.Interview: Rise Against Sees Mainstream Success As a New Medium for Their Message

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-YPyVW9R8[/youtube]
Honestly, we were never going to make a video. That wasn’t part of the plan. We were just going to be one of like 80 artists on the compilation [Amnesty’s 4-disc Bob Dylan tribute Chimes of Freedom]. There wasn’t really anything in the budget to make a video; our videos are usually paid for by our label, and I don’t think they had a vested interest in paying for a video for a song on someone else’s record. But in spite of that, as we were playing the song, I couldn’t help but think “holy shit, this would make a great video.” But I didn’t think we’d actually be lucky enough to do it. Then lo and behold, we turned the song into Amnesty International. You know, you’re turning this song in and you realize that you’re turning it in at the same time that, like, Ziggy Marley is turning his song in. Everybody from Ke$ha to all the amazing artists on that record. There’s a Johnny Cash song on that record. We’re thinking we’re bottom of the totem pole here, we’re just lucky to be on here. Then Amnesty hit us back and they were like “We love your song.” OK, cool, thank you for saying that. And they were like, “No, we love it, and we think we should make a video for it.” I was like, that’s perfect. We were so lucky to be a part of it.
What did you think of the finished video?
I loved it. It was great because the guy who did it, Nico Sabenorio, he came into Chicago and filmed us preparing for a tour, that’s how he got the shots of us. I was talking to him, saying “What are you going to do, man? How are you going to get these shots? Are you going to fly around the country? Have you hooked up with some farmers?” We were in Chicago, and he lives in L.A., and he was like “I’m just going to drive home. I’m getting in that car right there with a friend and some cameras, and we’re just going to drive from Chicago to L.A., and whatever we see, we see.” I was like, “Holy shit.” He was really just cruising through the heartland of America, to see if anyone was willing to talk to him. When I saw it all, it was so real, and so organic. This guy was doing a drive that we’ve all done, across America. But he was actually knocking on doors and saying “Hey, can I come in?”
The scary thing is that he could so easily find stories of such poverty and desperation in a single car trip.
It’s true, it’s so indicative of where America is at.
What kind of feedback have you gotten about it?
Our fans really liked it, and I think people who don’t listen to Rise Against came across it, and maybe they’d dismissed us as some sort of young, angsty punk rock band, and then heard this song and thought “okay, I see what these guys can do.” Even for us—I feel like it unlocked a certain potential in us…it turned into one of our favorite covers songs. The way cover songs go—we’ve done a handful—is that you dive in and you want to do it, and sometimes it’s not as magical as you thought it might be. You do what you can, but sometimes it’s just like “we weren’t meant to do that song.” This one was sort of a perfect storm.
Rise Against plays the SJSU Event Center on Tueday, April 17, 7pm; $39.50.