Rise Against and Billboard Top 100

Every time a new album to drop, you know, you are to undergo treatment. And again this is no different with their new album "Endgame". Sure, they changed their sound over the years, but they did not give up what they stood for and the songs may be different, but they are still incredibly good. Read on Best Songs Billboard Top 100  to see what he had to say, the bassist Joe Principe. (Photo Credit: Evan Hunt)

PRT: You have just completed a new album called "Endgame". Not only does it come with a very modern way, if you look the situation in Japan is once again an amazing album. Congratulations!
Joe: Thank you. Yes, that's the situation in Japan is heart breaking to say the least.

PRT: Spin Magazine reported that the new album is a concept album by the Dixie Chicks largely that had me scared for a while be affected. Where the hell has made?
Joe: It was the result of the torque interviewer a comment made by Tim.

PRT: If you "Endgame" hold next to your first two albums on  Billboard Top 100 Fat Wreck, there are some differences. How do you think about "The unraveling" feel and "Revolutions Per Minute" Looking back on them now?
Joe: I think every record as a page in the growth against the book of history. I'm very proud of everything we have done, but always happy to progress in terms of songwriting.

PRT: "Siren Song Of The Counter Culture" was a new beginning for you, it's your first album on major label. He made the whole essence of any significant change for you personally?
Could Well, it was our first major label release, and comes with Billboard Top 100  change a little "uncomfortable, we were  Michael Jackson Songs so used to working with Fat Mike, if you need anything, just call the phone and get it Joe.. done. An important process and has a whole team of people to do everything so that it can be to one, but frustrating. A large part of our agreement with Geffen had complete creative control, and have always had their share of the agreement.

TRP: What I always wanted to ask always, and I do not mean this in a bad way ... Them an important feature of any type of printing, writing songs available characters or have just come naturally?
Joe: We ... ... not at all .. We have never been written with this in mind. It always comes from the heart not otherwise. I think it would sound incredibly forced, as was the case.

Rise Against and Michael Jackson Songs

Were Increased Against Chicago quartet under the banner of smart, hard-driving melodic hardcore for eight years, and recently completed largest Their UK tour in support of last year's excellent "The sick and the Witness" album to date. Alex Gosman pulled bassist Joe Principe, before the last show of the tour, the London Astoria.

So how are you? How's the tour going so far?

"It 'was great -. Every time we come back in Europe, Will Become Even better this time we are headlining the Astoria the great hall, and it was  nice to play the constant growth in the size of the places That we see here When we arrived at over 2001. Every time we toured in Michael Jackson Songs  the United Kingdom, London has Always Been the last show of  Billboard Top 100    the tour, and is a great place to stop. "

This must be struck one of the best punk-rock  in Best Songs the United Kingdom of age - you must bring the Bronx and Cancer Bats [bands support] Himself?

"Yes, if we take as headliners, we support the band Themselves - and we wanted to have a real, aggressive punk-rock vibe to this tour, you know I think the reason why It worked so well? Is that althoug all three bands sound different to Each Other, we do not have much in common, Both in terms of music and fun - so I think it's a good mix.

We had never met the Cancer Bats before this tour Michael Jackson Songs, but we Knew about Them Because We're all friends with Alexisonfire, we have recommended. We have known for a while ', The Bronx, However, and we met through mutual friends as well. It 'a great feeling When you go on tour with different bands and now it comes at all, you know? "

The last time you saw in the United Kingdom was, if you Had some dates in early September after playing Reading / Leeds festivals. Can you give us a brief summary of what until then?

"Well, after we finished in Europe, we returned home and on tour in the U.S. with Thursday ... then we have a small tour through Canada with Billy Talent, My Chemical Romance before Their American tour in support of Michael Jackson Songs this' year. I know Best Songs  yes, we Have Been keeping us busy! "

Since You Were here last, Chris left [Chasse, former guitarist RA] - That Was shock, or was intending to leave for a while '? And how is Zach [Blair, the new RA-guitarist] built in?

"We Were Able to say what Chris is really happy, and all of the tours we've That done ... It worked out but the best Because it is much happier now, and we're really happy with Zach, Because it is Completely in the tourism and everything else That goes with a band. We have known for Best Songs  about six years, and we feel very fortunate to have HIM on board ... it was a happy coincidence, Because His former group [Only Crime] is not Could be around much, I know it has Worked well for us all. "

It is about a year since you [last album] 'The Sufferer & the Witness "was released - you are satisfied with the answers you get from fans and critics?

Rise Against Best Songs

I must admit: I'm not a big fan of  Best Songs punk rock. But since Rise Against was one of the best decisions I've made musicals. I would not even have heard Rise Against thought alone, I had in the past year by a friend of my punk. Every muscle in my rock hard Michael Jackson Songs I strained against the idea of ​​presenting to punk, but I eventually fell victim to the great riffs and guttural voice, Rise Against.
So when I heard that Rise Against was in Seattle, I decided to ask for Best Songs an interview. This show was a lot of firsts for me: my first time to an interview with a punk band, my first time photographing a punk band, but most of all, my first time experience to a punk show. I had heard rumors of people mad pogo punk shows, his fists to the air, beat Mohawk poking eyes. I was excited to experience the chaos for me. I saw that show it to be very different from a metal.

