Punk Rock Without A Road MapEvery few years, a band comes along that totally transcends the punk and hardcore scene, be it Bad Religion, AFI or the Gaslight Anthem. One of the biggest such success stories of the past decade is that of Chicago-based hardcore act Rise Against,
a group of punk lifers who have managed to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world without compromising their political or personal belief system. ShockHound recently caught up with Rise Against frontman
Tim McIlrath, right as the band was preparing to release Endgame, their sixth studio album. The ever-articulate McIlrath spoke to us at length about what inspired the latest record, how the band reconciles their growing success with their own personal politics, and — maybe most importantly — why it’s still important for Rise Against to ruffle the feathers of mainstream audiences, regardless of how successful they've become.
SHOCKHOUND: You’ve been doing Rise Against for over ten years and Endgame sounds as energetic as your first album. What do you think has kept you from growing cynical over the years?
TIM MCILRATH: I'm really fortunate to be there for a Rise Against show every night, and see so many young kids all over the world who put new wind in my sails every time we play a show. They don't let me get cynical or become jaded, because every time we get onstage and look out in the crowd there's a 15 year old going to his first punk show and having an awakening there — and when you see the eyes of the kids in the front row, it's sort of a cure-all for any jadedness or cynical altitude you might have, because you realize that what you're doing is so important. I'm 32 years old, and there are certain moments in my life where I don't know how much longer I can tug on the world's shirtsleeves and ask it to care; but then you see that kid in the front row. That challenge is even greater at bigger shows for a more mainstream audience, because they're not used to their music provoking thought or challenging their preconceptions at all, and you're really ruffling the feathers and creating some friction.
SHOCKHOUND: Do you enjoy continuing to ruffle those feathers?
MCILRATH: I do, and that's sort of renewed my lease with Rise Against. We've been a band for ten years; and once you've done something for that long, you start to look for ways to keep it fresh so you're not bringing the same things to the table. For me, that renewal came in the form of the audience who were coming to our shows that weren’t used to hearing their entertainment also challenge their way of thinking. For a while we lived in the safe bubble of punk and hardcore, where if I walk in and say, "Fuck the war in Iraq" it's like, “Big surprise, the singer of Rise Against is against the war in Iraq; I'm glad I paid 20 bucks to finally hear that.” But you do the same thing at a radio festival in middle America when you're opening for Three Doors Down, all of the sudden you really have ruffled some feathers, and what you're saying does have this resonance to it; and it creates that friction because it may be the first time they've heard anything political come off the stage, as opposed to just going to a show and rocking out.
SHOCKHOUND: The title Endgame seems like it can be interpreted apocalyptically as well as in a utopian sense. Is there a duality to the theme of the record?
MCILRATH: Yeah, the whole idea behind Endgame was to try to attack the world's problems, but with a different approach. On our last record three years ago [2008's Appeal to Reason], we were writing about all these things that were happening in the world; and now a lot of those same things are still happening, so how do I sit down with a record and not write the same exact things? Endgame was kind of my strategy to talk about these problems, but in a retrospective kind of way. Rise Against used to be the voice of a character who was trying to tell you to care — but what if that character got sick of that and started telling you now that we missed our opportunity to care? Let's paint a picture of the repercussions of our actions, and let's go further and create a picture of the world that could be created from the ashes of our own. I suppose it's a subconscious effort to really think about that world that someone would rebuild after the mistakes of our civilization, and maybe we can look at that and try to apply those lessons to our present day.
SHOCKHOUND: There is also a song about homophobia called “Make It Stop.” Do you feel like that subject is still relatively taboo outside the punk scene?
