Specialties: Pop and rock (new releases, contemporary and classic back catalogue), blues, folk, Americana, world, jazz, etc. on CD and vinyl (all new).
What are the defining features of your store?
The amazing range, the location and general vibe, the in-store performances, and the staff’s knowledge, passion, honesty and good humour.
What’s your store’s history?
We opened 21 years ago on “a wing & a prayer” and are still operating on much the same basis – but a lot of great music, fabulous in-stores, and amazing customers that sustain us.
If your store could be personified as one musical identity, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Richard Thompson – influential and hugely talented, though not as famous or as wealthy as he should be. Witty, uncommercial and uncompromising, self-depreciating and definitely down-to-earth.
How will you be celebrating Record Store Day? What special releases/events will you be hosting?
As per last seven, we’ll be putting a huge amount of effort into making IRSD a really special and fun day for punters and ourselves. We have five bands performing, with a music trivia quiz dotted through the day with prizes, give-aways etc, and the racks will be groaning under the weight of all the new and very special releases on vinyl and CD.
What makes records so special?
It’s so personally rewarding and enriching to actually collect and value music made and released by your favourite artists and ‘soon to become favourites’. Downloading, streaming etc. will never replicate the feeling you get actually going into an indie store, exploring, making a purchase and carrying that beautiful, special album home to have and cherish.
What’s the best thing about Diggin’ Melbourne?
It’s indicative of why Melbourne is Australia’s music capital. We have such a healthy, mutually encouraging and supportive indie music scene and it continues to be a great initiative.
What’s your fondest memory involving a record?
Buying my first album with my own money, Nina Simone’s Here Comes The Sun and I still love that album.
Have you had any good conversations with famous people who’ve been in your store? Who was it with and can you remember what they bought?
Too many to mention really, but we were lucky enough to have Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller spend several hours in the shop – they bought literally stacks of Americana/US folk albums (which was a little odd, and a bit like “shipping coals to Newcastle”), but they maintained they’d never seen these titles in the US. We then went vintage clothes shopping and had coffee and cake together. It was a very special experience indeed.
