No Fly List: Notes from Sub Pop’s Airport Store, May 2015
What I Haven’t Learned After One Year at the Airport Store
After reading the general manager’s write-up of the airport store on our 1 year anniversary, I was naturally revolted by all of the praise and felt compelled to undercut any inflated expectations about our humble retail operation. Despite the label’s best efforts to indoctrinate me in all-things Sub Pop, and foster excellent customer-service skills amongst the retail staff, I still feel like I’m mostly fumbling my way around. So, without further ado, here are some things I still haven’t mastered after working for a year at the Sub Pop Airport store*:
- Snappy comebacks to any of the following FAQs:
I. What is SUB POP?
II. What does SUB POP stand for?
III. Is that VINYL back there?
My best answers:
I. Sub Pop is a record label that started in 1988, in Seattle, Washington. Fast forward 26 years, and many illicit ingested substances later, they got the harebrained idea to open a store in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
II. Sub Pop is an initialism for Superior Unique Bro-fessionals Pursuing Overwhelming Profits.
III. No, those are wall calendars. All for the year 2015, but reusable in 2026!
- Coherent music recommendations: Working at a record store in an airport means interacting with people from all over the world, with all different kinds of music tastes. On occasion, I am asked to help someone find music in our store that sounds like “viola-fusion,” “cabaret,” or “Dire Straits.” My answer for any and all requests is usually Goat. All roads in music lead to Goat.
- Playing along when a customer decides to “stump the millennial sales clerk”: No, I don’t know the location of the Sub Pop recording studio, nor do I know the name of your best friend’s cousin’s neighbor who totally played bass in Soundgarden back in the day. Take your Mudhoney shirt and leave me alone!
- Knowing what size t-shirt your child/spouse/sibling wears: It’s probably for the best that I don’t know intimate details about your family members who I’ve never met before. Just sayin’.
- Reacting to all the enthusiasm in the store: The majority of people who visit the store (and are at least somewhat familiar with Sub Pop) are usually blown away and ecstatic to find our outpost at the airport. It is super gratifying/humbling/inspiring to see this response, and it often makes my face hurt.
*Let me reiterate that I’m speaking entirely about myself here. The rest of my colleagues are professionals who routinely show their expertise in the store, and I hope you interact with any one of them during your next visit.
The Helio Sequence is out now on CD/LP/DL worldwide and can be purcahsed in fine record stores near you as well as online retailers such as Sub Pop Mega Mart,
iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. Worth noting, however, is that while supplies last, customers who purchase the LP version
of the album from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser Edition” on yellow-colored vinyl.
Additionally, The Helio Sequence’s US tour will resume on June 3rd in Boise, ID at Neurolux and will run through October 1st in Spokane, WA at INB Performing Arts Center. The Helio Sequence will be direct support for Death Cab For Cutie on Sep. 30th & Oct. 1st . Get the complete list of tour dates below.
What people are saying about The Helio Sequence:
“The Helio Sequence has created a euphoric, career-defining album.” [9.2 / 10] - PASTE
“…The duo’s latest is an ambitious, smart, and memorable collection of crisply produced clean-channel rock that shows all the newcomers how it’s done.” [8/10] - FLOOD
“”Stoic Resemblance” matches harmonious psychedelic chorus with a brisk krautrock pulse.” - Stereogum
“”Stoic Resemblance” is among the most pop-friendly things the duo have put to tape. Of course, “pop-friendly” to The Helio Sequence takes the shape of more direct song structures and vocal hooks. Naturally, it’s all filtered through their signature kaleidoscopic filter, hitting a chord somewhere between gauzy and taut. At a tight three minutes, “Stoic Resemblance” shows The Helio Sequence at their most spontaneous and their most playful, which is not only a surprise turn from the studio-intense direction that’s long defined them with surprisingly fun results.” [Song of the Day] - KEXP
“It’s a hit of catchy goodness with a funky bassline with a chorus of “oh na na nas.” It’s a bonafide jam.” [“Stoic Resemblance”] - KCRW
“A rager by comparison, rhythmically reminiscent of Beck…It’s great to find the Helio Sequence upping their game, and being a little less stoic.” [“Stoic Resemblance”] - Buzzbands
Tour Dates
Jun. 03 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
Jun. 04 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Jun. 05 - Denver, CO- Larimer Lounge
Jun. 06 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar
Jun. 08 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada
Jun 09 - Austin, TX - RED 7
Jun. 10 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald’s
Jun. 11 - New Orleans, LA - Gassa Gassa
Jun. 12 - Birmingham, AL - The Saturn
Jun. 13 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn
Jun. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
Jun. 16 - Washington DC - Black Cat
Jun. 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade
Jun. 18 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
Jun. 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
Jun. 20 - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
Jun. 21 - Hamden, CT - Outerspace Ballroom
Jun. 23 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern
Jun. 24 - Columbus, OH - The Basement
Jun. 25 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle
Jun. 26 - Madison, WI - The Frequency
Jun. 27- St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
Jun. 28th - Omaha, NE - Slowdown
Jul. 09 - Vancouver, BC - Venue
July 11 - Seattle, WA - The Neptune
Jul. 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
Jul. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
Jul. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent
Jul. 17 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
Jul. 18 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door
Aug. 23 - Portland, OR- MusicFestNW
Sep. 30 - Missoula, MT - Adams Event Center*
Oct. 01 - Spokane, WA - INB Performing Arts Center*
* w/ Death Cab For Cutie
For presale & general ticket information, please visit http://www.bandsintown.com/TheHelioSequence
