Help Scotland mark Record Store Day

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THERE is, famously, a deep rooted community spirit in Scotland’s music scene, with its complex network of indie labels, bloggers and musicians who tend to play in several bands at once.

So it’s no surprise to find Scots responding wholeheartedly to Record Store Day, the annual event dedicated to protecting the survival of independent record shops, which returns this Saturday.

Record shops are an endangered species - because, ironically, the same people who used to spend hours rifling through their racks now do it online instead. Guiltily, I have to admit to being one of those people, so I’m hoping to atone - a little bit - by blogging about some Record Store Day events in Scotland.

The most obvious place to visit, perhaps, is Monorail in Glasgow’s Merchant City, the centre of gravity of the city’s indie music scene. The shop will be open from 9am on Saturday, and Edwyn Collins, Malcolm Middleton, Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai and Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub will be among those putting in an appearance throughout the day.

Nice ‘n’ Sleazy will also be turning itself into a record shop for the day (which is cheating, arguably, but never mind) with live sets by Withered Hand, amongst others.

Withered Hand will also be playing in his home city, Edinburgh, whose indie music scene is, these days, arguably even more vibrant than Glasgow’s. You can see him alongside local hero Gordon McIntyre from ballboy (who, if you don’t know his records, you might know from the Traverse’s big theatre hit, Midsummer) at Avalanche on the Grassmarket, which is also throwing a Record Store Day after-party at Electric Circus in the evening. The party is, partly, a celebration of the success of Aberfeldy band Star Wheel Press, whose debut album has been doing brisk business in Avalanche recently - and which will be released on vinyl for the occasion.

My top recommendation, though, would be to head to VoxBox on Edinburgh’s St Stephen Street. As a thank you for the shop championing their releases, local labels Gerry Loves and Song, by Toad have organised an in store gig by Neil Pennycook of Meursault, at 3pm, and a full band show by Paws an hour later at a secret location a short walk from the shop (which you can only find out about by going to the shop).

Paws just signed to FatCat records, and are expected to do big things this year, while Meursault’s third album, due in the summer, could well do the same for them. Live music by two of Scotland’s finest, most talked about bands, up close, plus beer, food and special limited edition things to buy? You can’t get that on the internet.

For more information on Record Store Day events near you, read the Scotsman’s Radar Music Blog.

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