Frankie & The Heartstrings announce Pop-up Pop Recs and UK Tour
- Written by Lee Hammond
Every town and city in the UK has some form of music scene, some more diverse than others. However, just short of two years ago in what was originally a two week stint, Frankie & The Heartstrings opened up Pop Recs in a former tourist information centre on Fawcett Street in Sunderland. Those two weeks quickly became almost two years and on June the 27th they closed their doors. What they left behind was a pillar of the creative community of Sunderland.
For such a long time there were seldom few places for like-minded creatives to gather, yet Pop Recs became this community hub. Yes it hosted a variety of incredible gigs from Edwyn Collins and Bernard Butler to The Charlatans, Franz Ferdinand, The Vaccines and The Cribs. But what went alongside this were Poetry nights, Stitch and Bitch sessions and all manner of other events. The shop transcended the music scene so quickly, providing a genuine hub of excitement for everyone that had the pleasure of going there.
Alas though as with all good things there is always someone waiting in the wings to bring them down, and just two weeks shy of their third album Decency they closed their doors. Having received the hardest working band in music award and countless praise from people far and wide, this was the most heartbreaking news. They have vowed to continue and are appealing for any help that anyone can give in allowing them to secure new premises.
For now though they’re set to open a pop up shop above Scout Vintage on Olive Street in Sunderland to celebrate the released of Decency, the guys themselves will be playing on Saturday the 11th of July at 11:00am. Whilst this current incarnation is only a pop-up we can only hope and pray that they find somewhere new quickly, as someone with a wealth of experience both working in and frequenting record shops Pop Recs had something different and insanely special about it.
So lets not get too down about it, after all these guys are the hardest working band in music surely it’s only a matter of time that the phoenix will rise from the ashes and Pop Recs will once again become a permanent fixture of Sunderland’s community landscape.
In the meantime if you don’t live in or near Sunderland you can catch Frankie & The Heartstrings on tour in record shops and across the country later this year:
July
10 - NEWCASTLE The Cluny
11 - SUNDERLAND Pop Recs Ltd in-store @ 11.00am
11 - NEWCASTLE Reflex Records in-store @15.00pm
11 - SUNDERLAND Sunniside Festival
12 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade in-store @ 17.00pm
14 - LONDON Oslo
15 - BRISTOL Rise Records in-store @ 19.30pm
16 - KINGSTON Banquet Records in-store @ 18.00pm
16 - KINGSTON New Slang
August
08 - COALVILLE Strawberry Field Festival
September
05 - BERWICK Lindisfarne Festival
18 – SUNDERLAND City Of Culture Launch
19 - HARTLEPOOL We Are Family Festival
October
02 - HULL Adelphi
04 - YORK Duchess
05 - LINCOLN SU
06 - NORWICH Arts Centre
08 - CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
09 - BIRMINGHAM Sunflower Inn
10 - LONDON Hackney Festival
