The Challenge

Sometimes at the Assault offices we can’t agree on things and, instead of respectfully disagreeing, we challenge each other like small children on the playground.  Earlier this year, Third World Timmy challenged me to listen to Rise Against’s entire discography and see if maybe my opinion of them would improve after being exposed to their music. This is the true story of what happened.

Opening Statement

I never had a valid reason to hate Rise Against. I like punk rock, and I don’t mind having some extreme left-wing politics thrown into the mix. So the obvious question is, from whence did my deep-burning hatred for this band spring forth? There are three main reasons, at least two of which make no logical sense whatsoever.  To wit:

• Their reconciling of radical ideals with pop success is sometimes less than successful.
• Their radio singles are incredibly stupid and shallow.
• I already liked Against Me!, and thought that another “Against” band would just be pushing it.

So, as you can see, my reasoning is not always sound. But I do tend to stick by my opinions once formed. Could actually listening to the band’s albums trasnform me into a fan?

The Evidence

Consider me Optimus Prime, motherfucker! (Or at least Bumblebee.) Because once I  dug into the band’s albums, I found an awful lot to like, and actually began turning other folks on to Rise Against. As is pretty typical, the radio singles don’t come close to telling the whole story. For instance: Rise Against recorded two albums of no-frills, balls-to-the-wall basement punk for Fat Wreck Chords before they jumped to a major and started appearing on Guitar Hero playlists.

The Unraveling (2001)

The Unraveling, their first full length, is a bit repetitive but it’s also loud, raucous, and so intense you might get ear blisters. Some of the songs also seem a bit more personal than their later work, which was refreshing – leader Tim McIlrath will  never be a poet of the human condition or anything, but hearing him drop the socio-political gobbledygook and address a few issues closer to home endeared the group to me. It’s a bit like seeing your dad naked, but not as awkward. All the dudes in Rise Against are human beings, and the amateurish punk-rock captured on The Unraveling makes it pretty hard to hate on them for becoming such a crushing monolith later on.

Revolutions Per Minute (2003)

Speaking of that monolith business, their second album Revolutions Per Minute is the great step forward in their evolution from scrappy gutter punks to full-fledged world-beaters. The production values are stepped up and the track list is shorter – where The Unraveling runs long and starts to seem like one dragged-out rant, Revolutions Per Minute is an honest-to-god Rock Record with a clear beginning and end. It’s here that McIlrath started his tradition of hitting hard with a state-of-the-union track right at the beginning, and it has worked now for four albums running. It’s a good trick.

Listening to Revolutions Per Minute is when I started to recognize the band’s real skill at marrying awesome pop-punk melodies with biting political commentary. But this is also where we run into some problems: What is the value of that commentary? What are McIlrath’s qualifications? Undoubtedly these concerns are superfluous to most listeners, because who really gives a shit what a band is talking about as long as they’re consistently kicking your ass with rock firepower? But these are my concerns, and I had to grapple with them. Here’s what I came up with:

The value of the band’s commentary is nil. I don’t care what they think about any given subject, although I won’t hesitate to pump my fist whenever they shout-out generally agreeable shit about equality. I feel like McIlrath is a little too hard on America – it’s my opinion that this is still the greatest country in which a person who enjoys freedom and opportunity can live, no matter how many bungled wars and bad elections we must endure. America is not bullshit, and I get a little testy when the band keeps insisting that it is, but McIlrath is (fortunately) not an expert. He’s a layman, which means his words carry no more weight than my average drunken buddy. I can ignore the stuff I don’t like and focus on the riffs, which are frequently amazing.

Siren Song Of The Counter Culture (2004)

Moving forward: The band’s third album (and major label debut) Siren Song Of The Counter Culture is quite possibly their best, street cred be damned. The album actually starts harder and meaner, like they’re trying to prove that a bigger recording budget and sweeter royalty checks haven’t made them soft. It’s my pet theory that every punk band has one truly great record in them. This generally occurs when they master sonic dynamics to the point that the listener can’t get bored no matter how much the songs sound the same, and Siren Song is like that. It’s a roller coaster of a record, with the band even unplugging for the gentle-but-urgent “Swing Life Away” without losing any of their momentum. There are no bad songs here, and no filler, either – this is an A+ punk record that everyone should own. It’s in my regular rotation now, and for that I must thank Timmy. Siren Song Of The Counter Culture is an album that actually improves your life; it gets me so pumped up sometimes that I have to take a smoke break before resuming my normal activities.

