Rise Against

Members: Tim McIlrath, Joe Principe, Brandon Barnes, Chris Chasse

Active: 1999 - Present

HISTORY

Rise Against is an American melodic hardcore band from Chicago, Illinois that was formed in 1999. Their current line-up 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 five albums, a rare material EP, and one DVD.

Rise Against rose to fame with their first two major label releases, Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) and The Sufferer & 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". Their most recent studio album, Appeal to Reason, was released in North America on October 7, 2008.Appeal to Reason currently has one single "Re-Education (Through Labor)". The music video for Re-Education (Through Labor) was released on September 25, 2008 and was directed by Kevin Kerslake.

EARLY YEARS (1999-2003)

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), and 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.

SIREN SONG OF THE COUNTER CULTURE 2004-2005

Rise Against switched to Dreamworks Records and recorded their third 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.

Rise Against toured North America, Europe, Australia and Japan in support of Siren Song of the Counter Culture. Some of the most notable mentions include performances with the first international Taste of Chaos tour in 2005 (with Funeral for a Friend, Story of the Year, The Used and Killswitch Engage), going to the UK, Germany, Australia and Japan, 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.

THE SUFFERER & THE WITNESS 2006-2007

Their fourth album, The Sufferer & 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.

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. Rise Against later announced they would be heading their own tour through North America throughout the summer of 2007.

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. 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]

On July 3, 2007, Rise Against also released an EP entitled "This Is Noise" in Canada, which was subsequently released in the United States on January 15, 2008. It contains 5 tracks: Boys No Good, Fix Me, Obstructed View, But Tonight We Dance, and Nervous Breakdown.

APPEAL TO REASON 2008-PRESENT

In May 2007, it was reported that Rise Against was planning to return to the studio after The Sufferer and the Witness tour to begin work on their next album.

When asked in July about the band's plans for a new album, Blair told The Punk Site that Rise Against would "start writing and recording the record" after touring and be "writing for a few months" before returning to the studio. He also predicted a summer 2008 release date for the album. In an interview with Principe, he stated recording would likely begin around early 2008, although he said "everything could change", but that was "the plan right now".

On January 7, 2008, it was reported on Rise Against's official website that they had begun work on the new record. When asked in May what the current status of the album was, frontman Tim McIlrath told KROQ that the band was in the middle of recording it because of a touring schedule.

Also in May 2008, Rise Against posted a lengthy studio blog on their official website, stating that they were back in the studio working on the album and had "spent many weeks in Chicago throughout the end of winter writing new songs in" their "rehearsal space" and were "pretty stoked on the direction."

To support the upcoming album, Rise Against had been confirmed for a number of European festival dates set to kick off in the summer of 2008. The band played at the sixteenth annual KROQ Weenie Roast on May 17th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, and the sixth annual Download Festival on June 13th at Donington Park, England. They also played at Switzerland's Greenfield Festival as well as Germany's Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival.Rise Against will also present on 2008's west coast swing of the Vans Warped Tour from August 6th to August 17th.

On July 14, 2008, it was reported on Punknews.org that the album would be called Appeal to Reason. A release date of October 7, 2008 was also announced as well as a headlining tour that would occur in the fall. The album gets its name from the Leftist/Socialist Party of America newspaper from 1897.

On August 19, 2008, Rise Against released their latest single, "Re-Education (Through Labor)", to iTunes and other digital music stores. Appeal to Reason was also released as a pre-order on iTunes and other digital music stores. Pre-orders on iTunes contain an immediate download of the new single as well as a live version of "The Prayer of the Refugee", and the album will have the additional bonus track "Elective Amnesia".

Appeal to Reason opened at #3 on the Billboard 200, making it Rise Against's highest charting album.

Rise Against also released a video for "Making Christmas" on the Nightmare Revisited soundtrack.

Politics of Rise Against

All of the group's members are strict vegetarians (as stated in an online interview that also talks about Joe's love of pizza) and active supporters of PETA. Their video for the single "Ready to Fall" addresses environmental degradation and its effect on animals, as well as animal cruelty inherent in factory farming and sport hunting. The group has called the video the most important video Rise Against has ever made. The Director's Cut of the video was first made available to a PETA website.

Rise Against and Vans shoes

On May 23, 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 Vans' use of sweatshops, Rise Against released a statement to address 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 SATs.

Thanks to all of the RISE fans who care 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

STUDIO RELEASES

2000 - Transistor Revolt

2001 - The Unraveling

2003 - Revolutions Per Minute

2004 - Siren Song of the Counter Culture

2005 - The Unraveling (Reissue)

2006 - The Sufferer & The Witness

2008 - Appeal to Reason

SINGLES

2003 - "Heaven Knows" Revolutions Per Minute

2004 - "Give It All" Siren Song of the Counter Culture

2005 - "Swing Life Away" Siren Song of the Counter Culture

2005 - "Life Less Frightening" Siren Song of the Counter Culture

2006 - "Ready to Fall"

2007 - "The Good Left Undone"

2008 - "Re-Education (Through Labor)"