Biography


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 and The Sufferer & the Witness, with hits such as “Give It All”, “Swing Life Away”, “Ready to Fall”, “Prayer of the Refugee”, “The Good Left Undone” and “Re-Education (Through Labor)”. Their most recent studio album, Appeal to Reason, was released in North America on October 7, 2008.

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 and Revolutions per Minute 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
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, 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.

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 17 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, and the sixth annual Download Festival on June 13 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.

Influences
Rise Against themselves have listed several influences, among them, ALL, Descendents, Black Flag (they covered two of their songs, “Fix Me” and “Nervous Breakdown”), Minor Threat (the band also covered “Minor Threat”, which appears as a b-side on the “Re-Education (Through Labor)” single), Pennywise, Nirvana, and Bad Religion (especially early on in their career). Tim McIlrath provided guest vocals on “Let Them Eat War” by Bad Religion for their live DVD Live at the Palladium, and in 2004 Rise Against got to tour with their idols. Bill Stevenson (of ALL/Descendents, and formerly of Black Flag) produced the band’s second album Revolutions per Minute as well as The Sufferer & the Witness and Appeal to Reason. Chad Price (also in ALL) provided additional backing vocals on Revolutions per Minute and The Sufferer & the Witness.

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