Are you a part of that generation?
I was watching a documentary called "I Need That Record!" Which talks about the death of record stores, and it made me realize very quickly.....that is one of the biggest losses of the new generation of music lovers. That enjoyment that came from digging through bins and discovering new music with your hands and ears.....not through TV Commercials or Facebook Groups.
And I'm guilty of owning an ipod and buying music from itunes.....and selling my bands record on itunes....but the other day I was in London, Ontario with an hour to kill. I dropped by my favourite place in the whole city; Grooves Record Store.
Grooves is the classic record store. Built with the natural flow in mind where you walk in the front door and the first thing you see is the new releases rack....full of great new indie releases. As you walk to the right, there are racks of local music and used gems. Then you can walk around the whole store in a loop, CDs alphabetically on the left, Records alphabetically on the right.
Troy, the owner, is your typical audiophile nice guy and advocate for local artists. He even opened Grooves in a punk rock way; by leaving the record store he worked at for years and years....and opening his own. And the workers are local musicians, audiophiles, and music fans so if you take your items to the checkout, theres a good chance you will be cashed out by a local indie musician and you can find out what is going on....where the show is that night, or who needs a drummer or they are going to break up.
So that day I needed to slow down the pace a little. I had driven to London to get a bunch of work done and I was on a very tight schedule. But I stopped in and just went up to the checkout and asked what was new and local. They fixed me up with 3 CDs just off the top of their heads....
1. Shawn Clarke - like birds too tired to fly
11 tracks of light poppy melodies. Reminds me a bit of the Fruit Bats
2. Handsome Dan and his Gallimaufry - Provincial Parks & Breaking Hearts
6 neu-country / folk tunes.
3. Say Domino - who's we?
rockin, fast moving, tight drumming indie goodness
The guy behind the counter is in "Olenka and the Autumn Lovers" who are in my opinion the brightest light in the London scene. Troy walked up to me while I was checking out and handed me a zine called "Eye Spy" by Chad VanGaalen. He said that Chad told him to only give the zine to "not jerks". (Chad told him to? He knows Chad?)
I contemplated releasing my bands last record digital only...but then I woke up and realized that I wanted to still have a physical CD to hold and share. I guess I just narrowly missed being a "Jerk"
I drove away from Grooves that day remembering what I love about record stores...and music in general. It isn't about just going in and buying a cd. Its about the community and the friendships that the stores create. It is about talking to your friends about new bands and meeting people at rock shows. I've lost a little bit of that since starting my career and watching friends move away. I think I'm going to make a point of it to drop by Grooves whenever I'm in town.
If you want to be a part of a great community and learn about what is going on locally....not just on television, If you want to remind yourself what Vinyl smells like or feels like, then stop in at Grooves on Clarence st. You won't be disappointed.
Heres a link to an in store performance by a friend named Henry Svec, performing a song from the CFL Sessions.
The song was written just after being cut from the Argos.
