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Rise Against

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Rise Against is an American punk/melodic hardcore band from Chicago, Illinois, which was formed in 1999. Many themes in its songs relate to social commentary. It currently 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 and one DVD. They became popular with their last two albums, Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) and The Sufferer and 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 new Rise Against album, which is expected to be released in the summer of 2008.[1][2]

The band are all vegetarian and active with the animal rights group PETA, they serve the group by offering them their time and money.[3]

History

Early years

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), 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.

Rise to fame

Rise Against switched to Dreamworks Records and recorded its 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.

Their fourth album, The Sufferer and 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.

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 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.

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 [citation needed].

Recent activity

Rise Against 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.

After the tour, Rise Against plans to return to the studio to begin writing and recording their fifth album, which is tentatively scheduled for release sometime in the summer of 2008.[4] Guitarist Zach Blair had this to say:

After this we go come home two weeks and then we go back out for a month in the States and then we're home for about a month. Then we do the Taste of Chaos International with the Used and Aiden and the Gallows and that's going to take us back to Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Asia and then we start writing and recording the record. So that's going to take us till about November but then after that we get back into the studio. We're writing for a few months and then we’re recording and hopefully it'll be out by the summer.

— Zach Blair, The Punk Site[5]

On July 3, 2007, Rise Against also released a Canada-exclusive EP entitled "This Is Noise". It contains 5 tracks: Boys No Good, Fix Me, Obstructed View, But Tonight We Dance, and Nervous Breakdown.

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.[6] Moreover, they endorse the Punkvoter website, which is a liberal site for punks.[7]

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 23 May 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 clear up 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 SAT's.

Thanks to all of the RISE fans who give a shit 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

team RISE" http://www.riseagainst.com/news/default.aspx/nid/11769 6

Various songs by the band have been included in TV shows, sports DVDs and video games. The song "Drones" from 2006's The Sufferer and 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" from 2006's The Sufferer and 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, 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 Suffer and the Witness) is featured in the video game Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.[8]

Line-ups

Dates Lineup Releases/recordings/performances
(1999-2000)
(2000-2001)
(2001-2002)
  • The Unraveling Tour (2001-2002)
  • No recordings
(2002-2004)
(2004-2007)
(2007-present)

Discography

Albums

Album information Singles
The Unraveling
Revolutions Per Minute
  • Released: April 8, 2003
  • Label: Fat Wreck Chords
  • Chart positions: Did not chart
  • U.S. sales: Unknown
  • RIAA certification: None
  • WW sales: Unknown
Siren Song of the Counter Culture
The Sufferer & the Witness
  • Released: July 4, 2006
  • Label: Geffen Records
  • Chart positions: #10 (U.S.)
  • U.S. sales: 235,909; as of January 2007[9]
  • RIAA certification: None
  • WW sales: Unknown
Untitled 5th studio album
  • To be released: Summer/Fall 2008 (tentatively)
  • Label: Geffen Records
  • Chart positions: Not yet released
  • U.S. sales: Unknown
  • RIAA certification: None
  • WW sales: Unknown

EPs

Singles

Year Title Chart positions[10] Album
US Hot 100 US Pop 100 US Modern Rock UK Rock
2003 "Like The Angel" - - - - Revolutions Per Minute
2003 "Heaven Knows" - - - - Revolutions Per Minute
2004 "Give It All" - - #37 - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2005 "Swing Life Away" #117 #95 #12 - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2005 "Life Less Frightening" - - #33 - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
2006 "Ready to Fall" - - #13 #38 The Sufferer & the Witness
2006 "Prayer of the Refugee" - - #7 - The Sufferer & the Witness
2007 "The Good Left Undone" - - #20 - The Sufferer & the Witness
2007 "Behind Closed Doors" - - - - The Sufferer & the Witness

Videography

Two live videos for the songs Behind Closed Doors and Injection from The Sufferer and the Witness have been made but have not been released.

B-Sides

References

  1. ^ The Punk Site . Com |Punk. Respect It.
  2. ^ Interview: Rise Against
  3. ^ http://www.peta2.com/OUTTHERE/o-top10rise.asp
  4. ^ Rise Against Plan Next Album
  5. ^ "The Punk Site . Com". The Punk Site. July 18, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "Punk. Respect It." ignored (help); Text "The Punk Site" ignored (help)
  6. ^ http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/04.07.04/nofx-0415.html
  7. ^ http://www.riseagainst.com/faq/ Rise Against FAQs
  8. ^ Rumor: Guitar Hero 3 setlist leaked
  9. ^ http://www.drivenfaroff.com/2007/01/10/soundscan-results-for-the-week-of-january-1-2007
  10. ^ "Chart details". Billboard charts.
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