| In part one of our two part interview with Tim McIlrath, DS Editor and Rise Against guru Lauren Mills quizzed the front man about the new album, the story behind the artwork, the response to Against Me! and the division of old vs. new Rise Against fans.
1 PARTE
In a previous interview it was mentioned that the song “Help is on the Way” was inspired by a trip that you made to the Gulf Coast while on break from touring. Tim, what kind of experiences did you have while visiting the Gulf Coast?
I was there to hang out with other musicians and activists to discuss politics and music and how to fuse the two, and we did it in the backdrop of New Orleans . While there, I came into contact with a lot of the culture and also got to see places like the lower 9th ward, the Gulf Coast, and many of the places that were destroyed in the flood. I was fascinated by the Mardi Gras Indians and the Second Line Parades. As New Orleans seemed to drift from the spotlight, I felt compelled to put what I was feeling into a song.
What’s your favorite track off the new album and why?
I really like the way “Wait For Me” came out, it was a fun song to put together.
There’s some pretty sweet looking artwork for Endgame. Who came up with the idea for the artwork and how does it tie in with the theme of the album?
We’ve never done a photograph as a cover, so we wanted to try that. We needed an image that represented the end of civilization as we know it, but not the typical image we associate with that end. I wanted something more hopeful; implying the civilization we have developed is something that needs to end in order for life to go on here. Once we dismantle that, maybe what’s on the other side is more pure and beautiful. To me, the boy is searching for a place to raise his flag, because wherever it was raised before is no longer there.
Tim, did you write Architects as a response to Against Me’s song, I Was a Teenage Anarchist? Some of the lyrics in Architects read like a response to Teenage Anarchist, is this a coincidence?
I felt like the Against Me! song was really dismissive of the fire in my belly, and fire in many of our fans bellies. It was asking for, and deserved, a response. Obviously, we are all allowed to sit on different sides of the fence, but I felt the need to stick up for my side of the fence. I don’t claim to know what that song is about, but that line seemed to trivialize what many of us still hold on to unapologetically.
It seems like there’s a catch 22 in punk rock sometimes. If a band from underground punk beginnings becomes successful beyond a niche punk audience people start to not like them anymore because they are on a major label, they think their sound changed too much or that they’re on the radio etc. However if they release a similar sounding album then people complain that they are uncreative or the band end up talking to the converted every night. I find that some Rise Against fans are divided into these groups. What do you think of all of this?
I think it’s all a pretty natural part of adolescence and I don’t harbor any resent for people who fall into those categories. I was that person too, we all go through it. It’s natural to not want to share your favorite band with the rest of the world. Of course you want a bands second record to hit you the same way its first record did, but sometimes it’s more about the time of your life. At some point, you flush all those things from our system and start appreciating music and its message. In the meantime, it’s your journey. I don’t spend too much time thinking about whether fans are divided. Because when I get on the stage tonight in front of a few thousand people, there will be no division.
This is sort of an off the wall question! On the This is Noise EP there’s probably my favorite Rise Against song Obstructed View. On the back of the album it says published by Transistor Revolt. Before you were called Rise Against that’s what you went by right? Was this song written during the Transistor Revolt period?
Haha, no it was written after we were Rise Against. We only played a few songs as Transistor Revolt before we changed the name. But when you start a band, you have to register a publishing name so we in homage to our original band title we did Transistor Revolt.
Was there a four song demo that later re-recorded and put on your debut album full-length “The Unraveling”?
Correct. I don’t remember which songs, but they were all re-recorded and ended up on “The Unraveling.” I think 401Kill was called Another Day on that demo, but they are all the same songs that would end up on The Unraveling. We just printed them ourselves and sold them for a few bucks. We stopped selling them pretty quickly because Fat agreed to put our record out shortly after we made them and we wanted to re-record those songs.
Do you keep in contact with previous members and/or hang out when possible?
Sure, in fact, I saw Todd and Chris just a few weeks ago on this tour, they came out to the show and we stay in touch.
