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By Jaime de ’ Medici photo by Jason Siegel
or the members of Rise Against , the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the live event industry in 2020 provided something wholly unfamiliar for the band : downtime . “ It ' s kinda madness , when you look back on it all and think about what we did , and then managed to create this band and all the albums we made , but still raise families and have some semblance of normalcy ,” frontman Tim McIlrath affirms , reflecting on Rise Against ’ s nonstop schedule of writing , recording , and touring for a solid two decades . “ Like there ' s a lot of different balls that you ' re juggling . And so , yeah , the pandemic was like a good moment to kind of give ourselves permission , to kind of like ... I think we needed that year off , and we were never going to give it to ourselves .”
While 2020 offered an unexpected and long-overdue break for McIlrath , bassist and Rise Against co-founder Joe Principe had a different take on the unplanned year off . “ I was definitely panicking '' cause ... I ' ve never been off at home this long , probably since high school or like before ... 88 Fingers Louie started touring ,” Principe admits , referring to his time in the Chicago punk act during the nineties . “ That was probably the last time I was home this long . And it was unnerving . Like I didn ' t have a purpose , or I felt like I didn ' t have a purpose . I was like walking around my house , pacing , kind of stressing everyone out . Cause I was exuding stress . Like my wife was like , ‘ You need to calm down .’”
It ’ s not surprising that the year away from touring and recording was foreign territory for the band , which is rounded out by guitarist and backing vocalist Zach Blair and drummer Brandon Barnes . Since
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forming in 1999 , Rise Against has written , recorded , and released nine full-length records , starting with the band ’ s 2001 debut The Unraveling and 2003 ’ s Revolutions Per Minute , both on punk label Fat Wreck Chords . One year later , the group ’ s major-label debut , 2004 ’ s Siren Song of the Counter Culture , dropped on Geffen , with a marathon of writing , recording , and touring following , leading to The Sufferer & the Witness ( 2006 ), Appeal to Reason ( 2008 ), Endgame ( 2011 ), The Black Market ( 2014 ), and 2017 ’ s Wolves . Not to mention 2013 ’ s deep cuts collection Long Forgotten Songs : B-Sides & Covers 2000 – 2013 and 2018 ’ s orchestral outing The Ghost Note Symphonies , Vol . 1 , in addition to several EPs .
That discography doesn ’ t include Rise Against ’ s latest full-length , Nowhere Generation , released on June 4th of this year through Loma Vista Recordings . They actually finished the record right around the time the lockdown took effect in America in spring 2020 , leaving the band with an unexpectedly free year . For McIlrath , that meant going back to school . “ I feel like it ' s something I always wanted to do ,” he reveals . “ The band kidnapped me when I was a junior in college . So ... I ' d already sort of done some of it . And I always talked about , ‘ One day I ' ll go back , and I ' ll finish what I started .’ And that moment never came . Obviously , the pandemic provided that moment — all of a sudden , it ' s like , ‘ Oh . Well , I ' ve talked about this . Like what better time than now ?’”
It ’ s a warm day in Wicker Park on Friday , June 4th . At 1379 N Milwaukee , Rise Against fans are lined up down the block , waiting to get into an actual indoor , in-store live performance by Tim McIlrath .
The frontman will perform three songs (“ Talking To Ourselves ,” “ Nowhere Generation ,” and " Prayer of the Refugee ") inside Reckless Records to a crowd of 50 or so socially distanced , passionate fans . And after the in-store , McIlrath steps out onto Milwaukee , acoustic in hand , to perform “ Swing Life Away ” to the fans who didn ’ t make it inside . Though it ’ s a relatively brief set for a select group of fans , after a year without live music , this acoustic event may as well be a Lollapalooza headlining performance , given the excitement from both fans and McIlrath himself .
“ It was crazy , and it didn ' t hit me until I was sitting right there in front of everybody on that stool in Reckless in front of like 50 people ,” the singer revealed , “ because there was a time in my life where doing that was a very normal part of my routine . You can kind of put me in front of a crowd , and I ' ll figure it out , you know ? And when I got there , I was like , ‘ Oh , Right . We haven ' t done this in a long time .’ So those 50 people felt like 5,000 people . It felt like , ‘ Oh right . We ' re here . There ' s no longer ... the screen and the camera .’ Yeah . It was in real life . And so it was one of those moments where it all was happening so fast , I didn ' t get a chance to take stock of it , but I could feel like that , ‘ Oh , wow .’ Like that electricity of doing something live . That pressure , like in a good way , I don ' t know , it reminded me like , ‘ Okay , we ' re going to reboot this thing , and we ' re gonna come back and do this .’ And at the same time , ( it was ) a little overwhelming , cause we ' ve all spent so much time alone , and to do all that , that day ... it was a good appetizer for what we ' re eventually gonna get back into .”
The in-store performance wasn ’ t the only noteworthy event that day . To mark the release of Nowhere Generation , the city ’ s Office of the Mayor declared June 4th to be Rise Against Day In Chicago . It was a surreal honor the band didn ’ t see coming . “ No way . Insane ,” Principe states when asked if he ever thought one of his bands would have their own holiday in Chicago . “ It still doesn ' t seem real to me . It really hit home when — cause I got the email , like , ‘ Oh , they ' re going to do Rise Against Day June 4th .’ And I was like , ‘ That ' s cool .’ And then it didn ' t quite set in what that meant . And then I started running into people on my block , like people that have nothing to do with rock music , punk rock , or anything . Just [ the ] older generation , kind of even grandmas and grandpas that read about it . And I was like , ‘ Oh shit . This is like a thing . Like I need to wrap my head around this .’ I mean , what an honor , you know ? But now , the catch is , so what do we do year ... after year ? Like to celebrate it ? Like we have to come up with something good .”
The proclamation similarly caught McIlrath off guard . “ I feel like I ’ m still doing the research to figure out how the heck that came together ,” he says when asked about the holiday . “ Cause it was a surprise to us . Whoever was working on it was not letting us know . And so ... when the call came , and it was like , ‘ Wait , what ? Like a day ?’ Like that ' s crazy , seeing the paperwork of ( Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ’ s ) signature and the formality of the contract . That ' s huge because Rise Against has always existed , to me , on the outside of the establishment . Or the outside of what I think about like a giant city like Chicago , you know ? I don ' t think of our name in a list of names of the incredible things Chicago has produced . And so the day
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