TIM MCILRATH OF RISE AGAINST
When I heard him say "I'm just checkin' out the scene here", I couldn't help but laugh. Early afternoon before the band's show in Minnesota, Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath was walking around the local shopping mall. "There isn't much to see bro!" was my response to him. So, as he hit up the food court and was about to eat, I had a chance to talk to him about singing, his daughter, economics, and so much more.
Asif: So, how's it going? How was the show up in Green Bay last night?
Tim: It's going good! We've been on tour as a band for seven years now and besides playing shows somewhere off the beaten path like South Africa, we've never played in Green Bay, Wisconsin and it's only three hours from Chicago. We've all played there as individuals at some point, but not together as Rise Against. So, it was a good time and it was a good show.
Asif: At what age did you start singing?
Tim: I don't know if I ever starting singing. I started in a band when I was like 15 years old. I never wanted to be a singer, I totally just figured I didn't have what it took to be a singer. I just wanted to play guitar and write songs and find somebody who was good at singing. We had some friends and then we tried other friends to tryout as the singer for the band and we eventually I got frustrated with all the different singers who were trying to sing over the phone, so I was like "Screw this. I want to do it." So, I had an idea in my head but I didn't even know how to sing. I had ideas that I couldn't really translate to the other guys, so f**k it, I'm just going to sing. So that is where I just kinda jumped into the fire. Over time, you just figure out how to do it. You figure out how to play guitar. You figure out how to write. You figure how your voice works. There were many years I was just no good at all, that's for sure! Anybody that saw me in any of my bands could have told you that! (laughs) But at some point it clicked and I just figured out how to do it, it just took years to figure it out.
Asif: The only reason I ask is because I think your voice is so versatile – you can sing softly or go into an all out scream. Even if they can pull it off, I don't think many people can sound that good. Do you see your voice more as an instrument or as a tool?
Tim:
It's definitely an instrument because it adds a layer to the song. I know
a lot of times people ask me about my vocal style, but I really don't know
how that happened. What I do know is that everyone always says I sing
really loud. I'm always just screaming, singing really loud and really
hard. I think that's a result of when you’re a kid and you're starting a
band, your drummer has a drum set, your guitar player has an amp, your
bass player has an amp, but nobody ever has a PA. You know? (laughs)
That's kinda a luxury, you can't afford a PA, nobody wants to go out and
buy a PA. You save up money to buy your guitar, your amp, you don't have
that extra money to go out and buy a PA. So realistically, anybody that
starts a band knows that your first band your PA is made up of microphone
from Radio Shack and your guitar player's old guitar amplifier. When he's
not using that, you plug that in.
Asif: So you were yelling and screaming just to hear yourself?
Tim: Yeah! When I learned to sing, I had to be heard over the drums, the guitar and the bass. I think that's where my style came from. And then at some point I figured out that I could actually sing without screaming and actually sing quietly. But that wasn't until we got better PAs and I could sit down and just realize what I was doing and play more acoustic guitar and then at that point is when I realized I could do both.
Asif: Sweet man! I know the song "Ready to Fall" is about getting to the top and having nowhere to go but down and about the price you pay to follow your dreams. Personally for you, what do you feel is that price you've paid?
Tim: The price we've paid to take the chance to follow our dreams. We've really sacrificed any normal life to do this. Which is the best part of being in a band and the worst part of being in a band. It's like no one wants a normal life, right? You just strive to break free of that. And then of course when you are on your 4th or 5th year of being on tour and you're not in touch with your friends anymore and they are all hanging out and bowling on Wednesday nights, you miss out on that sort of thing. You miss being home and going to the same place. And then when you get to our age –
Asif: (laughs) Our age?
Tim: (laughs) Our age – I sound like
I'm a million years old! But when you get older you know…I have a family
now. I have a wife and kid. Joe's married and Brandon's got a wife and a
kid. All of a sudden it's like "holy sh**", you know? I'm raising a kid
now and I see her once a month. That's like crazy to me, you know? It's
like going away to prison or something like that – it's like visitation.
And that gets tough and
it's tough just to explain to people – people who
don't understand music or punk rock or this band. They're like "What are
you doing? Why would you travel away from your child that long? Why won't
you just quit this and do something else?" To me, if you were inside my
head, there is no "something else". This is who we are and this is what I
do. Anything else would be settling. And if we settled, we wouldn't be
true to ourselves. As much as I don't want to be away from my daughter, I
don't want to be untrue either. I always hear people say "follow your
dreams" and to me it's like, no, "follow your dreams at all costs." I hope
kids now see that for the future because for me, this is what I love to do
and I made it happen. So, whatever you're looking at, make it happen too.
Asif: As little as the time may be with your daughter, what do you like to do the most when you are with her?
Tim: (laughs) Anything! I like to just play around with her. She's got a little guitar, so we play guitar and I'll teach her stuff and sing a song.
Asif: So she's gonna be a rock star just like you then!
Tim: (laughs) I don't know about that! Maybe! You know, little girls love their Dad at this age but 10 years from now the words "I hate you Dad" will come out of her mouth and she'll want to rebel against me or something! (laughs)
Asif: (laughs) The teenage years!
