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With 2024’s lineup featuring My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and dozens of iconic album play sets, all we have to say is: Until next year, Las Vegas.

Through all the yelling, the quartet have been preaching peace, unity and power to the people: from DIY venues in their native Pittsburgh, from club tours with comrades like Rise Against and Against Me!, from war-torn nations overseas. They’ve played punk institutions like Warped Tour and Fest, and also Coachella. A punk band in the tradition of the Clash, they’ve rallied for leftist concepts within an industry often hostile to them, and done a damn good job of it. Whether making noise is in vogue or not, Anti-Flag are always loud. 

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In 2023, Anti-Flag celebrate their 30th anniversary. They’re also sharing their 13th studio album, Lies They Tell Our Children, out today on Spinefarm Records. It’s a brazen, righteous LP that proves Anti-Flag’s dedication hasn’t wavered. The album features eight collaborations, ranging from punk legends (Minor Threat/Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker) to some of the genre’s most exciting young voices (Pinkshift singer Ashrita Kumar). 

Anti-Flag really mean it, and they’ve been that way for three decades; it’s no surprise they’ve been to the brink of implosion. They’ve been nearly obliterated by rickety tour vans and bloodthirsty red state mobs. They’ve gambled at the major-label punk-rock poker table and come out winners. Chatting with the band from their Pittsburgh studio a few days before Christmas, enthusiasm is palpable for what year 30 holds. 

To mark the occasion, we’ve compiled Anti-Flag’s oral history, as told by the band, and the company they’ve kept over the decades. Long before alt-culture icons like Tom Morello and Rick Rubin entered their orbit, the Anti-Flag story begins in the early ‘90s, in a blue-collar city America had left behind…

“Machete-ing Our Way Through Failure”

JUSTIN SANE (vocalist-guitarist, Anti-Flag): Every community has an imprint on the art that comes out of it.

CHRIS #2 (vocalist-bassist, Anti-Flag): There was this longing for the golden era of Pittsburgh, the boom of the steel industry. It was the gateway to the west for so long. All of us grew up with that being gone. 

JUSTIN SANE: Pittsburgh wasn’t a progressive place in almost any way, except for labor. Labor history and Pittsburgh go hand in hand. 

CHRIS #2: There was a mill in Monaca, Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes outside of Pittsburgh, where my aunt and uncle lived, and I would spend summers with them. My uncle was a janitor. The mill was shut down in the ‘80s, and it had a major effect on their family — he was the breadwinner. Now, with the perspective of age, what was interesting to me was talking to him about the labor movements. There wasn’t a hierarchy. He was a millworker, even though he was a janitor. He had this solidarity with the rest of the millworkers, which was powerful. 

PAT THETIC (drummer, Anti-Flag): In the ‘70s, the steel industry in Pittsburgh collapsed. It wasn’t until the medical industry came in during the early 2000s that the economy started to work again. We grew up in the bottom of that before it started to lift itself out. 

JUSTIN SANE: For a lot of our friends, a ticket out was to join the Army. That was it. 

The first Gulf War happened [in 1990], and all of a sudden, there’s flags everywhere. We’re this community that’s been left behind by our government, by society, and now you want us to go overseas and fight, kill and die for oil? We were old enough to have had a couple friends join the military for a chance to get out of town. All of a sudden, they’re over there, and they don’t want to be there. That was where the band name came from. Patriotism was being distorted into nationalism. And that was being used to manipulate people. 

CHRIS #2: When Pat and Justin started the band, they were teenagers, and when you’re a teenager in Pittsburgh, the military would come to your high school: “Do you want to see the world? Sign here. Do you want money for college? Sign here.” Thankfully, [Pat and Justin] had the wherewithal to resist them and say…

PAT THETIC: “We believe playing in a punk-rock band is a better route,” ha ha ha.

JUSTIN SANE: Certainly not economically, certainly not in our relationships. But we didn’t die when we were 18. Growing up the way we grew up, punk was perfect. I was a poor kid who didn’t have access to anything, like even a winter coat sometimes. 

CHRIS #2: He’s the youngest of nine because they were Catholic, and that’s what Catholics did back then. They made a lot of fuckin’ babies. 

JUSTIN SANE: Even though my parents worked really hard, I didn’t wanna bother my parents because I knew they didn’t have a lot of money. I would go to school with this shitty spring jacket and freeze to death. Then there’s this music where you don’t have to have the latest thing, you don’t have to be into the trends. I have this shitty drum set I scraped from different people. I have this crappy guitar…

CHRIS #2: In 1993, [bassist] Andy [Flag], Justin and Pat started Anti-Flag as we know it. It takes another three years to make the first record, Die for the Government. And it takes another two years before it’s the four of us… Head, you saw Anti-Flag before I did… Did you see them first, or did you play with them first?

CHRIS HEAD (Anti-Flag guitarist): So I worked at Little Caesars, and one of Anti-Flag’s friends, Punk Rock Anne, worked there at the time, and she talked me into seeing Anti-Flag. 

JUSTIN SANE: Well, you went to see Fifteen. We were opening… We were so disorganized. We didn’t know what we were doing. We came to the show, and Fifteen was already playing. The promoter was screaming at us. I thought you went to a show late! We were like, “Well, can we still play?” 

CHRIS HEAD: We watched Fifteen, I was with my girlfriend at the time, and we decided, “We’ll stick around and watch Anti-Flag.” Justin was talking with this sort of British [accent], “Fuck youuu.” My girlfriend was like, “Let’s go.” I was like, “I don’t wanna go. This guy is singling out people in the audience!”

PAT THETIC: Head started out playing bass; we were like, “This dude’s cool. We need a bass player…” Then we were like, “Head, you sort of suck at bass,” and he’s like, “Yeah, I don’t really want to play bass. I want to play guitar.” We’re like, “So I guess we’ll just become a four-piece. You can play guitar, and we can find another bass player…” 

CHRIS #2: In my false confidence state of boxed wine drinking, I was like, “Fuck man, I can do better than that!”

[Photo by Alexey Makhov]

PAT THETIC: I didn’t know anything about #2. I just knew that Justin was scheming behind my back to get him in the band. That’s why I was sort of grumpy with him: This kid’s drunk all the time. He’s just a mess. I gave him the name #2: He introduced himself and said, “I’m Chris,” and I said, “We already have one Chris in the band, you’ll be #2.” 

CHRIS #2: I didn’t know they were straight edge. I mean, they had songs like “Drink Drank Punk.” I thought that meant, “We’re punk, and we drink!” I was 16 years old! 

JUSTIN SANE: When we started the band, I had this persona… it came from Johnny Rotten… when you’re onstage, you wanna be the punkest motherfucker alive. I would spit on people. I swore every three words. That’s what everyone in the Pittsburgh punk scene did: Who can be more punk than the next person? 

TIM MCILRATH (vocalist-guitarist, Rise Against): The scene in Pittsburgh was really tight knit, organized, DIY, everybody in it together. It seemed like they had less of the tribalism that some of the bigger cities have.

