This Saturday is Record Store Day, and there is no better way to support local, independent record shops across the region than checking out what they have to offer.
As the resurgence of vinyl is bringing music consumption into a bright new era for absolutely anyone, the demand for the best new music on wax, as well as ownership of the classics and rarities, is rising more than ever – and Record Store Day has long been a vinyl lover’s favourite day and a store’s biggest annual coup.
On this day – Saturday, April 23 – record stores will receive a different bundle of exclusive releases, in what has been called ‘RSD Drops’, to bring revenue to the stores, as well as to the artists, labels, distribution and every other business behind the scenes making record stores work.
The fun of RSD Drops though is that not every store has everything because these are, after all, limited editions. Stores won’t know what they’ve got until a day or so before, when they open their boxes, so the best way to find out what a store has is to say close to their website and social media and to check out the online store.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
Some of the limited editions available include reissues from John Elton, Rex Orange County, Future, and Weyes Blood, alongside rarities and exclusives from the likes of The Cure, Foo Fighters, Dermot Kennedy, Joni Mitchell, The Pixies, David Bowie and Taylor Swift. That’s just the start, check out more of the releases here.
If you’re looking to take part in RSD locally, Geelong has a couple of stores participating in this month’s celebration.
Bad Neighbour Records
Located within the Big Boom Space at 5 Rutland Street, Newtown, the Bad Neighbour Records weekend pop-up is honest and unpretentious. The simple, funky space is the first thing you see as you walk in. The humble set-up is kitted out with a communal table, custom-built wooden shelves highlighting feature vinyl, black tubs to dig through and a listening station to explore the new releases. You’ll find both new releases as well as reissues, remastered LPs and a selection of pre-loved goodies here, resulting in a very heady mix of genres. While the stock is ever-changing, examples of the musical gems you could find include like Ty Segall, Ausmuteants, Limes, Hierophants, and Thigh Master if you’re into indie/alt/rock, while punk titles have included the likes of Low Life, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Cococoma, and Nots, among others.
Celebrating Record Store Day for the first time ever, BNR is hosting an epic event for vinyl lovers of the region with a full day of festivities. Going down on Saturday from 12pm, the record store will see a bunch of DJs hit the decks with their collections (including DJ Worm, Nathan Sawford of Small Run Vinyl and DJaydn) while legends Atomic Beer will be providing the fresh cold tins to keeps everyone quenched from the shape throwing and crate digging! And of course, they’ll also have some RSD releases, some rare finds and a bunch of specials.
The event runs until 6pm at 5 Rutland St, Newtown. Event deets here.
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Tourbus Entertainment
Tourbus Entertainment, at 65 Yarra Street, Geelong, has become the one-stop-shop for vinyl lovers since opening their doors back in 2020. Whether it’s rock and roll rarities, psychedelic classics or hip hop crate favourites, the team at Tourbus has done the legwork in tracking the best and most eclectic collection of wax down – you won’t be finding anything stock-standard here. Think titles like The Chats, Amyl and the Sniffers, David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys, Deftones, The Doors, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Hard-Ons, Interpol, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Megadeth, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Slipknot, The Bennies, and Thom Yorke. You’ll even find many local names in there, including Andrea Robertson and The Kite Machine. Essentially, it’s all the really good shit.
In celebration of Record Store Day this weekend, the team at Tourbus are offering a pretty sweet deal of buy one, get one free on the vinyl they have in store – and anyone that’s ever bought a record before will know that this means big savings! Head on in-store to score some ripper wax, or purchase online and get free delivery across Australia. There will also be a DJ in-store on Saturday to level up your crate-digging ventures.
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Gifts for the Geek
The crew at Gifts for the Geek are also jumping on board for Record Store Day, bringing in a stunning collection of exclusive, limited-edition releases for you to get your mitts on.
Located at 153-155 Ryrie Street, this shop in the heart of Geelong offers customers some of the coolest Superhero, Supernatural and Heavy Metal products. They’ve got board games, t-shirts, posters, and of course a bunch of pretty cool records. Their range of vinyl is more focused on the soundtracks of popular movies, but there’s still a lot records from popular groups like Foo Fighters and Ozzy Osbourne. At some pretty competitive prices, you’re bound to find a bargain or two.
For RSD the doors will be open from 9am to 5pm for vinyl lovers to sift through the stock.
