Computer says 'no'.. Rise Against keep it real

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath believes his band are unlikely to ever suffer from "musical differences."

In the week that the American political punks release their seventh album The Black Market, McIlrath insists that while he and his bandmates argue just like any other group of friends, they always see eye to eye when it comes to their sound.

He tells KROQ: “It’s funny. We disagree on all kinds of stuff, you know, four guys who have been living together for the last 15 years. But when it comes to the music, something sort of turns. Those disagreements – that switch turns off.

“When we all get in the same room everyone is really supportive and encouraging. We have our battles, but they aren’t musical battles.”

And he says Rise Against still record in the old fashioned way – all in the same room at the same time, rather than sending files back and forward by electronic means.

He adds: “That’s the way we work. That’s the way we’ve always worked. Part of that is maybe a little bit of strategy, part of that is we just have no idea how to work our computers. The way Rise Against makes a record in 2014 is the same way we played with our friends when we were 15-years-old in our parents’ basement.

“It seems like bands have that one guy in the band who’s the studio nerd. You know, the guy who knows how to work everything, has all the pedals and the effects and the compressors and the microphones and kind of gets off on that, but we don’t have that guy.”

Guitarist Zach Blair said earlier this month that the band had exceeded their own expectations on the new record.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.