Another City Records – Authenticity
The world is a product of design. The clothes we wear, the places we live, the things we enjoy and the problems we suffer, from climate change to tankers racked-up in the Suez Canal, and from the music enjoyed at your most favorite concert to the best meal you ever had, what exists is a product of man’s imagination, for better or worse. We are not innocent victims. We have choices. We can act. We do act. We can produce beauty, fairness and equity, civility and promise, if we choose to.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE BEST RECORDS IN HARDCORE TODAY
Another City Records, a Chicago based hard core punk label (where punk meets metal) is a product of Shawn Hopman’s imagination, and is fundamentally committed to producing music founded on positives – a label committed to putting out “the best damn records in hardcore today,” while dedicated to actively fighting social injustices and supporting positive change-makers in his artists’ communities.
Another City is the second punk label owned and operated by Shawn Hopman. The first iteration a Philly label, named Spook City Records after Shawn’s favorite Misfits’ song. Both labels were a direct product of Shawn having finally found himself, his place, his people in the punk music scene of the 1990’s Chicago. This punk scene a world away from Shawn having grown up in the farmland and horse farms of Mokena, Illinois, no home address, just a location: the intersection of Southwest Highway and Route 6 (179th and Rte. 6).
THE FIRESIDE BOWL - ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PUNK VENUES
The Fireside Bowl in Chicago in the late 1990’s was one of the most important punk rock venues in the country. A drab and dated one story bowling alley with a neon bowling pin sign over the front door - squat, dumpy, and nightly hosting some of the best punk bands in the country: The Mekons, AFI, Less than Jake, Alkaline Trio, Los Crudoes, Blue Meanies, Screeching Weasel - this music, making its impact, a door to people finding themselves and their tribe. Shawn: “This is what is speaking to me. This is what I’ve been looking for all this time.”
Punk Rock is perhaps one of the most misunderstood of musical genres. There is a rap against punk rock music, that it is just noise. But listen for a moment, listen to the musicality; there is no shortage of rock solid bands that emerged from the punk scene, from X’s side gig the Knitters to the Gogo’s, the Blasters and Alejandro Escovedo, and Fall Out Boy – super, talented bands, many still active today.
Maybe the misunderstanding comes from how loud it is, its recognition and acknowledgement, and embrace, of social disaffection and marginalization, maybe the fact that it is very DIY, loud, short, cheaply made music performed in small venues with often packed high energy crowds, tattoos, leather, studs, maybe because of all of its elements it can be off-putting, hard to access. In fact the exact opposite is true.
AN INCREDIBLY ACCEPTING SCENE AND LONG ON THE FOREFRONT OF ISSUES
To those in the punk orbit, the entire scene is accepting and inclusive. Shawn: “Everyone has to find their access point, but once you do you’re accepted.” The fact is that because punk by design pushes the envelope, punk was on the forefront of causes that today, years later, are mainstream: from veganism to confronting racial injustice to sexual liberation. Black Flag might have been a bad ass punk band, but what lives on is as much the music as lead singer Henry Rollins very vocal and highly visible advocacy of all things concerning human rights. That is the nature of punk - the giving, the inclusion. Shawn: “In this type of music if you find a good cause people are altruistic. Hey let’s throw a benefit show, and bands would drive all over the place and all the money would go towards the cause with no benefit to themselves. That’s the community.”
BANDS GIVNG BACK TO THEIR COMMUNITIES
This is exactly the community Shawn is developing through Another City Records, and it starts with his bands. He does not select just the best bands playing the best music. He will not sign a band that can’t perform, but that is not the end of the equation. Another City bands have to agree with his philosophy. They must believe in and be devoted to fighting for economic, political and social rights and opportunity. A portion of release proceeds must be devoted towards organizations working towards positive causes. And it better be real, a scene that embraces diversity and fosters inclusion. It is all in the Mission Statement, and it is not posturing. Another City is authentic, honest. You might not like punk music, it might not be for you, but it is real and honest and represents a positive foundation upon which all of us, punk rockers or not, can move forward to a better place with a stronger more accepting community of people.
FAITH IN TOLERANCE AND A BETTER WORLD
Martin Luther King said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” That was a statement of faith, not one of historical determinism. People, the flawed creatures that we are, have to find our own place in the world, make our own mistakes, and then work hard to atone for those mistakes, if we’re lucky and faithful. We may find justice one day, or validation or virtue, but it is far from predetermined. It takes a strong person, a person of tremendous faith, to reach the promised land. Faith is what it’s all about. Another City Records.
About Shawn Hopman and Another City Records. Shawn is the owner and founder of Another City Records, a Chicago based hard core punk label: where punk meets metal, and is the former owner of Spook City Records, a Philly based punk label. He is also Ivy League educated, holding a Masters in Theoretical Chemical Physics and a doctorate in Pharmacology. Another City partners with bands that are accepting of the power of diversity and devoted towards the public good, committed to contributing in monetary and practical terms towards concrete public initiatives. Another City’s signees include the band Snuffed, which devotes a portion of all sales to the group Good Kids/Mad City – black and brown kids fighting back against gun violence in their community, and ILL Communication, a CA based band that supports For the Children initiative, a group that helps families in need with financial assistance.
