We realized it sounded really good, so I was more than happy to play guitar. And as we were writing the songs that became Revolutions per Minute, a lot of dual-guitar parts materialized. “So I brought in my guitar and Marshall stack. “I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to bring into band practice,” he recalls. But by the time the band recorded the sophomore Rise Against disc, Revolutions per Minute, the singer was inevitably drawn into the six-string fray. On Rise Against’s debut album, The Unraveling, McIlrath left the guitar playing to the band’s original axman, Dan Precision, so he could focus solely on his singing. “But Joe and I collaborate on almost everything, so there’s a little of each of us in all the songs.” “I’m a sucker for the big rock stuff,” says McIlrath. “Those are classic Joe-style tracks.” The “big rock” tracks, like “Prayer of the Refugee” and “Ready to Fall,” are his own. He points to new songs like “Bricks”-“a minuteand- a-half blast of pure punk”-and the bass-heavy “Drones” as examples. “Joe’s strong point is ultrafast hardcore punk,” McIlrath explains. To this day, McIlrath and Principe remain the songwriting nucleus of Rise Against. But it was a great, inspired scene to be around.” If you weren’t from Chicago you’d have no idea who these bands were. “Bands like the Boll Weevils and Cap’n Jazz. “I was really into the local scene,” says McIlrath. McIlrath and Principe cofounded Rise Against in 1999, taking their cue from Chicago’s punk scene. So you’re out there trying to remain relevant, pushing yourself to remain true to your fans and yourself.” And you’re talking about playing a scene where there’s some 18-yearold kid with fancy hair who wants your job. Some of us are approaching our thirties some of us are already there. “As a punk band going into our seventh year of existence and our fourth album, survival is a big part of what we do. The net result is very much in the spirit of bands like Bad Religion and Fugazi, two of McIlrath’s key influences. McIlrath, co-guitarist Chris Chasse, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes blend churning hardcore rhythms and punk melodicism with an undercurrent of political rage. Their last album, Siren Song of the Counter Culture, sold nearly 400,000 copies, and their new disc, The Sufferer & the Witness (Geffen), is heavily tipped to do just as well. Rise Against are one of the hottest bands on the current Warped Tour. McIlrath’s $400 investment has paid off in spades for the Chicago-based act. But I’ve still got that guitar, and I’ve used it on every record I’ve played guitar on.” That’s it.’ But as I was walking down to the snowboard shop, I passed by a guitar shop, and in the window there was a 1984 Gibson SG, just sitting there. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna be a snowboarder. “I saved up $400 and found a snowboard I wanted to buy. “A whole bunch of my friends started snowboarding,” he recalls. Destiny grabbed Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath by the shoulders when he was just 14 years old.
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