Rise Against

Rise Against is an American band from Chicago, Illinois that was formed in 1999. Their current line-up consists of four members, Tim McIlrath (vocals, guitar), Joe Principe (bass guitar), Brandon Barnes (drums), and Zach Blair (guitar). To date, Rise Against has released four albums, a rare material EP, and one DVD.

Rise Against rose to fame with their first two major label releases, Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) and The Sufferer & the Witness (2006), with hits such as "Give It All," "Swing Life Away," "Ready to Fall," "Prayer of the Refugee," and "The Good Left Undone." Each member of the band has mentioned in interviews that there will be a fifth studio album, which is expected to be released in the summer of 2008.

History

Early years (1999-2003)

Rise Against was formed in 1999 by former members of the bands 88 Fingers Louie and Baxter following the break up of 88 Fingers Louie. The first lineup consisted of Tim McIlrath (vocals), Joe Principe (bass and vocals), Tony Tintari (drums), and Mr. Precision (guitar and vocals). Though the band never performed live with this lineup, it released a self-produced demo/EP entitled Transistor Revolt in 2000, a year before signing with Fat Wreck Chords to release its first two albums, The Unraveling (produced by veteran punk producer Mass Giorgini), and Revolutions Per Minute (produced by Bill Stevenson at The Blasting Room) in 2001 and 2003. A re-issued version of The Unraveling was also released on August 23, 2005 through Fat Wreck Chords with bonus tracks.

Tintari left after recording the original Transistor Revolt Demo, and Mr. Precision also left the band in 2001. Mr. Precision was replaced by Kevin White during The Unraveling touring cycle, but he also left and was then replaced by Todd Mohney to complete the cycle and begin writing Revolutions Per Minute. The band toured extensively on these two records, accepting invitations from the likes of Sick Of It All, NOFX, Agnostic Front, No Use for a Name, AFI, Strung Out and the Mad Caddies. "Revolutions Per Minute" received critical acclaim and attracted the interest of several labels.

Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004-2005)

Main article: Siren Song of the Counter Culture

Rise Against switched to Dreamworks Records and recorded their third album Siren Song of the Counter Culture. However, Dreamworks Records was absorbed by the Universal Music Group and Rise Against finally found themselves on Geffen Records, a Universal Music Group subsidiary, releasing Siren Song of the Counter Culture in August 2004. Shortly after the band signed with Geffen, Mohney left and was replaced by Chris Chasse.

Rise Against toured the US, Europe, Australia and Japan in support of Siren Song of the Counter Culture. Some of the most notable mentions include performances with Taste of Chaos 2005 in the UK and Germany (with Funeral for a Friend, Story of the Year, The Used and Killswitch Engage), Give It a Name 05 in the UK, Reading Festival and Leeds Festival in the UK, US tour with Alkaline Trio and Warped Tour in the US.

The Sufferer & the Witness (2006-2007)

Main article: The Sufferer & the Witness

Their fourth album, The Sufferer & the Witness (also produced by Bill Stevenson @ The Blasting Room), was released on July 4, 2006, reaching #10 on the Billboard 200 and has since gone Platinum in Canada. A DVD titled Generation Lost containing a documentary on the band members as well as live footage of the band was released on December 5, 2006. "Generation Lost" went Gold in Canada in its first week of sales.

In early 2007, the band supported My Chemical Romance on the first half of their arena tour. When in Canada they backed up Billy Talent on their arena tour. In their tour in support of The Sufferer and the Witness, they played the song "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young live. Rise Against later announced they would be heading their own tour through North America throughout the summer of 2007. They have also announced their participation in this year's International Taste Of Chaos in the Fall of 07.

On 23 February 2007, Rise Against announced the departure of guitarist Chris Chasse on the band's official website on the same day as the beginning of their tour with My Chemical Romance. In the announcement Chasse cited "an overwhelming tour schedule stacked on growing pressures and demands", and thanked fans for their support. Chasse, would be replaced by "longtime friend Zach Blair from Only Crime, who had also been the touring second guitarist for The Loved Ones." Zach is also a former member of the band GWAR. Chris Chasse went on to form Last Of The Believers shortly after his departure.

On July 3, 2007, Rise Against also released an EP entitled "This Is Noise" in Canada, now available in the United States as of January 15 2008. It contains 5 tracks: Boys No Good, Fix Me, Obstructed View, But Tonight We Dance, and Nervous Breakdown.

Next album (2008-present)

Main article: Rise Against's fifth studio album

In May 2007, it was reported that Rise Against was planning to return to the studio after The Sufferer and the Witness tour to begin work on their next album.

When asked in July about the band's plans for a new album, Blair told The Punk Site that Rise Against would "start writing and recording the record" after touring and be "writing for a few months" before returning to the studio. He also predicted a summer 2008 release date for the album. In an interview with Principe, he stated recording would likely begin around early 2008, although he said "everything could change", but that was "the plan right now".

On January 7, 2008, Rise Against posted the current status of the new album on their website. The band writes:

After wrapping up a busy year of touring with the Taste of Chaos, a handful of radio shows and two holiday shows in Canada, we were spent and glad to get home. Presently we are writing and demo-ing for what will become our next record. Don't expect it too soon, we're just getting started early. We will bring the details as they come, we just wanted to check in and say thanks to everyone for another awesome year.

— Rise Against

In an issue of Alternative Press, it was announced that the new album would also be produced by Stevenson.

To support the upcoming album, Rise Against have been confirmed for a number of European festival dates that are set to kick off in the summer of 2008. The band is scheduled to play at the sixth annual Download Festival on June 13th at Donington Park, England. They have also announced that they will play at Switzerland's Greenfield Festival as well as Germany's Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival.

