Bopping along with Shetland's music hub

Loads of the best things about life in Shetland start with people getting together to organise fun events for themselves. Whether that’s a cake fridge, an Up Helly Aa squad act or a music festival, people make things happen.

One great example of this can be found behind a small, deceptively quiet shopfront in Lerwick, where the team of volunteers who run The Bop Shop are one of Shetland’s creative engines, helping those magical ‘What if we…?’ conversations to take off.

At a time when arts organisations and charities face tough funding decisions and opportunities for many are shrinking, it’s good to see how much can be done with a little space to call home and a lot of initiative.

The Bop Shop is a non-profit, pop-up record shop. Started in 2017 by friends Jamie Hatch, Thomas Jones, and Lyall Halcrow, it opens monthly on Saturdays, selling second-hand vinyl, local music releases and sometimes the work of visual artists. The volunteer staff have eclectic musical tastes and deep local knowledge and are happy to chat with customers as they search for hidden treasures.

What better way to spend an afternoon in town?

With its warm atmosphere and cosy space, The Bop Shop can host intimate performances promoting Shetland musicians, writers, artists and comedians – at the same time as selling records.

The shop has recently been home to a series of events called North Star Cabaret, initiated by poet Mark Ryan Smith and compered by poet Roseanne Watt (this writer is the third of the trio acting as ‘co-conspirators’).

During Cabaret sessions, timed to coincide with old Shetland feast days, a programme of short acts might include music, film and other kinds of performance alongside poetry, spoken word or prose readings. The traditional Shetland folklore figure of ‘Da Scuddler’ presides over the festivities. The range and quality of creative work being done in Shetland means it will be long time before we run out of potential Cabaret artists.

The Bop Shop team helps people develop their skills in many ways, whether that’s through retail experience or DJ classes, and they organise events in other venues which help keep Shetland’s music scene alive and accessible. Their ‘Introduction to DJing’ course in 2023 culminated by bringing five new DJs to a packed café-bar at Mareel arts centre in Lerwick for a joyful evening of dancing between (not on, in spite of all temptation) the tables.

The Bop Shop’s support of local musical talent now stretches to running an all-day music festival. ‘Bopappalooza’ sees the shop’s spirit spread across a range of bigger venues. The festival first happened in summer 2023 and tickets for its June 2024 date sold out as soon as they were advertised.

Bopappalooza is a chance to see a plethora of acts from Shetland's varied music scene in one long, increasingly loud day. Whether you’re after mellow afternoon tunes, an evening of indie and rock bands, late-night heavy metal or DJ sets, you can dip in and out or commit to the full 15-hour musical marathon in venues such as Mareel arts centre and the Lerwick Legion. Who knows? You might even hear some fiddle-and-accordion.

If you're inspired to find out more about the islands' diverse range of musical talent, why not watch our Shetland Music Night film?

Follow The Bop Shop on Facebook and Instagram, where the current committee Yvette Cope, Struan Thomson and Lyall Halcrow keeps everyone up-to-date.