MCILRATH: I think it still is kind of taboo, and bands like Thursday and Boy Sets Fire did a great job of bringing stuff like homosexuality into the conversation of the hardcore show. Growing up in the hardcore scene, everyone is always talking about sexism, racism and homophobia, and hardcore sort of created this sanctuary for people of all walks of life to co-exist. I think I took that for granted; when Rise Against traveled outside that sanctuary, we started realizing that a typical rock show can be one of those places where that kind of hate still lives. Rock in America today is a very macho, male-dominated, testosterone-driven event; and I feel like the more I’m introduced to it, the more I feel like someone should say something here, especially in terms of our own audiences and our crowds. I want to make sure that anybody from any walk of life is welcome at our shows; and if something like homosexuality is something you condemn, maybe you're not welcome at a Rise Against show, either.
SHOCKHOUND: Was there a catalyzing moment for that song?
MCILRATH: It sort of hit me when I was talking to a fan of the band, and they didn't know where we stood on homosexuality. At first I was so shocked and deeply saddened that someone wouldn't know where we stood on the issue — and also I felt really bad for the people who thought we were a band who condemned their lifestyle. Then after the wave of gay teen suicides, I really felt like something needed to happen; and this was one way we could put water where the fire was, because that fire is often at these rock shows.
SHOCKHOUND: In addition to the political songs on the album, it seems like there are a lot of personal moments, as well.
MCILRATH: I'm glad you recognize that, because whenever people talk about Rise Against it seems like a lot of the personal songs get kind of lost in the shuffle; that side of this band isn't as headline-grabbing as the political material. But Rise Against has always sort of had those songs and lyrics, and our fans know that there's a thing that makes us different from a band like Rage Against the Machine or Anti-Flag, or even Bad Religion. When people call us a political band, I don't really mind that — but I also feel like it's [false] advertising, in a way. If you're looking for a really political band, I can recommend to you a handful; but I feel like our band is sort of talking about a lot of different things we all feel as human beings throughout the course of a day. America's foreign policy might be the biggest thing on your mind in the morning; but in the evening when your girlfriend breaks up with you, that’s the biggest thing on your mind. That's how we are as humans, we're not 100 percent political or 100 percent personal — we're complicated mixtures of everything.
SHOCKHOUND: How do you personally reconcile holding onto your core beliefs as the band continues to get bigger?
MCILRATH: It’s really difficult, because there's no real road map as far as that goes. To be honest, my favorite bands never sold more than 10,000 records; we're playing inside arenas that I would have never been caught dead in as a kid. As we got bigger, I would look toward other acts to see how they handled such things; and then at one point, you break outside that ceiling and you’re in a whole new territory. We take it case by case, as far as sponsors and stuff like that. We try to figure out if our presence can do more good, or if we're making things more harmful; and there are times when we get it right and there are times when we get it wrong. I think we have screwed up in the past, and we're constantly learning from that. We will ask guys like Tom Morello what we should do in certain situations and he'll be like, "Fuck em! We got kicked off more radio shows than any other band ever!” That makes you feel better, because then you realize you're not the first people to deal with this stuff, so you don't feel as alone.
SHOCKHOUND: Do you think that continually representing those core beliefs has been part of why Rise Against is so successful today?
MCILRATH: When I think about our band and who we are, it wasn't created by saying yes to opportunities, it was created by saying no to opportunities. I know that sounds like a totally failed business model; but we've said no to more things than we've said yes to, even at times when we weren’t sure if what we're saying no to might be the thing that takes us to the next level — and I think that strategy has worked for us. It’s all about being aware of why your name is on a show or a CD, and trying to recognize if you’re being exploited for your fanbase or if it's in your fans’ best interest. It's a fine line, and we're constantly learning how to walk it.
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CITAZIONE
a group of punk lifers who have managed to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world without compromising their political or personal belief system.
come no..
CITAZIONE
Let's paint a picture of the repercussions of our actions, and let's go further and create a picture of the world that could be created from the ashes of our own. I suppose it's a subconscious effort to really think about that world that someone would rebuild after the mistakes of our civilization, and maybe we can look at that and try to apply those lessons to our present day.
wow.
Come sempre tanta stima.
