Before the likes of the Offspring and Green Day broke through to the mainstream with their infectious tunes, punk was still very much a dirty word. Not only was it still shocking in appearance to most but the general public was not really accepting of the horrors of the world that punk bands were screaming about. Right from punk’s birth with the likes of the Ramones, the Clash, and even our own heroes in The Saints, topics like anarchy, alienation, racism, homophobia, consumerism, and anti-government thinking were still areas that commercial music dared to touch for fear of upsetting the status quo.
With Dookie’s ‘Longview’ and Offspring’s ‘Come Out And Play’ taking over the airwaves, it wasn’t long before “punk” took on a whole new meaning and what was once something threatening and shocking suddenly became a part of mainstream society, yet something was different.
The major labels were right on the tails of the hit makers and looking to sign the next kid-friendly, cute and adorable punk band that they could groom into delivering more hits and becoming the next Green Day or Blink-182.
In the year 2000, Rise Against were formed out of the ashes of Chicago punkers, 88 Fingers Louie. Bassist and founding member, Joe Principe, understands the position he is in and realises the responsibility that comes with the band’s place in punk rock whilst being signed to one of the biggest record labels, Interscope Records. “I think since day one of us even thinking of us signing to a major label, we didn’t want to take the biggest offer financially, we wanted complete creative control and we got that,” he says proudly, “We can do whatever we want, we’ve never handed in a demo to the label, no one ever told us to sound like this or write this and I think our records would sound the same whether we were on Epitaph, Fat Wreck, Nitro or whatever. We’re following our hearts and the fact that we are able to manoeuvre our way through those major label waters as Rise Against is still shocking to me.”
For anyone who understands the politics that go with signing to a major label, Rise Against are taking their influence and message as far as they can go as is evident in the band’s videos. Principe continues, “Our videos like Ready To Fall, Prayer For The Refugee and even our video to Re-Education (Through Labor), all our friends called and were saying ‘I can’t believe you guys pulled that off on a major label’ cos we’re basically blowing up buildings in the video. It was the main sticking point that if we didn’t get creative control then we weren’t gonna sign and they allowed it.”
So how far can one band go before the label says no? “We always say ‘let’s go as far as we can’ until someone pushes back and says ‘easy guys! You can’t do this for this reason and that reason’,” admits Principe, “But we don’t want to put blinders on and we don’t want to sugar coat anything as far as facts with the issues of the world. I feel like we owe it to our listeners to say ‘hey, this is what’s happening right now. If you’re unaware well now you’re not. Now you know what’s going on. I feel we have always had that in us, you know, the punk rock kid who always pushes a little harder to see what you can get away with.”
For those who still don’t know, Rise Against are a band with a message. They’re a band who want people to open their eyes and to think, to take a deeper look to what is happening in the world they live in, much like their heroes did in the 80s.
“When we started there were bands like Alkaline Trio and My Chemical Romance, this goth influenced punk and bands were singing about partying or whatever and at that point I wanted to give a nod to bands like Bad Brains, and Minor Threat who were actually screaming for change. They were mad about something and the only way to get that across was to scream it. I just wanted to carry that over. Even 88 Fingers Louie was a little more tame than Rise Against so I wanted to take it further with Rise Against and luckily when we tried Tim (McIlrath, vocals) out, he was right on the same page. We’ve never had a discussion about what the lyrical content should be for Rise Against. When I started reading his lyrics I was like ‘fuck yeah, this is great! This is exactly what we should be doing.’ I’ll always be proud of that energy behind a fast riff and there’s something to be said about shouting something, you know?”
I wanted to give a nod to bands like Bad Brains, and Minor Threat who were actually screaming for changeSo what about those old-school punk ideals of punk remaining underground and not something for the masses? Principe is quick to reason, “It’s like you preach to the converted or try to get to a new audience. I feel like when we signed everyone was saying ‘Well that’s the excuse everyone uses… we need to reach a broader audience’ but it was really the case for us. It made complete sense.” And that it does. One look at a Rise Against video or a look at their lyrics and you can see that touching on realistic subjects is something the band does best which, at times, has landed them in hot water over their controversial song, Hero Of War. An acoustic song that is so powerful lyrically that it managed to upset a number of people.
“At first it was split. There were troops that completely related and understood the lyrics and then you had troops that we had death threats on us. They weren’t really listening to the song. The song is being a little sympathetic towards the troops because they signed up and were thrown into this war that we don’t agree with and they have to do it.
People were quick to say we were anti-American and anti-troops and that’s not what the song’s about at all.” But it angered people so much that they really sent death threats? Principe continues, “We were getting emails and if you’re going to make a death threat you probably shouldn’t send it in an email but that kind of went away after a couple months. I guess you’re never going to know how someone is going to react and for the most part it was positive. The backlash really blew our minds”, but there was also a positive reaction to the song as Principe explains, “We’ve had people tell us that our music got them through their tour in Iraq or Afghanistan and you’re just like ‘oh my god!’ they’re like 18 years old and at war. I couldn’t even imagine that and they’re listening to Rise Against in the tank.”
To know that your music has had such a positive effect on people’s lives must be heartwarming, especially in such catastrophic times as is the case of those at war. Closer to home, Rise Against have also had a positive influence on those right here in Melbourne. “We met a guy who lives 45 minutes outside of Melbourne and he’s a vegan baker. He’s 50 years old and was into punk rock in the 80s, he went vegan when it wasn’t ‘cool’ to go vegan and he got out of the punk scene for a little bit. When he saw our video for ‘Ready To Fall’, he said he was blown away and it got him back into the movement and now he has this totally successful vegan bake shop here and he actually made us Rise Against bread. He said we were his inspiration and now that’s what his life is. It blows my mind that we kind of changed his direction in life,” Principe says proudly.
Rise Against’s influence can be heard the world over. Whether it’s animal rights, human rights, or war, it must feel pretty special knowing you are bringing so much positive change to the world and that your message is being heard. Principe admits, “It makes it worth it being away from your family when you’re accomplishing the things you set out to do with the band.” I bet it does.
Rise Against’s new album, The Black Market, is out now through Interscope Records
