Features Shop Til You Pop: Frankie And The Heartstrings’ Store, Week Three

Pop Recs Ltd isn’t your average record shop. It’s owned by a band, for starters: Mackem darlings Frankie and the Heartstrings. Earlier this month Frankie Francis eagerly talked about the the store’s opening. ‘I love records, and to be able to become part of that community of people who sell records in the UK is exciting and in some way a bit of an honour,’ he said. 

 

Over the next few weeks Frankie and co. will be providing updates on the shop’s health, from the nitty gritty beginnings to the grand unveiling, right up to the most important aspect: Selling goodness knows how many records. Here’s Frankie’s second update, documenting tons of special guests who’ve come in to play instores during the shop’s opening week. Catch up on the first and second updates.
 

What a week that was for the shop. Not only did we see Badly Drawn Boy and Edwyn Collins have queues around the block, we showcased local visual and physical art collectives.
 

The gigs were roaring successes. Let’s start with Badly Drawn Boy. He played the gig for a bottle of Jack Daniels and a travelodge room. Having only met him once backstage at a festival we thought it was a real long shot to ask him to play having seemingly been off the circuit for a while writing. He admitted that it was the first time he’d picked up a guitar for 2 months while taking to the stage. He played a greatest hits set to a packed crowd and had his usual anecdotal stories about where the songs came from in between.
 

Saturday saw our hero and muse Edwyn Collins play in our shop for free. Before the doors reopened the queue we saw around the block was something we were extremely proud of. People had traveled from all over the country for this gig and Edwyn didn’t disappoint. His son’s band Bullies went onstage first and played 5 songs. Those guys remained on stage and played as Ed’s backing band while he rattled through his back catalogue. A great night was had by all.
 

What happens next? Well, we’re going to keep it open and we’ll be announcing more acts this week.

In keeping with the previous updates, here’s a playlist of the songs played throughout the past week in Pop Recs Ltd on Fawcett Street, Sunderland: