This week, Chris No. 2 and Justin Sane from the long-lasting punk band Anti-Flag appeared on the Artist Friendly podcast. The lead guitarist/vocalist and bassist/vocalist spoke to host Joel Madden in regards to the group’s lengthy historical past of activism, involvement within the punk scene, touring, and a lot extra.
Read extra: The oral historical past of Anti-Flag: “We were machete-ing our way through failure”
Before you dive into the episode, which is obtainable now wherever you take heed to podcasts, we rounded up a handful of key takeaways from the chat. Check them out beneath.
The band have realized their objective is to attempt to assist “alleviate suffering” throughout their exhibits
Anti-Flag have a protracted historical past of activism and being an anti-fascist band. While they’re nonetheless dedicated to writing about politics of their music, they’re conscious that may solely go up to now and these days principally enjoy the truth that their live shows could be a protected area and supply of solace for followers. Chris No. 2 shares on the podcast, “Now, I think that for us individually and collectively, the whole thing is about the alleviation of suffering. If it happens at the show, it’s about telling the trans folks that are there that they’re welcoming, the women that are under attack of Draconian abortion laws across America that they’re welcome.” They perceive that an hour of punk music can have an enormous impact on followers who might really feel marginalized or and not using a sense of launch elsewhere.
Talking to followers on tour helped Chris No. 2 course of his grieving
In line with what the band stated about their exhibits aiming to be an area to a minimum of briefly “alleviate suffering” amongst their followers, they clarify that it goes each methods. While they perceive the impact their music has on individuals, additionally they share on the pod how a lot that is helped them — and the way they even see “that reciprocation” as “the entity of punk rock and its greatest value.” Chris No. 2, for instance, shares about how he struggled processing his sister’s dying and did not essentially have alternative to with the band’s intensive touring and recording schedule. “Until I shared that story and then interacted with people at shows who shared their trauma with me, I wasn’t grieving my process at all,” he says. “That person who experienced something that was important to them in that moment, that person gave it right back to me — and that happens to us all the time.”
Anti-Flag made connections on Warped Tour that they’ve nonetheless held onto right now
The bandmates and Madden spoke about their lengthy historical past of realizing one another, with Chris No. 2 even mentioning he nonetheless remembers when he was an adolescent managing the band’s electronic mail account and receiving a message from Good Charlotte. They finally related at Warped Tour — which was an odd however formative expertise for Anti-Flag, as they had been initially hesitant to take part however finally met One Man Army and Flogging Molly, who they’re nonetheless touring with to this present day. When they lastly met Good Charlotte on the competition, although, round 2001 or 2002, Chris describes it as feeling like a satisfying second, as they acquired to witness how highly effective the scene was and the methods by which it may crossover to the mainstream.
Lies They Tell Our Children is one in all their most collaborative albums but
Sane calls Anti-Flag’s newest full-length, Lies They Tell Our Children, “one of our most collaborative records.” Because the band had been aside from the pandemic, they had been reignited once they acquired collectively. For probably the most half, the album classes consisted of “throwing ideas at each other,” Sane says. “I’d come in with a riff and [Chris No. ] 2 would be like, ‘We should take that riff and go here with it.’ We enjoyed being around each other and being able to bounce ideas off each other,” he provides.
There are three chapters to Anti-Flag
Chris No. 2 sees the band’s historical past in three chapters. The first is their early days, the place they had been getting the band off the bottom. The second takes place within the 2000s, the place he says the band “hit [their] stride.” Finally, the third chapter begins when the band linked with Good Charlotte’s administration firm MDDN. “We’re better songwriters. We’re better communicators of these ideas than we’ve ever been, and I think we’re better performers because of it — we’re more in love with [the band] than we’ve ever been because we’re more free,” No. 2 enthuses.
Anti-Flag nonetheless have a future
Chris No. 2 admits that the way forward for Anti-Flag is each “very clear and very cloudy.” Considering that the punk band have been grinding since their formation in 1988, it’s superb that they’re nonetheless placing out songs that really feel simply as pressing as their early work. No. 2 even says that it’s onerous to take a break as a result of “[they’ve] been so driven over the last two years.” However, Sane says that they should discover a steadiness quickly. “If I’m honest, we’ve hit it so hard the last two years that I think we have to slow it down. I see burnout coming,” he says.
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