Good vibes felt at Bull Moose’s Record Store Day

The Bull Moose Music store was packed-full with music fanatics on Saturday in downtown Portsmouth, to celebrate Record Store Day. Whether it was buying a limited edition copy of a record for a cheaper price or watching free live music being performed in the front corner inside the store, good vibes were felt around the store as everyone came together and enjoyed their love for music.

A line of people wrapped around the corner of Congress Street before 6 a.m. to wait for Bull Moose to open its doors. Once opened, people flooded in through the doors to get good deals on the special records, including like Phish, Bruce Springsteen and The Black Keys.

Around 300 titles were released specifically for Record Store Day. Records ranged from cheap to very expensive. Bull Moose’s staff charged less than the manufacture price for the limited edition records.

Record Store Day is the biggest day of the year for Bull Moose. Along with the limited edition records, their whole store was tagged with great deals creating a packed crowd of customers all day.

"It’s like our Black Friday,” Brian Lozo, manager of Bull Moose in Portsmouth, said “This is easily the biggest day of the year for us. We are busy all day with people coming in and out to check out the sales, and also the live performances.”

Lozo explains how Chris Brown, co-founder of Bull Moose, created Record Store Day and how it’s only five years old. Lozo said he wanted to create a day that brings together people who love music, whether it’s playing it or listening to it.  

According to Chris Brown, the “To be had” special release record of the day was “The Ghost That You Are To Me,” by the band Fun. Fun. is a fairly new alternative band whose hit single “We Are Young” has garnered the band much notoriety in recent weeks.

In a promotional YouTube video for Record Store Day, Brown states, “I want to give an award to the band that put out the release that I think just exemplifies what the special release portion of Record Store Day is all about.  We’re going to call this award, forever, the Golden Gear Award. This year’s recipient of the Golden Gear award is actually the band who created the Golden Gear. And the band who made this is none other than the band Fun. and that’s what Record Store Day is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be fun. Fun with a period. Fun. Period.”

Bull Moose had three live performances throughout the day. The Kurt Baker Band, Winter Pills and The Mallet Brothers Band all played in the order listed. All bands are fairly local. People gathered around this corner of the store enjoying the energetic music coming from the live performers. Happy tunes got everyone dancing and clapping to the beat.  The bands ranged from rock to country, all jamming out to their favorite songs.

Record Store Day at Bull Moose brought not only customers from the area, but some die-hard record buyers who made the trip from many miles away.

Rob Diefenbach, 57, traveled from his home in Campton, N.H. Diefenbach has traveled to different places for all five years that Record Store Day has been around.

“I’ve been to New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and now Portsmouth. I drove two hours just for the holiday. Haven’t missed out on any of the five years it’s been around,” he said as he searched through cardboard boxes of old records.

Record Store Day happens every third Saturday of April across the world. A part of the holiday is for artists to make special appearances at record stores. This is where artists perform, meet their fans, and release a special record or CD with other promotional products.

Record Store Day last year had over 600 artists that made special appearances at record stores across the country. Popular artists who performed included Jack White, Adele, Foo Fighters and Wiz Khalifa.