Record Store Day UK - The Mighty Boosh

09 April 2019 - Press release

Record Store Day UK goes on a journey through time and space to bring you the official UK ambassadors of 2019: The Mighty Boosh
 
Ahead of the 12th edition of the event this Saturday 13th April, self-professed record lovers Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding fly the flag for the UK’s independent record stores.
The writers and stars of the acclaimed British comedy The Mighty Boosh, are the first comedians to take on Record Store Day’s illustrious ambassador role. They follow in the footsteps of Sir Elton John, Run the Jewels, St Vincent, Pearl Jam and many more. Here’s what they have to say about supporting the event:

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Record Store Day, supported by BBC Sounds, is the one day of the year that unites more than 250 record shops in the UK and thousands globally. It’s a celebration of their independence, unique culture and the art of vinyl.  
 
Hundreds of recording artists support the event by releasing exclusive vinyl records. This year includes releases from the likes of IDLES, Grandmaster Flash, The Rolling Stones and Courtney Barnett.
 
And as part of their role in the event, Julian and Noel are giving fans the special opportunity to get the complete Mighty Boosh radio series on vinyl. This is the first time the series appears on record and presents the surreal world of the Zooniverse on 3 pieces of coloured 180g vinyl.
 
Julian Barratt explains why they chose Record Store Day as the time to release this record:
“We are approaching singularity, when computers will overtake and replace us. Therefore, it suddenly felt prescient to outwit them and somehow save our precious early recordings onto a format that the dawning artificial intelligences will not see as a threat. In the feint hope that one day, thousands of years from now, when the human race is decimated and bereft, its ephemeral digital archive wiped by the powerful shockwaves of the ‘magneto-pulse’, a solitary humanoid survivor, scavenging and in the dark tunnels beneath the humming glistening exo-skin of the earth… will discover this disc abandoned in a cave, and trace its long fingernail across the patterned surface only to drop in shock as it hears my rich and resonant voice echoing through the cave”
 
Noel Fielding also added: “People that work in record shops are often obsessed with vinyl and music and bands and can steer you in the right direction and tell you about things that you would never know about. Whereas you can’t do that on the internet. It’s not possible. You want some vinyl expert to tell you about a record you’ve never heard of. That’s the beauty of it.”
 
Natasha Youngs, owner of the independent record shop, Resident Music said “We are thrilled to have the untouchable Noel Fielding & Julian Barratt, aka The Mighty Boosh, as this year’s Record Store Day ambassadors. As a duo that have come up through grassroots venues, reliant on word of mouth and committed returning fans / customers, they understand the ethos of our establishments and the need to support independent businesses. They also handily really like music. And record shops. And buying music from record shops. So it’s all worked out really rather nicely. They even went and put out a record for the day. God bless them. A shamanic God obviously.”
 
Record Store Day is widely regarded as the catalyst behind the phenomenal vinyl resurgence as sales topped 4.4m units in the UK in 2018- this is compared to just 205k in 2008 when RSD began.

Though there is a still a long way to go, the success of the event has sparked a huge turnaround in fortunes for the nation’s independent record stores, with new shops opening at nearly one a fortnight since last year’s Record Store Day.