Each Rise Against studio album has its own sound. How do you manage to incorporate new song topics and sounds into each album?
New topics are easy; the world creates the things that need to be sung about. I just think about where our band fits into the musical landscape and where we can add something not recycle the same old thing. I want to tell the stories that aren’t being told.
2 PARTE
I think of the internet as a good resource especially for people who can’t go to shows for economic reasons, lack of transportation or bad location etc. What do you think about using the internet as a tool to discover bands as opposed to pre-internet where you had to go to shows to find out about under the radar bands?
I think the underground had a certain allure back before the internet. I don’t know whether that allure exists today, but I have faith that people will find a way to recreate it. When I started going to shows, there was no internet to find out where the shows were. You had to gather flyers from previous shows or record stores, and you didn’t have map quest to figure out how to get there! At one point in Chicago, we had the Punk Rock Hotline which was essentially one guy’s answering machine and the message was a list of shows. That was advanced technology to me.
How do you think punk has changed over the years? Do you think the commercialization of punk is a good thing?
I like to see punk get big. I think the word could use more of what punk has to offer. The only part that bums me out is when only the superficial parts crossover without the guts of what punk is, the ideology. Punk, at its root, hasn’t changed.
You take a lot of time out to involve yourselves with fans via contests, emails etc. What are some of the coolest fan interactions you’ve had?
A girl in Virginia once gave me a guitar. She had customized the inlays, shaped from renewable metals, and designed all these intricate designs on it that had relevance to either me or the band. It was really fucking cool.
Several years ago you opened for Sick of it All in Europe and in 2004 Bad Religion. Does it feel odd to have the tables turned having them open for you?
Simply put, yes. It feels like some sort of alternate reality and I feel very lucky to be a part of it. While we may have graduated to some major audiences, we have yet figure out how to survive as a band for as long as either as those bands have, that’s the ongoing challenge. I’m happy to sponge any knowledge we can soak up by surrounding ourselves with bands like Bad Religion and Sick Of It All.
Is it difficult to keep things fresh after being a band for twelve years?
I take it day by day and am constantly overwhelmed by the success of this band. I get something different out of the music and the shows all the time. As of late, the thing that keeps it fresh for me is that our politics have sort of a blank canvas again. As mainstream fans find our music, they aren’t used to some of the ideas we are talking about. There are times where I felt like I was preaching to the converted, but not anymore. Fans now are hungry for it, or they get their feathers ruffled by it, either way that is exciting.
You’re featured in a new documentary titled “The Other F Word” which features other punk musicians and fathers. Has being a father changed your outlook on anything, particularly punk rock?
It’s made me look past my own generation and into the next generation in a very real way. I’ve always felt a certain degree of responsibility to our fans, but it pales in comparison to the responsibility I have to my kids.
The first time I talked to you was in 2008 just before Barrack Obama was elected President. Now it’s 2011. How do you think he’s done since taking office?
I think he has made some real important leaps forward in legislation like Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, predatory lending reform, and some semblance of Wall Street reform. I think there is more to do obviously. I look forward to the next two years. I hope we can bring these wars to an end first and foremost.
What do you think of the current political climate?
I think the right wing has done a pretty good job at convincing many Americans to vote against their own self interests. There is a class of uber-wealthy who are trying to figure out how to protect their wealth and amass even more. By tugging on strings like family values and religion, they have working class Americans convinced that they are on their side. It’s pretty incredible and disgusting at the same time. I fear Americans won’t wake up until it’s too late and their piece of the pie has been all but taken from them.
With that in mind, what would it take to get the change that you desire?
It would take people connecting the dots, following the money, and waking up to the real agendas behind some of the most powerful people in the country. Smaller government means bigger corporations, which means income disparity, and CEOs that are accountable to nobody but their shareholders. I don’t want to live in a profit-driven society.
What are some bands that you think people would listen to that they might not have heard before?
I’m always surprised at how many kids I talk to who haven’t heard of Fugazi.
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