-- Tuscaloosa's independent music store
is ready for another jam-packed Record Store Day, featuring more than 850 special items and eight bands performing live to help customers enjoy the seventh annual event.
Saturday promises tons of exciting and new exclusive releases, and more importantly for many: Free food. The store plans to start cooking out around 11:45 a.m. as those eight bands will perform all afternoon long while vinyl addicts wait patiently in another long line stretching outside the store.
The store opens at 10 a.m., but that line will start way before that, so you better get their early on Saturday morning.
"I am so excited about this year's event because I think it will be the biggest yet," says Oz manager Jason Patton. "We have more bands playing this year than we've ever had, there are more releases this year than ever before, and the popularity of vinyl is higher than it's been, too."
Last year's Record Store Day marked Oz's biggest business day in store history, and Patton anticipates they'll eclipse last year's mark on Saturday.
The massive number of new and exclusive releases will make any music fan salivate, regardless of their status as a vinyl hound. You can
. But just to give you an idea, we're looking at new records and reissues from folks like The Allman Brothers, Joan Baez, Bastille, David Bowie, Jake Bugg, Built to Spill, The Civil Wars, Dinosaur Jr., Devo, The Flaming Lips, Gram Parsons, Joy Division, Nirvana, Dolly Parton, Otis Redding, Bruce Springsteen, Velvet Underground, Link Wray and many, many more.
Most of these are seeing their release on vinyl for the first time ever and if not, the first time in decades, according to Oz. Many will release on color vinyl, and they’ll all be limited, so try not to get there too late and miss out.
"We are encouraging people to get there as early as they are comfortable with because we expect the largest crowd we've ever had, too," Patton says. "I have checked in over 850 pieces already and have a few more that are coming in today.
"Some of the biggest releases this year I think will be the Cake box set, the Joy Division, Dave Matthews, Ghostbusters OST, Grateful Dead, among many others."
Oz always has free items to give away to customers, but the business says they'll do something a little different this year.
"We're going to create 5-7 grab bags, and give them to the first people in line,"
announced. "These won't just be any grabs bags with just some crappy stickers and an offbeat CD sampler. These will have some amazing things in them, but we'll get you more details in the next few days. It will be worth the wait."
Oz does want customers to come to Record Store Days aware of the
rules
they have in place. Read them below:
1. "We will NOT hold anything, for anyone, period! These releases are super limited and to preserve the spirit of Record Store Day, they will be sold on a first come, first served basis."
2. "We will have a VERY strict rule of one copy per title, per person! This is our attempt to make it as fair as possible, so everyone has a chance at getting that one special thing on their list."
3. "ALL purchases must be made in person on the 19th! We will be WAY too busy to handle phone orders and it’s not fair to the person that camped out all night long to get that special release!"
And don't forget about that eight-band lineup schedule to play all day long. Check it out below:
Noon: Knyphon Knife
1 p.m.: Jimi Squeezebox and the Cajun Gods of Zydeco
2 p.m.: Hartleroad
3 p.m.: Mary Tylosaur
4 p.m.: The Dogwood Vandals
5 p.m.: Follow Apollo
6 p.m.: Kane Root
7 p.m.: Pen Pals