Held every third Saturday in April is Record Store Day (taking place on Saturday 16th April this year). Physical formats are very important to us, and with RSD approaching, we wanted to properly celebrate the all mighty vinyl record. So in the lead up, we decided to catch up with a few of our favourite record labels to discuss their cherished memories with the medium, and the RSD release that catches their eye the most. Today’s label in focus is fierce panda.
Written by Simon Williams, founder of fierce panda records.
Fierce Panda has been putting out decidedly non-pernicious indiepop tunes since 1994. For them, every day is record store day, as you can tell from this timely t-shirt they are selling here.
“When I was growing up in Walthamstow in the early ’80s I went to our local supercool Small Wonder record shop to buy ‘Revolutionary Spirit’ by The Wild Swans on 7”. Unfortunately it was only available on 12″ and I couldn’t afford it on my baker’s boy wages. A few years later Small Wonder closed down to be replaced by the supercool Ugly Child records, who took over a lot of Small Wonder’s stock. By this point that Wild Swans 12″ was valued at £15, which was even further out of my fiscal reach. Happily over the years I bought so many other (cheaper) records from Ugly Child, and spent so much time fondly stroking ‘Revolutionary Spirit’ in the racks that in the end one Christmas the shop owner gave me a 12″-shaped present, and that present was that very Wild Swans record. Happier still, I remain good friends with Nigel that Ugly Child shop owner 30 years later.
If I had to choose anything from the Record Store Day list of 2016, I would go for the ‘Hits South America’ live EP by a-ha and the ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ picture disc by Mr Alan Partridge. No explanation needed, I trust…”
For more on fierce panda records, head to their website here.
For more on Record Store Day, visit their website here.
