Aquarius Records

Hello everyone. My name is Jay Holmes and I want to tell you about how I fell in love with Aquarius Records. As an adventurous lover of the art of music, the pure essence of such love is never quite easy to boil down into one or two paragraphs…but somehow through the magic of Aquarius Records, that exact resin of truth and discovery was never hard to find. Truth be told, I’m not 100% sure how I fell into the mystical tide of Aquarius but it was bound to be somewhere around 1995 when that never ending thirst for new music was at a continual fever pitch and friends and I were constantly sharing mixes and artists that mattered so much to us…and still do! I had stumbled onto the massive AQ website in search of something that I had decided I must hear now…and through this quest I found myself absorbed by THE LIST; a supremely well-written and comprehensive thought provoking guide to an otherworldly selection of music that made me want to get everything!!! And from there…the obsession took root.

From Finnish prog to basement lo-fi jams to blasphemous black metal to Christian acid folk to brain-fried electronic soundscapes to underground 70’s glam to synth pop to harsh skull-splitting noise to buzzing electric guitar solo albums to frog sounds to secret spy radio recordings…Aquarius was there. And that’s just the beginning. I quickly began writing to their staff and thanking them for their amazing contributions to my life and much to my surprise…they were writing back! I started corresponding with AQ staff Andee Connor through mail here and there and eventually made the trek to San Francisco to visit the store myself and meet the team. As you probably know, Aquarius eventually shut down years ago…but still retains the title of the USA’s longest-running independent record store.

Their entire journey has been brilliantly documented in the recent movie It Came From Aquarius; which made it’s way around the circuit last year. It’s a wild and exciting story of how one little record store created a thriving community and whose impact still resonates strong throughout the world…and beyond. I’m so proud to be a part of the Aquarius Records family and I hope that this t-shirt tribute rings strong and shows my personal respect and love for all the pure joy that they inspired in my life and the lives of all of us. Thanks AQ~!!! -Jay Holmes

LIMITED TO 150. Printed on BellaCanvas soft spun cotton tees. LADIES’ SIZES RUN REALLY SMALL, so check the size chart on those.