World Record Day in Thanet

On April 19, Broadstairs' only independent record shop, The Sound House, will be participating in the worldwide International Record Store Day when record shops all over the world celebrate music that is unique to their area, bringing local talent to the forefront and presenting it to the record store community.

The main event itself is hosted across the Pond in Austin, Texas, but that hasn't stopped the local Thanet music scene from having their piece of the action.

The Sound House has been running for nearly 14 years, despite all the difficulties the economy has thrown at the independent record industry over the past decade.

Stewart Robinson from the store says that bands should value their music, and encourage the growth of the industry they wish to seek success in, adding: “Music is fast becoming a throw-away product. Everyone wants to be heard, which is fair enough, but (artists) don't seem to care what they lose in the process.”

If there was any day of the year to support your local independent record store the most, this would be it. So instead of heading down to your local Tesco to buy your next album, why not try the Sound House of Broadstairs instead?

Flying the flag for Thanet talent, we need to give them all the support we can: Sound House, 29 High Street, Broadstairs. 01843 867281.

What’s happening on Saturday?

Local guest DJs playing mostly indie music in the front window.

From noon bands including Gavin X, Hyperactive, Floors + Walls, then from 2.30pm ‘Allo Darling and Tender Trap will be performing.

Watch out for CD giveaways including limited edition discs.

Behind the counter - Q&A with our Sound House guy

• What kind of customers do you get in your shop?

“Varied really. People of all ages come in. Even youngsters buy the CDs. Teenagers still want the NOW compilation CDs, the latest NOW 72 has been selling well.

“I find the older customers are more consistent. They come in and know what they want and most are collectors who love their music and they still like the physical format whereas the younger ones like their music but their not as fussed about having a physical format.”

• What do you enjoy about your job?

“It’s the first job I’ve ever had where I never ever have woken up and thought ‘oh God, I’ve got to work today’. Never had a day when I don’t want to come to work. It’s a great thing, I’m lucky.

“I’ve loved music, ever since I was a kid. I like helping recommend music to customers and I like getting orders in for people. If a customer wants a certain track, whether its on vinyl or CD, I do try and get everything I possibly can for them.

“I still get excited about new releases and discovering new bands. I’m lucky to be able to hear new CDs and new artists and I’m lucky to hear something a lot of people wouldn’t hear.

“I do give an honest opinion about music. If someone says an album is good I will tell them my verdict.”

• Do you have any funny stories from work?

“A lot of my customers think I look like Ricky Gervais! Every now and again a customer comes in and asks ‘do you know who you look like?’ Usually when I put on weight I get that comment a lot.

“A customer was in Oxford Street in London and she thought she spotted me ahead of her and she ran up to me and was about to say hello when she realized it was in fact actually Ricky Gervais!”

BBC Radio Kent DJ - Andy Garland

ANDY GARLAND has been DJing since the early 1980s and has worked at BBC Radio Kent since 1994, where he has presented most programmes on the station and is currently the voice of the drive time programme Monday to Thursday 4-7pm and Sunday Gardening.

• What was the first music you appreciated?

“The first kind of music I started getting into was New-Wave music from artists like The Police.

“I loved many artists released by 2 Tone record label like Madness, The Specials, The Selecter, and The Beats.

“The first record I ever bought was Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis from London American Recordings. It was at a jumble sale when I was very young, about eight or nine years old.

“I remember thinking how the centre of the record looked exciting and exotic – the script and typeface made it stand out amongst the pile of records. And when I got home he realised what type of record it was, it was so full of energy.

“To this day, songs with energy are amongst my favourites.”

• Have you got a favourite record shop in Kent?

“When I was a student in Canterbury I was always in Richard’s Records in Canterbury which is not open anymore.

“Nowadays I buy a lot of albums online on sites like Amazon or I download a lot of music from the iTunes site most of the time. I love my iPod and I listen to music everyday when I go to work.”

• What do you think about this idea of holding an International Record Store Day every year?

“I think it’s an absolutely brilliant idea but I do think that the record shop is doomed apart from very specialist record shops because we’re all downloading.

“However downloading is not a patch on saving up your pocket money and going to buy a vinyl album from the shop.

“Working in the radio biz everyone always wants to talk to you about music.”

You didn’t know this: Andy Garland’s wife’s godfather was in an old 1960s band from Thanet called the Spidermen.

Andy’s top 10 artists of all time

1. Madness

2. The Jam

3. Stone Roses

4. Oasis

5. The Charlatans

6. The Who

7. Bad Manners

8. The Bluetones

9. Sweet Leaves

10. Jel

Kevin Crace, 41, from Ramsgate, is the ex manager of punk rockers the Sex Pistols and he worked with artists including David Bowie and Catatonia. He has a long history of love for music and his career began as an assistant for Pinnacle Records in 1986.

Six years later Kevin left to set up his own record label, HUMBUG which has worked with artists including Louis Phillip, Captain Sensible, Martin Newell, Monty, David Devant and his Spirit Wife, Colin Lloyd Tucker, Paddy Bush, and Simon Turner.

• How long have you been in Thanet?

"I’ve been here for almost 4 years. I love it. I’m enjoying family life in Ramsgate with my beautiful partner and three daughters – Rose, 20, Chloe, 15, and Posy, four."

• What do you think about International Record Store Day?

"Anything that encourages people to listen to music in a positive fashion can only be a good thing."

• What do you think about the future of record sales?

“I think overall CD sales will go down and down I actually think that CDs and DVDS will disappear from the marketplace within the next two years.

“On the other hand, the industry has always benefited and reinvented itself through the development and changing of different mediums of delivery such as different formats, marketing, and producing.

“The industry actually saw many of it's greatest times during the period where the public replaced it's old vinyl collections with the new CD format.

“In order to improve record sales the music industry needs to invent new ways to market and produce music, new formats and new technology are needed to maintain or increase the sales.

“People’s attitudes towards music have also changed over time. People are not as passionate over music as they were before which I think has influenced the record sales.

“When I was a youth music meant everything, literally. In my day music could have sparked revolution – literally. Now-days the thought of revolution coming from music is ludicrous.

“The 'danger' and revolution of music has been banished and replaced by the internet, and more specifically from social networking sites – like Myspace, Bebo and Facebook. These are the activities that have replaced music in terms of relevance to young people.

“Now youths spend the evenings emailing each other through such sites, sharing school gossip and lifestyle choices. Music itself is a small part of this, where as it once was the defining factor of 'who you where'. If Revolution where ever to come in the future, it would be lead by the Internet not music.”

“Kids are still listening to music. But now it's as a poor quality compressed MP3 file, listened to on the mono loud speaker of a third-rate mobile phone.”

Kevin’s top 10

Damned

XTC

King of Luxembourg

Robin Hitchcock

Jacques Brel

Scott Walker

Doors

Pink Floyd

Smiths

Baby Bird

Motion Picture Soundtrack

Motion Picture Soundtrack are an unsigned alternative rock band from Canterbury. Alastair Blackwood, 27, is the lead singer and guitar and piano player .

• Who are your influences?

“Sigur Ros, Arcade fire, Jeff Buckley, Massive attack, Craig Armstrong, and Thomas Newman.”

• Who do you think you sound like?

“A mixture of Sigur Ros, Interpol, Bat for Lashes, Jeff Buckley and Doves.”

• How long have you been together as a group?

“We’ve been together for six years. My brother Graeme is the drummer, I met Nick, the guitarist, Canterbury Christchurch University at the Broadstairs Campus where we did the same music course. The base player was a friend from college.”

• Have you always been musical?

“I didn’t actually get into playing the guitar until I was 16 but I’ve always loved music from a young age. I was influenced by my parents’ collections. My dad – dad is a big fan of Pink Floyd, Genesis and Jean Michelle Jarre.”

• What do you think about this idea of holding an International Record Store Day every year?

“Having a day to recognise the importance of supporting independent stores in buying albums is a good thing in my opinion.

It’s really important to keep independent stores alive and support them because if they go bust I think everyone will really miss them.

“I actually prefer going and purchasing a physical record – the ownership you have over it is much better than any download.

When tracks get converted into MP3 formats which are available for downloading the music loses a lot of quality.

“In a digital age it’s so easy to download tracks for free or really cheap. People have a throwaway attitude to downloading music and they care less about the artists because it is so readily available, easy and free to download. It seems there’s no consideration or love for artists anymore.

“But I do also see the benefits of downloading music as people can get hold of music they would never heard of before. It can help certain artists, especially those who were relatively unknown beforehand, to be more recognised.”

For more of Motion Picture Soundtrack visit their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/mps

Motion Picture Soundtrack’s Top 10

Their top 10 albums of all time are:

1. Sigur Ros - Untitled

2. Radiohead’s - OK Computer

3. U2 – Achtung

4. Jeff Buckley - Grace

5. Muse – Absolution

6. Shawshank Redemption soundtrack

7. Solaris soundtrack

8. Arcade Fire – Funeral

9. Sigur Ros – Takk

10.  Heat soundtrack

What do you think about the future of record stores, records and CDs? What are you top bands, songs or albums of all time? Join the debate by leaving your comments here.