ON YOUR average Saturday morning you might be lucky to spot another couple of souls at your local music shop, as the sales assistant chooses the soundtrack to your browsing.
This past Saturday, walking to Steamboat Quay you could hear the buzzing of bass and the crashing of drums at 10am as local band Fox Jaw were wrapping up their set in Steamboat Music for Record Store Day 2019.
“It’s an international event,” explains Mark Carey, Steamboat Music, “Where there are over 500 different releases brought out by major and independent labels. Everyone from David Bowie, Prince, U2, Dermot Kennedy, Charlatans – there’s lots of unheard of stuff and some limited edition re-released stuff.”
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A mixture of music collectors and enthusiasts made their way to their local record stores across the country to listen to the local acts or pick up some limited editions to add to their collections at home.
The store saw more than 300 new releases to celebrate the day and had some live music to keep the browsers entertained.
Mark described it as a day for collectors to come in and find things they’d like, or “to just come in and hear some music” he notes Post-Punk Podge was kicking off his set as part of the celebrations.
One punter, Pat from Limerick, who says he is a “regular” at Limerick record stores, had his hands full of varied mix music, from Weezer’s newly released album of covers to a record of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti with American Jazz musician, Roy Ayers.
When asked about the resurgence of vinyl, Pat said, “I don’t think it ever went away, anyway. Record companies stopped making it, throughout the 90s the CD took over, and in the 2000’s it was very hard to get vinyl, I couldn’t even get it myself anywhere.”
He explains collectors kept going thanks to their local charity shops, car boot sales, and second-hand music shops, “Record companies saw the fact CDs were dying again, and they thought ‘look we can make money out of this’ so they started putting them out again.
The second act, taking to the stage while Pat lists out his records at hand are local rappers Hazey Haze and Citrus, backed up by DJ Sean Murray.
After their set, both noting the early start, performing about 14 hours earlier than they usually would, Citrus tells the Limerick Post, “We don’t really play to crowds like that, it’s nice to be put out of your comfort zone, and I find myself that’s what flourishes an artist, even as a performer.”
The sight of people purchasing records was a motivation for performers on the day, with the Limerick rappers saying they might even make some hard copies of their music to have in store.