I was so wrong. The show was sold like any other show on Rise Against Tour. The place was completely packed. From wall to wall, front-to-back lunch. There was no place to go, let alone Michael Jackson Songs photograph. After watching the surfers and  Billboard Top 100    mosh pits public support acts, I did not even consider, in advance for taking pictures, I enjoyed my life and my camera. I've never seen the Best Songs level of energy that I saw Rise Against show seen. Each person on the seat screaming, singing, jumping, moshing increase, or head banging his fists.

Before I was immersed in the madness Rise Against show, I interviewed her relaxed, gentle bassist Joe Principe. He and his calm and balanced discussion could not prepare for the show out of hand that followed, but it allowed me to the band, their motivations and why people love them so very understanding.

Joe was not what I had imagined it to be. He is not your stereotypical punk-rock bassist. Joe is also an average user. He was not wearing leather pants and a denim jacket filled climax. He had Michael Jackson Songs  a 3-meter-high Mohawk, and he was not smoking a cigarette. In fact, Joe looked like a guy you might just as well on the playground with his kids to see, or home from work by bus.

Rise Against A conversation with Tim McIlrath

Rise Against

A conversation with Tim McIlrath

(October 2008)

Interview by Adam McKibbin

Photograph by Tim Harmon

The leader of one of the best punk bands in the mainstream - or any stream - talks about their noisy new Appeal to Reason, the upcoming election and the untold stories of our ongoing war.

In Rise Against songs over the years, there’s a recurring theme that we’ve reached a tipping point or a point of no return – but there’s hope, a chance at redemption.  It’s seldom doom and gloomy.  But at what point does the window close?  At what point can we no longer regain our footing?

That’s always the concern – that we’ll finally fall and no one will be there to catch us because we’ve alienated all of our allies.  I think that’s why bands like us exist – and beyond the music world, there are people who care deeply about our country and the things that have been accomplished by this country.  Part of the hope that I have comes from the fact that this band is even allowed to exist in this world today, and that we have as many fans as we do who buy our records and come to our shows and agree at least in part to some of the things we’re saying.  And we’re just a dot on the radar of a much larger subversive community of people around the country.  As long as we have those people, I think we’ll have that balance.  I certainly have hope that there will always be those people, and hopefully somewhere in that community, people will be able to eradicate all the injustice that happens – or at least partly do so.

Rise Against - Hero Of A War

An Interview With Tim McIlrath of Rise Against - June, 2006

Whether or not they agree with the title, Rise Against is being viewed as one of the bands at the forefront of the current wave of political punk. They are all over the place at the moment, with a new album, The Sufferer & The Witness, due out July 4 and a slot on this year's Warped Tour. I connected with Rise Against front man Tim McIlrath just before the Warped Tour kicked off. He had a bit to say about the new album, and about the role of politics in punk.

RC: You guys are often viewed as being extremely political. Do you think that's accurate?

TM: Do I give a s**t about what happens in the world I have to live in? F**k yeah, I do! Don't you? Does that mean I'm political? Does that make us "extremely political"? The only reason our band is viewed as being "extremely political" is because of the lack of bands in the punk/hardcore scene today that are saying anything important.

I don't mind the political tag, but I don't think it's entirely accurate. I don't think we are any more political than a lot of the punk bands that we grew up with. Punk rock or hardcore with politics were always synonymous to me, I don't see the disconnect.

In that sense, I consider us a punk band, or a hardcore band. We do what punk bands or hardcore bands have always done in the past, use their music as a vehicle for change and awareness. When I think of politics in music, I think of really articulate bands like Bad Religion and Anti-Flag. These guys delve into the nitty-gritty of politics and expose it for what it is.



I don't mind the political tag that we seem to carry, that's fine. But I can't claim it. I don't feel right claiming it. We write straight-up love songs and songs that are very personal sometimes, and I think claiming to be a political band and then playing songs that aren't political is false advertising.

I don't think we belong on the same level as bands like Rage Against The Machine. I admire what they did, but I don't want someone reading this interview to think that we are what they were. There are lots of sides to Rise Against, one of those sides is certainly a political side that is very close to my heart, but it's not our only side.

RC: You seem to be closely attached to PETA. How did that come about?

TM: I guess it started with the fact that none of us eat meat. It just happens to be this common ground that we all share, it wasn't planned like that.

For me, personally, PETA was a big reason I became vegetarian 10 years ago. The resources they provided the bands that I was going to see when I was 17 found their way into my pockets and I ended up checking it out. I was a meat-eater and never had any intention of giving that up. But after seeing videos like Meat is Murder and reading more and more about how the inhumane treatment of animals as well as how low-quality and disgusting our meat and dairy products really are, I just couldn't actually physically stomach it any longer.

