Rise Against: Rise Up For Punk

It's taken a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, tears and member changes to make Chicago-based hardcore outfit Rise Against one of the driving forces of modern punk rock. That dedication that has also brought them to punk's forefront in a mere five years. But their third effort Siren Song Of The Counter Culture indicates there's absolutely no slowing down now.

Singer Tim McIlrath and drummer Brandon Barnes share their thoughts on life in Rise Against...

ChartAttack: For only your third album, Rise Against seems to be on a pretty steady incline.
Tim McIlrath: I have to admit that I didn't think we'd reach this point by now. This band didn't intend on going anywhere, so to be on our third full-length in, like, five years is pretty awesome.

Tell me about the new album. It's got some pretty heavy expectations with Garth Richardson [Rage Against The Machine, L7] and Andy Wallace [Slayer, Nirvana] at the helm.
TM: The album sounds huge but not too slick. There are so many directions on this album but we still stay true to what Rise Against is. Our songwriting has never been a board meeting where we decide the direction. We get together and write whatever comes out; a hardcore song or whatever. Add in whatever's influencing you at the time and you'll see what happens. If we keep listening to Bad Religion over the next year, you'll hear a really fast Rise Against album next time around. Maybe we'll be hip-hop!

Getting across what Rise Against means to you always seems very important. You mention it in a lot of interviews so as not to mislead people. So, explain.
TM: We're in-your-face, progressive, melodic punk rock band. I've always wanted to say things that stick out; are important. I don't want fluffy lyrics. We're not the biggest band, but we have fans who understand the lyrics. To have fans that feel for what you do is incredible.

What was the most important move for this album, being your major label debut and all?
TM: We just wanted to eclipse ourselves with this album. We wanted to vary the tempo and push everything otherwise we'd be spinning our wheels. We weren't gonna do the next Radiohead record or anything but we had to vary it up. Most importantly we had to be able to play it live. If we hated playing the songs it would be a shitty year ahead for us!

People seem just aching to jump on you for the major label move?
TM: We're just making decisions very carefully. Nobody makes us do anything. We do what we want so we're gonna stay as punk rock as possible and use the means of the major label to bring that punk ethic to the world. Maybe it means opening for like, System Of A Down, but not like, signing autographs at the Dodge tent... I'm not gonna make our fans pay 50 bucks to see us.
Brandon Barnes: The decisions bands make where they sell out are after they move to the major label. If you're letting your face be used to sell cellphones, that's probably selling out. Some kid with a Thrice t-shirt telling us we're selling out. They don't understand that major labels even have a hand in indie distribution, or they help fund indie labels. That tag doesn't mean anything. It's just a logo on the record. It's been said too many times before, but the music is what people need to focus on.

And if the world of the major comes crashing down on you?
TM: So far they've been very supportive. We were ready to go in there and fight for our ideas but they were very encouraging. It's been an incredibly smooth transition. We're surviving. It's early, but we're surviving. We'll see how excited they are when we don't sell eight million copies. We're still a young band with a long career ahead of us so if we get dropped, we'll go back to an indie. I'm not worried about it.