Coming soon… Record Store Day

By Jo Richards 

Record Store Day this year is next Saturday, April 18. 

This very special annual event brings together vinyl music fans and artists to honour the role independent record stores play in their local music communities. 

There’s a long list of exclusive records pressed specifically for release on the day. You can track these down in Lincoln at Back to Mono Records on Guildhall Street - one of only two shops in Lincolnshire to host the event.

Shop owner, Jim Penistan (pictured) who has run record shops in Lincoln since 1989 said: "The releases expected to be in high demand are those from Taylor Swift and Olivia Dean. However, there’s also some great vintage listings, including Thin Lizzy’s Live in Cleveland 1976 and Ian Brown’s Music of the Spheres."

Chase Temple (pictured) a student at Access to Music who works part-time at Back to Mono added: "I love the unique compilation releases, such as Stax Killer Bs, which features hard-to-find B-Sides from the legendary Stax Records vault in Memphis."

Retailers have to follow a very strict code of conduct for the event – buyers are not allowed to pre-order or set aside records; they just have to wait and see what is available on the day. This creates an air of excitement but can also lead to some understandable frustration when popular titles sell out quickly. 

Jim explained that last year fans started queuing from 11pm the night before with a long line down the street by the time the shop opened at 8am. He tries to ensure the stock goes to genuine fans by limiting sales of titles to one per person and no more than ten records overall. 

The day concludes with a free live music and vinyl DJ event at The Komodo in Lincoln from 6pm ‘til late.

Back to Mono Records, 26 Guildhall St, Lincoln, LN1 1TR. www.backtomonorecords.com    Facebook/Instagram