Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Raw Sweat And Razor-Sharp Fury With JOE PRINCIPE: RISE AGAINST Return Down Under

Transcript

Raw Sweat And Razor-Sharp Fury With JOE PRINCIPE: RISE AGAINST Return Down Under · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Joe.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I play bass in Rise Against, and we're heading over
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: to New Zealand and Australia in mid-November.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Well, November, I think November 18th to be exact, or 19th.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: It's right behind you. It is.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today, brother.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: No worries.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: So, Rosie, again, soon return to Australia and New Zealand
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: later this year for a run of shows starting in
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: New Zealand on November the 21st, then heading to Melbourne, Brisbane,
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: and Sydney, and finishing in.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Perth on the 4th of December, mate.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: So what delights have you got in store for us
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: this time around?
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: You know, it's our job to.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Acknowledge our entire career in in a an hour and
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: a half set so we're trying to figure out what
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: songs to to bring on this tour and uh what
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: makes sense you know um but yeah like it's you'll
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: have just a punk rock show full full of energy
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: from start to finish so we're looking forward to heading
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: back and we're looking forward to touring with our buddies
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and dropkick murphy's And.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: I said, the last time you're out here, I think,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: was early 2024 with Blink-182, mate.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So what's changed with you guys since then?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: You know, since then, we've toured the world, basically. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: then some, you know, we, we just got back from,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: we did Rock in Rio with Foo Fighters. We did, well,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: we went out to Mexico to do Warped Tour, that show. Tim, Tim,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: unfortunately got sick. So we had to cancel while we
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: were out there, but he's on the mend, which is good.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: And then we were in Europe all of July. So yeah,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: we were just hitting it hard everywhere, basically.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cool.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Aside from the fact they're obviously going to be longer sets,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: how are these shows going to be different to the
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Blink-182 ones?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, with the headliner show, we're able to kind of
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: reach deeper in our pockets for, I guess, just deep cuts.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: With an opening slot, you try to play your most
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: popular songs to kind of win the crowd over, but
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Since we're headlining, you know, we can take liberties and
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: play songs that maybe they're not like singles, you know,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: quote unquote, but they're popular songs with our core fans.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So we'll bring we'll bring a lot of that out
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: with us and try to incorporate songs from every record,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: which is hard to do. in a short period of
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: time with, you know, we have 10 records out, uh,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: but we'll, we'll do our best.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: She's been billed as a co-headline in 12 with Dropkick Murphys, mate.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: So what's, what's your history with those guys? I can
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: imagine you would have played with them quite a few times.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Oh man.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, it goes back to Warped Tour probably 2003
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: or 2004. Um, we met those guys on Warped Tour
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and remain friends ever since. Um, you know, they're, they're just,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: they're great dudes. They're doing it for the right reasons. They're,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you know, great punk rock band, uh, politically driven. And, um, yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I think it's, it's, and they're, they're different enough.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So I think a fan going to that show is
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: going to have a really well-rounded, cool, cool show, you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: cool experience.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Nice. And then the term co-headliner, does that mean you're
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: going to be alternating closing every night or does it
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: just mean you go 50, 50 in the drink rider?
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Right. Right.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Um, well, like to be clear, it's a, it's a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: proper headlining tour. So they'll, they'll be direct support every,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: every show. Um, they play almost a full like headlining set. Um, but, um,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: but it, it did start off as, as our tour. Um,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: but you know, it's, it's We try not to focus
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: on that. We just want everyone to have a great time.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: But we're closing every night.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, nice.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: And just say hypothetically, man, someone's coming to see Dropkick
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Murphys and they don't know much about Rise Against. What
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: three songs do you reckon they should listen to to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: get to know what to expect?
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: I'll say Prayer of the Refugee, the song Collapse, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: the song Saviour.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nice.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Nice and warm up, man. And Sydney shows at the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: Sydney Opera House too, man. Like that's a pretty big
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: deal getting to play somewhere like that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Well done.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you. You know, we've been a band for
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: so long. It's nice to have, you know, something new,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: you know, to experience. And we're really looking forward to
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: playing there. It's going to be a great, a great time.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, nice. And aside from the own shows that you're playing,
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: you're also playing Meltdown Festival in Gosford with The Living
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: End and Jebediah on the 28th of November, man.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: They're both iconic Australian bands.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: So do you do your research on bands you play
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: with like that, or would you rather just come in
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: and your first introduction and seeing them live?
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm familiar with Living End just from being around.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, they've been around as long as we have
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: and probably longer, actually. Um, so like I'm familiar with,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: with them. Um, but it's something, you know, for me,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I kind of rely on, on the promoters to Paris with, uh,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: you know, with, with like-minded bands. Um, and we'll give
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: like the final, like say at the end of the day, but, um,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: but yeah, I think it's going to be a good, uh,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: a good mix, you know?
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, we, we love to play with local bands
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: and then, and I know they're a little bit beyond.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Just a local band, but, uh, Yeah, and at one
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: point we shared, us and Living End shared a guitar
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: tech for a brief spell. So we had a same
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: crew member.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it should be a great time.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it will be, man.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: And you brought up your US tour that you're starting
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: on Thursday before, but looking through this tour and that tour, man,
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: like you've got to love the way that these shows
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: are spaced out so much.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Like I was checking that one out.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: I think you've got 11 days off out of 32
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: or 33.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: It's insane the amount of touring you guys do over there.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's like, we try to tour smarter, uh,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: not harder. You know, the older we get, uh, we,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the days off are huge, you know, cause they make
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: it so we can all recover and properly rest, you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: to make sure the next show's just as good as the,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: as the first show of the tour. So, um, it's
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: all about, uh, you know, stamina, you know, the endurance and, uh,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: you know, just to kind of pace yourself like appropriately.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: And I reckon probably 99% of the Australian bands, if
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: you gave them a schedule like you've got over there,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: they'd just look at it and go, no way.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing that many shows.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, I did. I was a big fan
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: of the band Body Jar when I was growing up.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're great. Yeah.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I know they're still playing, right?
