Upcoming Shows!

Lunchbox Records has a handful of shows coming up in the next month. This past week we were lucky enough to have Make Do and Mend, , The Stereo State, Panzram, and Relics, as well as locals Coma League, Trapper, and Junior Astronomers. Thanks to everyone that came to the shows, it's always been a blast being able to have all-ages shows in Charlotte.

We still have a bunch of shows this summer, including a special matinee on Friday, August 14th, featuring North Carolina's own Logic Problem, and The Shitty Limits, from the UK. We just got copies of the new Logic Problem 7" as well, so make sure to pick that up and learn all the words before the show.
We're also pretty excited to announce that Lion of Judah will be playing at Lunchbox on August 5th with Give, and Meth Mountain.

Grids 7"s Are Finally Here!



Long time no update. Busy trying to actually have a life outside of working 7 days a week I guess. Anyhow of course the big news is that the new Grids 7" is finally out. We are having a record release show on June 12th at the Milestone with Yardwork and Tenspeed Trio. We are pleased to be putting out another record by another great local band. The records will be $4.00 at the show or in the store, but at the show you can get a special limited release cover. More info here.

Also a few other local bands are planning some vinyl release, so be on the lookout for stuff from Lowbrow, Great Architect, and I think a Black Congo LP in the next few months.

We have an in-store performance Saturday, June 13 with Richard Swift who is playing with the Fray at the Charlotte Boutique Amphitheater that night. Here is what Creative Loafing has to say about him:

The Fray blah-blah-blah, hit song on Lost blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-the American Coldplay-blah, etc. The only possible reasons for attending this show if you're not a weepy 16-year-old are to hear what the acoustics sound like at the new Uptown venue, or opener Richard Swift, who's been described as "Prince sitting in on the Plastic Ono Band sessions."

We are still trudging on here at the store. Tons of new release and great used stuff, but with me trying to keep up with everything I haven't typed up a new release list in quite a while. If you are ever wondering if we have something or will be getting it, just call or email us and will be glad to tell you if we have it or order it for you if we don't. We get lots of stuff each week and our prices are usually cheaper than other stores in town. And before you order stuff online check with us because we'll be more than glad to ship to you as well. And we'll ship your records in boxes meant for records, not some giant box like those idiots at Amazon. We actually care about vinyl here, which is also why we put sleeves on our used records and don't stick annoying price tags directly on the cover like other stores.

Anyway, stop by and say hi and buy some stuff or don't. - Scott

Record Store Day Is This Saturday, April 18th!



In case you haven't heard or read about this, this Saturday we'll be taking part in the second annual Record Store Day, which is actually being held across the globe. For some info on what it's all about -- although you can pretty much assume what its motivations are -- check out www.recordstoreday.com

WE WILL BE OPENING AT 10 A.M. SATURDAY

Last year was awesome and I guess people felt left out because there are tons of releases coming out that day that are limited. Now, what does this mean for you? Well, over the past few weeks we've been receiving tons of freebie goodies to give away in honor of Record Store Day. If you stop by anytime on Saturday, we'll have a bag full of free stuff for you. It's first-come, first-serve, so if we're out of them by the time you get here, we're sorry. So try to make it earlier rather than later. Here's a few of the items that you'll be able to grab...

Merge Records 2009 cd sampler
Orchard Distribution cd sampler
Capitol Records/Beastie Boys slipmat (ours are cooler though...)
Sargent House cd sampler
Rounder Records cd sampler
Caroline Distribution cd sampler
Hollywood Undead 7"
Important Records cd sampler
White Lies DVD
Kings of Leon 7"
Fat Possum Records 7" (with Wavves, Preacher Man, Thomas Function, Crocodiles)
Univeral Music sampler LP (feat. Anberlin, White Lies, Raul Malo, Sam Roberts, etc.)
Sony/BMG Music sampler LP (feat. MGMT, Glasvegas, Black Kids, Q-Tip, Charles Mingus, etc.)
Redeye CD sampler
A-F Records sampler
Stickers
Temporary Tattoos
Iron-ons
Beatles numbered lithograph
Lost Highway Records cd sampler
Eagle Rock cd sampler
Posters
Button packs
etc...