CHRIS #2: Talking about Pittsburgh, there were no references. No one had ever made it. It wasn’t like living in New York or LA where you could say, “Oh, here’s this band. This was the path they took. It might be a little overgrown, but you can still see through it. Let’s follow it.” We were literally machete-ing our way through failure. 

JUSTIN SANE: As [Chris Head and Chris #2] came into the band, that drive just continued. The drive to do it — there was nothing else in our lives. Pat slept on somebody’s basement floor, I was at my parents’ house. We did whatever we had to do for the band to keep creating.

“When Power Structures Start to Fear Artists…” 

CHRIS #2: In Pittsburgh, the band was starting to play to more people. Seven hundred, sometimes 1,000 people would come to the local shows. It commanded our attention and respect. We never took [the shows] for granted. We always saw them as opportunities to grow the community around the band, the ideology and the politics. All four of us at that moment in 1998 collectively decided, “OK, doors are starting to open. Let’s walk through them with confidence.”

JUSTIN SANE: We were like, “Fuck, I want to have a band of friends and drive around the country.” 

SHANE TOLD (vocalist, Silverstein): I saw Anti-Flag play right after Chris #2 joined. I remember this vivid moment at the Toronto Opera House, this absolute institution of a venue. I’m 17 at the time, and Chris was about a year older than me, up there on tour, playing an 800-cap venue. They had some kind of run-in with the police that day, and I remember Justin going into this speech about what happened and the cops and how fucked up it was, and all of a sudden, it’s like, “This song’s called ‘Fuck Police Brutality’!” Up to that point, I’d never seen such a visceral live moment with so much emotion behind it. There was such unity amongst the crowd. Everyone was there for the same reason. 

CHRIS #2: We did a U.S. tour with the Dropkick Murphys in the spring of 1999. They had a foot in the skinhead, pro-American… almost a working-class type of solidarity, but still based in a bit of nationalism…  

PAT THETIC: Dropkick fans tended to be people who were more aggressive than the people who were interested in Anti-Flag. It was a volatile mix.

CHRIS #2: We would have a show in Denver that was really positive. We drive south to Oklahoma City, and Anti-Flag’s getting beer bottled the entire show. It’s a really painful, arduous tour, about five weeks long. We get to Texas the last week, and the show is just a nightmare. These men [in the crowd] would look for anyone in an Anti-Flag shirt, grab them and punch them. It’s happening during the show, and we don’t play if there’s a fight. We’re stopping every two seconds. We’re trying to get security to throw them out, but we’re in Texas, so the security sees us like, “Fuck you!” We get off the stage, and Pat says something like, “Fuck this, these people are idiots.” The Dropkick Murphys hear that, they think we’re insulting their fans, they get angry with us. We kind of squashed that beef, but the next day, we show up, and they’ve hung an American flag as the backdrop — right side up — ask us to play our show in front of it, and we refuse. We bailed on the tour. It was financially crippling. 

On that drive home, not only are we broke, not only are we tail between our legs because the bullies beat us up… We used to tour in a U-Haul box truck with six bunks built in. Justin gets carbon monoxide poisoning in the truck because there’s a leak going right into his bunk. He’s in the hospital nearly dead, and Rage Against the Machine calls us and asks us to go on tour and changes our life forever. 

JUSTIN SANE: Tom Morello took a liking to us. 

TOM MORELLO (guitarist, Rage Against the Machine): I was familiar with their music and loved their uncompromising, fiery punk politics. That was all well and good. The problem was you couldn’t find Anti-Flag. There was no phone number. I looked at every cassette and album, yellow pages and white pages in Pittsburgh… At some point, through some circuitous route, I was able to contact them. 

[Photo by Jen Palmer]

CHRIS #2: When we’re finally able to get Justin out of the hospital and get back onstage, the first show with Rage Against the Machine is in Philadelphia. It’s protested by the Philadelphia Police Department because Rage Against the Machine supported Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner Anti-Flag had done activist actions for. 

JUSTIN SANE: It was just across the state in Philly, so we were aware of it.

CHRIS #2: But our activist actions were in a club with 200 people. And their activist action was in an arena. We’re in the hotel before the show, all four of us in one room, and on the television is the chief of police saying, “Don’t let your kids go to this show. Rage Against the Machine support a cop-killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal.” We look at each other like, “A band has disrupted so far that they’re going to the local news? We’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

JUSTIN SANE: That show was at the Philadelphia Spectrum. I’d never been to an arena concert. My first arena concert was playing an arena concert. You pull up, and the cops have police cars circled, surrounding the arena. 

CHRIS #2: They were protesting the show. They had to open up the line to let us in. We showed up in the same box truck that almost killed Justin a week prior.

I remember tuning my bass guitar, and I turn around — my tuner’s on the floor facing the back of the stage — and the corner of the arena is sold out. There’s more people watching my back than I’ve ever played to before. 

TOM MORELLO: That night, I remember there was a particularly fiery speech onstage…

CHRIS #2: Zack de la Rocha had a genius line that was something like, “They say we support a cop-killer. We don’t support any killers. Especially killer cops.” And then boom, they go into a song like “Killing in the Name.” Like fuck me, man, that’s it. There was so much explaining we had to do with our shows because we were really adamant that everyone understood what we were trying to say. And to see a band that had so much confidence, they only spoke when it was truly necessary… 

PAT THETIC: When power structures start to fear artists, that’s a good thing.

TOM MORELLO: Two things struck me when I got to watch them perform on a nightly basis. One was how skinny and black their clothes were. And two was their intense, authentic commitment to changing the world via a two-and-a-half minute song. 

CHRIS #2: Later on, Tom [Morello] was like, “Don’t chase. If you hear a song and want to write something that sounds like that, you’re already too late.” So, the reference became just be true to yourself, and that will resonate. Thankfully he told us that because later on when we were signing to bigger record labels and making bigger decisions, it’s very easy for bands to look around and say, “Well, they’re having success, and I’m gonna follow that.”

FAT MIKE (vocalist-bassist, NOFX; founder, Fat Wreck Chords): I heard that song “Gonna die, gonna die, gonna die for the government,” and I liked it… I think I tried to steal them from [their label] New Red Archives. 

CHRIS #2: Fat Mike became aware of Anti-Flag because of Pete [Steinkopf] from the Bouncing Souls, I believe. 

JUSTIN SANE: Fat Mike called, and he was like, “Have you thought about your next record?” I was like, “Yeah, we’ve been recording it ourselves. We’re not sure how we’re gonna release it.” And he was like, “Well, I wanna put it out.” Which I thought was great because everybody kept saying Fat Wreck Chords was a great record label, that it would open a lot of doors, we would have full control over what we were doing, that distribution would improve dramatically from where we were. We were already recording in our home studio…

PAT THETIC: By “home studio,” you mean a guy’s abandoned house…

CHRIS #2: A New Kind of Army, the second Anti-Flag record, was recorded in four or five places, any space we could find that had enough room to set some microphones up: We recorded in Justin’s… we called it The Shack. It was above his parents’ garage. There was also an empty warehouse that we found and a person’s house that they were yet to move into.

