The G-Man interview with Tower Records’ Gerry Brown – A Record Store Day Special
Tower Records
6-8 Wicklow Street, Dublin 2
Contact Details : Phone 00353 (0)16713250 or info@towerrecords.ie
Official website: www.towerrecords.ie
April 21st of course is Record Store Day! A day to celebrate the importance of our independent record store days.
Gerry Brown from Tower Records Dublin took some time out from the manic Record Store Day preparations to chat a little about the big day itself.
What does Record Store Day mean to you?
Record Store Day is most important to a store like Tower because, as each year goes by, more and more stores disappear and for independent music stores this day is like our National Day where we celebrate all things music, especially vinyl which is back on the up so much so we have an extensive section in our store.As we are the No 1 independent Record Store in Ireland we are the utmost proud to still be flying the flag for independent music stores and next year we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary and in the past of couple of years of recession and hardship is no mean feat which we will be celebrating in big style.
What fond memories of Record Store Days past do you hold dear to your heart?
Each Record Store Day is different from year to year and each year the releases just keep getting better. The day starts at 9am with all the punters queuing from early doors in anticipation of getting their hands on that coveted exclusive and when the doors open for a few hours it’s just carnage and that is a fond memory every year.
The bands we have on in the afternoon carry on the feel good factor. Last year we had A Hawk & A Hacksaw who finished their set outside the store! Ham Sandwich put on another classic performance and Heathers, who went from one year playing as unknowns to a small crowd to the following year packing the store out.
Outside of Record Store Day what highs spring to mind from the past year or so?
Christmas Record Store Day, Movember, Phantom broadcasting from the store and Waterboys in-store.
On Saturday morning, what limited Edition releases will you be tempted to put straight into your bag?
Well that would be telling but i do have my eye on a few namely the *Springsteen 10″ and +T-Rex 7″.
*A ltd edition 10″ vinyl single from Bruce Springsteen featuring two rare live tracks ‘Wrecking Ball (Live at Giants Stadium)’ and ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad (Live Version featuring Tom Morello)’
+A ltd edition 7″ vinyl single from T-Rex featuring the two no. 1 singles from the classic 1972 album The Slider
Come closing time, what to you personally will signify another successful Record Store Day?
A successful Record Store Day would be every last single piece of vinyl released exclusively for the day is sold, we have made good money to keep the powers that be happy and that the customers leave happy with their purchases having enjoyed their day with some good music and that they will return again.
What does the future hold for Tower Records?
Who knows?! In this day and age you just need to take each day as it comes and see what kind of releases the companies are bringing out each week. Next year is our 20th anniversary so we will be celebrating that in a big way. This year we aim to get the Tower brand out there at all the major festivals which are taking place during the summer and we are also planning our own outdoor event so the immediate future will be a busy one to take us through to our 20th year which I said earlier is no mean feat.
Line-up for Tower Dublin’s Record Store Day 2012:
– Record Store Day 2012 takes place on Saturday, 21st April
– Tieranniesaur, The Urges and more play Tower Dublin on Friday, 20th April
– Simone Felice, HAL and more play Tower Dublin on Saturday, 21st April
– Stay up to date with Tower Dublin via Facebook.com and www.towerrecords.ie
*Tower has a second store located on O’Connell Street
www.towerrecords.ie
www.facebook.com/TowerRecordsDublin
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