JACARANDA – SIMPLY THE BEST

It is my firm belief that record shops are amongst the most important institutions in the world.

I spend more time, and more money, in record stores than is probably healthy but they are places that not only make me inordinately happy but these palaces of pleasure have also helped shape the whole of my life.

Just think of the physical places where you spend large chunks of your life. School – you are forced to spend 12 miserable years in these educational prisons! Never trust anyone who says they enjoyed school – they will either be weirdos or just plain dull so give them a swerve.

Same goes for your workplace or office – it’s a place that you have to turn up to day after day because you need money and you know you have to try and do something with your life. But let’s be honest if you didn’t have to go in next week you wouldn’t would you?

So that’s school and work – you spend most of your life slaving away in places that bring you very little joy.

Thankfully there are times you can escape the misery of everyday existence and do things you actually like. For me there are a number of safe havens and one of these is football. Sadly I can’t play anymore but I’ve been going the match regularly since I was around seven or eight. I’m lucky enough to support the greatest team in the world which means I’ve had loads of great days and nights at Anfield and I wouldn’t change that for anything. But there’s also been lots of pain and even boredom (yes that’s down to you Arne Slot) so it isn’t perfect.

The two places I have relied on throughout my life to bring me nothing but joy are live music venues and record shops. And in very rare cases you can reach absolute nirvana when you have a great record shop and a venue all in the one wonderful space. Even just saying that is almost too much for my music-addled brain which feels like it might explode from an overload of musical delight.

So it was with great joy that I found out that the Jacaranda was announced this week as the winner of the Best Independent Record Store at the prestigious Association of Independent Music (AIM) awards.

Firstly we should congratulate Graham, Veso and all the lovely team at the Jac. The award is incredibly well deserved and I’m really happy that their excellence has been recognised at a national level.

The Jac has always been special but in recent years it has reached new heights which have made it not just a key part of the music scene in Liverpool but as a place that has national importance. It all started with the legendary Jacaranda venue itself with its famous heritage and links to The Beatles. Graham Stanley took over the Jac in 2015 and it very quickly became a key venue in the grassroots music scene in the city and has provided a vital first stepping stone for 100s of local artists ever since. (In fact the venue has also acted as a training ground in other areas too as I often speak to sound engineers, promoters, and venue managers who all say they started their careers at the Jac).

As if bringing the venue back to vibrant life wasn’t enough for Graham and Veso they also established a record shop in their small upstairs space which on occasion also functioned as a brilliantly intimate (ie sweaty) venue.

There was obviously too much going on for it everything to be confined to the one building so the Jac expanded into a larger space just around the corner with what became the much loved Phase One. There was more room for even more great vinyl and importantly a new larger, but still intimate, live music space. I loved it at Phase One and was lucky enough to do an In Conversation session there with the legend Glen Matlock when he was promoting his latest album.

And this was the sweet spot for the Jac. With vinyl sales booming, artists and record companies realised that so-called In Stores, where you could encourage fans to buy your record by doing a special performance in a record store or linked venue, then this would lead to more album sales and a better chart position. The Jac/Phase One were ideally placed to take advantage of this new industry model and this, combined with the fact that Graham, Veso and the rest of the team made everyone who played feel special, ensured that they were soon welcoming some of the biggest names in music to their wonderful venue.

A residential development meant that the life of Phase One was always going to be a limited one but a brilliant new site was identified and Jacaranda Baltic was born. As well as the upstairs record shop the Jac Baltic boasts a bigger, but still intimate live music venue. Graham and Veso were now well established as the go-to people for In Stores and as a result the venue has hosted some of the biggest names around over the last few years including memorable shows by local artists like Cheap Thrills, Keyside, Jamie Webster and Red Rum Club.

The growing reputation of the Jac has meant that when occasion demands they take over bigger spaces like the Camp and Furnace for major artists. Their next big step is the massive hometown show they are doing with our own MT Jones at the Phil on 13th Nov. Graham and Veso have worked with MT since his very early shows in the basement at the Jac and now only a few years on they are helping him perform a major Liverpool show backed by the wonderful Phil Orchestra.

MT Jones is an amazing talent and the Jacaranda team are special people so this seems like a fitting climax to a wonderful year for both of them.

Kev McManus