Tim: (laughs) Yeah! In our parents' generation it was easy to rebel cause they are sorta conservative, kinda lame, sorta square you know. (laughs)
Asif: It was easy! (laughs)
Tim: (laughs) Yeah! But what happens if you have a cool parent, you know? What do you rebel against? Maybe I'll have a straight-edge student, conservative Republican, non-musical daughter cause she'll try to rebel against me! (laughs)
Asif: (laughs) In a video for the making of the "Prayer of the Refugee" video, you said "Traditional business models are flawed. Conventional business models we use today are flawed in the sense that the price that we pay for products does not actually reflect the price of the production of these products." I was an economics major and I get it from that point.
Tim: Oh, right on!
Asif: Yeah! But not even in a stupid
economics view, but in a general sense, I totally know what you're saying
and agree with you. I just want to know, was there a certain product or
service, when you said that, you had in mind or were you just talking
about business models as a whole in today's world?
Tim: I think you probably get it more than I do man! I would love to major in economics because I find it really interesting. But, to me, like the first world – our world – is set up in a way to keep the third world in the third world. You know what I mean?
Asif: Totally get it man.
Tim: We aren't giving them the opportunity to get out of the third world. Example, we're creating a demand for sweatshops. We are creating that demand. And as long as there is that demand, it [sweatshops] is going to be out there. Kinda like the whole immigration debate. It's like Americans will say "we have to stop this immigration and return them to their country." It's like, okay, but your neighbor is hiring them at his restaurant! People are hiring migrant workers – they're creating the demand and giving them incentive to risk their lives to cross that border and come into your country. And stuff like that just sends mixed signals to the entire population.
Asif: That kinda ties right into the album title, you know? [The Sufferer and The Witness]. The Third World or the immigrants working the minimum wage are the sufferers and we're all the witnesses to it.
Tim: Exactly! That's something that I think Americans like to do, is turn a blind eye to what's going on - by turning a blind eye you kinda cleanse yourself of everything. People are like "Okay, I realize what's happening but it's not my idea. I can't do anything about it." That just becomes overwhelming for people. And then you become a witness to that and you finally admit to yourself "Simply knowing about this makes me part of it." I think that is kinda an interesting concept, you know? But you seem like you totally get it and just talking to you here, I know you do.
Asif: Yeah bro, I totally get it and know exactly what your saying and I totally agree with you. I know, in general, that you guys have been labeled an "extremely political band" and the entire talk of Rise Against just being about politics, not many people see that the political side is just one side. On that political side though - you've said that you think you guys are viewed that way, as an "extremely political band", because of the lack of bands in the punk/hardcore scene these days that are saying anything important. Why do you think that's the case? Do you think punk/hardcore has lost its roots?
Tim: I think what people see as punk and hardcore has got a bit to do with it. I was around in the 80s and the 90s. I'm an old punk kid. I was running around to Black Flag and that sort of stuff. But that was a time before punk rock was on MTV or on the radio, you know? Before Green Day put out Dookie and before the Offspring hit it big. So in that sense, the MTV Generation attached a dangling carrot to punk. By making it big and commercial, they said "Listen. You can get big with this music and here is the carrot we are going to dangle right in front of you. You can be successful with this music." And when a lot of bands started in the 80s and the 90s that carrot never existed. If they chose to play punk and hardcore, there was a ceiling on how successful you will become. So, if you are after success, find a different genre. You didn't get into it to be famous or be a celebrity. But then all of a sudden, punk became so big that now it's like "well sh**, if I have a Mohawk and a decent wardrobe and know a few chords, I can be on MTV." And all of a sudden that attracted a different sector of our population. So I think all of that has watered it down a bit, you know? That's certainly frustrating, but it's not like the nail in the coffin of punk. I think there are still some bands out there that we look to like Pennywise or Bad Religion or Anti-Flag. There are still a lot of relevant bands that are still out there.
Asif: So, besides playing with your little girl, when you're not on the road, what do you like to do for fun?
Tim: I like to get outside. I like to
mountain bike. I like to go to Wisconsin onto a trail in the middle of
nowhere. I live in a big city and I see people everyday. And I love
people, but that's just my time to decompress, unplug, and get away from
people and just go somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. It's so hard
because you look to stuff like that to feel like your human again, you
know? I live in this weird Rise Against world. I live in this weird bubble
where people know who I am and they recognize me.
Asif: You just need your alone time and your time to get away from the scene!
Tim: Yeah, exactly! And it's like, I love our fans. That's the reason we do shows every night because I do love it. But it's certainly overwhelming. It's overwhelming because I don't think I was ever cut out to sign autographs and have people come up to me and tell me I'm their hero or whatever. All that is really weird and all of that isn't really living, you know what I mean? I didn't start a band to write about what it's like to sign autographs or I didn't start a band to write what it's like to play for a couple thousand kids. Experiencing that is amazing, but it's not living. Nobody wants to hear about that or what it's like to do press all day, then sound check, and playing for a couple thousand kids. No one wants to hear that sh**. I don't want to hear that sh**. You want to hear about life and living. So, whenever I get a chance to get off tour and get off of that bus, I want to live again.
Asif: Well, thanks for taking the time man. I'm looking forward to the show tonight!
Tim: Yeah, thanks! It's going to be a good time!
Asif: Now go have fun checking out the rest of the scene! (laughs)
Tim: (laughs)
BY: The Asif
PHOTOS: The Asif & courtesy of Rise Against
SPECIAL THANKS: Victoria Torchia @ Geffen/DGC