ALSO there are Record Store Day EXCLUSIVES for sale only at participating stores. These are almost all very limited in nature, and in many case we did NOT get that many or as many as we ordered, so be ready. There were way more labels participating this year so there are bound to be some things I didn't even know about as well. We're trying our best to get everything though, but sometimes things slip through the cracks and with this many releases we had to budget ourselves a bit as well. Among the releases that day are a ton of 7"s. There were a few last year, but way more this year. However, we would just to point out that unlike a lot of other stores we stock hundreds of new 7" singles every day. Why? Because we love vinyl and 7"s.

The releases include:

Akron/Family - "Everyone is Guilty" 7"
Bad Religion -Original EP 7" reissue - now you don't have to spend $400 on ebay for an original
Andrew Bird/Loney Dear - split 7"
The Black Kids - "Wizard of Ahhhs" 10"
Blitzen Trapper - "War is Placebo"/"Booksmart" 7"
Bob Dylan - "Dreaming of You"/"Down Along the Cove" 7"
Booker T - "Warped Sister"/"Reunion Time" 7"
Camera Obscura - "French Navy" 7"
Leonard Cohen 7" - "The Future/"Suzanne"
Cold War Kids - "Live at Fingerprints" CD
Elvis Costello - "Complicated Shadows"/"Dirty Rotten Shame" picture disc
Rivers Cuomo - Live @ Fingerprints CD and CD/DVD Combo
Cursive/Ladyfinger - Split 10" picture disc
Dan Deacon - Bromst LP The Decemberists - "The Rake's Song"/"East India Lanes" 7"
Depeche Mode - "Wrong"/"Oh Well" 7"
Dr. Dog/Floating Action - Split 7"
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Cryptomnesia - LP
Flaming Lips/Black Keys - split 7" ("Borderline"/"Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles")
Flight of the Conchords - "Pencils In The Wind"/"Albi"
Gaslight Anthem - Live from Park Ave 10"
Gomez - Airstream Driver 7"
Grizzly Bear - Live on KCRW 7"
Guided By Voices - "Hold On Hope" LP
Ben Harper - "Shimmer and Shine"/"Spanish Red Wine" 10"
Heaven & Hell - 7" "Bible Black"/"Neon Knights (Live)"
Iron and Wine - Norfolk 6-20-05 live CD
Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song" / "Standing in the Shower...Thinking" 7"
Jesus Lizard - Inch 9x7" box set
Jenny Lewis/Elvis Costello split 7" - "Carpet Baggers"/"Go Away"
Lykkie Li/Perro Del Mar - "After Laughter (Comes Tears)" / "At Your Best (You are Love)" 7"
Magnolia Electric Co. - "It's Made Me Cry" 7"
MC 5 - "Kick Out The Jams"/"Motor City Is Burning" 7"
Tift Merritt - Buckingham Solo CD
Metric - "Help I'm Alive" 7" Picture disc
Misfits - Walk Among Us LP (180 gram reissue)
Modest Mouse - "Satelite Skin"/"Guilty Cocker Spaniels" 7"
My Morning Jacket - Celebraci�n De La Ciudad Natal (CD & VERY LIMITED 2 X 10" LP)
New Order - "Temptation"/"Hurt" 7"
Obits - "I Can't Lose/Military Madness" 7"
Pavement - "Live in Germany 1988" LP
Elvis Perkins - "Lorraine Lookout" 7"
Pretenders - "Break Up The Pavement"/Love's..." 7"
Radiohead - 12" vinyl single series (Drill, Creep, My Iron Lung, High & Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Street Spirit, Paranoid Android, Karma Police, No Surprises, Pyramid Song, 2+2=5)
Arthur Russell - "Love Is Taking Me" 2 X LP
Russian Circles/These Arms Are Snakes - split LP
Silversun Pickups - Pikul 12" (exclusive release ahead of their new album)
Slayer - "Psychopathy Red" 7"
Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone LP
Smiths - "The Headmaster Ritual" /"Oscillate Widly" 7"
Sonic Youth/Beck - split 7"
Sonic Youth/Jay Reatard - split 7"
Charles Spearin (of Broken Social Scene) - The Happiness Project - LP
Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope LP
Bruce Springsteen - "What Love Can Do"/"A Night With The Jersey Devil" 7"
The Stooges - "1969"/"Real Cool Time" 7"
Sublime - "Superstar Punani/April 29, 1992" 7"
Taking Back Sunday - "Carpathia/Catholic" (live) 7"
Talking Heads - 77 LP
The Thermals/Thao - split 7"
Vetiver - "Wishing Well"/"Pay No Mind" 7"
Tom Waits - "Live from the Glitterdome" 7"
Whiskeytown - "San Atone"/"Great Divide" 7"
Wilco - "Ashes of American Flags" DVD
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "It's Blitz" LP
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain - Live a Canterbury House 1968 2xLP
V/A - Records Toreism - LP (songs from Tortoise, Trans Am, Mountains, White Hills and Double Dagger)

