mymymy12
08-22-2009, 01:51 PM
It's hard to believe that its been 5 years.
Five years since I ran into Joe at a Sick Of It All show in Indianapolis and he asked if i would listen to what he's been writing and maybe sing over it. Five years since we asked Brandon if he'd move from Colorado to Chicago to play drums for us, after we had heard a demo of him beating the **** out of a drum set at breakneck speeds. Five years, and almost as many guitar players later...
We were all at some sort of crossroad at that point in our lives. Brandon had left his old band and was looking to do something full time, and he was serious enough to relocate for the band. Joe and Dan's ( our first guitar player) old band had broken up and hey were anxious to get back into the saddle, this time showcasing Joe's love for heavier music. I was in my junior year as an English major living in a hose full of Bike messenger, musicians, students and waitresses, and was missing playing in a band terribly. Then somewhere in the fall of '99, it all came together.
Since then , its been a blur of 18 hour van rides, shows for twelve kids in Texas, five dudes and all of our gear in Squiurtgun's old van riding across the great Plains, girlfriends who didn't understand why we did this and left us, kids throwing beer at us in Germany, trailers and practice spaces broken into and gear stolen, heart wrenching split ups with guitar players and friends, and jobs at grocery sores and retail outlets to make ands meet. Its meant putting ourselves out here, to be loved or hated. Its meant finding out just how thick your skin is when it's the later. Since then its meant constantly losing touch with friends and family back home and the struggle to adjust from tour to home life and back again every couple weeks, something that every tour band deals with.
But, since then, its also meant catching the ear of Fat Mike and being invited to join the amazing Fat Wreck family, touring with AFI before they were gigantic, crossing Europe in a bus with Sick Of It All, partying with NOFX in Western Canada, playing poker with Bad Religion and sining a song with them every night, eating sushi in Tokyo with No use for a name, seeing the Eiffel tower or Sydney's Opera House with friends at your side, playing black flag covers with Bill Stenon and Jim from Pennywise, putting out records that you love and watching a fan base grow from scratch right before you eyes. Something you never thought possible. It's meant being recognized on the street in a random city and being told that the music you makes had change a life, helped someone though a hard time or simply pumped someone up while they skate.
It's meant the world to use, and it all began here, with our first record. Holed up in Lafayette, IN, right across the street from the house Axl Rose grew p in. It was December of 2000, and over the next month we pieced together what would become Rise Against. We only had a handful of shows under our belts, and we were not yet sure what Rise against really was, but some underlying force kept pushing us to forge ahead and not give up.
That force, combined with the love and respect of people like you reading this, keep pushing us to this day. Its five years later now. Five ****ing years. We're still here. recording technology has drastically improved since then and we simply wanted to dust this record off and bring it up to sped with the rest of your record collection. These songs mean such to us now as they did then. and we have no intention of giving this up anytime soon.
Thank you,
Tim- Rise against
I just though fans would want to read this.
I know i did. What do you guys think?
Five years since I ran into Joe at a Sick Of It All show in Indianapolis and he asked if i would listen to what he's been writing and maybe sing over it. Five years since we asked Brandon if he'd move from Colorado to Chicago to play drums for us, after we had heard a demo of him beating the **** out of a drum set at breakneck speeds. Five years, and almost as many guitar players later...
We were all at some sort of crossroad at that point in our lives. Brandon had left his old band and was looking to do something full time, and he was serious enough to relocate for the band. Joe and Dan's ( our first guitar player) old band had broken up and hey were anxious to get back into the saddle, this time showcasing Joe's love for heavier music. I was in my junior year as an English major living in a hose full of Bike messenger, musicians, students and waitresses, and was missing playing in a band terribly. Then somewhere in the fall of '99, it all came together.
Since then , its been a blur of 18 hour van rides, shows for twelve kids in Texas, five dudes and all of our gear in Squiurtgun's old van riding across the great Plains, girlfriends who didn't understand why we did this and left us, kids throwing beer at us in Germany, trailers and practice spaces broken into and gear stolen, heart wrenching split ups with guitar players and friends, and jobs at grocery sores and retail outlets to make ands meet. Its meant putting ourselves out here, to be loved or hated. Its meant finding out just how thick your skin is when it's the later. Since then its meant constantly losing touch with friends and family back home and the struggle to adjust from tour to home life and back again every couple weeks, something that every tour band deals with.
But, since then, its also meant catching the ear of Fat Mike and being invited to join the amazing Fat Wreck family, touring with AFI before they were gigantic, crossing Europe in a bus with Sick Of It All, partying with NOFX in Western Canada, playing poker with Bad Religion and sining a song with them every night, eating sushi in Tokyo with No use for a name, seeing the Eiffel tower or Sydney's Opera House with friends at your side, playing black flag covers with Bill Stenon and Jim from Pennywise, putting out records that you love and watching a fan base grow from scratch right before you eyes. Something you never thought possible. It's meant being recognized on the street in a random city and being told that the music you makes had change a life, helped someone though a hard time or simply pumped someone up while they skate.
It's meant the world to use, and it all began here, with our first record. Holed up in Lafayette, IN, right across the street from the house Axl Rose grew p in. It was December of 2000, and over the next month we pieced together what would become Rise Against. We only had a handful of shows under our belts, and we were not yet sure what Rise against really was, but some underlying force kept pushing us to forge ahead and not give up.
That force, combined with the love and respect of people like you reading this, keep pushing us to this day. Its five years later now. Five ****ing years. We're still here. recording technology has drastically improved since then and we simply wanted to dust this record off and bring it up to sped with the rest of your record collection. These songs mean such to us now as they did then. and we have no intention of giving this up anytime soon.
Thank you,
Tim- Rise against
I just though fans would want to read this.
I know i did. What do you guys think?