Rise Against are also scheduled to be part of 2008's Warped Tour. They will only be part of Warped Tour on the west side of North America. After Warped Tour, the band will finish/continue working on the new album, making it likely that it will be released in late 2008/early 2009.

Politics of Rise Against

According to their website, Rise Against endorses liberal political philosophies, as they are "big fans of Fat Mike's political views." Fat Mike is the lead singer and songwriter of the band NOFX which is known for left leaning politics. Moreover, they endorse the Punkvoter website, which is a liberal site for punks.

All of the group's members are vegetarians (as stated in an online interview that also talks about Joe's love of pizza) and active supporters of PETA.[1] Their video for the single "Ready to Fall" addresses environmental degradation and its effect on animals, as well as animal cruelty inherent to factory farming and sport hunting. The group has called the video the most important video Rise Against has ever made.[2] The Director's Cut of the video was first made available to a PETA website.[3]

Rise Against and Vans shoes

On May 23, 2007 Rise Against announced their endorsement of a new line of Vans shoes that would be 'completely vegan in consideration to [their] animal rights efforts'[4]. In response to recent criticism spawning from a rampant rumor of Van's use of sweatshops, Rise Against released a statement to address the matter on both their myspace and website saying,

"Just a quick note to address a handful of concern that some of you have addressed in regards to the shoe that we've teamed up with VANS to produce. All VANS shoes, including the RISE AGAINST VEGAN shoe are manufactured in factories that follow strict guidelines that are designed to protect the workers involved in this process. The right to fair compensation, the right to associate freely and bargain collectively, the right to work free from discrimination and harassment, and the right to a safe clean workplace are among many of the guidelines that VANS and the factories that produce VANS are committed to. We are proud to work with such a progressive and legendary company. If you are interested in reading their policies in detail, below you will find a link to their forty page Global Compliance Report. We, however, can neither confirm nor deny that our shoes will in fact make you run faster and score better on your SATs.

Thanks to all of the RISE fans who care about human rights enough to email us and find out where the products they buy are coming from, and we encourage everyone to always seek the truth. In a world that rarely questions anything, it's encouraging to have such vigilant fans."

For more information, please visit http://cache.umusic.com/web_assets/riseagainst/downloads/GCRall.pdf

Song use in popular culture

Various songs by the band have been included in TV shows, sports DVDs and video games. The song "Drones" (from 2006's The Sufferer & the Witness) was used by WWE as the theme for Royal Rumble 2007, and was used by EA in the video game Madden 2007. The song "Survive" (also from The Sufferer & the Witness) was used by WWE in the video game Smackdown! vs. Raw 2007. Various Rise Against songs have been used as background music in the Need for Speed series, Burnout 3, Bugbear Entertainment's Flat Out 2, and MX vs. ATV Unleashed.

Rise Against has established a niche in the extreme sport sub-culture: "Like the Angel" (from 2003's Revolutions Per Minute) was featured in the game Tony Hawk's Underground, a skateboarding game, where it was incorrectly noted as "Like the Angels." They also covered Black Flag's song "Fix Me" for Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the song appearing both in-game and on the game's soundtrack. The band had a cameo appearance in the 2005 skate-themed movie Lords Of Dogtown, playing "Nervous Breakdown" in a club while the crowd starts a riot. "Ready to Fall" was used as background music in the X Games, 2006. The song "Everchanging" was used in the mountain bike video "Roam" produced by "The Collective," 2006.

"Prayer of the Refugee" (from The Sufferer & the Witness) is featured in the video game Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

The song "Bricks" (from The Sufferer & the Witness) was used on ATV Offroad Fury 4.

The song "Under the Knife" (from The Sufferer & the Witness) was used in the film Never Back Down.

Line-ups

Rise Against has had a number of line-up changes, and Tim McIlrath and Joe Principe have been the only constant members.

Dates	Lineup	Releases/recordings/performances
(1999-2000)	Tim McIlrath – lead vocals Mr. Precision – guitars and vocals Joe Principe – bass and vocals Toni Tintari – drums, percussion	Transistor Revolt Demo (2000)
(2000-2002)	Tim McIlrath – lead-vocals Mr. Precision – guitar Joe Principe – bass, vocals Brandon Barnes – drums	The Unraveling Tour (2001) The Unraveling (2001)
(2002-2004)	Tim McIlrath – lead-vocals, guitar Todd Mohney – guitar, vocals Joe Principe – bass, vocals Brandon Barnes – drums	Revolutions Per Minute Tour (2003) Revolutions Per Minute (2003)
(2004-2007)	Tim McIlrath – lead-vocals, guitar Chris Chasse – guitar, vocals Joe Principe – bass, vocals Brandon Barnes – drums	Siren Song of the Counter Culture Tour (2004-2005) Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) The Sufferer & the Witness Tour (2006-2007) The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)
(2007-present)	Tim McIlrath – lead-vocals, guitar Zach Blair – guitar, vocals Joe Principe – bass, vocals Brandon Barnes – drums	The Sufferer & the Witness Tour (2007) Rise Against's fifth studio album (TBA 2008)

Discography

Main article: Rise Against discography

Albums

• The Unraveling - April 24, 2001 (2001-04-24)
• Revolutions Per Minute - April 8, 2003 (2003-04-08)
• Siren Song of the Counter Culture - August 10, 2004 (2004-08-10)
• The Sufferer & the Witness - July 4, 2006 (2006-07-04)
• Upcoming studio album - scheduled for release in the summer/fall of 2008

External links

• Geffen Records
• Official Rise Against Website
• Rise Against Website
• Rise Against MySpace
• Rise Against on Geffen Records - page on label site