TREEFORT WARMUP PARTY FIRST THURSDAY 3/6: GOCK LIVE SET, FREE BOISE BREWING BEER, WINDOW WALK, WIN A 5-DAY TREEFORT PASS!

Get #treefortready during The Record Exchange’s annual Treefort Warmup Party at 5:30pm First Thursday, March 6!

Presented by our craft beer partners Boise Brewing, the Treefort Warmup Party will feature live music from Gock and free cans of Boise Brewing’s delicious community-supported craft beer (21+ w/ ID).
 
Warmup Party guests will have the chance to enter to win a 5-day Treefort Music Fest pass and Record Exchange gift card (must be present to win). The Record Exchange will have physical 5-day Treefort passes available for purchase during the party.

The Record Exchange is one of several Downtown Boise businesses participating in the annual Treefort First Thursday Window Walk, a showcase of Treefort-inspired window art conceived by local artists.

As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

Treefort lineup, schedule, passes and info at treefortmusicfest.com.

In addition to the Warmup Party, The Record Exchange is offering 20% off* used music and video for First Thursday.

Save on used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, Blu-ray, DVDs and VHS for one day only!

Open 10am-7pm.

*Excluding Rare Wax vinyl titles.

ABOUT GOCK:

Gock is a trans-fronted rock group formed in 2022 in the wake of rampant anti-trans legislation. Pulling influences from 90s alt-rock, jangly midwest emo and anthemic stadium rock ballads, the band discusses the isolation of gender nonconformity as well as how various social intersections are affected by a failing economic system.

Gock will be performing during Treefort on Saturday, March 29 (4:30pm) in the Shrine Basement.

RADIO BOISE NIGHT FOR IDAHO GIVES FIRST THURSDAY: FREE BEER, MEET THE DJs, A PORTION OF OUR SALES GO TO KRBX!

Join us First Thursday, March 4 (5-9 p.m.) for Radio Boise Night for Idaho Gives at The Record Exchange! Hear DJ sets from Radio Boise programmers, enjoy free beer (21+ with valid I.D.) and help us raise money for KRBX by donating to Idaho Gives and shopping the RX — a portion of store sales during the event will be donated to Radio Boise!

Put faces behind the names of Radio Boise DJs and get a taste of what they play during this special First Thursday fundraising event for Idaho Gives. We’re handing over the store hi-fi for the evening and several KRBX DJs will spin music from their programs while you shop — the more you spend, the more you help us support Radio Boise!

Radio Boise staff will be here to assist with your Idaho Gives donation. We’ll also have raffles with Radio Boise merch, vinyl and more in between the DJ sets!

DJ LINEUP:

Guilty Pleasures (Saturdays 9-11pm

The Hip Chick (Fridays 6-8am)

Riff Haven (Tuesdays 9-11pm)

Psych Sirens (Thursdays 9-11pm)

Smoke and Mirrors (Mondays 10pm-midnight)

 

SFM-STEVE FULTON MUSIC ‘EPONYM’ ALBUM RELEASE PARTY OCTOBER 6

fultonThe Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St.) is honored to host the SFM-Steve Fulton Music “Eponym” Album Release Party at 6pm First Thursday, Oct. 6. “Eponym” will be available for purchase at the party. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

Though “Eponym” is the first new album in 11 years from the Idaho musician and producer, Fulton has hardly been dormant; rather, he’s spent that time working on hundreds of records for other artists, helping build Visual Arts Collective and expand his Audio Lab recording studio, and producing live music events around the state. In his “spare time,” he amassed 40 original songs.

Following a successful Indiegogo campaign in the spring, Fulton got to work putting the songs to tape. The resulting double album showcases two sides of his musical persona — full-band funky rock on one half and stripped-down Americana on the other. A single-LP vinyl version of “Eponym” featuring select tracks, many of them alternate versions and mixes, will be released later in the year.

With so much material and so many styles in play, the “Eponym” sessions developed their own ebb and flow — some songs came together in one take, others over several days. Often, the end result looked much different from the initial vision.

“There are four versions of every song,” Fulton says, “the one in your head, the one you play by yourself, the one you record and the one you play with a combo of other musicians. It is rare any two sound the same.”

Though individual tracks were recorded separately for several songs, others — particularly on the rock side of the album — called for a full-band live setup in the studio.