JUSTIN SANE: I could tell Fat Mike was disappointed we had already started to make the record. He never said this, but looking back from what I know now, I’m sure he wanted us to go to San Francisco, record in a good studio there, and he would probably produce it. He had cultivated a sound on Fat Wreck Chords where the bands sounded really professional. I’m sure he was thinking, “This band needs work.” 

[Photo by Alexey Makhov]

FAT MIKE: Well, it’s not as good as their first album. I think that’s popular belief. 

JUSTIN SANE: We sent him our record, and he was like, “It’s not clean enough for Fat Wreck Chords. I have a subsidiary record label I would like to put it out on.” On Fat, there were bands we could identify with, like Swingin’ Utters, Good Riddance, Propagandhi. These bands had a social message. The subsidiary was called Honest Don’s, and it had more of a joke flavor to it. When we said no, we completely blew Mike’s mind because he offered 60 or 80 grand for the record. At the time, that was just an astronomical amount of money. I mean, bands today aren’t getting $80,000 to make a record. 

The irony of the whole thing is we signed with Mike for the next record, which he agreed to put out on Fat, but A New Kind of Army sold 100,000 records much faster than the record we put out on Fat [2001’s Underground Network]. Even Mike later was like, “Wow, I really fucked up on that one.” 

FAT MIKE: They gave me Underground Network, which is an amazing album. So is [2003’s] Terror State. I think I got them at the right time.

“To Be in a Band Called Anti-Flag on Sept. 12 Was a Hard Thing to Do”

CHRIS #2: There ain’t no war without warriors, you know? If you can create the solidarity movements, these rallying cries allow people to feel empowered.

JUSTIN SANE: We had a lot of friends in New York. Head’s dad was standing right in front of the second tower when it got hit. 

PAT THETIC: Head’s father was going to a meeting… Head had to go pick him up.

CHRIS #2: Head’s parents told him to tell us to change the band’s name…

CHRIS HEAD: I mean, they weren’t the only ones. I had cousins, all kinds of people calling me: “Time for you to rethink that.”

CHRIS #2: To be in a band called Anti-Flag on Sept. 12 was a hard thing to do.

JUSTIN SANE: 9/11 was a horrible tragedy. Not just as Americans — but as human beings — we reacted to it, and it was horrible. But right away, we had concerns with what the Bush administration was going to do in the aftermath of 9/11. The idea that you’re going to invade an entire country because of one bad guy there, that smelled of imperialism, and then George W. Bush gave his “Axis of Evil” speech where he was talking about North Korea, Iraq, Iran… He’s doing what every imperialist politician has done throughout history: using a tragedy, and turning it into an opportunity to enrich himself and his friends. 

CHRIS #2: That moment of “Oh fuck, what do we do?” was three days long. We were back in the studio, and we wrote a song called “911 For Peace.” 

JUSTIN SANE: We had been in the studio for a few days, and then 9/11 happened. 

CHRIS #2: So we took a few days off, and then Justin came in and said, “I have this song.” We read the “911 For Peace” lyrics, we talked about them, and then the four of us said, “When people ask where Anti-Flag stands, now we have this piece of art to present and say, ‘We’re on the side of people; we’re not on the side of the gun. We don’t believe dropping bombs on people’s heads is the solution to this problem.’” 

JUSTIN SANE: We were really on a fuckin’ island. Even my own mother, who was the biggest peace advocate I ever knew, I think for about three months she was totally on board, like, “Yeah, let’s go.” But when I saw that, I realized the amount of fear 9/11 had created in people. My mother was scared. You could see it on her face. I realized, “Wow, we’re really gonna be alone on this.” But as a band, there was never any question. 

CHRIS #2: People were waiting for clarity. And that’s OK. It was an unprecedented moment, and it took time. 

JUSTIN SANE: We didn’t go back on tour [in 2001]…

PAT THETIC: But we did book our own show. We said, “What can we control?” So we booked our own show [at Mr. Roboto Project, a Pittsburgh-area DIY venue] and put 500 people in a room. 

CHRIS #2: That was our first performance in a post-9/11 world [on Dec. 1, 2001].

JUSTIN SANE: And our broken gun logo, which we call the Gunstar, came out of that. We printed shirts for the show and we gave everybody a shirt, so everybody wore the same shirt. The fact there were people in our community saying, “Yeah, we’re still with you guys” — that was really special. 

CHRIS #2: [In] February 2002, we did the Mobilize for Peace tour, bringing out peace activists and war resistors to come speak onstage with us. 

JUSTIN SANE: People showed up saying, “I have been afraid to say how I feel, and the fact you guys are here is giving me a space to do that.” It was still a time when you couldn’t question what the Bush administration was doing. 

PAT THETIC: The shows were awesome. But getting to the shows…

CHRIS #2: In Florida on the Mobilize tour, the bouncers were flipping us off while we were playing, and we had to get a police escort out of the show because it had erupted into a bit of a mob. 

PAT THETIC: The shows in New York were a lot of union shows, so you have these old union guys who are socially conservative, don’t want to hear about your upside-down American flag, you talking about the U.S. military being a terrorist organization. Loading in, I remember them throwing our gear around, just being fucking dicks. We’re not fighters, and we’re not huge people… But activism is not supposed to be pleasant. It’s supposed to be uncomfortable. 

CHRIS #2: We did the 2002 Warped Tour as well, and West Palm Beach was a really bad show. In retribution for [the Florida show on the Mobilize tour], kids came during our set, walked to the front of the stage, pointed at us, put mouthguards in, and started punching everybody. A huge brawl broke out, and we just said into the microphone, “We’re not going to play a note of music until you’re gone.” Your set at Warped Tour is 30 minutes long, and it took about 20 minutes for the rest of the crowd to see who they were. They turned on them, circled them, and we were able to get them out. And then we had a triumphant eight-minute-long set.

[Photo by Jen Palmer]

JUSTIN BIVONA (bassist, the Interrupters): In the wake of 9/11, when you’re a 12-, 13-year-old kid, thinking, “What is going on?” and then you find a band explaining what’s going on in the world, it’s eye-opening. 

STACEY DEE (vocalist-guitarist, Bad Cop/Bad Cop): I remember Justin’s mohawk and Chris jumping off shit. They just looked shiny, and the crowds were massive, and they were going off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Anti-Flag play to a crowd that didn’t go off for them.

TOM MORELLO: The Rock Against Bush tour in 2004… In addition to being the rock guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, I have a career as an acoustic troubadour under the moniker the Nightwatchman — and [Anti-Flag] took me out on tour. I was offered that year to tour on the Vote for Change tour — it was [artists like] Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes — they were doing a Democratic politics arena tour to get out the vote, and they asked me to play, and I said, “I would love to do it, but I think you should have a band like Anti-Flag on that tour.” And they were somewhat reticent — I’m not gonna speak for anybody in any of those camps — but because the optics of a band called Anti-Flag may have turned off some red state voters without ever listening to the band’s music.

So I opted not to do that tour, and [Anti-Flag and I] decided to do something of our own. Fat Mike or somebody got us a tour bus, and we rolled across the country in a tour bus that said ROCK AGAINST BUSH on it. We were egged in Florida… It was great. I’m going out, playing to audiences of 15- and 16-year olds, the shredding guitarist from Rage Against the Machine who’s gonna play his folk music before Anti-Flag tears the roof off the joint.

