Will Rise Against be the next big Chicago band?
The Chicago quartet Rise Against doesn't fit neatly into any pigeonholes. As ultra-melodic hard-core punks with a serious political consciousness, the musicians never were part of this city's vibrant pop-punk scene or its venerated art-punk tradition.
For that matter, the foursome always has been more underground than many of the acts it's shared a stage with on the Warped Tour, even though its last three albums have been increasingly popular major-label releases, and some peg the group as the next local band destined for the multiplatinum success of Fall Out Boy.
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"In the weird musical landscape we have found ourselves existing in, we've always felt like a fish out of water," vocalist Tim McIlrath says. "We're a Chicago punk band that is all of a sudden thrown into the cage with all of these mainstream bands that we have nothing in common with. The more we ventured into that territory, the more we realized it was uncharted territory for us, and I felt like we should hold tight to the friendships that we made on the way."
To that end, the group decided to record its recently released fifth album, "Appeal to Reason," with producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, the same duo that helmed "Siren Song of the Counter Culture" (2004) and "The Sufferer & the Witness" (2006). And though the new album is by far the most tuneful of the band's career, rather than a conscious attempt at reinvention, it's more the dedicated honing of a sound that's been in place since McIlrath and bassist Joe Principe first formed the group in 1999. (The two have been the only constants through several personnel changes, and the current lineup is completed by drummer Brandon Barnes and guitarist Zach Blair.)
"We weren't trying to reinvent anything; we were just trying to make a good record," McIlrath says of the new disc. "There are no plans to what we do; we just kind of bang out the song. As it was happening, there wasn't this sense of, 'Oh, we're creating something great and life-changing.' We just had the feeling of, 'Oh, we're doing this the right way and the way we want to do it with the right people.'"
Rise Against is uncompromising in its leftist politics: "There is no middle ground, no compromise, we've drawn the line," McIlrath sings in "Collapse (Post-Amerika)," the opening track of "Appeal to Reason," which takes its name from a socialist/agitator newspaper from the turn of the last century. "Rise Against is a Noam Chomsky band in a Hot Topic world," the Washington Post declared, while the New York Times concluded that the group's "relentless earnestness is both a defining factor and a limitation." But these observations slight the strength of the melodies -- the lyrics could be gibberish and the songs would still be inspiring and unforgettable --and the fact that the socio-political observations are far above bumper-sticker sloganeering.
Witness "Hero of War," a haunting tale of a patriotic soldier who winds up brutalizing the people he's allegedly liberating.
"That song was inspired by a documentary called 'The Ground Truth,'" McIlrath says. "It was all about soldiers returning from Iraq and dealing with post-traumatic stress and the things that happen to them when they re-enter civilian life. Telling those stories and coming to terms with what they did over there during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ... the documentary was just so moving. I remember watching it and picking up the guitar right there and putting those thoughts out -- just summing it all up into 3½ minutes of song."
McIlrath proudly notes that the band's fan base boasts a large number of servicemen, and that two members of its road crew are veteran Marines.
"So much of it is intertwined in our lives that I felt that song was necessary to document what's going on in these kids' lives -- and I do mean 'kids.' We have gotten to know the Iraq Veterans Against the War, and they have been coming out to our shows. Yesterday, a 22-year-old was telling me how he was hit with shrapnel seven times. He's out of the Marines, he's only 22, but he's lived an entire life: He's fought a war, survived seven near-death experiences, and he's barely old enough to drink."
As with many of the best anti-war anthems or political rock in general, Rise Against is at its best when it's focusing on the most personal stories. But do fans care as much about the message as the music?
"I think so," McIlrath says. "If I only had one kid walk up to me during the last eight years and say, 'Your band has really challenged my thinking process and made me confront different issues in my head; it's inspired me, changed my life and made me want to go into the Peace Corps or start a band of my own ...' If I only had one kid who said that, it would all be worth it. But the fact is that I've had thousands of kids say that to me, and that's amazing."