I’m Going to Chicago
The first in a series of Scroll Stopper Club Field Reports.
I’m going to Chicago.
Not to escape.
To investigate.
For years, discovering new music felt like an adventure. Before algorithms knew my taste. Before playlists predicted what I’d like next. Before social media decided what deserved my attention.
You’d hear about a band from a friend. Flip through records at a local shop. Take a chance on an opening act. Sometimes you’d spend money on an album that turned out to be terrible. Sometimes you’d discover your new favorite band.
Either way, the discovery belonged to you.
Today? I can discover a band while sitting on the toilet.
That’s convenient.
I’m not convinced it’s better.
Don’t get me wrong. The internet has introduced me to artists I never would have found otherwise. Scroll Stopper Club wouldn’t even exist without it. But somewhere along the way, I stopped wandering.
So this trip isn’t really an experiment.
It’s a return.
The truth is, this whole idea started somewhere completely unexpected.
In the shower.
I was thinking about something I try not to think about very often.
My own mortality.
I found myself asking a question:
When I die, what will I wish I’d done more of?
The answer wasn’t “make more money.”
It wasn’t “buy more stuff.”
It was simple.
Travel.
But not travel just to say I’d been somewhere.
I want to travel because every city has its own music scene.
I’ve spent years discovering bands from New York and Philadelphia. Now I want to know what I’m missing.
What’s happening in Chicago?
Los Angeles?
Seattle?
Austin?
Who are the bands that everyone in those cities knows… but the rest of us haven’t discovered yet?
The Rat Utopia Experiment is a perfect example.
They’re building something really exciting in Los Angeles. Because of where they are in their career—and because they’re still so young—there’s a good chance they won’t be touring the East Coast anytime soon.
If I want to experience what they’re creating… I have to go to them.
And that’s when it clicked.
Maybe Scroll Stopper Club shouldn’t wait for music to come to me.
Maybe it’s time for me to go where the music is.
That’s how these Field Reports were born.
I’m flying to Chicago because I want to spend a few days saying yes to curiosity again.
I’m going to wander through record stores, browse bookstore shelves, walk neighborhoods with no destination, see bands I’ve never heard of, and spend one day at Riot Fest.
Maybe I’ll discover tomorrow’s favorite band.
Maybe I won’t.
That’s not really the point.
The point is to put myself back into a world where discovery requires showing up.
Over the past few months, something unexpected has happened. Scroll Stopper Club has stopped being a YouTube channel where I review music.
It’s becoming a place where I investigate creativity.
Why did this song stop my scroll?
Can atmosphere survive outside the recording?
How do you recognize a great song before it’s finished?
Those questions can’t always be answered from behind a screen.
Some questions can only be answered by showing up.
So that’s what I’m doing.
This is the first in what I hope becomes a long series of Field Reports.
Not reviews.
Investigations.
I’ll come home with stories.
Observations.
Questions.
Evidence.
And if I’m lucky…
I’ll hear a band that makes me write three words in my notebook.
There’s something here.
