Rise Against Tickets

Rise Against
Rise Against is a hardcore punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. It is currently made up of four members, Tim McIlrath (vocals, guitar), Joe Principe (bass guitar), Brandon Barnes (drums), and Zach Blair (guitar). Since the band's inception in 1999, Rise Against has released four albums and one DVD (documentary). However, it was the band's last two albums 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) and 'The Sufferer and the Witness' (2006) that really made it rise to fame. Famous hits of the band include songs such as Give It All, Swing Life Away, Ready to Fall, and Prayer of the Refugee.

The Band's History and its Albums
Rise Against was formed in 1999 by the ex-members of the bands '88 Fingers Loui' and 'Baxter', after these bands had broken up. Tim McIlrath was on vocals, Joe Principe on bass and vocals, Tony Tintari on the drums and Mr. Precision on guitar. The band originally called themselves 'Transistor Revolt', and released a self-produced demo entitled 'Transistor Revolt in 2000'. The following year, the band signed with Fat Wreck Chords and released their first album 'The Unraveling' in 2001, produced by veteran punk rock producer Mass Giorgini. 'Revolutions Per Minute', the band's second album was released in 2003 and produced by Bill Stevenson. The band also made a re-release of the album 'The Unraveling' carrying a number of bonus tracks, through Fat Wreck Chords in August 2005.

Both Tintari and Mr. Precision left the band early on and were replaced by Todd Mohney in 2001. The band toured extensively with its first two albums and accepted opportunities to perform alongside bands such as Sick of It All, NOFX, Agnostic Front, No Use For A Name, AFI, Strung Out, and the Mad Caddies.

The success of the band's second album 'Revolutions Per Minute' attracted the attention of several record labels and Rise Against switched to Dreamworks Records to record their third album 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture' in August 2004. However, Dreamworks Records was taken over by the Universal Music Group and the band eventually found them selves working with Geffen Records, a subsidiary of the Universal Music Group. Shortly after the band had signed with Geffen Records, band member Mohney left and was replaced by guitarist Chris Chasse.In July 2006, Rise Against released their fourth album, 'The Sufferer and the Witness', produced by Bill Stevenson at The Blasting Room, which reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 and has since gone Platinum in Canada. The same year, the band also released a DVD entitled 'Generation Lost', which was a documentary about the band members as well as live performances from the band. Generation Lost went Gold in Canada in its first week of release.

Having attained local recognition for their third album in the US, Rise Against went on to tour Europe, Australia and Japan to promote their third album 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture', internationally. Some of the band's most notable performances include the Taste of Chaos'in the UK and Germany in 2005 alongside bands Funeral for a Friend, Story of the Year, the Used and Killswitch Engage. In the UK, the band also performed at Give It a Name 05, Reading Festival and the Leeds Festival. Other popular tours include the band's US tour with Alkaline Trio, the US Warped Tour and the band's support for 'My Chemical Romance' on the first half of their arena tour in early 2007. In Canada the band supported Billy Talent on their tour.

Guitarist Chris Chasse announced that he was leaving the band on the band's official website on February 23, 2007, citing reasons such as an overwhelming tour schedule with growing pressures and demands. The announcement came the same day that Rise Against was to go on tour with My Chemical Romance. Chasse's replacement was Zach Blair from 'Only Crime' and longtime friend of the band. Chasse went on to form his own band 'Last of the Believers', shortly after.

Latest News
Rise Against announced that they would be heading their own tour through North America throughout the summer of 2007 and would not be part of the Warped Tour. They are also expected to participate in the International Taste of Chaos concert in fall 2007 taking place in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Asia. The band's fifth album is scheduled for release in the summer of 2008 on which the band will reportedly start work after its touring.

The Band's Music in Pop Culture
A number of the band's songs have been used by various TV shows and video games. The song "Drones" from the album 'The Sufferer and the Witness', was used as the theme for WWE's Royal Rumble 2007. The same song was also used by EA in the video game Madden 2007. The song "Survive" from the same album was again used by WWE in the video game Smackdown Vs Raw 2007. "Give It All" was used as the background music for EA's video game 'Need for Speed Underground 2', 'Bugbear Entertainment's Flat Out 2', and 'MX Vs ATV Unleashed'. The song "Like The Angel" from the 2003 album Revolutions Per Minute was featured in a skateboarding game 'Tony Hawk's Underground' and the band also had a cameo appearance in the 2005 skate-boarding movie 'Lords Of Dogtown' in which the band performed their song "Nervous Breakdown". Another of their songs "Ready to Fall" was used as background music in the X Games, 2006.