I’m doing this for my radio station, my listeners, and the medium I love. Robert Buscemi picked each pugilist’s brain pre-battle. Which medium rules: radio or theatre? The Rhinoceros Theater Festival pits stories by public radio darling Ira Glass against solo performances by Curious Theatre Branch founder Beau O’Reilly in a live duel November 12th at the School of the Art Institute (112 S. Explains McIlrath: “We’re representing a brand of music that’s trying to create awareness and be a part of something bigger than just ourselves.” All vegetarians, the members of Rise Against have allied themselves in particular with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, most recently lending support to a successful campaign to persuade J. Instead of losing hope, the band has continued to advocate for a variety of causes. Do I keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel or do I just give up?” “This record was coming to terms with that. “A lot of this record was coming from the perspective of someone so overwhelmed with everything that you don’t know where to turn anymore,” McIlrath explains. On The Sufferer & the Witness, the band maintains its hurtling velocity and hornet’s-nest guitar buzz, but the combination of soaring choruses and high-precision twists and turns gives the album a more polished and complex sound. Over the course of four records, Rise Against has moved from raw punk to an increasingly melodic sound-taking some heat from hardcore purists along the way. Chris Chasse, the latest in a line of guitarists, rounds out the group. For tickets, call 31.Īn Arlington Heights native, the 27-year-old McIlrath formed Rise Against in 1999 with bassist Joe Principe (a veteran of local pop-punk band 88 Fingers Louie) and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rise Against plays the Congress Theatre (2135 N. “There’s certainly times when I’ve wondered, Are we making a difference? Maybe this isn’t having the impact we wanted,” McIlrath says. The response to the new album eased the band’s fears about whether their message was reaching people. On a national tour to support the album, Rise Against touches down in its hometown for a November 14th show at the Congress Theatre. “I knew from that point on that if somebody gave me a stage, a microphone, and an audience, that I would use it not just to entertain.”Īided by a slot on the Warped skatepunk cavalcade, The Sufferer & the Witness has since tallied impressive sales of more than 150,000 copies. “I’d go to Fireside Bowl on weekends, and it opened my eyes,” says singer and guitarist Tim McIlrath, of his teenage punk education. īut like bands the Dead Kennedys and Bad Religion before them, the politically minded members of Rise Against aim to move minds as well as moshing bodies. It was an unexpected payoff for a quartet that had steadily built a fan base among skateboard nation by touring relentlessly and contributing songs to Tony Hawk video games. This summer, the Chicago punk band Rise Against saw its fourth album, The Sufferer & the Witness, début at number ten on Billboard magazine’s album charts. Rise Against (from left): Chris Chasse, Brandon Barnes, Tim McIlrath, and Joe Principe
0 kommentar(er)
