Groovie Records

Please give us a brief history of Groovie Records.

Groovie Records started in 2005 as a label, reissuing lost pearls of garage/fuzz/psych/rock as well as releasing new albums from local and international acts. We have released albums from bands such as Os Haxixins (Brazil), Gruesomes (Canada), The Routes (Japan), Los Tones (Australia), Los Explosivos (Mexico), among other bands, and a few compilations, such as Brazilian Nuggets (Vol. 1, 2 and 3). In 2014, Groovie opened its warehouse doors near Cais do Sodré, in the historical center of Lisbon, to the general public, for the delight of raw and crude rock fans.

Edgar Raposo, label manager and Jack-of-all-trades behind the operation will be your host. Vinyl is the prime merchandise here: you'll find Groovie's own releases (as well as those from their sister label, Monotone Records), new records from other likeminded labels, such as Soundflat Records, Voodoo Rhythm, Dirty Water, Damaged Goods, Get Hip, Ace Records, Guerssen, among others. The store also has a second hand vinyl section (with a few CDs). Fans of Brazilian psych, tropicalia and other good stuff, take heed: there is a special emphasis on records from that part of the globe!

Groovie Records also has an online store on their website, but, despite the physical shop’s erratic schedule, if you take the time to visit you'll have a GROOVIE time, for sure.

What makes Lisbon an interesting place to have a record shop?

Groovie Records is in the historical centre of Lisbon, near the Cais do Sodré, next to the Bica's lift. On the horizon you can almost see the Tagus River. In any case, a visit to the shop is worth the ride into town!

What kind of music do you specialise in?

Rock, Garage, Neo-Garage, Soul, R&B, Psych, 60´s, 70´s, new bands, Prog and Brazilian music. Plus, while it’s not our speciality, we also have a small section of Portuguese Folk.

Who are your customers? Any famous regulars you can tell us about?

People from all over the world. Artists, musicians, lovers of music, from all ages! As we are very central in the city, we receive lots of curious people who are just walking around, but are attracted by the vintage look of our shop.

People talk about the 'resurgence of vinyl' - have you seen an influx in the number of younger vinyl collectors?

Yes, for sure. Increasingly, we see young people getting interested in vinyl - buying and starting to collect.

As an independent record shop, do you feel like you need to offer supplementary activities for Groovie Recods to work – events and live music for instance?

Before opening our space to the public, we worked as a warehouse for 3 years in the same space. Since then, we’ve hosted regular concerts in our space, always on Saturdays afternoons, with bands from Groovie as well as others with whom we identify.

We’ve always felt it’s very important to enable contact between people, promote the bands or just to listen to music and have fun!

What is your favourite song of all time?

This is a hard question, almost impossible to answer. But there’s a song that is really among my favourites: ‘The World Ain't Round, It's Square’ by The Savages.

What album or song do you play most frequently in your shop?

We play several albums in the store... Our records and all the other labels we have available. Always good music, for sure.

What are you current favourite Ace releases?

“Girls with Guitars” (LP) and “Nippon Girls (Vol 2)” (LP) are among our favourites!

Which record do you play to clear people out at the end of the day?

Hahahaha! We never clear people out, we like to keep them indoors!

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