Chicago upstarts Rise Against have spent a decade sneaking activist political thought to the kids by smothering it in anthemic, melodic punk rock. Now that 2008’s Appeal To Reason has made them a top ten band, ringleader Tim McIlrath tells The Vine they’re ready to get even more extreme.
You’ve never really had to musically compromise to become successful. There’s no glam or emo or metalcore, you’re just a riproaring melodic punk band, like back in the day.
It’s certainly been awesome to not have to cross over to the mainstream. We’ve been able to coax the mainstream to cross over to us. It’s been the secret to our success and it’s been a validating way to go about it.
Do you think you’d have the same success without your strong political stance?
I think bands and musicians nowadays have taken this apathetic stance towards music. There’s just a widespread, rampant apathy. The last eight years have been one of the most tumultuous political climates that I’ve been alive for, that’s for sure, and music should be responding to this. It’s created this vacuum that we’ve been able to exist in.
But shouldn’t music be an escape, or entertainment?
I think there’s an argument for that and I enjoy a lot of music in that way. But that’s not our mission. It wasn’t the mission of a lot of the punks that came before us. Punk is a reaction to the mainstream music that had no guts behind it, no message. There’s a place for all kinds of music but if you ask us to write a song about what we care deeply about, what you get is a Rise Against record. I’ve never really considered myself as an entertainer. I never wanted to go on stage and just bullshit for an hour and a half and take your money. I want to lay my guts out on the table and say ‘Here it is’. And people identify with that.
It’s a brave thing but does proclaiming your principles also leave you open to a lot of criticism?
When this band first started about ten years ago we weren’t in the limelight. Our first release was a very humble punk record getting modest critical acclaim. Reading reviews of people who hated it, I realised that I better develop a real thick skin, right now, or I turn my back on this. You have to develop a thick skin to survive the musical landscape and survive we did.
Since you have a likeminded audience, is it an opportunity to be even more extreme in your views?
That’s exactly what it’s done for me. We have a bigger, louder bullhorn now that someone handed us and said ‘Here, now everyone can hear you, what do you want to say?’ Of course we don’t want to mellow out now that we’re reaching so many people. It’s time to really start to effect different ways of thinking and to provoke thought and challenge those thought processes. Now we can do it on a mass scale.
What’s the hardest political view for Rise Against to sell?
I’m not trying to sell anything to anybody.
C’mon, you’re totally trying to sell an ideology, aren’t you?
I wanna be there as an example. Say ‘Hey, in this journey of life, these are the things I’ve discovered and these are the notes I took along the way and this is the way I feel.’ I’ve always appreciated in the past when people shared these things. As a kid it made me feel less alone. When I first heard Minor Threat and Ian MacKaye was reacting to the nihilistic punk scene of the ‘70s, he said ‘I don’t identify with that. I identify with clean-living and aggression, which is a lot more fun than that.’ I was happy that I could identify with him. Now that I’m here I don’t want to twist anyone’s arm, I don’t want to sell anybody anything. I just want to say ‘Hey, if you feel how we feel, you’re not a freak for feeling like that.’ And if you don’t feel like that you’re not unwelcome at the shows either.
RISE AGAINST - AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Mar 24 - Metro City - Perth
Mar 25 - Thebarton Theatre - Adelaide
Mar 27 - Festival Hall - Melbourne
Mar 28 - Hordern Pavilion - Sydney
Mar 29 - The Tivoli - Brisbane