Record Store Day in Stirling last Saturday filled the city with a renewed energy. With the sun out, live music and people eager to buy exclusive records it certainly added a joyous atmosphere to Friars Street.
The morning queues
Just after 9am Europa Music opened, ready for a full day. By then the queue was already well established, stretching all the way to the end of the street. Exclusives from artists like Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams were quickly sold out. According to Europa Music staff members someone came to queue as early as 2am that morning, successfully getting what they wanted.
Brig talked to some people in the morning crowd queuing in anticipation for the exclusive releases for sale outside the record shop, Europa Music.
Ryan, 19, said that he came early because he “desperately needs the Taylor Swift Fortnight 7-inch vinyl”
When asked what Record Store Day means to him, he replied: “It means that I get to wake up really, really, early and run to the record shops and leave with a big smile on my face because I get limited edition stuff.”
When asked why her and her friend were there so early, Ellaine, 26 replied: “Umm, to be honest, we were going to be up early anyway, but we’ve never had anyone to come to record store day with…” She continues: “We scrolled through the list, we saw loads we wanted and for once we would see if we could get any, but judging by the queue maybe not [laughs].”
A day filled with live music
The crowd died down a bit after the first couple hours with many of the popular exclusives being sold out quickly. Though, it did not take long until the street was full of even more atmosphere from the live music that started at noon.
The stage at the top of the street was surrounded by cheerful (and dancing) crowds throughout the day, with people also enjoying music from the surrounding pubs. At the back of Unorthodox Roasters, the louder bands could perform without any issue of the noise crossing over to Friars Street. The garden outside the coffee shop was quickly filled, especially for the last performance by the band punk band Thrown Away.
Interview with singer of Thrown Away
After their set, Brig sat down for a brief interview with the band’s singer Hamish McBurney who also works at Europa Music. Just before I managed to ask the first question his aunt came by to express how proud she was of him and the band.
When asked how Hamish felt their set went, he answered: “Um, I think the set went pretty well. The kind of band that we are, all our songs are about a minute to two minutes long. So, there was a few kind of technical difficulties. We didn’t have time to practice before it… but despite the kind of technical difficulties and some of the things we kind of messed up, it still went pretty well, and we still had a good turnout.”
When asked if he was pleased with the turnout, he elaborates by saying: “Yeah, I’m very pleased with the turnout. The thing that I like about Record Store Day, especially us as a band is, you know, most of the time when people see us they see the mohicans and the leather jackets and shit like that, and they think that they cannae get into it. We’ve had people of all walks of life, and I think that’s kind of a Stirling thing. You know, whenever we play Glasgow, Edinburgh, ken it is just your typical punks coming along. In Stirling there’s not many, so in a way we get all kinds of people showing up to our gigs, if you know what I mean. Which means that there’s people there that would never listen to UK 82 punk in their entire life, you know. So that’s a good thing. I think that’s why we’ve built up a bit of a different following.”
Brig also asked Hamish what Record Store Day means to him. He replied: “Um, RSD means quite a lot. I mean I work at Europa as well and so RSD is our busiest trade of the year, you know we make a lot of money and it’s basically our Christmas and we prioritise it a lot, you know. It brings the street a lot of footfall, a lot of the shops that are around about also get involved as well, so it’s a whole kind of Friars Street kind of movement…”
He continues: “…And it is really important, there is like so many people who maybe wouldn’t usually come to a gig in Stirling, who come here because its free and they can have a pint in the street and stuff like that, you know.”
Thrown Away have their next gig along with some other bands in Glasgow on Thursday, April 17. Hamish ended by saying that “we’ve got various other gigs and, you know, other things like that coming up this year. So, it will be good stuff”.
Conclusion
Record store day 2025 appears to have been a success. Already halfway through the day Europa staff said it was looking better than last year. Europa Music, the bands and artists playing have undoubtably contributed to bringing more people out onto the street. And Stirling seems to appreciate this kind of music event, bringing the people together. Hopefully we will start to see more in the future, as this era of music in Stirling evolves.
Featured Image Credit: Kristina Wikensten
2nd year History & Journalism Student at the University of Stirling. Moved over from Sweden in 2024 to study in Scotland.
