Stop the presses, did Rise Against Sell out?
No.
However, one radio station is seriously pissed at them for canceling a gig with them. There is a radio station on the East Coast that had gotten Rise Against to play a radio gig, however, the stage they were set to play on was sponsored in part by the U.S Army. When the band heard this they backed out. The band is NOT anti-Army or military they just don’t want to be associated with the recruitment process, which is what was going to happen at this show.
The radio show that was sponsoring the event went on air and blasted the guys from Rise Against and are threatening to not play their music.
So what!
Let the band stick to their guns. Even though the band did just finish a stadium/arena tour to say the least. I mean I couldn’t go see them play because they were charging $45 a ticket to see them. Ouch. Whatever the case is, this is punk rock.
The band went on to say the following:
As the [event] closed in, we discovered that we were scheduled to headline a stage sponsored by the U.S. Army’s Recruitment Dept. As a band that has worked in counter-recruitment in the past, we decided it would be hypocritical and inappropriate for us to headline this stage.
To be clear, this was not an event to honor the military, this was an event that the U.S. ARMY was interested in recruiting people at, and we felt that our fans should be free from that interference at a rock show on a Sunday night in a time of war. Recruiters are a part of the military that even many members of the military will admit their distaste for their documented unethical tactics.
We asked if something could be done, and when we were told no, we respectfully bowed out of the unannounced show for obvious reasons, and left it at that. We assumed the station was depending on the financial support of the sponsor and so we held no grudge.
Thinking that was the end of it, the radio station retaliated. In an act reminiscent of McCarthyism witch-hunts, the radio station has come to the unfounded, false and irresponsible conclusion that Rise Against is “against the army” and, as of this morning, has decided to spread this misinformation over the airwaves, threaten to not play songs, and call for a boycott of Rise Against. Listening to the broadcast, we were surprised at the willingness of the DJs to spin off of a lie. At no point did they consider the information simply wasn’t true. In addition to a number of lies, they even decided to tell their listeners that we said “F-U to the army” from the stage at past Buzz Bake Sales, something that simply isn’t true and that we would never do.
Rise Against definitely gets kudos from me, they stuck to their guns, regardless of what I think. To read more about this, and get a better written article check out Exclaim.ca, I also jacked the photo.