A Record Store Day Guide For Western New York

Drop the needle: Record Store Day is here and this is what you need to know in WNY. 

If you see people lined up on sidewalks in the early hours of Saturday morning, odds are very good you’re near one of the city’s record stores. 

Saturday is Record Store Day, a holiday of sorts for those who enjoy listening to those pressed round pieces of black (or, increasingly, vividly colored) vinyl. Shoppers are looking for exclusive releases from artists as varied as John Lennon - solo and with the Beatles - and David Bowie to The Weeknd and Warren Zevon. There are pages and pages of special releases posted on the official website for Record Store Day and it’s worth taking a look if you’re going to venture out so you know what’s an exclusive release and what’s just a new release, like the new albums from Pearl Jam and Taylor Swift. Those just happen to come out this week as well, but it’s sure to cause great joy among record store owners. 

There are a few matters of etiquette to know before participating in Record Store Day if you’re new to the event: Don’t buy, or attempt to buy, more than one copy of any release. That’s considered greedy and many stores just flat-out won’t allow it. If you’re toward the end of the line, and there will be a line, outside your store of choice, don’t push or try to rush into the store when doors open. Be patient. Those who are first in line have been waiting there for hours and deserve to make their selections in order. 

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Each year, each country that participates picks an “ambassador” for this particular Record Store Day and the newer spinoff that happens in November right after Thanksgiving. This April, Paramore is the ambassador artist for the United States. It’s also worth mentioning, given our proximity to Canada, that the Tragically Hip are the Canadian ambassadors. 

Paramore, in their promoted role, are releasing three special, limited edition items: a 12” featuring “Hard Times” and “Burning Down the House” with David Byrne of the Talking Heads, limited to 5,000 copies nationwide; a remixed edition of “This Is Why” limited to 15,000 copies nationally and a double edition of that album, with 10,000 copies printed. 

For Tragically Hip fans, their ambassadorship is the opportunity to release a live recording of the band’s show at CBGBs from 1993, when their album Fully Completely. This album, with a bright pink cover, will have 2,500 copies available in the United States. 

In Buffalo, you can find RSD releases at two Revolver Record locations, on Elmwood and Hertel avenues, plus Black Dots on Grant Street, High Hi Hits on Main Street and Out There Records on Hertel Avenue. If you live in Niagara Falls, check out  Music Matters Record Store and Daredevil Records; The Record Value in Tonawanda is a participating vendor, as is Rick’s Record Shack in Hamburg, Ross Records in Hamburg, Cool Beat Music and Books in Cheektowaga, and apples & oranges records and tapes in Kenmore. 

You can search special editions and participating stores here.