JESSE BIVONA (drummer, the Interrupters): They call themselves Anti-Flag, but their message was anti-establishment, anti-empire. Power to the people. Open your eyes to what’s going on in the world. Scream about it.

“The Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle” 

CHRIS #2: With the cyclical nature of music, punk was coming back. That was plain for everybody to see. 

PAT THETIC: When Green Day’s American Idiot came out [in 2004], we were like, “Thank God somebody’s able to bring these ideas to the mainstream.” Which is pretty amazing because American radio is about selling beer. 

TIM MCILRATH: We had a good time teasing each other because everyone was signing. That tour was us, Against Me! and Anti-Flag, and eventually all three of those bands signed to majors.

CHRIS #2: I remember in New York City, [Rise Against’s A&R] guy being there and the four of us being like, “Ooh, you got a sleazy record label guy here!” It was funny to us because they would come around. I remember in D.C., in 2000, a guy who worked at a major label gave us his card, and he said something snooty like, “If you boys ever wanna take this serious, give me a call!” And then we were like, “Shove this up your ass.” So we had never taken it serious until our relationship with Tom [Morello] led us to having a relationship with Rick Rubin. Rick Rubin called in early 2003. 

TIM MCILRATH: I remember I was at the Los Angeles Warped Tour, and I saw #2, Justin and Rick Rubin walking together behind one of the stages. What is happening right now? Rick Rubin cruisin’ around with Anti-Flag! 

CHRIS #2: He said, “I loved the show. I want to sign your band. There’s gonna be a bunch of people who come in behind me who offer you whatever, but if you wanna make a record with me, I’m here. See you later.” And then, like magic, a car appeared, he got in and drove away. 

CHRIS #2: Everybody tried to have some type of connection with us. Clive Davis’ was, “I worked with these activist musicians. Let’s talk about Bob Dylan.” It’s very flattering when someone wants to mention you in the same conversation as Bob Dylan. He also had a huge mobster desk, like 6 feet between you and him, whereas Jimmy Iovine’s office was supremely Los Angeles. The windows were open, and there were plants everywhere. You used a magic book to get in. Jimmy talked to us about his interactions with punk, his interactions with activists, which were mostly just stories about Bono. He says, “Actually, I have the new U2. Would you like to hear it?” He puts on “Uno, dos, tres, catorce,” you know, that U2 song [“Vertigo”] at an insane volume. As that song is elevating into its first triumphant chorus, Pat raises his hand and says, “Can you turn it down?” 

JUSTIN SANE: You could just see the look on Jimmy’s face, like, “Wait, what?”

PAT THETIC: “I’m gonna be one of the people, man! These are the punk rockers. I gotta listen to it really loud!” 

CHRIS #2: I can get into the weeds of the rock ’n’ roll swindle with Rick, if you want this story… Essentially, they gave us the pen to write our own contract… We make sure there’s money so we can give to activist communities. We make sure it’s a two-album deal and not some insane multi-multi-multi-album deal. We wanted health care, which is something we never had before. Ultimately, we turn in this insane contract. 

JUSTIN SANE: When it all came to a head, Rick tells us, “I won’t allow you to sign this deal.” 

CHRIS #2: Essentially, he was trying to protect us from being so in debt from minute one that they’re not gonna give [the band] a shot: “If you guys sign this contract, you guys have to sell a million copies, or else it’s a failure.” 

We turned around and went to the other label, RCA, and said, “If you can beat this contract, we’ll pick you over Rick Rubin.” This was a bit of a white lie because Rick wasn’t gonna sign the contract, but we used it as a negotiation tactic, and it worked. 

FAT MIKE: They got a very large advance, and it was guaranteed for their second record, too… So they could not get dropped… When I heard that, I was like, “Take it. I can’t give you that kind of money. And if it doesn’t do well, then you can leave.”

CHRIS #2: We put out two albums on RCA, and we washed our hands of it. We didn’t care [about Rick Rubin’s inhibitions] because our contract was sick, and we got to go home at the end of this experiment.

PAT THETIC: The studio we record our music in today… that major-label contract allowed us to [pay for] that.

SHANE TOLD: It’s funny that the major-label album is my favorite… [2006’s] For Blood and Empire, that album was a fuckin’ game-changer. One of the coolest things they ever did was sign to a major label and get their music out to a wider audience while still controlling what they wanted to do as a band. 

CHRIS #2: For Blood and Empire and [2008’s] The Bright Lights of America, each record took three months to make. They cost exorbitant amounts of money. They were painstakingly perfect, to the point where we were chopping up bits, playing and playing till our fingers fucking bled. 

PAT THETIC: We knew we were a punk band. We knew we were going to be a punk band no matter what happened with this. 

[Photo via Anti-Flag]

“The Band and Their Message”

CHRIS #2: I think the darkest era of Anti-Flag is the end of 2008 until 2015. In those seven years, we did a lot of things I think are important, and we wrote a lot of good songs, but I don’t think we made a great album. I think all of us suffered emotional, physical stresses that were the result of being on the road so intensely from 2003 to 2008. I think we all fell out of love with the band because the band had taken things from us emotionally that we thought were pretty solid. The band became a job in those seven years. And that’s never a great place to create your art from. 

CHRIS #2: There were a lot of special moments that happened in those years, but I don’t look back on those records and say…

JUSTIN SANE: It’s not our best stuff.

CHRIS #2: Both Pat and I had relationships that ended during that time. Head and Justin did as well. When people are grieving… gosh, I mean, before Bright Lights of America, my sister was killed. I didn’t grieve that properly because we gotta work! 

JUSTIN SANE: If you have a four-person unit and two of those people suddenly become very unstable, it is really hard to make a solid plan. I didn’t go through the relationship disintegration that [Chris #2] and Pat did — basically a lifelong partner going away — but I was completely burnt out. 

CHRIS #2: Pat wanted to quit the band in 2009. I wanted to quit the band in 2011.

JUSTIN SANE: It wasn’t a fun place to be. It really did feel like grinding through it. There were good times — probably the best times were when we were playing. 

PAT THETIC: You have these ideals. You talk in interviews about the mission of the band. It’s real to us, but it’s not the grit. And then we go to a place like Ukraine [to perform in 2014]. We’re always talking to promoters, so we’re like, “What are the battles you guys are fighting?” They’re like, “We love your band. We love what you’re about. We’d love to have you come back and play this show again, if we exist and if I’m still alive.” And you realize there are tanks and bombs and people trying to kill these people a couple miles away.

That is a real expression of identity: “I am here, this is who I am, and someone wants to destroy me as a human being.” It had a huge impact on us.

CHRIS #2: We were getting from week to week, or tour to tour. And that’s not when we’re at our best. We’re at our best when we say, “This is our goal. How do we achieve it?” I don’t think we affirmed that again until 2015, when we made American Spring. Talk about a band betting on themselves. We went to LA, bought every flight, spent every dime to make the album, and at the end of it we held it up and said, “Who cares enough about this band to put this album out?”