“When there are two or three things going on in your headphones, it is just easier to hear things, but when you want that epic sound you really need to have the live combo play at the same time to get the energy you are looking for,” says Fulton.

He also found energy outside the studio that he brought back to the sessions. Shortly after recording commenced, Fulton crossed the country performing songs from “Eponym” with Boise musician Sean Hatton (New Transit). Then, upon returning to Idaho, he attended a weeklong songwriting retreat in Stanley that birthed three new songs, all of which found their way onto “Eponym.”

Back in the studio, Fulton was equally inspired by the musicians participating in the sessions, an A-list of Idaho talent including Tim Willis, Scot Alexander (from Dishwalla), Dave Goff, Scott Lindbloom, Dan Costello, Leta Neustaedter, Christine Thomas, Rob Hill, Lucas Ventura, Lindsey Hunt, Tim Hammes, Shon Sanders, Randy Meenach, Bernie Reilly, Louis McFarland, Curt Wardhaugh, Rochelle Smith and Blaze & Kelly.

“What they lend to the tracks is just incredible,” he says. “For instance, I never had pedal steel on a record, and Randy just takes it into another world. Their approach changed the songs at times, and almost always for the better.”

ABOUT SFM-STEVE FULTON MUSIC

Steve Fulton is a singer-songwriter, producer and recording engineer who performs as SFM-Steve Fulton Music. Fulton is a household name in his hometown of Boise, where he also owns and operates one of the state’s finest recording studios, Audio Lab. Fulton was a founding member, lead singer and guitarist of House of Hoi Polloi, which over 13 years recorded five albums and toured extensively throughout the Northwest. 

Fulton has performed all over the country, touring with his band and as a solo artist. Fulton first performed his solo material live when he opened for Tori Amos in front of 3,000 people at the Idaho Center. Since then, he has released two solo albums on his Uncommon Records label, “Shock Remission” and “Said & Heard.”

Fulton is also passionate about making his community a better place. In addition to performing for a variety of benefit concerts over the years, he serves as mentor to a wide array of local musicians and engineers, provides job-shadowing opportunities and internships, and gets involved in many youth-oriented projects, including Boise Rock School and Community Youth Connection.

THOMAS PAUL ALBUM RELEASE PARTY AND THE PEREGRINE FUND IDAHO GIVES ‘FRIENDRAISER’ FIRST THURSDAY, MAY 5; FREE PAYETTE BREWING CO. BEER!

first thursday eventJoin The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Downtown Boise) on First Thursday, May 5 (5:30pm) for a Thomas Paul Album Release Party and Idaho Gives “Friendraiser” for The Peregrine Fund. Free beer courtesy of Payette Brewing Co. (21+ with valid I.D.) will be available. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

Paul is celebrating the May 5 release of his new album “Singalongs” with a special in-store performance. “Singalongs” will be available for purchase at the event.

The evening also doubles as the closing party for “The 22 Are Coming” art exhibit. On March 12, DeAngelis unveiled 22 life-sized California condor silhouettes on the roof of The Record Exchange. On First Thursday, guests can observe a live raptor and hear from DeAngelis and representatives from the Boise City Department of Arts and History and The Peregrine Fund‘s World Center for Birds of Prey as we raise money for The Peregrine Fund during Idaho Gives, an annual day of mass fundraising for the state’s nonprofits.

ABOUT THOMAS PAUL AND ‘SINGALONGS’

Thomas Paul’s winkingly-titled “Singalongs,” his first all-instrumental album, was captured in Room 242 of The Modern Hotel on May 7, 2015 amid the hustle and bustle of Modern Art, the annual art happening where Boise artists and musicians transform rooms into galleries, installations, performance spaces or, in Paul’s case, a recording studio. “East River Road,” the album’s opening track and first single, is streaming now via Bandcamp.

Unlike traditional recording sessions, however, friends, fans and complete strangers were there to intimately observe Paul and his supporting cast (Bob Nagel, upright bass; Todd Chavez, drums and cajon; Eric Dewitt, saxophone and synthesizer; Jonah Shue, violin; Jeffrey Barker, flute). A team of volunteers at the door managed the crowd – once the tape was rolling on a song, the room was closed off until the recording was complete; the guests inside then were treated to a playback of the first 15 seconds of the finished song before they were escorted out and a new group entered for the next recording.