... note - due to distributor/label/whatever delays, a few of these things have been delayed, but we'll get them in next week or whenever the labels finally send them to us. These include the Modest Mouse 7", Elvis Costello 7", Rivers Cuomo CD/DVD, and Wilco LPs

ALSO, we will be having a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to be drawn on Saturday night.

AND IN ADDITION TO ALL OF THIS...we're going to bring out as many posters (and trust us, we have billions of them) & whatever else we can find to give to ya. It helps us, it helps you, it helps the world. Ok, maybe not the whole world. But we hope you'll enjoy what you can have.

The only requirement to get all this stuff is to stop by and buy something -- or, at the very least, look around and see if there's anything you want. I'm sure other stores will have more strings attached to get some of these free items, but we'd rather you have them then not, you know? We appreciate the year-round business that everyone in this community (and beyond) has brought us, year after year. Stop by on this new holiday and get a little somethin' back.

AND most importantly, we are having a Record Store Day Sale. Or you can call it our 3.5 year anniversary sale since we just had our 3rd Anniversary in January (we were a little late). Anyhow, here's the deal:

EVERYTHING IN THE STORE IS 15% OFF!
- LPs, CDs, DVDs, 7"s, 10"s, books, stickers, patches, everything! Saturday only!

IN ADDITION ALL USED CDS & DVDS ARE BUY 2 GET 1 FREE! - This is combined with the 15% off, which basically amounts to buy one get one free (or a combined 44% off of all used cds & dvds if you want to get exact). Hopefully that makes sense. It's a lot easier for us to ring it up that way.

FREE LUNCHBOX RECORDS SLIPMAT WITH $50 PURCHASE - we had these made just for this and figured people might use this more than a shirt.

We just got these in and they look like this:



We don't have any bands playing during the day because if you've been in here during one of our shows you know we have to move a lot of stuff around which kind of messes up the sale aspect of the day. We've managed to have about 300 bands play here in 3 years though, so we're definitely trying to do our part. Anyway, we are having a DJ that day to spin cool records of his collection, some of mine, some of Rob's and if you want to bring some of yours let us know and maybe we can do that too. Later that night MOENDA will be playing. This is the new band with 2/3 of Calabi Yau, whom we obviously loved enough to put out a 7" by. Rogue Nations was supposed to play their LP/CD release too, but some last minute events have made them have to postpone that. The Have & The Have Nots will be playing also.

See you Saturday!!

Now for my rant...(reprinted from last year for your convenience)

You're probably wondering what RECORD STORE DAY is anyway? I was at first too. But it's basically a revamped customer appreciation day where hopefully you the customer appreciates us as well and the fact that you live in or near a town that still has independent record stores. I personally don't like buy things online, but lots of people do. But it's great to know that you can go to a store and browse and stumble on things you never would have thought of or heard of otherwise. You don't get too much of that online. We also do everything in our capabilities to sell you records as cheap as we can. This means buying direct whenever possible and searching for deals and unfortunately not bringing some stuff in because big labels like to give chain stores better deals than the little guy. Our prices for most things we stock are typically $2-$5 cheaper than the big store across town. We don't do sales often because we prefer to make it cheap all of the time. We stock tons of LPs and 7"s because we love the format and when I opened this store the other stores we're still busy trying to kill the format. I believe in independent music and labels and try to stock as much as I can which means a lot of lesser known indie, punk and metal titles. I'm not against major labels, but 99% of what they release is manufactured garbage, although they were all once viable indie labels.

I've been going to record stores since as long as I can remember, buying my first 7" in 1984 and getting into punk a couple years later. It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta that I had good stores that stocked underground releases and I've been addicted ever since. If I didn't love record stores I wouldn't own one. I'd go get a job that made a lot more money. People come in here a lot and tell me they love the store and it's great, and lots of out of town folks and bands do too. I really have no reference point on that anymore since I'm here seven days a week. There's only 2 other stores that sell vinyl in town, one is oldies oriented and the other banned me for life when I stopped working there and opened my own store. So I never get to go to any other stores and just try to make mine the one I would want to go to. I'm nowhere near that point yet and am working to improve it all of the time. I value people's suggestions and take them seriously, probably a little too seriously. But if you don't tell me what you want I can't read minds. The point of this being that I think the store is pretty good, and there are tons of folks that don't have a decent record store anywhere near them. So hopefully you'll support us. I realize the store isn't for everybody though.

We will continue to sell you lots of records we and you think are cool, and we will continue to have shows in the store as long as I can and bring awesome out of town bands to Charlotte. We are very thankful of those of you that have supported us for the last 3.5 years. And if you've never been here before, please come visit us.

-Scott

Label News

The GRIDS 7"s are almost here. We have the covers ready to go, and we got our first test press last week which had a little issue that will hopefully get fixed next week. But anyway we are planning an awesome release show at The Milestone on June 12th with Grids, Yardwork, Moenda, and Tenspeed. Oh yeah, the first 30 copies will come with special screened covers, and all copies will come with download coupons.

After that we should have the SLED LPs out pretty soon as well. Everything has been mastered and is ready. I just have to recoup all the money I spent on RSD first. If you don't know, SLED is from Columbia, SC and is 2 of the folks from Assfactor 4 and rocks accordingly.

One more special surprise after that - another LP! This will prove to be our busiest year as a label since 1995. Ha ha.

All Used DVDs Are Buy 2 Get 1 Free

From now until 4/17/09 all used dvds are on sale - buy 2 get 1 free. A lot of people have been selling their collections and it's starting to pile up. So now we need to make room. We just marked down a bunch more in our budget section as well. Most of our used dvds are $6 or less too.

Sonic Youth "The Eternal" LP/CD Pre-order



Sonic Youth's "The Eternal" will be released on June 9, 2009 and is the latest Matador release to get the BUY EARLY GET NOW treatment.

This is our 7th overall BEGN and we've worked closely with the band to come up with a list of goodies and bundled them into an incredible offer.� The album can be pre-ordered from us starting on March 24 or directly from Matador starting April 28.

WHAT YOU GET:
Along with your pre-order of �The Eternal� on 2xLP or CD, you�ll get...
- pre-release stream of album on April 28
- bonus limited exclusive vinyl live LP on street date
- bonus limited-edition poster on street date
- bonus exclusive MP3 outtakes and live tracks


come in and pre-order now!

Record Store Day is coming...



RECORD STORE DAY - APRIL 18, 2009

I realize I haven't updated this in a while, mostly just from being busy doing a million things. We are still getting tons of new releases in all of the time which I can hopefully have some typed up next week. In fact we have remodeled (sort of), changing our cd racks to ones that are easier to browse which also gave us room to add a few more LP bins. So now you can flip through the records easier and we have more room to add even more vinyl! Thanks to Steven and Rob for helping out.

Record Store Day is coming up soon and there are way more things this year. Last year was awesome and I guess people felt left out because there are tons of releases coming out that day that are limited. As soon as I have some kind of grasp on them all I will post them, but with so many we're probably going to miss something and piss someone off, but we're trying our best. We'll be having some bands play this year too, although at night so as not to get in the way of your record buying.

Among the releases that day are a ton of 7"s. There were a few last year, but way more this year. However, we would just to point out that unlike a lot of other stores we stock hundreds of new 7" singles every day. Why? Because we love vinyl and 7"s.