Rise Against

Rise Against is a hardcore punk/melodic hardcore band from Chicago, Illinois, USA, consisting of four members, Tim McIlrath, Joe Principe, Brandon Barnes, and Chris Chasse.

History

In 1999, after the break up of 88 Fingers Louie, Joe Principe and Mr. Precision (ex 88FL members) formed Rise Against. They originally performed under the name Transistor Revolt, and they released a self-produced demo entitled Transistor Revolt in 2000, a year before signing with Fat Wreck Chords to release their first two albums, The Unraveling, and Revolutions Per Minute in 2001 and 2003. They later switched to Dreamworks Records and recorded their 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. A re-issued version of The Unraveling was released on August 23, 2005 through Fat Wreck Chords. Their fourth album, The Sufferer and the Witness, was released on July 4, 2006, reaching #10 on the Billboard 200. 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.

Rise Against's original lineup consisted of Tim McIlrath (vocals and guitar), Joe Principe (bass and vocals), Brandon Barnes (drums), and Mr. Precision (guitar and vocals), and recorded its debut album with renowned punk producer Mass Giorgini. Mr. Precision left the band in 2001 and was replaced by Todd Mohney. 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. In early 2007, the band will be supporting My Chemical Romance on their arena tour.

Ideals

Rise Against is known for their strong social and political ideals which are put into many of their songs.

Political stance

Rise Against have a strong left-wing political stance which is seen in songs such as "Blood Red White & Blue", "State of the Union", "Tip the Scales", and "Bricks". In the booklets for Revolutions Per Minute and The Sufferer and the Witness, Tim lists books, films, and websites expressing ideals similar to Rise Against's. They include Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, as well as Michael Moore's website and the film The Corporation.

PETA Work

The group's constituents are vegetarians and active supporters of PETA. [1] Their single "Ready to Fall" address environmental degradation and its effect on animals, as well as animal cruelty inherent to factory farming and sport hunting. The group has called the accompanying video the most important Rise Against has ever made [2], the unedited version of which was first made available to a PETA website. [3] Performed at FM 102.1's Big Snow Show with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and My Chemical Romance in Milwaukee Wisconsin on December 13, 2006.

Members

• Tim McIlrath - Lead Vocals/Guitar
• Chris Chasse - Guitar/Backing Vocals
• Joe Principe - Bass/Backing Vocals
• Brandon Barnes - Drums

DVD

• Generation Lost (2006)

Discography

• Transistor Revolt (demo) (2000)
• The Unraveling (2001)
• Revolutions Per Minute (2003)
• Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
• The Unraveling (Reissue) (2005)
• The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	UK
2003	"Heaven Knows"	-	-	-	Revolutions Per Minute
2004	"Give It All"	-	#37	-	Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2005	"Swing Life Away"	-	#12	-	Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2005	"Life Less Frightening"	-	#33	-	Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2006	"Ready to Fall"	-	#13	-	The Sufferer & the Witness
2006	"Prayer of the Refugee"	-	#22	-	The Sufferer & the Witness

Videography

• Heaven Knows from Revolutions Per Minute (2003)
• Give It All from Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
• Swing Life Away from Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2005)
• Ready to Fall from The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)
• Prayer of the Refugee from The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)

B-Sides

• "Join the Ranks (second version)" from Fat Music Vol. 5: Live Fat, Die Young compilation (2001)
• "Generation Lost" from Fat Music Vol. 6: Uncontrollable Fatulence compilation (2002)
• "Obstructed View" from Your Scene Sucks compilation (2002) and special edition of Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
• "Swing Life Away (first version)" from Punk Goes Acoustic compilation (2003)
• "Gethsamane" from OIL Chicago Punk Refined compilation (2003)
• "Give It All (first version)" from Rock Against Bush Vol.1 compilation (2004)
• "Fix Me" from the Japanese release of Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland OST (2005)
• "Nervous Breakdown" from the Lords of Dogtown OST (2005)
• "Obstructed (second version)" from the Masters of Horror OST (2005)
• "Everchanging (acoustic version)" from the Warped Tour 2006 Compilation
• "Paper Wings" (live version) from some release of The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)
• "Built to Last" from some European releases of The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)
• "Boy's No Good" from some European releases of The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)
• "But Tonight We Dance" from the LP release of The Sufferer and the Witness (2006)

Trivia

• Tim is featured on the song "Denak ez du balio" by the Basque Country band Berri Txarrak from the album Libre (Free) (2003)
• Tim is featured on the song "Let Them Eat War" on the Bad Religion's Live At The Palladium DVD.
• Tim has heterochromia and has one brown eye and one blue eye.
• Tim has a daughter named Blythe.
• Brandon has a daughter named Stella.
• Chris Chasse's first band, Reach the Sky had Rise Against open for them, when Chris was in Reach the Sky.
• Rise Against are good friends with Canadian Post-Hardcore band Alexisonfire, the two bands have gone on tour together several times, both in Europe and in America.
• They appear in the movie Lords of Dogtown, playing a cover of early hardcore punk band Black Flag.
• Some of Rise Against's songs are featured on the soundtracks of video games:
  • "Like The Angel," from Revolutions Per Minute, is featured in Tony Hawk's Underground.
  • "Paper Wings," from Siren Song of the Counter Culture, is featured in Burnout 3.
  • "Give It All," from Siren Song of the Counter Culture, is featured in Need for Speed Underground 2, Wrestlemania 21, FlatOut 2 and MX Vs ATV Unleashed.
  • "Fix Me" is featured in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
  • "My Life Inside Your Heart" and "The Art of Losing" would have been featured in Propeller Arena, but the game was cancelled (despite being completed).
  • "Drones" from The Sufferer and the Witness is featured on Madden NFL 07.
  • An abridged version of "Survive" (the deep bass intro is not present) from The Sufferer and the Witness is featured on Smackdown vs. Raw 2007.
• They are all vegetarian.
• "Last Chance Blueprint" from Revolutions Per Minute contains several quotes from the movie American Beauty.
• They spent one of their days off from Warped Tour volunteering in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina victims.
• "Like The Angel," and "Torches" from Revolutions Per Minute are featured in the mountain biking film The Collective.
• "Life Less Frightening" is featured in the snowmobiling film "Heavy Metal 3: Mountain Dreams"

External links

• Rise Against Website (Flash)
• RSS Feed - official site feed
• Rise Against on Purevolume
• Rise Against on Myspace
• Interview with Tim
• Rise Against on Geffen Records - page on label site
• Ready to Fall video
• Fat Wreck Chords
• Interview from Alternative Press 195 (2004)
• Interview with Peta2
• Interview with Rise Against on Fuel TV
• Rise Against Fan Site