Record Store Day: The Movie raising money for UK cinema release
Sound It Out, which offers a fly-on-the-wall look at the last surviving record shop inTeesside, was originally screened back in March at South By South West festival in Austin, Texas. The people behind the film have launched a crowd-funding campaign in order to fund the nationwide UK cinema release. Click here for more information.
Originally a small project by Jeanie Finlay, the documentary - billed as "High Fidelity with a Northern accent" - portrays not only the vinyl obsessions of punters but also store owner Tom Butchard's personal rapport with a host of regulars.
Despite the slump in physical album sales in the download era, some independent shops have clung on - though Butchard is puzzled as to why his store, also called Sound It Out, has weathered the storm.
"It’s a poor area in Stockton so I don’t really know why it’s the only record shop in the area to have survived," he tells NME. "But people want to come in and see what isn’t in the charts."
Butchard is passionate about only stocking independent and unusual music: "Downloading has killed off a lot of shops. Over the years people have told me to sell chart stuff, but if I’d started I would have closed by now."
Adding to the plucky underdog theme is the fact that Sound It Out is not the product of a Hollywood studio; it is entirely fan-funded. Over 250 members of the public contributed towards getting the documentary to Austin, Texas for its world premiere. "Joe public has paid, and it’s incredible," says Tom.
But the store isn't likely to stray far from its North Eastern roots any time soon. Tom assures us: "I want to carry on as we are. People have been coming here for 20 years so I wouldn’t relocate, Stockton is home!"
