Rise Against

Emerging from the Chicago hardcore underground in 1999 under the name Transistor Revolt, Rise Against are now regarded as the undisputed flagship of the contemporary punk scene. Musically, the quartet led by founding members Timothy James McIlrath, Dan Wlekinski, Joe Principe and Toni Tintari is based on similar role models such as Bad Brains, Bad Religion and Black Flag, whereby all bands are based on their socially and politically critical attitudes. After Rise Against came to the attention of Fat Wreck Chords in 2000 through demo recordings, the Californian label released their first two albums: The Unraveling (2001), on which Tintari was replaced on drums by Brandon Barnes and Wlekinski as guitarist by Todd Mohney, and Revolution per Minute (2003). Commercial success came with the third LP Siren Song of the Counter Culture , which was released in 2004 on Geffen Records and earned Rise Against a place in the US Billboard 200 for the first time. At the latest with The Sufferer & the Witness (2006), on which Chris Chasse takes over the lead guitar as on the previous album, the breakthrough on the European stage is also achieved. In terms of content, the album deals with climate change and animal rights, among other things - two topics that Rise Against have repeatedly included in their repertoire as leitmotifs from then on. After Chasse left the band in 2007 and Zach Blair took over the lead guitar, the partly vegetarian, partly vegan Americans released two EPs in one year: AOL Undercover and This Is Noise. These were followed by the fifth studio album Appeal to Reason in 2008, which reached number 3 in the Billboard 200 and also achieved platinum status with over one million units sold. Rise Against, who politicize themselves more than almost any other band in the contemporary punk revival, released their most successful record to date in 2011 with Endgame . In Germany, the album stormed to the top of the charts, as did its successor The Black Market (2014). Still striving for a clear edge and democratic advocacy in their lyrics, the eighth LP Wolves (2017) deals with the 2016 US presidential election, among other things. This was followed in 2021 by Nowhere Generation, which made it into the top 3 of the album hit lists in both Germany and Austria. After a short break, the band returned in August 2025 with the album Ricochet. It reached number 10 in Germany and number 6 in Austria.