Relapse Records, We Hardly Knew Ye...

On Thursday, the word went out: Relapse Records was no more.

In what is nothing short of a devastating blow to the metal community in Philadelphia, the last Bastille of pure metal is now gone. Our own little Hellvete, the famous store known for fostering the Black Metal Scene over the ocean and in the land of viking legends and lore, Relapse Retail in Philadelphia did something that few stores around the country, let alone in Philadelphia, had the balls to do, and that was not to stock anything NOT Metal or, to an extent, punk.

The following statment was posted on their MySpace Page:

It was a sad day for us to have to close our store yesterday after giving it a go for several years. ... It is deeply important to us that you pass along this thank you to the greater Philly area.

Thank you to anyone who has ever shopped at, browsed through, or otherwise been part of the community at the Relapse Retail store on 4th street. We appreciate you support and enthusiasm more than you know.

Relapse

Relapse Records was the place I went to get my metal CD's. I started to get tired of spending any money at all at FYE, metal section or not, and Relapse always had a better selection of CD's and, even more importantly, t-shirts. When Rock & Roll+ went under in 2004, Relapse was the only place to buy band shirts in Philly. No it's gone.

But even more importantly, Relapse Records allowed you to meet the bands you loved! Or, in more cases than not for me, meet bands I liked and found it cool to meet. Obituary, DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Meshuggah... Good times! I'll never forget going there in September of 2006 to browse around and being told that Brian Poshen, one of my favorite comedians and a real metal fan, was upstairs doing a meet & greet with free pizza. I thought it was a joke, but lo and behold, YEP! There he was!

This was my stomping ground, my haven away from the tourists that have taken over South Street, and one of the very, very, very few reasons I had left to venture down there. Save Noise Pollution and Crash Bang, I doubt 4th and South is going to be a place for me to go to much more. On the plus side, the idiots who work at Jim's Steaks will stop looking at everyone who goes to that store like freaks, something I can only assume these jackasses would had gotten used to after some 6-odd years there.

Insult to injury, they just got a new sign for that store and renovated the entire place last year.

I can't lie about this part in particular; for all the bitching and moaning I make on a daily basis of the Alt-Weeklies in Philadelphia, how they seem to hate metal and are dominated by a small minority of "hipper-than-thou" people... I have been proven wrong. Philadelphia City Paper actually had a nice (be it still in the tounge-in-cheek fashion as they always have) about this to inform us. Philebrity.com, the site that even went so far as to cover me during my run last year, had a mention of it.

I honestly could just go on and on about this store and the people who worked there, people I grew to know over the years. More than anyone, I will never forget the lovely dreadlocked woman who worked behind the counter. I will never forget how hard she worked and tried to make sure this store stayed afloat. Her tireless efforts are something I won't forget, and I wish her the best and greatest of luck in all of her future endevors! Joy, you will be missed as well.

If you can, for older releases, try to check out the legendary Noise Pollution shop across from where Relapse Records is. I know the owner and the store, literally, is it in terms of good music stores in Philly if your not some hipster or indie fan. If you love metal and punk, Noise Pollution is it!

Check out the MySpace page for Relpase Retail here.