Steve Interviews Tim McIlrath of Rise Against About 1234Fest

The Inagural Denver edition of 1234Fest comes to The Junkyard on September 9th. The fest features Rise Against, Rancid, Jawbreaker Descendants and more! We talk about the show, the band's Colorado connections and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Its Channel nine at three and SteveBarel today talking to Tim mackel Wrath that

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Rise Against coming through for the onetwo three four Fast that September ninth at
the Junkyard Avenue. I've never beento here in Denver. What's happening.
How's your day? Man? Hey, so far, so good? How
about you guys? Phenomenal? Thanksyou in Chicago right now? Obviously we're
not in the same room together.Yes I am. I'm in Chicago.
Who is it that lives in inColorado? And it does someone live in
Larkspur? Our drummer, Brandon andBorn races in Colorado and I still lives

(00:29):
there today? Got you okay?And with the rest of the band curious
we're gonna be talking about one twothree four fasts that's going to be happening
here next month at the Junkyard.That's fun to talk about. But I'm
curious like the dynamic of the band. You guys are kind of around the
country or are you? Are youmostly in Chicago and one guy here?
Or how does where's everyone at thesedays? Well? I guess we started

(00:51):
in Chicago when Joe, our bassplayer, and I got together and then
we could not find a drummer,adequate drummer in Chicago, so we outsourced
to Colorado, where we found Brandonafter he had sent a cassette tape of
himself playing drum around to some bandsm and we thought, we don't know

(01:11):
who this person is on this cassette, but this is the person that needs
to drum for our band. Andso we called him, cold called him
and said, do you want tomove to Chicago to play drummers for a
band that makes no money? Andhe's hoping to be a real band one
day, you know, no promiseof any sort of future. And he
backed up the stuff and moved toChicago for I don't know about seven or

(01:34):
eight years even, you know,and he lived here in Chicago when we
started the band, and as wereally got moving along, he was like,
Hey, I'm gonna go home inthe Colorado and started band my whole
thing. You know, that's wherethat's just where as home or where as
hard is. And we're like,yeah, of course, dude. And
then Dad came into the band laterand he was in Austin, Texas,
and at that point we were sowe were such a satellite, you know,

(01:56):
he was moving around the planet.Well, you don't need to pick
up a movie. You can stayingAwful because we do everything ever wrote anymore.
And so yeah, we're in Austin, Texas, Colorado, and then
half of us in Chicago. Well, I feel like it's one of those
things. Anymore, like twenty yearsago, there would have been a whole
lot more difficult than it is today. I mean, seven years ago probably
would have been more difficult than itis today. I think we all learned

(02:17):
how to do things remote. Ohyeah, when we started this band,
we didn't have cell phones. Idon't know, so it was like we
were still getting ourselves to shows usingthe atlas that you buy at the gas
station. So yeah, a littlea little more difficult. Maybe even think
about the idea that the reason wefound Brandon was because he recorded himself playing

(02:38):
drums onto a cassette tape and mailedthat cassette to the band Good Riddance in
Santa Cruz, California. And thenGood Riddance just happened to be friends with
Joe here in Chicago, and bythe time the tape got to them,
they'd already found a drummer. Butthey knew we were looking for a drummer,
and so we got a hold ofthis tape, you know, and

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that's what was, you know,basically a eight a name and a phone
number that was being mailed around thecountry right around the year like ninety nine
two thousand. So yeah, theworld as you know has changed. Yeah,
that's awesome. I do all right. Just aside. I love the
fact that all the little pieces thatyou just told me that because it's just
I guess a lesson in can justwork of just putting yourself out there.

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Even though he wasn't trying to beyour drummer, the work that he put
in trying to be someone else's drummereventually got him this gig. And what
a great story. Yeah, that'sthat's absolutely true. It's so true and
so many things. It's like,go for the thing that you want,
and even if you don't get it, you might end up somewhere better,
you might end up somewhere different,you know, you might end up finding
the thing that you want along theway. I think that goes for even

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people who start bands, Like peoplewho start bands are off people who hear
a band, they love a band, and they go, I want to
sound like that band. And theystart playing music and they probably fail at
sounding like the favorite band, butthey succeed in like now, creating something
new and different on something like themselves. It's what a nice way to start

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and start. What we're going tobe talking about is the fact that you
guys are coming through. You gota show here in Denver on September Night.
That a venue I've never been to. It's the one two three four
Fast here at the Junkyard. You'vegot Rancid, job Breaker, the descendants
on that lineup, Joyce Manner,Pussy Riot, Dillinger four. That is
a ridiculous lineup. And for avenueI've never been to, I'm assuming you

(04:30):
have never played the Junkyard either.No, I've not, and I've played
a lot of venues in and aroundDenver and Colorado. But this isn't new
to me too, so I'm excitedto see what it holds. Yeah,
it's a new it's an actual Junkyardrepurpose for this by the folks over at
meal Wolf where everything that they touchedturns to gold. So I'm sure it's
going to be spectacular. And asfar as your participation in the one two

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three four Fast, this is oneof the first shows that you're gonna be
playing. When's the last show youguys played. Oh so we're taking time
off right now. The last thingwe did was we played with the Foo
Fighters in Germany right in the beginningof June at the Rockham Ring Rockham Park
Fest that weekend, and then wekind of like decided to take the rest
of the summer off. Summer offit for a lot of people, that's

