Apollo Exos Records

Tape drop!

It’s Friday. Grab a b**r and tell us the dumbest s**t you’ve heard about yourself through the grapevine. Apparently we’ve all been living secret lives we weren’t invited to.

BIG NEWS FROM THE COVEN KITCHEN.

Mark from La Luna Food Truck has officially joined the team as our Coven Kitchen Boss. He’s taking charge of the food program we’re launching this November, and we’re ready to feed you.

As Apollo Exos moves next door into the new building, our current space is becoming Coven Wh**ky Bar. Full liquor selection. Alas a killer full-time kitchen. And the rock ’n’ roll spirit you already know.

Records next door. Pinball downstairs. Dinner and drinks here. Make a night of it.

Welcome to Coven, Mark. Let’s fire up the kitchen.

Curious what’s going on the menu (spoiler alert Smashes and Tacos) We’re looking for people to help taste-test the food. Comment below if you want in.

Follow for the menu and November launch details. Smash Burgers, raise hell. 🦇⛓️‍💥🍔🌮🍻🥃

Cronos and Venom didn’t just leave a mark on heavy metal, they helped redraw the map entirely.

Coming out of Newcastle at the dawn of the ’80s, Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon took the grime of Motörhead, the attitude of punk, the darkness of Sabbath and pushed it all somewhere nastier. Welcome to Hell in 1981 and Black Metal in 1982 became foundational records for what followed. Thrash, death metal and black metal all owe something to the path Venom kicked open.

For me, though, Venom started before I ever actually heard them.

Their records used to stare at me every time I made my way to the metal import section way in the back of Mercer Tower Records. Those covers looked killer. Like something I probably needed to hear but maybe wasn’t supposed to.

I finally heard Venom after buying a French metal compilation at Budget Records on Everett Mall Way, Wango Tango Vol. 1, named after the French metal radio show. There, alongside Wendy O. Williams, Waysted, Choirboys and a bunch of other killer bands, were “Warhead” and “Woman.” That was the door opening.

By the time Possessed came out in 1985, I went knee-deep into the Venom catalog and never really came back out.

And their reach absolutely made it to the Northwest. You can hear that same primitive, ugly, no-permission needed approach in bands like NME. That idea that metal didn’t have to be polished, technically perfect or remotely respectable to be powerful.

That may be Cronos and Venom’s greatest legacy. They weren’t trying to become the next version of somebody else. They helped create something that didn’t really exist yet, and an enormous chunk of extreme metal that followed carries some of their DNA.

More than four decades later, everybody else is still catching up to the racket they started. And yes, even though the younger generation doesn’t consider it to be true, when I hear the term “Black Metal”, I still think of Venom first.

🍁🎃Fall is here, and we’ve got something brewing at Apollo. ☕

Fresh-roasted coffee from corkyscoffee is coming soon, by the whole-bean bag to take home and / or freshly brewed to sip while you dig through the racks.

The lineup includes Maggot Brain, with tasting notes of peanut butter, cocoa and berries; The Cramps’ Bad Coffee for Bad People, with to***co, vanilla and dark chocolate notes; and Gravest Gravy, with spice, berry and milk chocolate notes. Pretty fitting company for a record store.

Cooler weather, hot coffee, killer records. Date and details coming soon!

Welcome to the neighborhood lunapopvintage! Love this place. Thanks for the haul Jono

Happy sellers means happy customers. We buy records 7 days a week! We keep our inventory oven fresh, by offering the most for records. No appointments needed. Will do house calls if necessary.

We’ve got your evening covered, soup to nuts. The responsible decisions are on you. 🦇⛓️‍💥🍻