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw them about two months ago, actually. They
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: did really well.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, great.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Like Body Jar, the Hard Ons are a band I
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: grew up listening to. uh you know friends will rom
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of course um so yeah staples great great bands.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: Fuck yeah man like and australian fans like we got
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: a deeply rooted love for punk and hardcore man and
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: you sort of touched on the set list before man
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: but do you ever have to tweak the set list
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: and sort of lean into your heavier faster material for
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: say australia and then other places you might have.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: A different set list because uh different songs that are
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: popular there oh.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah for for sure um You know, that's a,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: that's a great point because yeah, regionally, uh, punk rock, hardcore,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: like you said, it's, it's pretty big in Australia. And
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: then like, we just played, or we came back from Mexico.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Like it's, it's big in Mexico, Canada, you know, like,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: but if we're playing like middle America, like in like
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: the South, um, you know, like South Carolina or something
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: like in the States, you know, there, we try to like,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: lean a little bit more toward our rock songs, you know,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: it just, yeah, it really depends.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure if anyone's told you or not yet, bro,
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: but this tour is starting right as our summer kicks off, mate.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be hot as balls over here.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So make sure, make sure you bring some shorts and
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: some flip flops and some easy guns to wear.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely a big shock because we're, it's right
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: when it starts getting very cold in Chicago. So I'll
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: leave it. Yeah, packing, it's going to be interesting. I'll
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: have to pull out my summer clothes for that tour.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Make sure.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: You're really still late to start with Ricochet, I think,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: in August of last year, man. So after so many albums,
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: did this one still go as well as what you expected?
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Like, is your fan base still connecting with what you're
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: doing so much? Yeah.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: You know, we, we definitely took liberties on this album.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: And I think when you, whenever you do that, um,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: you're going to get a bunch of naysayers out of
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the gate, which is how it goes.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: You know, you can't please everybody.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Um, but I feel like when you take liberties like that,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you kind of learn as a band, you learn from them,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: whether it's positive or negative.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Um, and, um, you know, I'm proud of that record.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: It is a little bit different.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Um, but what it did for me is it made
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: me want to dive head first into like a ripping
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: punk song, you know, like, like it.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Just, which is why we released Katie bar the door.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: You know, we had two new singles come out a
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago and, uh, one's a straight up,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: you know, punk rock banger and one's kind of like
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: a powerful mid tempo rock song. And, uh, it's, it, it,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: it made me appreciate that side of rise against, you know? So,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you know, like anything, it ebbs and flows, right? Like
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: it's just kind of like you always have that with
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: anything you do for as long as we've been doing it.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Were there any songs on there that maybe went
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: down better live than what you thought they would or
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: conversely didn't go down as well live as what you
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: thought they might?
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: I think the song Nod goes over live a lot
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: better than.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: it came out on the record for me.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I think there are songs on the record that I
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: feel like they'll translate better live no matter what. Prizefighter,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: you know, even like I Want It All, that song.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I think the producer, you know, Catherine Marks, she's great.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: She had a very different approach than what we're used to.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Like Rise Against has always been a band about different
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: time signatures throughout songs and slowing and speeding up choruses.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: And she wanted one tempo right through the whole song.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: And there's, there's merit behind that, but a lot of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: that stuff doesn't work too well for the way we
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: write songs.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Um, it's just, I don't know.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: It's like in our DNA that kind of speed up
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: choruses and slow down verses. And, um, but again, it's
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: like a learning experience, like every record is. So, um,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: We kind of learned what works and what doesn't work.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, the next record, I'm not sure
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: like what we'll do. I will say, I think it'll
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: be a little bit more organic than what Ricochet yielded.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Nice. Do you remember the first time you heard one
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: of your songs played on the radio and what song
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: was it? And where were you at?
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, you know what?
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Um, the, the big rock station in Chicago is Q101.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And I remember when our second album came out, when
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: we were still on fat records, uh, the song like
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: the angel, they, they played it on their, like their cage.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: They had a cage that was called the cage match.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: So it was like one song versus the other song.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And then the callers would vote on what song they
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: liked better. And, uh, So Like the Angel was in
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: a cage match on air for probably like a month straight.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: And it blew my mind because we were still this
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: punk rock band touring.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: In a van with a trailer.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: And to.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Hear yourself on the radio for the first time is like, oh, wait,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: we're a real band now.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it was a cool feeling.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: And did you remember what song in the cage match
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: knocked you out?
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, my God.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I can't remember. I have to do some digging. That's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: an excellent question. I think it was a band called
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Lucky Boys Confusion. They were a local band from Chicago,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: but they were a little bit more like alternative, like
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: actually not unlike what Papa Roach was doing in the 90s. So, yeah,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: they probably knocked us out at that point because that
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: stuff was really popular back then.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, thanks very much for your time, man.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Been a pleasure speaking with you.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Rise Against, Dropkick Murphys, tour kicks off November 21st in Christchurch.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Tickets through Live Nation, brother. So all the best and
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I'll see you in Brisbane.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Right on. Thank you.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: All right, mate. Enjoy the rest of your day.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Cheers. Cheers. Thanks, Nicole.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Chris. I'll send you your audio once we've finished.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: No worries. Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye.