Sam Fender has gone vinyl shopping in honour of Record Store Day 2025 – see his picks below.
The singer is this year’s Record Store Day Ambassador, which will be held on April 12 this year. Over 270 independent record shops across the UK will participate – along with thousands more globally.
At Hackney’s Stranger Than Paradise, Fender picked five records for RSD, saying he only started going to record stores in its 20s due to its recent resurgence: “It’s the best way of showing support for the artists that you like”.
He spotlighted some seminal releases, including the likes of Nick Drake‘s ‘Pink Moon’ (“Absolute classic”) to Tom Petty‘s ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (“That album’s a beast”).
He also spoke about Talking Heads‘ ’77’, of which he said: “This album, when I was [in] my first ever band, my bass player’s foster dad was like, ‘Never heard of Talking Heads?’ [He] had it on CD – it was the first time I’d ever heard them and it was this album. It was like, whoa – that’s interesting.”
Fender also picked out releases from more contemporary artists like Big Thief‘s ‘U.F.O.F’ (“I loved that when it first came out”) to MJ Lenderman‘s ‘Manning Fireworks’ (“It was my shower song for a while”). Check out all of Fender’s picks below:
The full list of releases for Record Store Day 2025 will see exclusive vinyl set to drop from the likes of Oasis, Charli XCX, Fred.. Again, The Cure, Gorillaz, Taylor Swift and many more – you can check them out here.
Speaking about his ambassador role, Fender said it was “a complete honour to be asked”.
“The importance of indie stores cannot be understated. Without them, we lose physical spaces for music fans to discover both their favourite new artists and to forge friendships with like-minded people.”
Fender will release a six-track 12-inch vinyl record titled ‘Me And The Dog’ to mark the occasion. The EP will follow on from his latest album ‘People Watching‘, which NME hailed as “reflective, analytical and vulnerable” in a four star review.
According to Fender, ‘Me And The Dog’ “at one point was going to be the name of the new album, so it just feels right that it should have its own moment”. The EP will contain two unreleased songs: ‘I’m Always On Stage’ and ‘Empty Spaces’.
Fender also recently revealed that he is already working on its follow-up and announced further dates to his forthcoming UK stadium tour in the summer, including Wythenshawe Park in Manchester on August 16, Edinburgh Summer Sessions on August 22 and Boucher Road Playing Fields in Belfast as part of the VITAL Series on August 28.
Support for the first two shows will come from Olivia Dean, while CMAT will be opening the show in Belfast. Visit here to buy tickets and find a list of UK tour dates here.
In other news, Taylor Swift has landed the biggest-selling new vinyl release of the decade.
