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Poppy and The JB's swing by the Artrocker Office to tell us about which independent record shops get their vote - and what their fantasy store would look like. Warning: it does include a "basement for dark purposes"...
POPPY AND THE JEZEBELS' REALITY RECORD SHOPS OF CHOICE ARE:
SWORDFISH RECORDS, BIRMINGHAM
POLAR BEAR RECORDS, KINGS HEATH
"Ok – we’re gonna write about the two independent shops that we grew up visiting in Birmingham, where we got hold of our first records in our very early teens. And – remarkably in the current climate – they’re both still open!
Swordfish is in the city centre and Polar Bear is in our home area of Kings Heath. They both have lots of new vinyl, but also have second hand rarities to rifle through. They also have 7 inch singles too which is our favourite format… and both shops, of course, stock our new single - UFO!
The last thing from Polar Bear was a Suicide box set with loads of live bootleg recordings from 1977… and we always pick up great new stuff – XX Teens, Nick Cave’s latest, Cat power… as well as harder to find stuff like Joe Meek’s ‘I Hear a New World’."
What makes them distinctive? They are both run by people who are prepared to stand and chat and share their tastes. Swordfish has a giant painted Las Vegas era Elvis standing in the doorway, while Polar Bear has quotes from Kerouac on the walls…
We’ve named it after our label – which will of course be so successful that we’ll extend the franchise! We’ll buy the old Derry and Toms building on Kensington High St (which used to have the Big Biba store) It’s what our song ‘The Lips of Cleopatra’ is all about; we’ll rip out the horrible M&S signs and restore it to Art Deco wonderousness…
The roof garden will hold gigs again by all our favourite acts… although we won’t bring back the flamingos as they wouldn’t like the noise. We’ll have a floor each (to each of our tastes). Dom can run the singer – songwriter section, Poppy will have the Basement for darker pursuits, Mollie can have a dance floor and DJ booth in the Rainbow room, this floor will also house the extensive show-tune section. Amber can have a floor selling Union-Jack dresses, super glue silly string and handbags… we can stock more than records can’t we?
We’ll blow the whole place up the day before it goes bankrupt…
What would we spin to bring people off the street? Poppy would play a constant dirge of The Birthday Party and The Cramps at massive volume to lure people into the shop… it's sure to work!
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