Inside, as well as the tightly packed record stacks were additional piles of vinyl, tottering in towers and leaning against every available wall these were rivalled in number only by the gig fliers and hand-written small ads seeking bassists and drummers that covered the remaining surface space. The steps and lack of window display gave the shop an illicit air, as if simply by finding it and being inside you became part of the select.
Instead you had to go up a small flight of steps and go in through an interior door. To achieve its seedy glamour, it helped that Revolver didn’t have a conventional shop front. What I really went for was the atmosphere, praying that somehow the very coolness of the place would rub off on me, forcing those impossibly hip girls at school, whom I lusted over from a distance, to be impressed and drawn helplessly towards me. Even on the occasions when I had some cash to spend I had no clear idea of what I wanted, just a vague sense of a few ‘interesting’ sounding bands, likely prefaced with a THE, who someone like Johnny Cigarettes had mentioned in NME, or I’d half-caught on John Peel whilst doing my homework.
Often, as I had little money to spend, I’d just go and hang out in there. As a teenager in the eighties my hometown seemed blessed with a surprising variety of record shops, but I always saw Revolver as the one true emporium of cool. For me it was Revolver Records on the Triangle in Bristol. Everyone who has ever loved a good record shop probably has one in particular that they remember more fondly than it really deserves. There’s something wonderful about an old-fashioned record store: tightly racked stacks, crammed with hundreds and hundreds of LPs by artists you’ve never heard of, with the occasional welcome relief of a band you do know (sort of). įor an alternate view on why Record Store Day doesn’t help independent record stores, see this Louder than war opinion piece.īRISTOL’S INTIMIDATING TREASURE HOUSE OF COOL – REVOLVER RECORDS My current local usually gets involved, the cosy & soulful Book & Record bar. If a former pub has to become something else becoming a record shop come bookstore can’t really be beaten. Find your nearest participating shop in UK hereor USA here Get along and support your local record store – have a wander, drink in the potential treasures, come away with something you never even knew you wanted.
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