Safe Haven and the Big OK
Punk bands aren’t into punk because of the money. There isn’t any money, or at least no expectation of money. Punk is loud, aggressive, sometimes violent, totally messy and very DIY. You have to find your access point, but for most finding access isn’t easy, hence there is little money. But what money that is there in the case of the bands under the Another City Records label goes in part to community groups devoted towards those most in need, not the richies, not those with money, not those who have it all, but instead to those who have nothing. In the case of the band Ill Communication, a portion of whatever money they generate goes to the California charity For the Children. https://www.forthechildren.org/. F…ing awesome Ill Communication!
For The Children is an organization devoted towards intervention and advocacy for victims of childhood trauma, with 250 chapters across North America and 12 countries. We recognize the effects of war, economic crises, disease and famine on families, but there is a whole other and more insidious form of human suffering where parents are the cause of children’s suffering. For The Children is working hard to alleviate these conditions through its intervention, education and advocacy programs.
The numbers are right there on For The Children’s website and they are staggering. By the age of 17 one in three children have been incarcerated and one in four exhibit some form of PTSD symptom. 47% of children by the age of 19 have not graduated from high school or received a GED. By the age of 21, 25% have a child of their own. Something has to be done and one group doing something is the hardcore punk band Ill Communication by giving a portion of its hard-earned money to the For The Children programs. The Another City label fronts the cash for these kids, as well as for the other charities supported by the other bands under this label. Another City is committed to helping others, as are the bands under the label, and the person who turns the screws is Shawn Hopkins, the label’s founder. As Andy Franchere says, “Shawn’s a rad guy. A lot of this money is coming out of his own pocket. Anything anyone can do to help him they should.”
Fact is we need a re-education, or for most of us an education, in the value systems underlying the Punk music scene. Let’s start with Ill Communication. One of its founders, Andy Franchere, is a fireman; it’s Andy’s day job. In the 90’s Andy was living in Tehachapi, CA outside Bakersfield. Bakersfield was home to Korn, the Warriors and a host of other punk bands, a fairly vibrant punk scene in California’s Central Valley. Diehard Youth had been Andy’s first punk band but it wasn’t going anywhere. Mostly he was hanging around with some buddies, Joe Martin and Roger Carraro, friends who lived in Oxnard, 120 miles south, but who hit Bakersfield to see the punk bands that Andy was booking at area clubs. One thing led to another until blast-off occurred when Danny and Donny Phillips, and Matt Battaglia, joined in and, with the help of Chad Walker, the group put together some songs: Ill Communication (homage to the Beastie Boys classic album) was born.
Punk bands aren’t really bands, they are communities, friends who will write a song and send it in, acquaintances who will take lead on a given song, players who will join in on a gig. That’s the punk scene and that’s Ill Communication to this day, a bunch of like-minded friends playing gigs. (For a classic take on the early LA punk scene, and punk music in general, check out John Doe’s book, Under the Big Black Sun, a personal history of L.A. Punk – written by John Doe, with Tom DeSavia, “and friends” says it all.)
A punk show is a communal experience, too. There is no one type at a gig, 16 and 60 years olds, some wearing Air Jordans, others with spiked hair, head bangers and hang-backers, stage divers and mosh pit enthusiasts. What starts on the stage migrates to the floor, no separation between players and fans, the mic passed to kids who belt out lyrics, the scene nothing but energy and enthusiasm. A punk show is a Safe Haven for who is often described as a bunch of misfits, a bunch of counter-culture believers in the Big OK – that who you are, what you look like, what you think, and how you act, as long as it is positive, is where it’s at. Come on in the water is fine. This is the world described by Andy Franchere, and the world that Shawn Hopkins, Another City, and Ill Communication believe in.
What matters are the gigs, the experiences. That is what punk is basically about because the gig is where it happens and what is happening is the people, a bunch of individuals with their own quirks, their own needs and desires, each with their own Me ignited by fury and united by the vibe and the attitude, the Big OK. Take a listen to the song Ill-Cult on the album Def Threats in the Hieroglyphics, hard core but wait until the 1:14 mark and the drum lead groves into a for all intents and purposes a solid albeit very heavy rock beat. Ear Goggles and X-Rays is another pure punk song but a quick listen to the lyrics reveals a warning about our addiction to devices. It is a song about standing up for what you believe in, about redemption in a world of hate, about friends in times of need and using what you have, to do what’s right because there are few second acts in life. And it’s at the gigs where the truth in these songs break free in a euphoric malestrom of voice, bodies and limbs.
Believers, people of faith and charity. This is the punk scene of Ill Communication and Another City Records. They aren’t complaining. They are doing what they can do to do right by others, sadly the exception rather than the rule today. That’s fine. It’s not what others think about you, it’s what you know about yourself that matters. Well done people.
