How did you spend Record Store Day 2024?
A: At the smallest gig in the smallest store in the smallest city in the UK
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Record Store Day UK: 20th April 2024
This was the scene on Saturday in Dead Sea Records, the newest and, reputedly, second smallest record shop in Wales in, certainly, the smallest city in the UK. Local band, Honey Fungus, played a set of their original songs, accompanied by local musician, DJ and promotor, Steve Prior on the drum box. The gig was filmed and there was an audience, you just can’t see us as we had to scatter around the edges of the shop itself. It is VERY small!
It was a joyous afternoon, one of the first warm, sunny days we’ve had in Pembrokeshire after weeks of storms and floods, and it was warm for other reasons too. Locals and tourists wandered through, and the record bins were well explored and depleted (a good deal of vinyl was sold apparently!). There were good conversations, families passing by, kids running in and out of the shop, and coffees being bought from the new Smörgåsbord board game cafe next door!
Honey Fungus are typical of the musical scene around the area – a family affair with singer Angharad and Jon Kellie on vocals and guitar, and Christian Senior (the record shop owner) on bass. As they say on their website:
“We came back to Pembrokeshire to settle down and start a family and now live in a lovely little village, not far from the sea. We play music every week and still look forward to every time we step onstage together.”
Chris (Christian) Senior started Dead Sea Records as a mail order business a year or so ago, and then opened his tiny shop in St Davids in April this year. It’s tucked in behind the Pines Gallery, another new small business in the city, run by Chris’s friend, Kayleigh Brimacombe. Meanwhile, more #microgigs at the shop are planned in coming months.
Video of the performance from the Dead Sea Records Youtube Channel. Production by Richard and Freya… 1
There’s loads more of these stories about ‘doing music’ in this small pocket of West Wales. Witness Steve Prior – on the drum box this afternoon – who has played in bands and deejayed all over the world, before coming back home with his family to West Wales. He now runs a guest house in the city with his wife Orla, and curates one of the best small festivals in the UK - Boia Festival – which takes place in and around the (very few) streets of St Davids in late October each year. The festival attracts some of the best bands and musicians – from locally and around the world.
One of my all time favourite bands – The Delines (a recommendation from Ziggy) – played St Davids City Hall in October 2022.2 It was one of the best gigs I’ve been to, and Steve has hosted loads more. Notably (for me!) they have included the amazing William the Conqueror, Lisa O’Neill, whose album all of this is chance is still one of my favourite releases of the last couple of years, and Rona Mac, a local singer songwriter and mesmerising live performer.3
All of this takes place in and around one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the UK. The Pembrokeshire scene has everything from party bands and summer festivals to hidden away studios, as well as annual classical, jazz and folk festivals – all within the boundaries of a few square miles on this coastal peninsula.
Of course there are distinctive music scenes in many places across the UK and the world. It’s what makes music so special. In this blog, I’m hoping to find out more about what makes them thrive, what motivates the people who play in and promote these special musical cultures – from mini-festivals and micro gigs to the pubs, clubs and gatherings where people run ‘busker’ and open mic nights.4
I’m going to explore this where I live in Pembrokeshire and follow the connections that started on Record Store Day. I’ll be talking with Steve, Angharad, Chris and a whole bunch of others about what makes their music special to them, and unique to this special location. I’ll also be tracking the journeys of others – friends, family members and others who have been a part of my own musical life – wherever in the world they find themselves.
I’d love to hear from people involved in local music scenes who might relate to this, and who would be willing to tell your stories of musical relationship and connection. You might be in Whitley Bay, Banbury, Bath or Barbados, or anywhere in between and beyond. What gives your music scene its the distinctiveness and character? Who are the key movers where you are – the promotor, players and record shop owners who keep things going – and playing – often against the odds? What does music do in your particular places and contexts? Tell me your stories and I’ll weave them into this strange project that seems to have taken me over…
Postscript
Q: Did you buy anything?
A: Silly question. Yes, I bought my first Dead Sea Records record! I’ve had my eye on this 2018 issue, Everything is Recorded, by XL Recordings boss, Richard Russell for a while. You can find out more here, and I may feature it in the oddfinds section in the future. The playlist for the album is HERE if you’d like a listen.
Notes
From the Dead Sea Records YouTube Channel: “Yes it's a small space. It's a small record shop. The idea that you can't get a full kit and a brass section in the gap can put some musicians off. The idea that we just open the doors and hope that an audience builds from the passing folk that are curious enough to stop and listen can be too off-putting for some. Honey Fungus are seasoned veterans at this, they have played in all kinds of spaces, bigger and smaller than this, so when they were approached to play our first Miniature Sounds gig they didn't hesitate. The very popular husband and wife duo started out entertaining the apres-skiiers in the French Alps before settling back in Pembrokeshire and adding a rhythm section into the mix. This intimate set is a small selection of their growing catalogue of original songs. Big thanks to Richard and Freya for the production work.”
The Delines are back touring in the UK and Europe in June this year (2024). Their tour dates are here https://www.thedelines.com - I highly recommend you get to see them if you can!
From Rona Mac’s website: “Rona Mac (she/her) is a trailblazer for expression within music. She is a queer Singer-Songwriter bringing us lo-fi alt-Indie with Folk and Americana influences, crafted in her caravan home-studio in west Wales. Her music comes raw and unfiltered, aching with the kind of nostalgia that comes with rural, rugged places. She weaves satisfying guitar-driven riffs with hooky melodies and she shows the ability in her sophisticated lyricism to reach out to people and make them feel. Her strive for depth and grit evokes the singer-songwriter movement of late 90’s as well as contemporaries such as SOAK, Marika Hackman and Holly Humberstone.” I love her work, and will try to feature her again. Here’s a recent live session to be going along with:
The next post on Ziggy’s Lament will be around one of these scenes – a buskers’ night in the North-East seaside town of Whitley Bay where I grew up, and is the story of Phil, my best friend of more than fifty years. Sign up to get free access to all future episodes and stories on this growing publication.