JUSTIN SANE: Songs that we’ve written in the last 10 years, the last five years, are some of our biggest songs. 

SHANE TOLD: American Fall was their new album [in 2017] when we went on tour with them. Watching the song “American Attraction” every night just explode, it was like, “OK, people aren’t here just to see ‘This Is the End’ or ‘Die for the Government.’ They’re here to see Anti-Flag. They’re here to see the band and their message.”

CHRIS #2: We have so many punk-rock contemporaries from the early ‘90s, and we play shows with them, watch their set, and they’ll maybe play the most current song, being from 2006. And 50%, 60% of our set is songs from 2015 to 2022… I mean, just look at the new album — it has eight guests on it, which is the first time we’ve ever done that. 2023 is the 30th anniversary of the band. Most bands when they hit 30 years, they’re doing a 30-year anniversary tour, and that’s it. 

FAT MIKE: In debate class, I was told that whoever starts yelling the loudest is losing the argument. I always felt onstage if you just said the same things, you get just as much done. But I understand. They like to yell. #2’s mom probably yelled at him a lot — TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE! — and it got ingrained in him: HERE’S OUR NEW SONG! THIS SONG’S ABOUT SMALL WARS THAT ARE INSIGNIFICANT, BUT WE’RE STILL GONNA SING ABOUT THEM!

STACEY DEE: The truth is, they want the best for humanity and the planet and animals, and they want the best for this reality that we all are living in. They really, really do.

PAT THETIC: I’ve listened to leftist political philosophy all day long. And it all comes down to don’t be an asshole.

TIM MCILRATH: If there were critics of what they do, it would always be how in-your-face they were and how direct their lyrics were. You would hear somebody say, “Oh, it’s Anti-Flag, and they’re gonna play ‘Fuck Police Brutality.’ What an obvious statement.” But I’ve been alive long enough where it’s like, “Wait, there’s not enough people saying ‘fuck police brutality.’”

CHRIS #2: When we started, we were like, “That cop was a dick to Justin at the show,” so we wrote “Fuck Police Brutality.” And now you go to [this year’s] Lies They Tell Our Children, and we’re a band that’s traveled the world. We’ve got relationships in all these places. We’ve seen universal health care and universal education. We want to advocate for those things within our music. One of the questions we get asked a lot is, “You’ve written songs about these things so many times. Aren’t you sick of it?” And it’s like, “No, because every moment feels like a possibility to alleviate suffering.”

In our office, we have a framed letter of a person who had signed up for the military and was being asked to go but filled out the forms properly because they got the information from a table at an Anti-Flag show. And they were able to get their registry into the U.S. military revoked. I’m like, “That’s it. We won. There’s no greater reason for us to be a band than this piece of paper right here.” 

This past Tuesday, blink-182 broke the internet with the announcement of DeLonge’s return after departing the group in 2015 and an upcoming world tour — as well as a hilarious teaser video for “Edging” (with their signature crude humor that gave us major Take Off Your Pants and Jacket vibes).

Read more: Every blink-182 album ranked

“Edging” is the first song to feature DeLonge on vocals in nearly a decade since the release of their last joint effort Dogs Eating Dogs in 2012. Naturally, it finds DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker picking right back up where they left off. 

Musically, the new track feels like the most comprehensive representation of the band’s sound, with their signature blend of snarky dual vocal lines courtesy of DeLonge and Hoppus, anthemic choruses and Barker’s inventive drum patterns. While blink-182 may not be in their early 20s anymore, the youthful energy that they’ve always exuded is once again at the forefront of their music.

blink-182 are set to have a busy 2023 with a massive world tour that features a stacked lineup of heavy hitters such as Turnstile, Rise Against, the Story So Far and Wallows. Tickets are now on sale here. 

Additionally, blink-182 ware one of the main headliners for the 2023 installment of the highly anticipated When We Were Young Festival alongside major players in the pop-punk world, including Green Day, Good Charlotte and the Offspring, among many others.

Listen to “Edging” below.

The one-of-a-kind museum will feature an array of expansive exhibits containing artifacts from key eras within punk-rock history. From punk’s primitive beginnings in the ’70s to the present, The Punk Rock Museum will tell the story of the genre through the lens of those who lived it. The Museum is meant to be a haven for every die-hard punk fan and newcomer alike to engage with several interactive experiences and services ranging from a “jam room” where you can play guitars and amplifiers used by bands such as NOFX, Rise Against and Sick Of It All, as well as guided tours from punks such as Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) and Angelo Moore (Fishbone), among many others.

Read more: blink-182 finally reunite with Tom DeLonge for new album, tour and it’s glorious

After crushing a few drinks at the museum’s bar, you can score some fresh ink at the on-site tattoo shop, which will feature several notable musicians providing tattoos themselves as well as an official wedding chapel where couples can have their holy union officiated by prominent punks like Jack Grisham (TSOL) or El Hefe (NOFX). While the space will cover many of the genre’s biggest acts, The Punk Rock Museum is also committed to highlighting underrepresented and niche artists in every way possible — including the wall of “Insignificant and Unknown Bands.” The exhibit will show that no matter how big the band is, everyone plays a valuable part in punk-rock history.

The Punk Rock Museum was founded and curated by a collective of several notable artists, creatives, industry personnel and influential figures within the punk-rock community who have witnessed and participated in its evolution over the span of several decades. Notable curators include Fat Mike (NOFX), Fletcher Dragge (Pennywise) and beloved punk-rock visual artist Bryan Ray Turcotte, just to name a few.

Located at 1422 Western Ave in the downtown area of Las Vegas — adjacent to an infamous strip club — The Punk Rock Museum is sure to be your one-stop shop for all things counterculture. Welcome home, fellow punks.

Presale bundles are now live on the museum’s website. 

We’d be remiss not to mention the famous Fearless Records Punk Goes Acoustic compilations of the early to mid-2000s. The albums not only highlighted some of the scene’s brightest stars revealing a different side to themselves but also showed the importance of thinking outside of the box and creating compositions that could stand on their own. In fact, it has almost become required for bands to offer a break from the noise and offer a moment for everyone to pull out their metaphorical or physical lighters (now cellphones) and sing along to songs that are not only deeply personal but, most importantly, relatable.

Read more: 20 greatest Fearless Records bands, from Underoath to iDKHOW

Throughout every generation of the scene, bands and fans alike have and always will continue to gravitate toward emotional and transparent songs. What better way to embrace this than an acoustically driven song? We’re highlighting 20 of the best stripped-down songs and shining a light on some you may have missed along the way. 

Sleeping With Sirens – “Scene One – James Dean & Audrey Hepburn”

When Sleeping With Sirens exploded onto the scene with their 2010 single “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn,” it was abundantly clear that this was a band not only here to stay but one who would lead the next generation of metalcore bands throughout the 2010s. Following their 2012 album Let’s Cheers To This, Sleeping With Sirens swiftly released their acoustically driven EP If you were a movie, this would be your soundtrack. It instantly became a fan favorite, with intimate renditions of some of their most beloved songs as well as entirely new material.

