So, International Independent Record Store Day. It's happening kids, happening on the 17th of April! How exciting!
Seriously though, I'm totally issuing a challenge to myself this year, which is to no longer suckle at the teat of Big Music. My plan is to start buying actual physical music (as opposed to merely downloading stuff from itunes, which is so passive it's not even funny... I don't even have to leave my living room), and to buy that music at an indie store. NZer's will know that after the demise of the Real Groovy franchise, the Real Groovies (Groovy's? you know what I mean) have become independent of each other (well, Auckland and Wellington have... when we were in Christchurch a few weeks ago their RG was still going, but I don't know what the situation is there), and there are loads more succulent treats of record stores dotted around the country.
The wicked thing about them is that the people that work in there know their onions, so if you choose a good time to go in (when they're not bonkers with people, I mean), you can generally strike up a pretty good natter with the People of the Store, and they might just shine a light onto a new and fascinating musical path. Anyway, the IIRSD, as I mentioned, is happening on the 17th of April, a Saturday, and most of the indies that have signed up will have interesting things happening. You can check out the Record Store Day website for a list (this is the New Zealand list, of course), and watch the video below for a bit of a larf. But, even more importantly, do it because Henry Rollins reckons that "Every time you buy your records at one of these places, it's a blow to the empire".
Okay, here's the vid:
