Having recently celebrated their 3 month birthday my good friends over at Southsea’s Pie and Vinyl have put on another successful in store performance, this time in the form of Artmagic – a project consisting of Suede guitarist Richard Oakes and producer/vocalist Sean McGhee (Robyn, Britney, Imogean Heap).
This was the last in a series of intimate shows Artmagic were playing, and was just as much about supporting independent record stores (come pie shops!) as it was promoting their debut album “Become the One You Love”.
Although at times being transfixed by Oakes’ playing this was more about the vocals, with beautifully performed love songs, McGhee made eye contact with each one of us and you knew the lyrics were heartfelt and sung with passion – I look forward to seeing them play on stage in full effect somewhere soon.
This also proves a perfect moment to give the lads that much deserved praise, for it really is a great little addition to the city and our love of music (and pies). It’s been a busy three months for Steve Courtnell and Rob Litchfield, and that’s not to mention the hard work behind the scenes in covering all angles of networking to make this a successful and thriving business.
If you haven’t heard about Pie and Vinyl, it does exactly what it says on the tin – combining the perfect combination of pie and mash with classic retro surroundings, focussing their musical attention on mainly new (or re-released) artists on vinyl record, but with a selection of CD and MP3 releases as well as a musical artwork also being available.
So, what have you missed during the past three months, well you can follow them on facebook/twitter (links below) but there have been numerous stories that are so much more than just the basics of the shop:
Firstly the outstanding success of Record Store day saw many a limited edition release make its way to Southsea, much (if not all?) sold out within hours… I was luckily enough to purchase 10”s by Bo Ningen and Sigur Ros (which incidentally the novelty of it playing backwards still hasn’t worn off…).
There were also in store acoustic performances by local artists, another area which the store are very keen to promote by selling their work displayed in pride of place above the old piano, which in a world dominated by corporately released acts can only be a good thing. Oh and there was also the first celebrity customer, Phil Jupitus.
The in store performances, like the Artmagic which spurred on this article, have consisted of Curxes, Karin Park and Howler (an afternoon set prior to later headlining the Wedgewood Rooms), as well as several locals acts and many more sure to be in the pipeline.
If music for some bizarre reason isn’t your thing, then make it along to support comedians in the form of local act “Glasses”.
Or just turn up for the ambience, just be sure to try one of the various cordials on offer, have a coffee, a cup of tea courtesy of the Portsmouth Tea Company, or one of the many pies… the vegetarian Heidi Pie for example, or whilst stocks last the limited edition Sebastian Cow provided by Pieminister or those locally produced by Buckwells butchers.
So all in all, a great shop, great setting and a wonderful experience so you’ll be in safe hands with Steve and Rob, but don’t just take my word for it as the proof they say…. is in the pie (and vinyl).