Fans were treated with a reimagined version of their 2010 breakout single that transformed the original metalcore track into a delicate, breathtaking ballad that showed the true power of vocalist Kellin Quinn’s range. In the chorus, Quinn reaches literal new heights with his voice, opting to use high-pitched falsetto vocals that are sure to give you chills upon first listening. The result is a track that has gone on to be as well loved as its original counterpart.

The Scene Aesthetic – “Beauty In The Breakdown”

Seattle’s own musical duo the Scene Aesthetic penned one of the most timeless songs of the independent Myspace music era. At one point in 2006, if you didn’t have “Beauty In The Breakdown” as your Myspace profile song, or a section of its heartfelt lyrics as your away message on AOL Instant Messenger, then you weren’t a true scene kid. The duo released three studio albums and played shows sporadically until 2011 and have been largely inactive, but their influence lives on in many modern acts.

Silverstein – “My Heroine”

Silverstein released an acoustic version of their biggest and most beloved song, “My Heroine,” in 2006. It showed just how good of a songwriter frontman Shane Told truly is and also how well the song could translate into softer territory, a stark contrast to the original version’s heavier elements. Legend has it that when Told brought the original demo of the song to the band early in their career, they were uncertain if it would make the cut. However, Told was persistent that they pursue the song, and it paid off. To this day, the band regularly opt to play the acoustic version in place of the original for every encore performance at their shows. In response, die-hard fans sing every word, and a sea of cellphone lights illuminate the stage. 

Rise Against – “Swing Life Away”

Rise Against are no stranger to writing anthemic and progressive music set to a soundtrack of double-time drum beats and metallic guitar riffs. So when the group unleashed “Swing Life Away” as part of the first Punk Goes Acoustic compilation, it was in many ways a radical departure. Quite simply, the song showed a tender side to the band. This track is a shining example that less is more. If the song is well written, then it will resonate in its most pure form.

The Used – “On My Own”

On their 2002 debut self-titled album, the Used embodied every emotion possible. The tracks ranged from anthemic songs about leaving your hometown for greener pastures, heavy arrangements about sharp objects and just about everything in between. However, the album’s most impactful moment is “On My Own,” which sees lead vocalist Bert McCracken at his most emotionally vulnerable. Starting with an acoustic guitar and vocals, it eventually leads to orchestral arrangements and the song’s chills-inducing climax, where McCracken frantically screams the words “On my own.” The Used, while having written a wide range of exceptional material, have still never come close to the raw intimacy they captured with this track.

A Day To Remember – “If It Means A Lot To You”

It comes as no surprise that “If It Means A Lot To You,” the closing number on A Day To Remember’s breakthrough album Homesick, is the band’s most beloved and recognizable song in their discography. The track, which features Sierra Kay of the criminally underrated band VersaEmerge on guest vocals, is chock-full of iconic singalong lines and universally relatable lyrics that are delivered through passionate performances. It’ll make even the toughest music fans shed a tear or two.

The Audition – “Don’t Be So Hard”

The acoustic version of the Audition’s 2005 classic “Don’t Be So Hard” appeared on the second installment of the Punk Goes Acoustic series. The reworking elevated the song from its fast and scrappy pop-punk roots to an uplifting and anthemic acoustic singalong. Danny Stevens, who’s severely underrated as a singer, uses his signature R&B-influenced inflections and scales to create a sound that is fresh, heartfelt and simply candy to the ears.

Meet Me @ The Altar – “Feel A Thing” (feat. Dan Campbell) acoustic

Meet Me @ The Altar‘s acoustic rendition of their single “Feel A Thing” feels like the perfect balance of early 2000s nostalgia while still bringing out fresh, modern energy. Vocalist Edith Johnson has incredible range and control of her voice that shows a distinct and captivating personality coupled with the band’s upbeat and well-crafted instrumentation. Additionally, the song features the Wonder Years frontman Dan Campbell, who wastes no time giving his all vocally.

From First To Last – “Emily”

The world wasn’t ready when From First To Last released their debut full-length record, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count. But when it finally arrived, it became the soundtrack for the Myspace generation. With vocals that embodied pure despair and angst, From First To Last became synonymous with scene culture through their transparent subject matter and high-intensity moments. However, on the album’s sixth track, the band bring the intensity to a calm with “Emily,” an impassioned love song led by a then-16-year-old Sonny Moore over a brooding acoustic guitar progression. “Emily” continues to be a musical monument that fully embodies the spirit of scene music and mid-2000s culture. While Moore has gone on to become a superstar in his own right as Skrillex, he has performed the song on select occasions, most notably during a surprise reunion set at 2017’s Emo Night LA.

Daphne Loves Derby – “Sun”

Hailing from Kent, Washington, a suburb just south of Seattle, Daphne Loves Derby had an incredibly underrated gift of crafting heartfelt and timeless indie-inspired emo. With “Sun,” a standalone track that also appeared on the second installment of the Punk Goes Acoustic series, the group capture the sonic spirit of the Myspace bedroom emo-pop sound with a simple acoustic guitar and emotionally delicate vocals.

Bayside – “Winter”

In October 2005, Bayside were on the Never Sleep Again tour alongside labelmates Silverstein and Hawthorne Heights when they were involved in a tragic van accident that caused serious injury to bassist Nick Ghanbarian and took the life of their beloved drummer John “Beatz” Holohan. Following this heartbreaking event, Bayside had to pull out of the tour. However, within weeks, vocalist/guitarist Anthony Raneri, along with guitarist Jack O’Shea, who sustained minor injuries, remarkably returned to finish out select dates, performing acoustically as a duo.

The band’s emotional return to the tour received universal support from their tourmates, the music community and their longtime fans. Following this tour, Raneri and O’Shea jumped into the studio to record Acoustic, which featured stripped-down renditions of classic songs from their discography, a cover of Smoking Popes’ “Megan” and the beautifully written original new song “Winter” that intimately unpacks the tragic event of losing their bandmate and the pain that followed. Even though there’s a somber tone, “Winter” does an amazing job at paying homage to Holohan and serves as a touching tribute to a young talent lost too soon. 

Spiritbox – “Constance” (Acoustic)

Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante is hands down one of the most versatile singers the scene has witnessed in decades. Listeners expect to hear a mix of angelic and delicate vocals from LaPlante, coupled with her brutal and aggressive screaming on a majority of the band’s material. However, when they stripped down “Constance,” it showed just how strong of musicians and performers they truly are. The acoustic version is technically a live version as well, featuring an ensemble orchestra accompanying the band in a church. If Spiritbox ever decide to create an album in the same vein as this acoustic rendition, we’ll certainly be in for a treat. 

The Story So Far – “Clairvoyant”

While fans initially gravitated toward the Story So Far due to their melodic-hardcore-infused brand of pop punk, the group could also ace softer numbers. To date, “Clairvoyant” has become a scene classic with iconic lines such as “Don’t paint me black when I used to be golden.” For years, the band rarely played the track live despite the overwhelming demand from fans. However, recently on their last headlining tour, they finally gave the fans what they asked for by opening every show with a delicate performance of the track before ripping into their usual high-intensity set.

