RISING TO THE OCCASION

The Independent Record Store Day is to take place on Saturday, April 16 and once again Cheltenham’s Rise store in Beechwood Shopping Centre will be at the forefront.

Record Store Day is an annual event that aims to highlight the contribution of Indie Record Shops to the UK’s music industry and the event, now in its fourth year, promotes the stores via exclusive releases available only at participating stores.  

Last year saw over 150 releases with artists such as The Beatles, Blur, Pavement, Gorillaz and the Rolling Stones.  

This year looks to build on the success of 2011 with another strong array of releases and support from prominent artists.  Announcements about releases will be made via www.recordstoreday.co.uk

In 2010 Rise’s three award winning shops took part and customers in the Cheltenham store were treated to free live music all day from six different bands.

Long queues formed outside the shops as customers waited to get their hands on limited pressings on 7’’, 12’’, CD & LP.  and music fans were treated to live performances and exclusive up-front album playbacks.  

Rise owner Lawrence Montgomery said: “Last year was incredibly successful and we want to build on this for 2011. We are very close to confirming the bands that will be performing and other special events for the day. We will be posting everything on www.rise-music.co.uk as soon as we know.”

To run alongside the announcement of Record Store Day, the Entertainment Retailers Association has started a poll to find out the country’s favourite Indie Record Shop. Voting closes on March 31 and votes can be cast on www.indierecordshop.org