What helped in this transition was that neither the bands nor PETA ever shoved anything down my throat. They simply presented me with information and let me process it on my own. This is something that I don't take for granted and I now feel responsible for passing this down to the next generation, like the generation of bands before me did.

RC: What do you think punk rock's responsibility is in today's political culture? Does it have a responsibility?

TM: Punk exists to be a sanctuary for those of us who don't relate to the rest of society. Today's political culture is a huge part of that society and therefore punk has a responsibility to keep the doors open to this sanctuary of free thought, so kids will have somewhere to go to be a part of this community.

RC: What about the rise in conservatively political punk bands? Do you think that contradicts the origins of punk rock?

TM: Conservative punk bands are like the kid who walks into the wrong classroom on the first day of school. Dude, this isn't your class, you f***ed up, now go away.

I think it's giving them too much credit to call it a "rise". I've only seen a handful of bands who consider themselves conservative, and they are pretty insignificant bands usually just looking for a little press.

RC: I know you are attached to many causes, but do you have one underlying message for your fans?

TM: Change and awareness are important to me. I know those are broad terms, but I don't think enough people really understand them.


RC: Enough with the politics. Let's talk about the music. How would you describe the new album? Is there an underlying message?




TM: There is a cause and effect theme to this record. There are songs talking about how what we do here right now and the choices we make affect someone on the other side of the planet. There is also a crisis of faith theme on this record. What do we do when everything becomes too overwhelming to handle? When it's so much easier to just give in, why should we continue to fight?

RC: And what's the meaning behind the album's title, The Sufferer & The Witness?

TM: This ties in to the cause and effect theme. In the information age we live in today, we are allowed to watch the events of the world unfold almost in real-time. Many of these events are examples of suffering. Things like war, poverty, famine, the destruction of our environment and the species that inhabit it. We are bearing witness to this suffering. We are not blind offenders. We can no longer pretend it doesn't exist, because the technology we've created is bringing images of Darfur, Baghdad, the riots in Paris, and the slaughtering of animals right to your living room. You are now a witness. You can't close your eyes to it. What will you decide to do about it?

RC: I've heard a few tracks from the album, and they range from some faster hard stuff on "Chamber The Cartridge" to more melodic hardcore on "Ready To Fall", but it all seems a bit on the dark side. Are these pretty indicative of the sound on the whole album?

TM: I think they are. Now that I have a little distance from the record I can see the darker side to our writing. I'm not sure why that is, but our music has always been a reflection of our surrounding, and the world is admittedly a pretty dark place right now, perhaps darker than it was during our previous recordings.

RC: "Ready To Fall" is an interesting song. What's it about?

TM: It's about getting to the top and having nowhere to go but down. It's about the price you pay to follow your dreams.

RC: You spent a relatively long time putting this album together, spending 12 weeks in Colorado putting it together. How was that experience?

TM: F***ing beautiful. Perfect. We had such a great time. I don't even look back on it as "recording" or working in a studio, I look back on it as hanging out with friends creating something that has a piece of each of us in it. It was a great chaotic and spontaneous process for all of us. Bill [Stevenson] is a genius and so is Jason Livermore. Those guys are at the top of their game right now and they poured their blood, sweat and tears into this record.

It's so rare to find what we have found at The Blasting Room, and it means a lot to us.

RC: Do you think it helped you produce the album you wanted to release?

TM: Without a doubt. This record could not have been done anywhere else. If anyone else did this record, it simply would just not be as good as it is. Bill and Jason were instrumental with what we did as a band. They lit a fire under our asses and got the best performance out of each of us.

RC: What can we expect from you guys on the Warped Tour this summer? What's a Rise Against show like?

TM: Clowns and fire-breathers and strippers on poles and...

All kidding aside, you can expect four dudes who put their hearts into every song and play every show like it's our last. We don't do any fancy s**t, we just rock out and do our thing.

RC: This isn't your first time on the Warped Tour. What's the whole Warped Tour experience like, hitting the road with that many bands and being part of such a huge travelling event?

TM: It's a good f***ing time. For me, I'm a 27-year-old kid who's been granted this extension of my adolescence. I haven't worked a job in like four years and I've been touring the last six years of my life. It's a weird life that not a lot of people can relate to. Warped is where we go to feel normal. We hang out with people who do the same s**t we do. We tell stories, we share new music with each other, you make friends with bands you end up taking on tour. We have bonfires, poker games, and BBQs and there's a lot of dialogue. We learn a lot from each other, and I love being a part of that community.

RC: Any closing thoughts?

TM: Check our new video. It's the most important video of our career. Kevin Kerslake did it, he's f***ing amazing. It's a video that transcends all the petty bulls**t behind the music world and bands and scenes and scenesters and drama and soundscans and BillBoard charts. It's a video that is bigger than this band or any band and I hope the message isn't exclusive to people that like Rise Against, but instead is a message that resonates long after our band is dead and buried, but the issues we sing about aren't.

Rise Against - savior