(05:15):
not a ton of time off fora band, because you're back here,
you mean in September seventh. Isee, you got a show in Virginia,
then you can meet here in Denver, and then it's kind of it's
slowly off to the races. You'vegot a couple of festivals, including the
big Whin We're Young festival in Vegas. Been next year you're gonna be opening
for Blink one D two in Australia. Yeah. So yeah, it's probably

(05:36):
like good for Denver to know thatRis Agins is only playing five more shows
this year, and and so Denveris one of those shows. We kind
of we're starting to focus on thenext chapter of Rise, you know,
the next record, and so wekind of shut it down and said,

(05:56):
let's just work on that. Butthen a couple of these opportunities, like
the one, three, three fourBest in Denver was just so cool that
we were like, we have todo this. So even though even though
we said we're going to shut itdown, we opened it back up for
that Best because it's because that's because, like you said, that's a pretty
epic lineup. Like that lineup iswhat like the mixtape that got me into

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punk rock looks like you know,like same like Rancid and job Breaker Descendant.
You know, I thought job Breakeropen for Nirvana the Aragon Ballroom in
Chicago and like nineteen thank four.You know, they're a huge part of
my upbringing, the songs, umeverything, and so to be able to

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play a show with them and sharestage for the band that I loved along
it was amazing. Ranted is thesame thing, and Ranted was something I
grew up on. We've had thepleasure of touring with those guys in Japan,
you know, and here in theStates, got to be friends with
them, just a legendary punk fansum. And then you know descend Us,

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you know, who are just mostof them are living an hour north
of you right now. Yep.One of our favorite bands that I grew
up listening to. Also their drummerBill, as you probably know, responsible
for producing the majority of Rise Againstalbums. So those are guys are just
those guys are just family. Um. A good friend from high school,

(07:23):
Neil Hennessy, who is normally thedrummer of the Lawrence Arms, is playing
drums and the Joyce banner. I'mso I'm excited to see him there as
well. So, I mean it'sreally a stacked lineup, and there's a
cool idea. And I come injob breaker for being the brain chill of
this. Oh yeah. And thenwell any of you you mentioned recording in

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for Collins, that's the blasting roomthere. You've done a couple of actually
how many albums have you done atthe blasting room? So six of our
nine albums have been done at theblasting room. And then various like singles
and B sides and stuff like that. It's kind of our go to place.
I love that, you know,I love the connection. Obviously you
had the connection with your with theum oh my god, Brandon, yeah,

(08:09):
the drum really yeah, that ishis name. Um here in Colorado
as well. But that's like anice touch point two of you guys to
come back here. And that's asthere there are shows and then there's making
an album, and those are thingsthat I'm sure generate great memories or at
least lasting memories for you and um, you know, the shows are one

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of those things where you're getting thefeedback and making the album is when you're
creating. Um. Was there anyany moments about the blast room before Colins
that really stand out for you inthe last six albums you made there?
Oh? Um, you know,our relationship with for Colins in the blasting
room and Bill Stevenson and Andrew andChris and then the whole town it was

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so much more than just like atransactional like just we're here, we're making
a record and really being like wereally the whole city kind of opened their
arms to us, and we spenta lot of time there in our formative
years. Um. We spent alot of time in just our totally broke
years, you know, just hangingout wherever anybody would take us. Um,
and everybody was just really cool tous, and they became they became

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family, you know, they becamefamily friends, They became a place that
I would you know, when Ihad time off, I would go visit.
You know, Bill's family and Jason'sfamily and my family all became friends.
Um, me and Jason's daughters arecollege roommates right now. You know,
that's how home they've known each other. Um My daughter's actually in four

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columns as we speak, you know, visiting his family, like it became
like a very cool um community tobe a part of. Brandon's connection to
Colorado just made a buxpedder Colorado alwayslike it became. Going to Colorado became
like playing a hometown show. Youknow. Everybody always made a speel at

(09:56):
home in Denver and in four columns, so that connection that will be there
forever. We had a lot.We had a lot of fun. We
played like the old Starlight which isnow like a half note. We played
an Aggie. We played secret showslike over at Kansas City Kitty, like
the clothing store on the main dragthere. You know. We spent a

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lot of time, you know,out in nature, just like in between
working, just like clearing our headsand that kind of thing. Um,
it would turned into it. We'vebeen there in the winter, but there
in the summer it really became likea special place in the perfect atmosphere to
make the songs that people know upyou know, those songs that you guys
play on the radio. Like wemade up there with a team that like

(10:41):
cared so much about who we areand what we do, and we weren't
just a client. We were itfelt like when we went there, it
wasn't just a four person band,but it was like a six and an
eight person band, and we wereall protecting this saying, and we all
loved it. And like everybody thereworked, everybody that worked harder than they
were getting paid to work, youknow what I mean. So they put

(11:03):
their heart and the soul into everysingle song and showed and it changed all
of our lives. So um yeah, special players love it, tugging to
Tim mcareth Rise against Who. Asfar as we are very proud of our
local music scene, we continue weconsider you guys part of that just a
little bit. You know, you'renot you don't all live here, but

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but you get an honorary a getan honorary three or three day placement.
This is so cool to have youback here, and we're very excited to
have you back, very excited toboth see this this new venue, New
Fast is coming through one, two, three four Fast is September ninth here
in Denver at the Junkyard. Youmight have to look that up to see

(11:45):
what that's all about, but wegot Rise Against Rancid, Jawbreaker descendants,
Joyce Manner, Pussy Right, Dylanser, for that is a full day of
music and headlined by one of ourfavorites, Rise Against Tim. Thanks for
joining us today, looking forward toseeing here in about a month my pleasure
of thanks for the love Colorado.We'll see you guys soon.