PETE PAPHIDES is a music journalist, record collector and broadcaster. Catch him on Soho Radio every Tuesday, 12-2pm
Like Santa Claus, I’m writing a list and I’m checking it twice. Like Santa Claus, this is a process that I undergo on an annual basis. And like Santa Claus, by the time I’ve completed the job, I’m home before breakfast. That’s pretty much where the similarities end, however. Unlike Santa, I am boThthe agent and beneficiary of this ritual. If I get to Rough Trade West by 5am, I can usually get into the shop within half an hour of their traditional Record Store Day opening time of 8am. In common wiThmost participating shops, the staff take good care of their early arrivals. Lists are scrutinised by staff who patrol the queue, and if there are, say, only five copies of that live Duran Duran album in the shop and you’re the sixThin line for it, they’ll tell you.
Expectation management is a large part of what shops have learned to do on RSD. We’ve come a long way since the time I saw one poor Fall fan endure an eight-hour vigil at Sister Ray in Soho, only to be told the sole item on his list, a seven-inch single entitled Night Of The Humerons, had already been snapped up. His eyes filled wiThtears as he turned on his heel and marched out of the shop in a sad, silent fury.