Anti-Flag Still Fighting "The Man"

06/26/09 3:47pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Anti-Flag bassist Chris #2 couldn't be happier about the course the United States Of America is taking lately.

"Since Barack Obama has been elected in America, everyone has a hundred dollar bill in each pocket and we get to make out with anybody we want to," he says. "It's awesome. Mandatory Makeout Mondays. He signed that bill yesterday. It's great."

In case you couldn't practically hear the sarcasm dripping off his voice while you were reading that, let's just clear it up right now: He's joking. While Chris #2 says he's glad George W. Bush is no longer in charge south of the 49th parallel, he says the 43rd president of the United States' legacy still looms large, and the punk rocker reiterates there are a lot of problems that have been left behind.

Interestingly, Obama's election coincided with big changes for Anti-Flag. They signed a two-album deal with major label RCA Records in 2005, and that label released 2006's For Blood And Empire and last year's The Bright Lights Of America. Although Anti-Flag's contract with the label contained an option to release a third album, neither the band nor the label wanted to do so.

Anti-Flag discussed their options at the end of their long tour in support of The Bright Lights Of America. Chris #2 says Anti-Flag were inspired by the events that took place around Obama's election, and they've showed up on their ninth studio album, the recently released The People Or The Gun.

"As you saw with that election, the same day Barack Obama gets elected, you see gay rights being trampled on in the quote-unquote most liberal state in America, California. The same day Barack Obama is elected, you see affirmative action programs being turned over in two states in America.

"You have a new president, you're supposedly slapping racism in the face, and you have people pushing backwards agendas still at that time, and not to mention you saw 48 million votes for McCain. That sounds like a shitload of people that need to be hit over the head with some good ideas.

"It was certainly an inspiring time, so we decided amongst ourselves we needed to make a record and we needed to have it be done swiftly and ferociously so that when the songs come out they are pertinent, they are poignant and they relate to what's happening today."

With the punk D.I.Y. spirit that's been imbued in them from the beginning, Anti-Flag built their own studio in Pittsburgh and wrote and recorded the album there. Instead of demoing, finding a producer and going through a bureaucratic process that Chris #2 says would take a year to finish the album, they had the whole thing done and ready to go in a month.

What's more, they were able to sell it to the first label they called: SideOneDummy. Chris #2 says the album's themes and the way it was put together best represent what Anti-Flag have tried to do from the beginning.

"Even going to the title of the record — The People Or The Gun — and just talking about Anti-Flag as a whole, you know, shifting the focus towards humanity is something that Anti-Flag has always tried to do, and this record is just an extension of that.

"I believe that we have these governments around the world that spend more money on pre-emptive strikes and war than they do on pre-emptive medicine for AIDS defense. You have people that spend more money on weaponry and space war programs than you do on education.

"There's some real, fundamental flaws in our priorities, and in specifically the role of government and those priorities. Taking a look at that is essentially what this album is about."

Anti-Flag will play these dates:

June 26 Pomona, CA @ Fairplex (Vans Warped Tour)
June 27 San Francisco, CA @ Pier 30/32 (Vans Warped Tour)
June 28 Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park (Vans Warped Tour)
July 1 Las Cruces, NM @ New Mexico State University Practice Field (Vans Warped Tour)
July 2 San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 3 Houston, TX @ The Showgrounds at Sam Houston Park (Vans Warped Tour)
July 5 Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 7 Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 8 Pittsburgh, PA @ Post-Gazette Pavilion (Vans Warped Tour)
July 9 Cleveland, OH @ Time Warner Cable Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 10 Mississauga, ON @ Arrow Hall (Vans Warped Tour)
July 11 Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau (Vans Warped Tour)
July 12 Hartford, CT @ New England Dodge Music Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 14 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (Vans Warped Tour)
July 16 Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 17 Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 18 Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Vans Warped Tour)
July 19 Oceanport, NJ @ Monmouth Park Racetrack (Vans Warped Tour)
July 21 Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center For The Performing Arts (Vans Warped Tour)
July 22 Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Virginia Beach (Vans Warped Tour)
July 23 Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 24 Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds (Vans Warped Tour)
July 25 Miami, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 26 Tampa, FL @ Vinoy Park (Vans Warped Tour)
July 28 Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 29 Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center (Vans Warped Tour)
July 30 Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
July 31 Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park (Vans Warped Tour)
Aug. 1 Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater (Vans Warped Tour)
Aug. 2 Minneapolis, MN @ Canterbury Park (Vans Warped Tour)
Aug. 14 Saarbrucken, Germany @ Rokko Del Schlacko
Aug. 15 Feldkirch, Austria @ Poolbar
Aug. 16 Brescia, Italy @ Radio Onda D'Urto Festival
Aug. 17 Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Celjski Dom
Aug. 19 Nyirbator, Hungary @ Azfest
Aug. 20 St. Polten, Austria @ Frequency Festival
Aug. 21 Trutnov, Czech Republic @ Na Bojisti (Open Air Music Festival)
Aug. 22 Hasselt, Belgium @ Pukkelpop Festival
Aug. 23 Ludinghausen, Germany @ Flugplatz Borkenberge (Area 4 Festival)
Aug. 25 Colchester, England @ Colchester Arts Centre
Aug. 26 Stoke-On-Trent, England @ The Sugar Mill
Aug. 28 Reading, England @ Richfield Avenue (Reading Festival)
Aug. 29 Burnley, England @ Burnley Library
Aug. 30 Leeds, England @ Bramham Park (Leeds Festival)
Oct. 7 Cambridge, England @ Junction w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 8 Norwich, England @ University Of East Anglia w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 9 Oxford, England @ O2 Academy Oxford w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 10 Nottingham, England @ Rock City w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 11 Bristol, England @ Anson Rooms w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 14 London, England @ Forum w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 16 Glasgow, Scotland @ ABC w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 17 Leeds, England @ Refectory at University Of Leeds w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 18 Manchester, England @ O2 Academy Manchester w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 20 Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 21 Portsmouth, England @ Pyramid Centre w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 23 Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Den Atelier w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 24 Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 25 Prague, Czech Republic @ Roxy w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 27 Leipzig, Germany @ Werk 2 w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 28 Stuttgart, Germany @ Longhorn w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 29 Munich, Germany @ Backstage Werk w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Oct. 30 Pratteln, Switzerland @ Z7 w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 2 Milan, Italy @ Musicdrome w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 9 Paris, France @ Elysee Montmartre w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 10 Wiesbaden, Germany @ Schlachthof w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 12 Antwerp, Belgium @ Hof Ter Lo w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 13 Cologne, Germany @ E-Werk w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov.  14 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 15 Hamburg, Germany @ Docks w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 17 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Brew House w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand
Nov. 18 Stockholm, Sweden @ Klubben w/Alexisonfire, Fall Of Troy and Ghost Of A Thousand