The musicians operated in this fashion for five hours – the duration of Modern Art – “and then fell over,” Paul says.

“The challenge was to make an album with several people milling in and out. For us, it was a way of taking the music off the 40-foot stage, so to speak, and literally rubbing elbows with the audience while we played. It was a fun experiment to watch people attempt to stand still in silence for 4 minutes at a time.”

The concept was partially inspired by Beauty Pill, an arty Washington, D.C. band associated with the otherwise punk-infused Dischord Records scene that was commissioned to turn a D.C. arts center into an immersive recording studio/art exhibit. For two weeks, the public was invited to observe daily 10-hour recording sessions; the resulting album, “Beauty Pill Describes Things as They Are,” was released in April 2015, shortly before Paul’s “Singalongs” session at the Modern.

Paul worked under much stricter time constraints and stressed “no overdubs” in the album’s final mixing and editing, which was overseen by Nate Agenbroad of Mixed Metaphor Recording, who also recorded and engineered the Modern Art session. “All sounds were captured at the Modern that night,” Paul says.

Cinematic and tinged with noir moods, the “Singalongs” material was sonically influenced by several of Paul’s instrumental favorites, everything from film scores to Chicago post-rock to the wordless segments of ’70s prog suites. Paul also drew from his previous experiences collaborating with filmmakers and theater groups.

“I’ve always writing non-lyrical music, always had odd-duck musical ideas that weren’t verse-chorus-verse songs,” he says. “Playing and recording at home before I had a professional career, I started noticing how music was used in movies, or how even punk bands like Fugazi and Minutemen would include instrumentals on their albums. Lyrics are great, but they’re not always needed.”

Paul also was intrigued by the idea of taking his impressive vocal range – which has drawn comparisons to Jeff Buckley, among others – completely out of the picture.

“Some would consider my voice to be my best instrument, so the challenge was to take it away.”

Thomas Paul is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter from Boise, Idaho. Regarded as one of the region’s most versatile, gifted musicians, Paul’s output as a bandleader/solo artist and in-demand sideman and session performer covers a wide range of genres, including garage rock, lounge blues, alt-country and folk.

In baseball terms, Paul is both the big bat carrying the team and the utility player contributing everywhere on the field – in short, “a talented dude,” as Idaho Statesman critic Michael Deeds wrote. “He’s been in more Boise bands than any sane musician should, and he plays essentially any instrument with strings or keys plopped in front of him. He’s also eccentric. Can music be funky and ominous? Paul’s can.”

Paul’s talents are demonstrated on vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, mandolin and accordion in live performances and on his albums “Goodbye, Waterloo…” (2011) and “House On Fire” (2009) and EPs “Yours, Etc…” (2004) and “Interference” (2015).

When he’s not leading his own band, Paul adds sounds to several established Northwest outfits, including Nick Jaina, aka Belle, New Transit, Andy Byron Band, The Country Club,eLDopamine, LarkSpur, Ryan Bayne, SFM-Steve Fulton Music, Tracy Morrison and others. Paul also has been a member of the Boise Philharmonic Master Chorale since 2013. Past contributions include work with Circle, Rung, Wheel Of Fish, Clock, Mystery Date, Me & My EgoMayerForceOne, Tim Andreae’s Gem State, Bill Coffey, Gizzard Stone and many more.

Paul has shared the stage with dozens of musical luminaries, including Buddy Miles (RIP), John Hammond, Mike Watt, Built To Spill, Charlie Hunter, Royal Crown Revue, Michael Martin Murphey, Teddy Thompson, Q & Not U, Calobo and Pickwick.

In addition to performing, Paul also shares his love of music as a DJ and radio host for Radio Boise‘s V3 (9am-noon Fridays), private teacher at Old Boise Music Studios and instructor at Boise Rock School and TrICA (Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts).

Paul is currently at work on his third through fifth albums, in no particular order.

IT’S FIRST THURSDAY AT THE RX: BUY 2 GET 1 FREE SAVINGS ALL OVER STORE!

It’s First Thursday, and there’s all kinds of sexy savings throughout the store, including:

• Buy 2 get 1 free used CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray and vinyl!
• Buy 2 get 1 free coffee and espresso drinks!