Silver Sprocket is a San Francisco-based indie comics publisher and independent record label, founded in 2007 by Avi Ehrlich of Springman Records. In addition to publishing records and comics, Silver Sprocket also supports a range of independent musicians and other community-based initiatives.
Overview
Silver Sprocket is an anti-professional art crew, comic and zine publisher, record label, and "all-around raging dumpster fire." Ehrlich told The Comics Journal that the community-based model of the company is founded in anarchist politics: "It’s very shaped by anarchist world views and specifically the Bay Area punk rock scene which was a very hippieish community of mutual aid and helping each other out and not waiting for permission from some corporation to exist." Comics critics have noted the publisher's high production values differentiates Silver Sprocket from other zine publishers. "Its political values may be DIY and anti-establishment, but its attention to production values and design sets it apart from traditional, home-made zines." Silver Sprocket is known for publishing comics about punk culture, mental illness, queer lives, and people of color.
Silver Sprocket opened their first retail location in December 2017 at 1685 Haight St, San Francisco. In 2021, Ari Yarwood was hired as Silver Sprocket's first managing editor.
Musicians
The following musicians have released albums under the Silver Sprocket label:
Andrew Jackson Jihad
Ashtray
Big D and the Kids Table
Blackbird Raum
Blatz
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits
Filth
Larry and His Flask
Pain
The Phenomenauts
The Pillowfights
River City Rebels
Shang-A-Lang
Vic Ruggiero
Additionally, the label has released the following compilation albums:
Rude Remix Revolution (2009)
Cartoonists
Ben Passmore published Your Black Friend and Other Strangers (2018) Benji Nate Cartoonist Mitch Clem publishes his work through Silver Sprocket. Liz Suburbia Eddy Atoms Jenn Woodall Caroline Cash