Taking Back Sunday – “New American Classic”

While it was no easy feat to follow up their stunning debut album, Tell All Your Friends, Taking Back Sunday avoided the sophomore slump in 2004 with their (sorry, superfans) best record to date, Where You Want To Be. “New American Classic” resides at the album’s halfway point, which is hands down the best ballad the band have ever written. The track starts with a tender vocal performance from lead singer Adam Lazzara over an acoustic guitar that leads into a gorgeous string arrangement before letting co-vocalist and guitarist Fred Mascherino take over as the main singer for verse two. When the song reaches its climax, the drums kick in, the strings swell and the two singers harmonize in perfect fashion. This is acoustic emo at its peak form. 

Forever Came Calling – “Endangered Innocent”

Forever Came Calling created undoubtedly one of the most special acoustically driven emo songs of the mid-2010s. While the band never reached the same popularity as some of their scene counterparts, they remained committed to writing sincere music. This is exemplified by their 2013 song “Endangered Innocent,” an acoustic and orchestral track that captures the spirit of young love in a tangible and relatable fashion. In speaking with vocalist and guitarist Joe Candelaria, he once mentioned to this writer that the song was musically inspired by scene ballads such as “Two Zero Two” by Northstar and the aforementioned “New American Classic” by Taking Back Sunday. However, the band created something entirely their own with this song. Forever Came Calling have since reunited after a brief hiatus and are coming to a city near you.

Bring Me The Horizon – “Drown” (Acoustic)

There are two things to take away from this list: If your band are going to do an acoustic song on a record, it’s almost always going to be the sixth track. Secondly, it’s always best to pair it with lush orchestral arrangements, the latter of which Bring Me The Horizon executed flawlessly with the stripped-down arrangement of their beloved single “Drown.” While the original song offered a clear glimpse of where the deathcore-turned-genre-bending superstars would go in the future with more accessible material, the acoustic version offered something entirely new for the band.

The 2015 rendition captures vocalist Oli Sykes up close and personal without the cacophony of heavy guitars or screams. The acoustic track was recorded specifically for BBC at the historic Maida Vale studios in London. The track features cinematic string arrangements, delicate backing vocals and even a light guitar solo. When the acoustic version was released, it was truly remarkable to see how far the band had come from screaming over drop-tuned guitars on tracks such as “Pray For Plagues” to writing radio-ready ballads that have proven to be timeless over the years. 

Hot Milk – “Glass Spiders” (hangover version)

Hot Milk write insanely catchy hooks and exceptionally crafted pop rock that dives into various subgenres as if they’ve been a band for decades. When the group transposed their single “Glass Spiders” acoustically, it gave the song a new dimension and captures the song’s somber and personal tone. Hearing co-vocalists Han Mee and Jim Shaw harmonize together is truly something special and is a testament to how in sync they are. 

MOD SUN and Avril Lavigne –“Flames” (Acoustic)

MOD SUN clearly knows his way around crafting emotional music. The artist has deep roots in the scene as the former drummer for the underrated Four Letter Lie and his brief stint with Scary Kids Scaring Kids. When MOD SUN joined the recent pop-punk revival, he fit in perfectly. Plus, what better way to come out of the gates in a blaze than to enlist Avril Lavigne? The pair, who are now engaged, possess undeniable musical chemistry. It’s exemplified brilliantly in the stripped-down version of their joint single “Flames.” 

This Wild Life – “Sleepwalking” (Bring Me The Horizon cover)

It would be impossible to ignore acoustic duo This Wild Life and their wonderful contributions to the scene. The band showed that even with the absence of loud guitars and drums, the music can be just as impactful. When This Wild Life covered Bring Me The Horizon’s 2013 single “Sleepwalking,” it put this humble southern Californian duo on the map and jump-started a long and fruitful career. Clocking in at over 31 million streams on YouTube alone, the duo transformed the song into something entirely their own while also paying homage to its original songwriters.

Real Friends – “Tell Me You’re Sorry” (Acoustic)”

When Real Friends parted ways with original vocalist Dan Lambton in 2020, there was no doubt that there would be large shoes to fill. Remarkably, the band found the ideal person to take the wheel with lead singer Cody Muraro, who joined with confidence, grace and an impressive knack for songwriting. Muraro is a strong singer who can easily navigate from tender vocal parts to high-range parts, where he lets his voice shine with ease and control. On the acoustic rendition of their recent single “Tell Me You’re Sorry,” listeners get to hear Muraro’s voice up close. The song’s catchy chorus is at the forefront, making it impossible to get out of your head. 

Alongside the announcement, the band shared their first single and music video from the album, titled “Weapon.” The track is about “coming to terms with the reality of who I am,” vocalist Jesse Barnett explains in a press release.

The band will also hit the road with Rise Against and Pennywise beginning April 8. A full list of dates is below.

Read more: FKJ announces second album ‘V I N C E N T,’ shares “Greener” featuring Carlos Santana

“I believe that people are products of the circumstances that are forced on them every day,” Barnett says. “People say that ‘The American Dream’ is a lie. I don’t think that’s true at all. I think ‘The American Dream’ is alive and well, but like always, it’s only available to a select few. Who I am in this formula is someone who doesn’t accept that. I don’t care about fair, [and] I don’t care about equal. I care about what’s right, and since the inception of this country, the things it stands for and the things it’s built upon, I believe it is irredeemable, and it is my purpose to try to build something new in its place.

“But before we can do that, what is currently there must be dismantled,” he continues. “A country of sycophants lead by violence addicted oligarchs should and will be destroyed. Every person reaches a crossroads in their life. Roll over or keep going. Sometimes all you have is heart. I know it’s all I have, and that’s all I need.”

Check out the video for “Weapon” below, and preorder Spectre here.

Spectre tracklisting

1. “(My Heart Is A…)”
2. “Weapon”
3. “Who Dares”
4. “Hush”
5. “A World to Win”
6. “Open Up My Head”
7. “Liberate”
8. “The Shine”
9. “Instruments of the End”
10. “Father”
11. “More of Us Than Them”
12. “No Way to Live”

Stick To Your Guns tour dates

04/08 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
04/10 – Cincinnati, OH @ Icon Music Center
04/12 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Eagles Ballroom
04/13 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre
04/14 – Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre
04/16 – Calgary, AB @ Big Fourt Roadhouse
04/17 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Convention Centre
04/19 – Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
04/21 – Redding, CA @ Redding Civic Auditorium
04/22 – Bakersfield, CA @ Mechanics Bank Theater

Read more: Rise Against announce US tour with the Used and Senses Fail

The video features patrons at an art gallery glued to their phones. The artwork hanging on a wall that they should be paying attention to appear to be QR codes. And with a closer look, they are exactly that. Scanning them provides an interactive experience, providing fans with more details about the song’s overall message.

The QR codes lead viewers to a cryptic website, which will reveal more mysteries in the coming weeks.

In the video’s description, Rise Against explain, “‘Talking To Ourselves’ is about watching yourself and the people around you fall into complacency. Despite your best efforts to get people’s attention, it feels like no one is listening. Sometimes we feel the urge to do something crazy, to disturb the peace, to jostle the world around us awake. Our actions might be seen as out of the ordinary, but they are acts of desperation when all else failed.”

