all of which social media says is brilliant when of course it is not that people still struggle to find new music or even older bands they have missed. It isn’t just Scottish bands we are asked about. We are of course well known for selling Bright Eyes, Neutral Milk Hotel, Godspeed and many other bands but for now this new Avalanche Recommends section will concentrate mostly but not exclusively on current Scottish artists that are not so well known. Who knows we may even occasionally sell something !

You will find the drop down list of artists as one of the headings on the blog. For now I’ll simply compile a list and then as time permits will add content.