We're Not Listening

Compared to other big names in the music industry, Not Listening Records has always been a pretty damn tiny record label. On top of that, it’s impossible to pigeonhole, really. You can’t fall in love with one band on it and expect to like every single other one. Everybody’s too different.

But in a way, it’s become a sort of symbol, whether or not Rai ever intended it. It’s a grab-bag. No matter what you find, there will always be talent in whatever you’re listening to, and well, that goes for whatever genre you happen to stumble upon. A group of people can be horribly different and still find a spark that unites them. There can be harmony in dissent. There can also be abuse, violence, and shattered things that used to be golden.

And every band that’s been signed has been thriving on their own accords, branching out into new territory and making new music. So far, not a single lineup has changed in any band, and there’s never been a permanent breakup. It might be a little too hopeful to think that everybody will keep on keeping on until they kick the bucket, but who knows?

It began with a hooligan with a dream and branched out to give other hooligans the same opportunity he was lucky enough to have. It sounds like a happy ending. As of right now, though, there is no ending.