The great winter break and 2021 in retrospect
Hi All,
Both Gary and I are going to take some time over the holidays.
Because we deserve it, but also because what is known to some as "The Holidays", "Christmas" or just "Yay no work for a while" is also known as the time of year when packages vanish with such regularity that you have to wonder what the (*&^ is going on.
With that in mind we will stop taking orders on 16th of December. Making the last day of posting the 17th. After which we will probably open a bottle and be happy to see the back of 2021.
The store will re-open on January 10th 2022
It's been a tough one has 2021,
We lost a brother and a friend early in the year.
Allen was just starting to pull together his new favorite hobby and little business, Rocatex records. He had named it after the two of us and I felt a duty to make sure it actually happened.
Picking up Rocatex Records and trying to make it happen in a way Allen would be proud of was not a light task. I'm still dealing with all sorts of paperwork.
However, together with friends, we did achieve some headway.
I built a website, well two technically, and set up distribution from the US and local presence for the U.K. Much appreciation to Gary who is running that side of things!
We re-launched the label and have released five new 45s since the summer, culminating with the recent Bobby Johnston 45. They are selling reasonably well with some now heading towards the "sold out" status. All are still currently available via the website www.rocatexrecords.com (or .uk)
We changed format to go to a dinked label, which required a redesign, (Big thanks to Andy and Kaz at AB Creative for the design work https://www.facebook.com/andybrittancreative).
All of this of course while continuing to deal with the ongoing pandemic and the day job.
So what of 2022:
On a personal front we are heading towards the one year mark of Allen's passing. I bought his ashes to the USA because it is where he always wanted to be. Sometime later this year, pandemic allowing, we will hold a small ceremony here in California and lay him finally to rest in a spot we think he would like..
We've probably all missed being able to go out to our favorite clubs and records hops. We've all missed just being able to hang out when, where and with who we want. So firstly let's hope that 2022 brings some relief from the pandemic and we can all get back to being our usual mad selves!
On the record label front:
We will be working on new releases. I'm not going to tease them or their release schedule because I have to build this hobby into my busy life and of course the whole supply chain is still a mess.
The postage costs internationally are horrendous, which is why we opened in both the US an U.K.
We are currently working on details of a European distribution point for 2022. If all goes according to plan our European customers will be able to then buy within the EU and save on some costs. I'm hoping to get that into place before anymore releases.
With that as a final word we just want to thank everyone for supporting us with this endeavour. I hope you like the things my brother chose to release and the tracks we continue with. This is a hobby and an endeavour of passion so it means a lot when people tell us how much they enjoy the music we are putting out in my brother's name.
Have a fantastic holiday season, whatever you may celebrate and we wish you all the best for 2022!