For Manor Records, it all started in a basement of “The Shawnee Manor,” a D.I.Y. From Glass Animals to Shy Boys, the underground venue hosted numerous local acts, as well as some national touring acts. Then, founder Shaun Crowley got the itch to host a house show music festival with the creation of Manor Fest. It started with 10 bands in one night, then grew to a two night event featuring 20 loca
l bands from Shy Boys to BLK FLANL. After years passed and a community was built, it was time for the boys to move out of the deteriorating house. In October of 2017, we officially launched as Manor Records. A DIY record label based on the foundation of infamous D.I.Y. venue The Shawnee Manor. Manor Record is a label that takes no money or profits from our artists, is hands-on, and self-run, with intentions of good music from good people. We began by hosting showcases featuring local and regional bands in addition to putting out cassette releases. In the summer of 2019, after growing as a label for two years, we decided to bring back the idea of Manor Fest. Manor Fest 3 came to Kansas City with 33 bands spread across three nights in different regions of the city. We hosted showcases in traditional & non-traditional venues and featured up & coming locals such as bigfatcat and regional favorites such as Paul Cherry. After successfully putting on our first large sized festival, we realized that it was an event that helped promote and propel local artists to larger platforms. There was a need and hope to bring it as a regular event for the Kansas City music scene to look forward to every summer. Alongside the festival, Manor Records has been actively providing booking, tour management, cassette releases, blog premieres/reviews, marketing and promotion services for indie acts all over the midwest. None of this would be possible without the addition of our two incredible teammates Wayne Moots & Skylar Rochelle who voluntarily joined the Manor Records team along the way. One of the relationships Manor Records began to build over our years of booking shows is with The Mockingbird Lounge over in Strawberry Hill. In the Summer of 2021, the owner of the Mockingbird Lounge, Dan Castillo, approached Shaun with the idea of turning Manor Records into a non-profit organization that functioned as a record store/neighborhood bar in the KCK community where funds were put into putting out artists' music & also the Strawberry Hill community.
