The Honor System was an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, formed in 1999 by Dan Hanaway and Rob DePaola, after the breakup of their previous band The Broadways. The band briefly featured future

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rise Against's mu ...

frontman

Tim McIlrath Timothy James McIlrath (born November 3, 1978) is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is vegetarian and straight edge. Early and personal life Mc ...

as a bassist. They broke up in 2004, leaving behind two studio albums and three EPs.

History

The Honor System initially consisted of former members of The Broadways, Dan Hanaway (vocals, guitar) and Rob DePaola (drums), along with Nolan McGuire (guitar) and

(bass, vocals). Their first release was a 1999 demo cassette comprising the songs "Fool's Gold", "Single File" (the band's only song with main vocals by McIlrath) and "Facelift". This demo was reissued by Solidarity Recordings in 2010 on 7" vinyl record and as a digital download. In 2011, it was released on CD as part of Solidarity's compilation of the band's first few releases, ''Collection''. Soon after, Chris Carr replaced McIlrath, who went on to form

. The band recorded and released their first full-length album '' Single File'' on

Asian Man Records Asian Man Records is a DIY record label run by Mike Park in Monte Sereno, California. Park started a record label and began releasing music in 1989 under the name Dill Records, with the Asian Man label established in May 1996. History Asian Man ...

in 2000, featuring re-recordings of "Fool's Gold" and "Facelift" from the demo tape. The band's second release, the six-song EP '' 100% Synthetic'', was released on

Double Zero Records Mike Felumlee, a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), is chiefly known as the current drummer for the rock band The Smoking Popes. He is known to a lesser extent for his stint of several years as drummer in the band Alkaline ...

in May 2001. Later that year, McGuire left and was replaced by Tyler Wiseman, formerly of

Tuesday Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to many traditional calendars, however, Sunda ...

. After a couple of national tours, the band released a self-titled three-song EP (limited to 1000 copie

featuring the songs "Moving Day", "The Sound of Sinking" and "American Math" and showing a move toward a heavier sound, bolstered by the arrival of Wiseman. This was followed three months later by the band's second full-length recording, '' Rise and Run'', which featured re-recordings of the EP's first 2 tracks. Shortly after ''Rise and Runs release, the band went on hiatus when DePaola left to look after his ailing mother. Not long after, Hanaway and Wiseman formed WhaleHorse with other Chicago-based musicians. An early incarnation of the band recorded some demos, before Carr returned on bass, joined by ex- Sweep the Leg Johnny drummer Scott Anna on drums. The new line-up recorded and released a self-produced debut EP, ''Count the Electric Sheep'', in 2007. Whale, Horse no longer appears to be active, but Hanaway and Carr have continued playing together: they formed the band Ratasucia, who released the debut album ''

White Noise Pollution White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

'' in 2011 and have played concerts. In August 2008, Solidarity Recordings released ''Single File'' on vinyl for the first time, in two colours (limited to 400 and 100). In September, I Hate Punk Rock Records reissued ''Rise and Run'' in 3 colours and as a special edition featuring all 3 standard colours and 3 rare presses, limited to 5. In April 2010, Solidarity Recordings reissued a remastered edition of the band's original 1999 demo tape, on three colours of 7" vinyl and digital download (Amazon MP3 and

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

). In 2011, ''Demo Tape'' was additionally released on CD as part of the compilation ''Collection'', which also contained the long-out-of-print ''Single File'' and ''100% Synthetic''."Solidarity Recordings - The Honor System"
Solidarityrecordings.com.

Style

Lyrically, whereas the other band formed from The Broadways' break-up,

The Lawrence Arms The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. They have released seven full-length albums and toured extensively. Band history Pre-history Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active ...

, favour more introspective lyrics, Dan Hanaway's lyrics for The Honor System retain his socio-political perspective: covering issues including, but not limited to,

police corruption Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which a law enforcement officer breaks their political contract and abuses their power for personal gain. A corrupt officer may act alone or as part of a group. Corrupt acts include taking ...

("Nails", "The Blaming Game"), criticism of the media ("The Blaming Game", "Losing Connection", "Hz"), anti-capitalism/corporatism ("Fool's Gold", "Muffled By Concrete", "Replacement Parts", "Moving Day"), the encroachment of development over the natural environment and human life ("Muffled by Concrete", "Conquistadors"), war ("Clockwork"), prisons and the prison-industrial complex ("The Rise and Run"), etc. Musically, the band built upon The Broadways' melodic punk rock, dual guitars, and non-traditional song structures – incorporating better production, more developed instrumentation, and an increasingly heavy sound, the latter particularly after McGuire's replacement by Wiseman. Hanaway's vocals show a continued evolution from their rougher sound on his earlier works.

Band members

Final line-up

*Dan Hanaway –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(1999-2004) *Rob DePaola –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1999-2004) *Chris Carr –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(1999-2004) *Tyler Wiseman – guitar (2001-2004)

Past members

*Nolan McGuire – guitar (1999–2001) *

– bass guitar (1999)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Single File'' (Asian Man Records, 2000) * ''Rise and Run'' (2003)

EPs

* Demo Tape (self-released, 1999) (officially re-released on Solidarity Recordings, 2010) * ''100% Synthetic'' (Double Zero Records, 2001) * ''The Honor System'' (2003)

Compilation albums

* ''Collection'' (Solidarity Recordings, 2011)

Compilation appearances

* ''Magnetic Curses: A Chicago Punk Rock Compilation'' (2000) – "Fool's Gold" (demo) * ''Living Tomorrow Today: A Benefit for Ty Cambra'' (2001) – "Witchhunt" (unreleased version)

References

External links

* *
The Honor System
at Solidarity Recordings {{DEFAULTSORT:Honor System, The Musical groups from Chicago Punk rock groups from Illinois Asian Man Records artists