The Sufferer And The Witness (2006)

Rise Against’s follow-up, The Sufferer And The Witness, is a little more varied but a little less intense. It follows the same basic formula as Siren Song, which means that it’s impact is necessarily a little dulled, but it also contains my favorite Rise Against song. “The Approaching Curve” is a dark, haunting narrative delivered in by McIlrath in rapid speak-sing, set to ominious minor-key chords and exploding every so often into an awesome chorus. It displays a new level of craft and sophistication, and if I had to choose between Sufferer and Siren Song, it might actually nudge the former ahead. Slightly. Like I said, these two albums are remarkably similar, and they’re both dazzingly muscular and hooky. I’d call them companions.

Appeal To Reason (2008)

Rise Against’s latest record, Appeal To Reason, is more of the same, and at this point the schtick is getting a little tired. But it’s also their slickest and most radio-ready set yet, as evidenced by “Savior”s utter dominance of Chicago alt-rock airwaves. This is a song that I hated when I first heard it, and actually memorized just so I could mock it. Flash forward a couple months and I’m embarrassing myself at a Christmas party, about ten drinks in and completely eviscerating the song on Rock Band. (Tim will testify to the shock and awe of this horrfiying performance.) I’m not that keen on Appeal To Reason, not necessarily because it’s bad but because I don’t need another album like this in my collection. Also, I was so blown away by the band’s previous two records that maybe I’m just not able to totally process this one yet.

The Verdict

I will probably never love Rise Against the way Third World Timmy does; my Chicago punk band of choice will forever be Alkaline Trio, not just because I’m a fan of drinking and being Satanic but because their tales of heartbreak and liver damage are way more relatable. Try as I might, I just can’t get too fired up about political rock. I’d rather re-enroll in community college for a seventh year and take some history classes than get my info from a punk band. But that’s just me – if this is the kind of stuff that floats your boat, Rise Against is like strapping a motor on your schooner. They’re fierce, they’re intelligent, and they rock harder than most other bands in their particular weight class. I can now say I consider myself a fan.

Rise Against released their video for Savior awhile ago, but they had such good feedback they decided to release a performance only version of the video. I’ve been busy killing polar bears and fighting off frostbite in Chicago the last few days, and the power only came on in the last 20 minutes for me supply you with this tastey rock morsel, my little rock n roll bitches.

More Rise Against

• Official Rise Against Website
• Rise Against on Twitter
• Rise Against on MySpace
• Rise Against on iTunes

Like Rise Against? How about an orchestral version: The Vitamin String Quartet

And just in case you’re a fan of orchestral music, The Vitamin String Quartet did several covers of Rise Against’s songs. It’s the first time I ever considered a group of classical musicians totally badass. You can get it in iTunes here.

It’s been almost a year since I last had a chance to see Rise Against, as they’ve been touring all around the world the past year, but they’re finally coming back this December 18th for their 10th anniversary show at my favorite venue in Chicago, The Metro.

The band recently released a video for the song Savior off of their most recent album, Appeal to Reason. It compliments many of their previous videos carrying some of the same themes, as well as being shot in and around Chicago. (From what this Chicago native can tell)

Unlike their previous work, however, this video has a somewhat humorous take on the current state of the union. The same themes from their previous videos are present, but this time, instead of being blatantly forward with their message they’ve decided to use what is possibly a more powerful storytelling technique: humor. (Something we at Assault are quite fond of.)

You’ll have to watch the video for yourself to see what I mean, but I have to say that I agree with the central core messages of the video which are forgiveness and openness.

Rise Against also released a new Digital 45 this week on iTunes with the single, “Grammatizator” as well as a live version of the song, “Hero of War”. You can get it now on iTunes.

Along with the video there’s a quick making of featurette with some insight from the director, Kevin Kerslake who provides some interesting insight into the background of the song and music video:

And just in case you’re a fan of orchestral music, The Vitamin String Quartet did several covers of Rise Against’s songs. It’s the first time I ever considered a group of classical musicians totally badass. You can get it in iTunes here.

View a high resolution.

Along with getting a new tattoo this week that was inspired by my favorite band of all time, I decided it was time to design and sell a shirt that was inspired by the same band, Rise Against.

I’ve been listening to Rise Against since about 2003-2004 when I was in college, and since then they’ve only gotten better and better.