Watch the video for “Talking To Ourselves” below. While you’re at it, scan the QR codes and see where they take you.

Read more: Rise Against drop new track ahead of live EP ‘Nowhere Sessions’

The tour includes stops at The Forum in Los Angeles, as well as The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City. Tickets go on sale this Friday (March 4). Check out a full list of tour dates below and grab tickets here.

Rise Against have also shared “Talking To Ourselves (IDLES Inner Monologue Remix).” The original came off the band’s 2021 LP, Nowhere Generation. “I’ve never thought of our songs as ‘brave’ or ‘bold,’” Tim McIlrath says in a press release. “I think of them as just common sense. When you feel that no one is listening to you, you tend to talk louder, and when you feel no one notices you, you start doing things to get their attention. That’s what this song is about.”

Rise Against tour dates

Caballero burst onto the skateboarding scene in the groundbreaking years of the early ’80s and ’90s, skating alongside the sport’s most iconic figures while living in Southern California during its renaissance period, where punk rock was at its most prolific and refined. Taking influence from his surroundings, Caballero had the opportunity to pair his passion for writing music with other talented and like-minded people to create projects of his own.

Read more: Toby Morse’s ‘One Life One Chance’ is your new favorite podcast

Some notable ones include Soda and the Faction, but remarkably, decades into his career, Caballero has formed what could be argued as his strongest musical project with the arrival of Urethane. The skate-punk band are rooted in playful nostalgia for the era that he came up in while also pushing the genre to greater heights, just as he did with his approach to skateboarding.  On tracks such as “Gravity,” Urethane cement themselves as a band that aren’t afraid to write massive hooks. With a heart-on-their-sleeve mentality, it’s resulting in instant classics that feel like a breath of fresh air. 

From what I understand, you were already playing in a band and heard your now-bandmate and frontman Tim Fennelly’s music and then decided to come together to form this project.

I was jamming with a band on bass for about a year-and-a-half, and after a while, we realized it was time to find a frontman for the band. I put a message out on Instagram looking for a singer, and one day I received an email from Tim, who was at the time working on a solo project. He sent over a few demos to listen to. I really liked the way he sang just by the demos. I played it to the other guys in the band, and they were apprehensive about it.

At that point, it was really telling for me that maybe my friends and I are not on the same page for what we want. I was the only one that was pushing for Tim to join, but they refused him. I thought about it for a while, considering if we should keep looking for singers, but I decided then to start my own project with Tim. The rest is history. 

I feel like you made the right decision sticking with Tim. How did the process evolve after that? 

Once I decided there was a future with Tim, the next step was to find a drummer for our band. Tim found a drummer really quick and immediately linked up with Dylan Wade from the Bombpops. I learned a few of Tim’s songs that he had ready for his solo project, and we decided to use them for this project.  I was trying to figure out how he put songs together, as I had never worked with a guy who writes so many pre-choruses.

I’m a straightforward punk guy, so it was a change for me. At first, it was difficult to get used to it, so we ended up finding a balance with how we structure songs and add my influence to the band. Four months into jamming, I decided to pivot from bass to guitar. I feel like I am a much better guitar player, and Tim was instantly on board and brought in his friend Chad [Ruiz] to play bass, as he was already interested in being a part of this project.

No joke, a week later after we all got together as a four-piece, it instantly sounded so much fuller and powerful, and within a week of Chad joining the band, he hooked us up with a record label. Chad brought up how he was really good friends with El Hefe from NOFX, who runs a small label called Cyber Tracks. We took an interview, and they ended up signing us off the demos that Tim had already made before the project was even fully formed.

This project doesn’t simply feel nostalgic with the skate-punk influences. It really feels like it is breaking new ground for the genre. The arrangement of the record alone feels like it was done with so much purpose and intent, and I love how collaborative it all seems with the guest features. What was the process behind this? 

We definitely put a lot of pressure on ourselves, practicing twice a week and really homing in on the arrangements. For the guest appearances on the record, those were all my ideas since I had access to people who would bring attention to the album. I instantly knew I would call Toby Morse from H2O since he already owed me a favor for collaborating on his band’s last record [Use Your Voice].

I really took on a producer role when working with him, and it took a while for him to nail it at first, but when the process came together, it was really cool to see. Speaking of production, this record was the first time I had ever worked with a traditional producer. We ended up choosing Cameron Webb to produce the record, and just seeing his credentials alone, I realized that he made a ton of my favorite records for bands such as Pennywise, Alkaline Trio and Strung Out.

Instantly, I knew it was going to be a good idea to work together because he actually knows what he’s doing. Cameron really wanted to hear my influence on this record and was pivotal in starting the conversation with the rest of my bandmates since they already respected him to let me take a little more charge and offer my critique and changes for the songs. I ended up writing a lot of new melodies and leads for the record in the studio, so when it was my turn to add my parts, I had the comfortability to add my influence.

I feel like you brought this really bright, melodic element to the band, while the lyrics deal with these heavier subjects, and it creates a really interesting sound. How did this come to be? 

To be honest with you, I am not much of a lyric dude. I focus more on melodies and harmonies. I did end up singing on this record more than I thought I would because it just worked out with the way I write harmonies — I have never sung so much in a band before this project. Tim and I really work well together, and the more positive feedback I got for my vocals, it made me want to do it more. 

I can obviously hear some classic influences with this project, but I am curious about current artists that may have inspired the band as well. What music is currently inspiring you? 

The most current influences that added to what I like would have to be Rise Against and Alkaline Trio. I wasn’t initially keen on Alkaline Trio’s music until after [frontman] Matt Skiba joined blink-182. [I] was impressed with how he changed that band with his songwriting. From there, I dug into Alkaline Trio’s music more in reverse order and really started to like that band.

When I started writing songs with Tim, I used my influences of ’90s punk and love for singalongs and harmonic bands like Face To Face, MxPx and Pennywise to really bring it together. This record is a product of everything I have loved and listened to since 1982.

You have been such a positive influence on skate culture for decades. How has your skating career influenced you in both your life and how you approach art? 

I’ve learned a lot through skateboarding. It taught me a lot about discipline, perseverance, getting over fears and learning to fail before you can succeed. I feel like a lot of people are not attracted to skateboarding because it takes a lot of patience. What I’ve learned from patience is the definition of long suffering, which is the same for music. Fail to succeed is huge for me. If you can get over the fear of failing, you are going to be successful in whatever you do. Whenever I am attracted to something, I put a lot of hours into it, and sometimes people do not see that.

A lot of people like to use the term “natural talent,” which is used loosely and something I do not believe in. To me, I feel people use that term as an excuse not to be good at something. I think people should be different and be themselves. You do not have to be greater than the greatest. You should just be happy to have fun and [be] where you are at in life. People are attracted to positiveness and things that make you smile. I want to give people the ability to believe in themselves no matter what. We are multidimensional, creative beings, so if you put the work in, you can be anything.

This interview appeared in issue 400, available here.