Summer is well and truly upon us and alongside the school holidays and a bit of sunshine, came the lifting of restrictions. This change has resulted in our events calendar being kicked started, plus we are able to open the upstairs of the shop as a party space! Speak to us in store or via the socials if you'd like to know more.

July was a mega month for us - thank you so much! We've had so much going on with our first live event, our very own Tim's Twitter Listening Party and of course, Drop 2 of Record Store Day.

Read on folks!

As always, we've included our favourite pre-order for the month below, but you can always check out our full list of pre-orders here. We suggest you bookmark it for easy access... don't want you missing out on a banger ;)

Just a word of warning... they do move quick!

We do want to hear from you too! If you've got any suggestions for a pre-order we don't have listed, message us here. You can also chat to us about anything else using that same link.

Our most anticipated pre-order this month is:

Fun Lovin' Criminals - Come Find Yourself (25th Anniversary Limited Edition Colour Vinyl)

Originally released in 1996, Come Find Yourself is the debut album by New York’s finest, Fun Lovin’ Criminals. Spending nearly 4 years in the UK album chart, it’s packed with instant classics such as “The Fun Lovin’ Criminal”, “King Of New York”, an inspired cover of the Hal David/ John Barry Bond movie theme “We Have All the Time In the World”, not forgetting the Tarantino infused smash “Scooby Snacks”. This 25th anniversary edition is presented as heavyweight coloured double vinyl for the first time and features 4 bonus tracks. The band tour the UK in October with dates across Europe and the US to follow.

Fun Lovin' Criminals - Come Find Yourself (25th Anniversary Limited Edition Colour Vinyl) - £28.99

SHOP NOW

This month saw the first of our live events with the wonderful singer-songwriter Steve Pilgrim performing an awesome set which included songs from both of his albums, Sunshine and Paper and Pixels. As well as an established singer-songwriter, Steve is also a successful drummer working with acts such as John Power and some bloke called Paul Weller.

Whilst everyone's been enjoying life at home over the last year, the lead singer of The Charlatans, Tim Burgess, began and continues to host Twitter listening parties. Every night an album (sometimes two and three), past or present, is thrust into the spotlight, for fans to stream or play their own version in real time. During the next hour, music enthusiasts unite on Twitter with the artists tweeting live stories and anecdotes behind the music. For further information about #TimsTwitterListeningParty, check out his website here.

Wax and Beans were privileged to be the hosts of the first ever official in-store #TimsTwitterListeningParty! Spinning Inhaler's "It wont always be like this" for over 25 customers in-store, we had an absolute blast.

Of course, we also had Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2! And what a drop it was! We saw an influx of visitors and unbelievably, the queue began just after lunch the DAY BEFORE. Despite that, we managed to clear the queue in super quick time, before 10:30am!

That "mad" person deciding to queue for around 20 hours was our very dear friend Adii (who is actually a bit nuts!!). He also happened to be the lucky recipient of a £50 record token. As part of the RSD festivities, five independent UK record shops were donated a £50 Record Token to give away and Wax and Beans was one of the lucky five! The prize was hidden in our racks and as soon as our doors opened at 8am, Adii and the rest of the queue (the first ten people anyway) rushed inside to begin the hunt. The frantic digging was cut short after Adii began a lively jig to celebrate his find, locating the hidden Record Token in amongst the remaining Drop 1 titles.

We have put together a short video diary of Drop 2 which you can see here on our very own YouTube page.

Whilst we have all been busy slaving away, our very own Ben has been mixing with radio royalty... Steve Lamacq! Steve caught up with Ben to discuss Wax and Beans, RSD as well as other music related shenanigans.

You can listen to the interview in full here.

EVENTS ARE BACK! Check out our upcoming events on our calendar here. I suggest you bookmark this page too, as we're adding new events all the time and you'll be gutted if you miss out ;)

5th August - Music is Social: It's only our second session in the new shop, so you'll have to bear with us whilst we continue to find our feet, but we're thinking the theme will be dub-reggae / neo soul. It's a super laid back, fairly intimate listening session, where you're welcome to come along (free of charge) to enjoy some new music and make new friends!

8th August - Vertaal: Vertaal, a nu-jazz / neo soul duo featuring Theo Howarth and Ajit Gill recently released their new album ‘Paradigm Shifting’. The band will be playing many of the 12 tracks from their double album that was released in March. We can't wait to welcome them to the shop, if you fancy joining us, you can purchase your tickets here. Check out their sound beforehand if you haven't already as we've managed to grab a few extra copies of 'Paradigm Shifting’ (available to buy here).

14th August - Jay Dunn: We welcome back the wonderful Jay Dunn, a local singer/songwriter. He'll be playing a mix of his own song, as well as some covers and if last time is anything to go by, it'll be an awesome night. Don't miss out, grab your tickets here.

29th August - In You Ears Music: Cobain Jones: In Your Ears (IYE) and Wax And Beans showcase Cobain Jones in our first Sunday Social Event. Cobain Jones makes songs to swell the heart, ease the mind and chase the dream. He'll be playing an acoustic set, with a Q&A session too. Come join us by bagging your tickets here.

30th August - Glaston-Bury: Glaston-Bury is a local charity event consisting of over 200 bands playing over several locations with Wax and Beans being one of them! We don't quite know our line-up for the day just yet, but we do know it'll be great fun and we'll raise lots of money for Bury Hospice. Find further details here, with updates coming soon to our Events page.

After joining our incredible listening party, Luna could think of no better pick than:

Inhaler - It Won’t Always Be Like This

Inhaler’s debut album ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ a record that sees Elijah Hewson, Josh Jenkinson, Robert Keating and Ryan McMahon turn their early promise into something special, an album teeming with expansive indie-rock grooves and soaring anthems. Congratulations on a number one album guys.

Includes the single Cheer Up Baby, a swooping, epic singalong alongside newly recorded versions of early fan favourites My Honest Face and title track It Won’t Always Be Like This, the album was released on July 16th 2021.

Order your copy here.

This months blog post is provided by Callum Thornhill-Wood. Callum is a regular contributor to the Instagram Vinyl Community - check out his page cal_vinyl.

Live Music Is Back.

As live music announced its unfiltered return, I found myself scrolling through my camera roll and reliving some of the biggest and best artists I’ve had the pleasure of catching over the past decade or so, and subsequently reminiscing about the great times in the lead up and wind-down of the shows either side of the 4 hours spent inside venues ranging from social clubs to huge stadiums.

When we break it down, much of the time spent surrounding a gig is not the gig itself.

It is the initial buzz when you see that an artist you adore has announced a tour, the anticipation and hope that they’re coming to your city – or at least one you can get back from via this country’s dire rail network, before the stressful task of rallying the troops and eventually being ready on a Friday morning to secure the tickets and avoid letting the week’s planning go to waste.

Check out Callum's full blog on our Blog page.