Themes ranging from political activism, animal rights activism, and to just have a cause and purpose in general are a major influence in many of the designs and ideas that go into Assault, as well as the songs that make up the new Rise Against album so we thought it’d be fitting to incorporate some of their lyrics as well as some famous quotes and thoughts from some of our favorite books and people.

The main quote on this shirt comes from the book Anarchic Harmony by William J. Murray:

We classify ourselves above other animals because of our so-called intelligence. Why? If we instead chose to classify species according to effectiveness on the planet, mankind would be at the bottom of the totem pole. If we classify according to beauty, or grace, or sheer numbers, mankind wouldn’t make the top third of any category. The fact is that our intelligence, as we now use it, makes us a cancer to the bottom of the ladder of life-forms.

The other main quote in this shirt is from John F. Kennedy:

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.

If you get a chance, listen to some of Rise Against’s new album, Appeal to Reason, as well as their other favorite album of mine, Siren Song of the Counter Culture.

Oh yea, go buy the Peaceful Revolution T-Shirt at the site for our WOOT side deal of the day for $16.99 plus free shipping, or you can wait a week and pay $23.99 when it’s back up to it’s normal price.

Rise Against is a constant source of inspiration for many of our t-shirt designs and ideals. Their videos are equally as powerful and moving as most of their music and the new, “Audience of One” video is no exception. They posted it on MySpace Video today–check it out:

Rise Against – Audience of One

If you happened to be in a local Hot Topic or Barnes & Noble lately you may have seen the October/November issue of American Music Press Magazine with Rise Against on the cover. If you ALSO happened to turn to page 121 you would see us featured in their fashion section with a small picture of our favorite deranged cartoonist, Candice, donning the Justice Rave girls t-shirt and some really tacky looking 80s sunglasses.

But, in case you missed us, I’ve taken the liberty of scanning the article and cover for your viewing pleasure.

From the article:

Unconventional was one word that came to my mind when I first saw the designs from Assault come over to the office. Assault Shirts are so cool that they are highly susceptible to getting stolen from your local laundromat, so watch your back. This shirt was designed by co-owner Tim Toomey himself, and is one of the newer ones.

-Kristin Schuetze

Rise Against on issue 35 of AMP Magazine

Assault's writeup in AMP Magazine.

The aftermath of the Friday Night Rock Session and Dakota the Dog.

This past week I did something I haven’t done in awhile–bought some electronics. Playstation 3, Rock Band 2, and about $100.00 worth of songs from the Rock Band Music Store made up the bulk of the purchase. (I also snagged a case of Red Bull, bless you CostCo.)

I’ve spent the better half of the last week being sick, and occasionally rocking out with the fog machine and strobe lights to all the Avenged Sevenfold songs on Rock Band. I was a little disappointed to find out that the new drum kits didn’t look like those shiny ION drum kits that can actually be used as electronic drums–but I was happy when I found out that the cymbals addon would be available so I rushed out and bought it for $30 bucks at Game Stop.

After about four days of nonstop rocking I have beaten the entire game on “Hard” difficulty. Shame, because it was revealed to me that there’s a cheat code that unlocks all the songs at once–that’s what I get for being to excited to search on the net or cheat codes.

Fireside Bowl Chicago

Rise Against, Thrice, Alkaline Trio show at the Congress Theatre

I even had some time to catch Rise Against/Alkaline Trio/Thrice show at the Congress Theatre last night. It was a great show except for one minor disappointment–Thrice. Thrice seems to be more of an “experience” rather than a rock and roll band like I remember them. For those of you native to the music scene in Chicago you may remember the Fireside on Fullerton. That was THE music venue to play at back when it was open–it was also the last place I’d ever seen Thrice. It was back in 2000 when I was just 16 years old that I saw them in the back corner of the bowling alley. Best part was the entire show was only $5.00 bucks and Brand New was opening for them. It still to this day has been one of the best shows I’ve ever been to, and I even got to talk to Dustin briefly after they were done with their set.

Don’t get me wrong they’re still a GREAT band, but I still think I used to like them more when they were just that… a band.

Here’s what we had going on the past week

• Interview with the lovely Kristen from Ponoko.com
• Received our shipment of our best seller, The Chainsaw Killer Bunny T-Shirt (They’re going fast!)
• Dropped our shipping costs–free shipping for all!
• Got Chainsaw Killer Bunny featured on OMGTees.com
• Shipped orders to Romania, Australia, and Belgium!