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| Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til its gone? So sang Joni Mitchell many years ago. And she may well have a point. It only seems a few months ago that people were rejoicing about the opening of a new record shop in Wakefield. But now it seems that said record shop - Wah Wah Records - is under threat of closure due to tight financial conditions. This is a shame because since the closure of the Wakefield branch of HMV there has been no place to buy music in town. Back in my youth you could go to JAT or EGS for new records and there was a stall in the indoor market with a great selection of secondhand stuff. You could even buy your vinyl at Woolies or Boots (where I rebelliously used the gift certificate I got for 100% attendance at school to buy the Clash's first album - take that 'the system'!). Anyway Wah Wah isn't dead yet and in my opinion we need to rally around to save the day. According to Mrs Windbag there's been quite a lot of debate on the subject,on social media, with lots of people weighing in with suggestions and helpful ideas. That's great as far as it goes but I think if we want a record shop in town we have to be more pro active. What I intend to do is pledge to get something every week from the shop. And when I can't make it one week I will make sure I buy extra to catch up on my next visit. I would encourage other people to make a similar pledge.  I guess there's going to be plenty of excuses from people at this point so I've dealt with a few FMWs (that stands for Frequently Made Whinges). W: All the new vinyl is too expensive for me. R: Wah Wah stocks a whole load of second hand vinyl as well starting at very reasonable prices (I was flicking through the quid seven inches and there was some great stuff in there). The fun of the second hand stuff is that you don't know what you'll find. Just today Gary Cotton bought in a load of stuff and amidst the dodgy 80's new romantic stuff (I've got this image in my mind now of Gary with eyeliner and a snood dancing to Spandau Ballet) there was some good stuff. W: I don't live in Wakefield. R: Wah Wah has a website where you can order in your jimjams/your onesie/in the buff. Just remember to put some clothes on when the postperson brings your records. W: I don't own a record player. R: Wah Wah can sell you a record player. W: I don't want to buy vinyl anymore. R: Wah Wah also stocks CDs. The selection of new CDs is limited currently but lack of quantity is more than made up for by the quality . Plus you can order CDs as well. I've already done this a couple of times and I can confirm the system works fine. Additionally you can buy CDs by various local artists. The entire Philiphobia collection is available with the added advantage that you can buy them without having to interact with Rob Dee! There's plenty of other local acts available as well I particularly recommend Narcs, JonnytheFirth & Sam Airey as well worth a listen. W: But its much more convenient to get it from Amazon. R: But Amazon are not a very nice company. See their record in paying tax and the way they treat their employees. Wah Wah records would definitley pay their taxes (if they made any money) and as far as I can tell the staff don't seem to have to march for miles around a huge warehouse against a stopwatch for a minimum wage (although they might dream of receiving the minimum wage). W: But I don't want to buy any records or cds. R: Wah Wah also do mugs, teeshirts and tickets for Unity, the Hop and selected other gigs. So come on log out of your computer (not right now - read to the bottom of this first please) and get out, get into town and pay a visit to your local record shop. I'd better mention at this point that Wah Wah operates pretty normal shop hours and isn't open on Sunday. So you might want to check your watch/calendar before trekking into town. Its also a bit of social thing as well. Who knows who'll you bump into in Wah Wah (and if Rob Dee pops in there's plenty of piles of records to hide behind). Despite the dodgy woolly hat Alan the owner is a friendly and knowledgeable chap. Finally just a bit of useful information. The website is http://www.wahwahrecords.net/. Wah Wah's facebook page also has a lot of information about the shop and the latest news, offers etc. Its here. ** In other news me & Mrs Windbag were on our jollies recently and we went to Chicago and New York (don't tell Alan but I bought some CDs from Bleeker Street Records). We timed our New York trip to co-incide with CMJ. This is a music industry convention type event. Loads of music industry types networking. Obviously we weren't interested in that but there are plenty of gigs open to the public as well and we managed to go to a few (about 5 in total - 3 in one afternoon). I thought I'd share a couple of our finds. The first band I'd like to mention are Spring King a band that are actually from Manchester. In actual fact we had seen them live previously at the Brudenell in Leeds. But we went to a gig in Brooklyn and they were one of the acts on. We were so impressed that we went to see them again the next day. Click here for a taster. They are a lot more thrashy live mind! Our second find are called The Family Crest and are from San Francisco. We first caught them performing the final song of their set at the Brooklyn Electric (here's a version of that song). It was pretty amazing to be honest with you. There were seven people playing guitar, bass, drums, violin, flute, cello and trombone. All crammed on a tiny stage. The song was dramatic from a quiet start swelling into a mini orchestral piece and it was very passionate and involving - particularly because the venue was so initimate. As luck would have it they were playing again later nearby. Witnessing a full gig confirmed it wasn't just one good song. It turns out as well that the seven people on stage (8 actually because they had a guest sax player at the second gig) was just the tip of the iceberg. There are actually literally dozens of people involved in this project. Over 80 people contributed to the first album alone and a list of all the people who have contributed can be found on their website. I couldn't be bothered counting but I'm guessing its well over a hundred. Musically they remind me a little of early Arcade Fire particularly energy wise and the vocalist and mainstay of the band reminds me a little of David from Dancing Years (even down to similar facial expressions pulled whilst singing). I'm not sure if they'll ever get to the Uk but they are certainly an amazing live act if you ever get an opportunity to catch them. |
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