lauren stern hangs with the rock group at vintage vinyl in fords, n.j.
As a gigantic music lover, it’s probably surprising to most that this was the first year I attended Record Store Day. There were many reasons I chose not to go in the past, the biggest one being I have never owned a turntable up until this past summer.
I hate to be one of those people who say this, but now that I have my turntable, I can’t really appreciate mp3s or CDs anymore. The way music sounds on this machine is unbelievable, so much more clear and crisp than any of those so called “new-wave technologies.” Once I adapted my turntable, I started to collect old vinyl given to me by my parents and friends. The first record I ever bought for it with my own money was the self titled Front Bottoms album released this past September.
I went into Record Store Day fearing for my wallet. I had never had any reason to buy vinyl and now that it’s so new to me it almost seemed inevitable I was going to wind up broke by the end of the day. Surprisingly, I only spent a little over 20 bucks since all of the exclusive releases were gone by the time I got to Vintage Vinyl. Even though I am sad I am not the owner of Minus the Bear’s new single or the amazing Flaming Lips collaboration album, I am happy with my Record Store Day and here’s why:
This band pictured above is one of my favorite bands of all time Portugal. the Man. They played at Vintage Vinyl for Record Store Day. Despite them being one of my favorite bands, I have never seen them live up until the short acoustic set they did here. I’m happy as hell they played at a store so close. I just wish I didn’t have to miss their show at Starland Ballroom later on that night.
The majority of Portugal’s set was songs off their latest release In the Mountain, in the Cloud. I was extremely content with that. Some songs included in the set were “So American,” “People Say,” “Got it All: This Can’t Be Living Now,” and “All Your Light(Times Like These)”
After their set, I got to chat and mingle with the guys in Portugal, who are extremely cool guys(no surprise here). I had a nice chat with Zach the most (the bassist) about how this band has the WORST luck with equipment and tour vehicles. Pictured below are me, John, Kyle, and the drummer filling in for Jason Sechrist, who just left the band apparently according to Zach. Funny, because it felt like not too long ago I was interviewing him for my radio show “The Spot with DJ Leopard” on 90.3 the Core.
The guys signed my “Waiter: You Vultures” vinyl that I purchased at the store a few hours before their performance. I am so happy I have this on vinyl now because this is the album that got me into Portugal. the Man.
Record Store Day is definitely a tradition I am going to uphold for the rest of my life. Only, I think next year I’m going to try out Princeton Record Exchange and wake up earlier to snag those exclusive releases. In the meantime, I’m going to happily enjoy one of my favorite albums of all time on vinyl and continue to soak in my first Portugal the Man experience until next time they come to the area to play a show.
To Portugal the Man and Vintage Vinyl: thank you for a great Record Store Day
