avalanche records

We now have tickets in the shop and you can if you must I believe buy them online too. 

Having given so many bands a hard time for playing on bills with three well known bands for a fiver we do exactly the same though I think in this case we can be forgiven as it is a celebration !

This year’s theme is new songs and covers and both the earlier in-stores in the shop with Withered Hand and Gordon Ballboy and the sets later by a stripped down Last Battle and Emily Scott at The Electric Circus will all stay on message.

Star Wheel Press will of course be playing songs from their best selling album though I for one will be disappointed if I don’t hear at least one new song and a cover !    

Here are the plans so far. We will open at 9.30am and as before will hand out numbers to the queue and serve one at a time. The number of items sold per customer will be limited. Bowie single seems to be the biggest problem so I really would advise trying elsewhere for that. 

Our first in-store will be Withered Hand at 2pm playing new songs and a “weird” cover followed by Gordon from Ballboy at 3pm playing new songs and a Withered Hand cover. As usual the wonderful Red Dog will provide the PA.

 

Hula will be providing refreshments during the day so nobody need go thirsty or unfed. Expect their fantastic juices as well as a fine selection of cakes and slices.  

For the first time in a long time we will be playing vinyl in the shop thanks to James-Morrow who are based nearby in Tollcross. They are installing a new sound system for us as well as providing us with Rega turntables to sell in the shop.

 

Once the day is over in the shop we will be decamping to The Electric Circus for 7pm where the theme of new songs and covers will be continued first by Scott and Arwen from The Last Battle and then by the lovely Emily Scott. Last but not least Star Wheel Press will be celebrating having our biggest selling album of 2011 by playing a full set at 9pm.    

Those of you who fancy celebrating your purchases with a Record Store Day pint will be able to do so at the Bow Bar (see also pic below).

As with the recent Frightened Rabbit in-store we will be collecting on the day for their charity the Cystinosis Foundation UK.  

There will of course be more but that for now I think is quite enough ! 

 

So of course the RSD exclusives were April Fools and though there is some truth in both the HMV and Probe stories so were the other listings. However I can promise it is true that The Bow Bar in Victoria Street will be celebrating Record Store Day with Avalanche this year by having a cask of RSD2012 beer (or is it ale I’m never sure) on tap that day from The Revolutions Brewing Company in Castleford, Yorkshire. We are already having record players supplied by James-Morrow and we should have some other exciting partners to announce soon.  

We are very pleased to announce that we have 5 limited edition Withered Hand futons to sell on Record Store Day. We are expecting a big demand so everybody who puts their name down on the day will be entered into a ballot to have the opportunity to buy one at the bargain price of £299.00. Each futon is guaranteed to be “stained” by Dan and will have a download code for the album sewn into the cover.  

We are very lucky to have been given an exclusive batch of Fence “invisible logo” t-shirts. To most people the shirts seem blank but to true believers in Fence the logo will appear. We will I’m afraid only be able to sell the shirts to those who correctly describe the previously unseen Fence logo. 

18 of my 20 picks are now sorted. I have simply picked the bands and the albums that I think represent what Avalanche’s support for Scottish music has been about over the last couple of years. A couple I couldn’t pick because of stock problems and I’m still hopeful I’ll be able to add a few more as there were certainly more than 20 on my list.  I’ve been getting asked a lot so here they are in no particular order. As you would expect there are no surprises.  

Withered Hand + Jenny Soep postcards, Star Wheel Press, There Will Be Fireworks, The Savings and Loan, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat , Meursault, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad,  Saint Jude’s Infirmary, Kid Canaveral, Edinburgh School for the Deaf, Emily Scott, Pictish Trail, Rob St John, The Last Battle and Bwani Junction + gig train tickets. I also picked the Midsummer CD  and the Inheritance DVD.

I chose The Twilight Sad’s album as my favourite album of the year so far and Meursault’s new album as the one I was most looking forward to. There was lots of footage shot for a documentary including our neighbours Red Dog and Armstrongs but I’ve no idea what will end up in the final edit.  They will also be publicising our in-stores especially all our Record Store Day activities. It lasts for 3 months so there will be more to follow after RSD. With 2 million+ visitors a month it will hopefully bring all these artists to a much wider audience. It might even bring the FRabbits a few extra fans !

RSD quantities are normally based on a shop’s orders over the year from a record company which is something I whole heartedly agree with. However given how few new CDs we sell now I imagine that will impact on the quantities we receive of the really limited stuff. All shops figures are down so it is all relative but we are hit particularly hard these days by having to compete with both HMV and FOPP.  

I’ve had a spate of people asking me to put up posters in the shop for album/single launches. Some intend to bring the release into the shop afterwards, a few before and some haven’t even considered it. Even bringing the release in before unfortunately doesn’t work as folk still just wait for the launch. Avalanche has a large number of visitors in a year looking for releases from Scottish bands as well as contributing to various media charts. The more successful a band is with their launch and selling from bandcamp etc after the initial press and radio the quicker they kill the album dead. Bands are coming in  all the time once this has happened wondering if I can help.

As has been well documented recently there aren’t enough hours in the day for me so I’m afraid that with limited resources I can only work with bands who choose to sell to their fans through the shop. We are of course always happy to host launches. For most bands it makes perfect sense to go down the gig launch route but for those with real ambition and well placed confidence in their music we will sell dozens and sometimes several hundred of an album. We also promote our best sellers in national papers and on national radio stations as well as contributing to several websites. Exceptional albums we recommend to other key shops in the UK.

It is a similar story with those who use the pledge system. They have sold to their established fan base so that leaves nothing for shops. Promoting and recommending music to visitors is not a cost effective use of time but it is what we are famous for. People do come from all over the world having read about bands on our website and know what they want but even they normally look for further suggestions. I’m very proud of our reputation but it is essentially flawed in the time it takes up. Even listening posts don’t have the same interaction. Regular customers do of course often take recommendations on faith as today when a customer who had enjoyed Star Wheel Press and King Creosote and Jon Hopkins bought Rob St John.  

We are always looking for the next Withered Hand , There Will Be Fireworks or Star Wheel Press to promote. Our track record speaks for itself.        

Not had a lot of feedback this year about titles wanted apart from the obvious. Understandable in a way given the huge amount this year. Lots of questions about price and how limited releases really are. All shops can do is pass on what we are told. As many of you will know shops are strictly limited to what they can charge and all we can do is repeat the numbers we are given for availability. After last year I do share people’s concerns that bands and labels may offer the same product cheaper at a later date but please don’t blame that on shops.