Rise Against to make sure the torch of punk is passed on
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
October 26, 2006
Tim McIlrath, lead singer of Chicago-based hardcore quartet Rise Against, fears for the future of punk rock.
“I'm just afraid that there won't be kids like us in the next generation,” said McIlrath recently from his home in Chicago. “I feel like the generation before us did such a good job of passing on that torch, passing on that legacy of punk and everything involved with it.
“I feel like less and less people are passing it on because there are guys that are just so jaded that they don't talk to the next generation of kids about what they believe. Or maybe they just don't believe anymore. Who knows?”
Rise Against believes passionately in the future of punk and educating the leaders of tomorrow through their lyrics, music and even the band's liner notes. Along with a musical laundry list of early punk bands (Minor Threat and Black Flag), McIlrath and his mates include a reading list in the liner notes of Rise Against's albums.
For the 26-year-old singer, books like Ray Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451” shaped who he is and his outlook on the world.
“When you read a book like 'Fahrenheit 451' at the age of 15, it just blows your mind,” McIlrath said. “You're thinking this is a cool sci-fi novel about some future time when people burn books, then you realize he's talking about our world. This is talking about the world we live in and the world we could live in if we allow these things to happen.
“When you look up from that book, you see the world with a whole different view. A lot of those authors are what led me to find punk rock instead of mainstream music.”
Rise Against formed in 1999, emerging from a Chicago scene known more for its indie rock (Tortoise and Shellac) than its old school political punk. McIlrath wanted to bust out of the shoegazer mentality and offer more passion and energy in his music.
Rise Against recorded and released “Siren Song of the Counter Culture” in 2004 but received little support from the Geffen label because no one really knew the band at the label. McIlrath, along with guitarist Chris Chasse, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes, took the cold shoulder in stride. Using a page from their DIY predecessors, the quartet went on tour nonstop and earned listeners one city at a time.
Without label support, Rise Against sold enough records to pique the interest of the label, and ever since, the four guys from Chi-town have had the major-label backing they deserve: “Everyone there is really into the band and into the message. We still don't sell a million records like other artists on Geffen, but they care about us like we do.”
Touring in support of this year's “The Sufferer and the Witness,” Rise Against will play a Halloween show at SOMA.
“I just hope the kids in the front row of a Rise Against show are the next big wave of bands,” McIlrath said. “I want to be able to say those are the kids that are going to write songs that are going to change lives 10 years from now.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