Sadly a lot of RSD titles have been pushed back to the June back up date, but GFTG have still scored a bunch of great titles for Saturday, including David Bowie’s Brilliant Adventure EP, Pixies Live From Coachella 2004 coloured vinyl, Childish Gambino Kauai coloured vinyl, U2’s Celebration, Stevie Nicks deluxe edition of Bella Donna, Jackson Five ABC on blue vinyl, and Alice In Chains We Die Young, among others.
Run, don’t walk. Keep up with updates here.
Popcultcha Geelong at Griffiths Bookstore
For the last 14 years, Popcultcha has been Geelong’s premier destination for anything collectible related. Stocking everything from comic books to keychains, basically anything you could want, you’d find it there.
Now located in the old Griffiths Bookstore at 96/98 Ryrie Street, the huge new venue has also meant a new record section that has got a lot of music fans grinning. With a dedicated area, you’ll find hundreds of the latest and greatest vinyl records, including the likes of Spacey Jane, Dinosaur Jr, and Julia Stone, to Coldplay, Cher and even movie soundtracks.
Participating in Record Store Day this year, the store (alongside the Collector Gallery in North Geelong) has just received a massive drop of exclusives that will be available for purchase from 9am on Saturday. You’ll find titles like The Offspring ‘Greatest Hits’, Def Leppard ‘High n Dry’, Rolling Stones ‘More Hot Rocks’, Tegan and Sara ‘Still Jealous’, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ‘Live Seeds’, as well as titles from The Proclaimers, Madonna, Johnny Marr, and David Bowie.
Not only will locals be able to get their hands on an abundance of exclusive gems on Saturday, but Popcultcha are also running a special deal, offering 10% off vinyl records both in store and online for all other vinyl (use code RSD22 at checkout for online). This excludes RSD releases and pre-orders, but it includes everything else – and they’ve got A LOT!
Some RSD stock will be made available online throughout the day, so head here to see what pops up if you can’t get into the stores.
In The Skies Art & Music
At the tail end of Lorne’s bustling Mountjoy Parade lives one of Bellarine Peninsula’s most inviting and accommodating art spaces. Featuring works from a plethora of local artists and designers, the gallery also stocks art supplies, local ceramics and house plants, plus a selection of vinyl records both old and new. Australian artists are at the forefront here; expect to see records from King Gizzard, Thelma Plum, Tame Impala, Sweet Whirl and many more.
New artworks and records are constantly decorating the shelves, walls and floor space of this community-centric venue, so it’s a good idea to visit on the regular.
For RSD this year, this little gem will be offering 10% off all new vinyl on Saturday alongside serving up booze and DJs from 2pm. They’ll have a small selection of Record Store Day releases in store too.
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Prehistoric Sounds
Warnambool’s Prehistoric Sounds started back in 2009 at a small stall at Newcomb’s Mill Market. Then after being one of the only spots providing records and record-related products, they slowly expanded to the heavily populated Kepler St in Warrnambool in April 2019, just in time for RSD that year, which bode well for their business.
They focus on providing records from some of Australia’s best up and comers, and provide their shoppers with a regular list of new arrivals, detailing what they reckon people should check out.
Sadly this year the team are stuck in isolation due to COVID and won’t be able to participate for RSD at their stores, which is quite frankly the worse possible luck to have as a record store owner. However, much of their RSD stock has arrived meaning the celebrations will be a little delayed. Keep an eye on socials in the meantime, and if you’re still keen to purchase some vinyl, head on over to their online store which has a sale section, where you’ll find some of the best newest and classic vinyls at a dirt cheap price.
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For those in North-East Vic for the weekend, head to No.49 Vintage & Coffee
No.49 Vintage & Coffee has totally immersed an unforgettable retro vibe, brought to life with tons of vintage gear and vinyls. Swing by and have a coffee while you flip through dozens of records spanning generations of musical talent. And for our photography lovers, the store is decorated with decades of vintage cameras and equipment, also for sale.
No.49 are constantly updating their stock lists on their Instagram, so be sure to give them a follow to make sure you don’t miss a thing. They often host giveaways there, too!
For RSD, the store will be hosting sales on records and cassettes, with $5, $10 and $15 boxes. They also have a selection of recent presses and reissues from the likes of Pearl Jam, Post Malone, Vance Joy, Ed Sheeran, Guns and Roses, Adele, Coldplay, ACDC and The Doors, alongside a rack full of classic original from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
DJ Stu will be spinning vinyl all weekend in store. Open from 9am-2pm on Saturday, and 9am-1pm Sunday.
This one’s for the North-East Victorians (or those making their way to Bright for the long weekend), located at 49 Murphy St, Wangaratta.
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Full information and releases are constantly being added to the website at www.recordstoreday.com.au
