NOISE

'It's About Heart'

David Parker is stretched out on a green vinyl couch watching Clerks as I enter Community of Friends after 1 p.m. on a Monday. Christian Rodgers hasn't even flipped the lights on at the High End Mystery Emporium when I walk in around 2 p.m. on a Sunday.

You get the feeling Las Vegas' two newest record shops don't have the accountants for Tower Records—or Zia Record Exchange, for that matter—quivering behind their CD racks, and that's just fine with the folks operating Community of Friends and the High End. At a time when most pundits foresee record stores meeting the same gloomy fate as roller rinks and drive-in theaters, the new retailers aim to prove nondigital, nonvirtual outlets can survive, even thrive, if they're effectively focused.

For Community of Friends (3695 S. Highland Drive, Suite 8), which opened for business August 10, that means limiting selection to "punk, hardcore and derivations thereof," explains Parker, one of seven volunteer employees, quickly adding that I won't find mainstream punk like Rancid or Green Day here. The store's merchandise consists of a few racks of music—CDs and 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl, mostly new, priced from $4 to $14, lots from semi-obscure labels such as Sound Idea and Hardcore Holocaust—a handful of books in a front display case and the T-shirts and pins hanging along one wall. Period. "We don't need a whole bunch of clutter," Parker tells me. "We have what we need and what we know people are going to want."

The store's punk-rock attitude is reflected not only in its stock but also its appearance. Set in an industrial park, the store's windowless exterior could easily be mistaken for that of a storage locker, while the unadorned cement floor seems an appropriate vantage point from which to survey crust and grindcore cover art. Only the show posters along the back and a colorful, punk-themed mural down one side come between Community of Friends and the realization of total sparseness.

Given its location, owner Chris Bland doesn't expect customers to happen upon his shop, and his simple business plan doesn't require them to. "The stuff in here is so underground, anybody that stumbles onto the store isn't going to find anything they want anyway," says Bland, who plans to stay open seven days a week from noon to 8 p.m. "But Las Vegas has a pretty decent punk scene, enough punks to support something like this. A lot of people think you need to be mainstream to make a record store work. This is an experiment to see if you don't. "

While Community of Friends zeroes in on a narrow segment of music fans, the High End (1310 Casino Center Drive) hopes to attract a wildly diverse clientele, offering not only records but also original artwork, antique furniture, refurbished turntables, DJ equipment and even a modest cluster of used books.

"I saw an article in The New York Times that said we went from something like 4,300 record stores in this country to 2,700 in a 10-year span," says Rodgers, one of the High End's three owners. "At the end of the article, it said that the future of record stores could be emporiums selling more than just records and CDs."

Ah, yes, CDs. It's easy to forget they exist as you browse through the High End, and that's entirely by design. Nearly exclusively, vinyl comprises the store's musical inventory, from behind-the-counter rarities (an unpriced, signed copy of Esquivel's More of Other Worlds, Other Sounds) to choice original pressings (the Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables for $25) to bargain reissues (Getz/Gilberto for $4).

For now, stock consists entirely of records donated by owners Chris Ecklund, Benjamin Coy and Rodgers—the latter two spin regularly as members of the Bargain DJ Collective—and Rogers estimates the trio still has 5,000 to 6,000 items in reserve. He concedes seeing his once-treasured keepsakes go out the door can be "sickening, but that's the thing with collecting—you've gotta let stuff go."

Unlike Community of Friends, the High End is all but guaranteed to draw walk-up traffic, one night a month, at least. Located one block north of the Funk House in the Arts District, the store figures to be a regular destination for First Friday crowds, if the August 4 grand opening that drew some 700 patrons to the unmarked building is any indication. The High End (open Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.) also intends to host in-store performances and larger-scale acts atop its roof, and already has a DJ booth up and running inside the store.

"We have a lot planned. If people want to come down and set up an easel and paint in here, that's cool," Rodgers says. "Even if you don't buy anything, maybe it will spark a couple of things in your brain you haven't felt before. That's what we're hoping for."

Despite their optimism going in, Bland and Rodgers sound realistic about the odds of success. Breaking even, not getting rich, is the financial goal for Community of Friends and the High End, with a spirit of volunteerism and a communal vibe at the core of both endeavors.

"The way I live my life, it's all about experiences," Rodgers says. "If in a year it doesn't work out, I wouldn't trade anything for the experience I've had here."

Bland sizes up his chances even more bluntly. "I know there's a really good chance the store's not gonna make it in the long run, and I don't expect anybody to really understand why I did it. But this is about supporting the scene. It's about supporting my hobby. And it's about heart."

a new day for the day after

Karma seems to have finally come around for local rockers The Day After. Following a few months of dealing with one obstacle after another—the loss of drummer Luis Cano, the ensuing revolving drum-stool fillers, an unfriendly fallout with longtime lead guitarist Shaun Dougherty—the now-three-piece band recently announced it has signed with New York-based Gotham Records.

Through a deal Gotham has with Sony/Koch, the new disc—scheduled for an October 17 release—will receive national distribution. "It's a surreal thing just thinking that we have an album that will be released all over the country," bassist K.C. Wells says.

With permanent drummer T.J. Thompson (formerly of Cedardrive), The Day After is spending its days at AM Audio in Boulder City, recording its debut album for Gotham, tentatively titled A Different Way to Get By. According to band's website, some older material is being rerecorded for A Different Way, in addition to seven new songs, which are taking a direction more akin to the defunct English band Catherine Wheel, whose shoe-gazing sound is a departure from The Day After's usual fast-and-loud attack.

According to the band, it was serendipity that brought The Day After and Gotham together. "We played the Hyperactive festival [in Albuquerque] with a band on Gotham called Slant," Wells says. "Their guitarist is also the label's West Coast rep. He became interested in us and offered us a show with them later that week. Right before that, our CD came across the desk of a Gotham A&R exec, and he got in touch with us as well. The funny part is that neither the A&R nor the West Coast rep knew that the other was talking to us."

True sounds of Vegas

Jason Adams (yes, Divided by Eli's bassist) started Touch Records with one objective, to release a recording. Imagine that. But this wasn't just some do-it-yourself demo—Adams had his heart set on creating a compilation CD featuring local bands. And no, not just for DBE and their buddies, but a genuine cross-section of genres to showcase Vegas' varied scene.

Not only did he reserve a domain name, make a nifty MySpace page, score some speculative press and manage to solicit sufficient submissions, but Adams actually cut the CD. Go figure. Oh, yeah, and he's really releasing it online and in stores August 29.

Guess what else? Every band on the CD, Loud in Las Vegas: Music From Sin City, has a history of performing live in Las Vegas! He assures us there are no rehearsal-space slackers, signed before ever setting foot on stage, on his compilation. Adams' agenda was twofold. "I wanted to choose bands who were out playing shows and to include bands who wouldn't necessarily play shows together."

With pretty pop-punks Valentine and their "Too Far Gone" alongside the dry-witted "Joy of Serving Others" by the Big Friendly Corporation, and Big Beat Battalion's progressive hip-hop "We Rock" following the CD's sole acoustic song, "Last" by Mehrey, the diversity of Adams' 15-track album isn't in dispute. Neither is his confidence. "I'm already thinking about Volume 2 ..."