Vinyl fans in a spin over World Record Day

HORDES HUNT FOR RARE RELEASES

MUSIC lovers queued for hours today outside Newcastle’s record shops, determined to pick up rare vinyl on Independent Record Store Day.

A huge variety of special edition albums and singles are released on the day and will only be available in independent stores, hence the excitement among collectors.

The record-loving Little family had travelled from Carlisle to make their purchases at Reflex, in Nun Street, and had spilt their forces to give themselves the best chance of everything they wanted.

Mum Eileen, 50, had been queuing with 16-year-old Becca since around 7.30am, while Becca’s dad searched another store. They’d also got a friend on hand in Carlisle to examine their home town record store’s offering.

Becca said: “I think dad’s already bought about 10 things, we’re looking for maybe six more here as well.”

Meanwhile Sex Pistols fans Graeme McCulle, 49, and Niccy Smith, 46,

Graeme said: “There are only 15,000 copies so we’re hoping there’s a few left here. I’ve bought vinyl all my life, since the 70s, I just like looking for collectible stuff.”

Niccy added: “We go to Record Store Day most years, sometimes we’ll split up and go to different stores, this year we’re sticking together, hoping that will work. There have been queues around the corner here for hours.”

Shop owner Alan Jordan says the keenest collectors often queue from as early Reflex owner Alan Jordan as 3am to get their hands on the most rare records. Speaking on Friday as he prepared for the shop’s busiest day of the year, he said: “It’s absolutely huge, people will queue for hours, because you have to go to a record shop, you can’t get these things online.” The Independent Record Store Day event began in 2007, and in those ten years vinyl has seen a huge boost in popularity. Alan, who has been working in the industry since 1982, says he couldn’t whether the event caused the boom or simply coincided with it, but it’s certainly had a massive impact on shops like his. He said: “You’re talking month’s takings in a day.” For Alan, and many of those queuing outside his store, much of the unique appeal of vinyl is the attractiveness of the TANYA RAYAZ about a