name | Anti-Flag |
---|---|
background | group_or_band |
origin | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
genre | Punk rock, melodic hardcore |
years active | 1988–1989, 1993–present |
label | New Red ArchivesGo KartA-FFat Wreck ChordsRCASideOneDummy |
website | anti-flag.com |
current members | Justin SaneChris #2Chris HeadPat Thetic |
past members | Andy FlagLucy FesterSean WhelanJamie Cock }} |
In early 1997, Pittsburgh guitarist Chris Head began filling in on bass. In late 1997, Jamie Cock took over as the new bassist, moving Chris Head over to second guitar, which he preferred. The current line-up finalized in 1999 when Chris Barker, also known as Chris #2, replaced Jamie Cock on bass.
In 1998, the band released their second full-length release, Their System Doesn't Work For You. The album contained all nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well as 10 new unreleased songs. The band decided to release the album independently, and Their System Doesn't Work For You became the debut release for the band's own A-F Records.
In 1999, Anti-Flag released the album A New Kind of Army on Go-Kart Records/A-F Records. The album addressed a wide variety of topics such as political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity within the American youth. The cover art page unfolded into a poster featuring the phrase "Too smart to fight. Too smart to kill. Join now. A new kind of army." In addition to this, the band had a disclaimer at the bottom of its album cover saying,"Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means unity."
In 2001, Anti-Flag teamed with punk music producer Mass Giorgini to record the album Underground Network, released on Fat Wreck Chords. The release of the album is arguably the band's breakout from the hardcore underground to a more mainstream spotlight. The album continued to address the issues of fascism (specifically neo-Nazis infiltrating the "hardcore scene") and the United States' foreign policy. The album was the first to contain the now-commonplace booklet filled with essays from historians and political commentators, most notably Professor Howard Zinn. In February 2002, Anti-Flag released the album Mobilize on A-F Records. The album featured new songs as well as eight live tracks of songs from other albums. In the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, Anti-Flag spoke out against the push for war by the United States government. During this time, many music stores pulled Anti-Flag's records from shelves, as their music was labelled as "anti-American." In 2003, Anti-Flag released the album The Terror State on Fat Wreck Chords. The album primarily focused on criticizing the Bush Administration's handling of the War on Terrorism. Again, the album contained a booklet full of essays from the band as well as other political commentators. The album contains a song whose lyrics were originally written by Woody Guthrie entitled "Post-War Breakout." The track's music was arranged by the members of Anti-Flag, as Guthrie had never committed the arrangements to paper.
On October 8, 2004, U.S. Representative Jim McDermott gave a speech in the House of Representatives, praising Anti-Flag for their work in encouraging young people to register and vote.
We've been approached by the major labels over the past seven or eight years but we thought we were having an impact where we were. They were never willing to give us complete control. This time they were willing to give us complete control over what we record, the artwork, who we tour with. We won't be censored. If there was ever a time to take a chance to be heard on a mass scale then this is the time. I feel like we've been a voice in the wilderness for too long.
The first of these two albums, For Blood and Empire, was released on March 21, 2006. The album's main focus is the band's criticism of the mishandling of the War on Terrorism by the United States Government. The song 'This Is The End (For You My Friend)' from the album For Blood and Empire is featured in the video game Madden NFL 2007 and on NHL 07. They finished their huge "War Sucks, Let's Party" United States headlining tour in April and work on some side projects like African Well Fund and Start to Finish MS now.
Throughout Anti-Flag's career, many other bands have been added to the roster of the band's own label, A-F Records. These bands include The Code, Pipedown, Much the Same, The Vacancy, The Unseen, Modey Lemon and more.
On November 25, Anti-Flag revealed on their homepage that their newest album was titled The Bright Lights of America. Produced by Tony Visconti (of David Bowie, T. Rex (band) and Morrissey fame), it was released on April 1, 2008. The single "The Bright Lights Of America" was released exclusively on iTunes on February 12, 2008. A video of the song was released a couple of weeks later.
In 2008, on tour with Canadian band Billy Talent in Europe, Justin Sane and Chris#2 joined Billy Talent singer Ben Kowalewicz and guitarist Ian D'Sa, singing their new song "Turn Your Back" from their upcoming unreleased album. The two also play on the single version of the song.
In March 2009, Anti-Flag were forced to cancel a series of tour dates after Justin Sane broke his collar bone landing awkwardly whilst jumping off the stage to stop a fight which broke out in the crowd at the UEA LCR in Norwich.
On March 31, 2009, Anti-Flag announced that their next CD, The People or the Gun, would be released on SideOneDummy on June 9, 2009. On Anti-Flag.com, the first track of the album "Sodom, Gomorrah, and Washington DC (Sheep in Shepherd's Clothing)" can be listened to. On May 1, 2009, the band performed a full set of The Clash covers at Hoodwink in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In September 2009, Anti-Flag was slated to play a show during a G-20 protest that was taking place in their home town of Pittsburgh, but the promoter canceled the show due to severe parking restrictions and police presence in the immediate vicinity of the venue. However the band continued to personally take part in the protests.
In November 2009, Anti-Flag showed their support to the protesting students in Vienna. They gave a speech at the main building of the Vienna University that the students had taken over and also had one of the student representatives speak at their two shows in Vienna.
In January 2010, Anti-Flag completed a full US tour supported by Aiden and Cancer Bats with various bands filling another supporting slot and local bands opening as many of the shows as possible. The tour was sponsored by Amnesty International, Peta 2, Greenpeace and Innes Clothing (who supported a clothing drive for local homeless and youth shelters). The band followed the US tour, with an Australian tour, playing the Soundwave Festival dates in February 2010, with bands such as AFI, Paramore, Escape the Fate, A Day to Remember, HIM and more, as well as playing two headlining dates supported by Alexisonfire and Comeback Kid.
Throughout the summer of 2010, the band playing various festivals such as Ruisrock and Woodstock en Beauce, as well as playing the few last dates of the Vans Warped Tour in August. September 2010 saw the band headlining a Canadian tour with support from the Menzingers, which was followed by the European Vans Off the Wall Music Tour in October, with supporting acts The Swellers and Pulled Apart by Horses.
The band made their live comeback in March 2011, while headlining a South American tour with This Is a Standoff, and then supporting My Chemical Romance on two dates in the US in April. In May–June 2011, the band returned to Europe to play the Slam Dunk Festival dates, as well as supporting System of a Down on June 2 in Milan, Italy.
On June 21, 2011, frontman Justin Sane has announced that Anti-Flag is working on material for a new album, which they hope to release this fall, with working title of Magnum. Sane has also announced plans for him to record a new solo album in the coming future, as he's been working on some folk oriented solo material as well.
They have been involved in performing at multiple protests, including two in support of Rage Against The Machine.
The most recent protest they performed at was outside the Republican National Convention in 2008; they were supposed to be the last band to play but they had been touring with Rage Against The Machine and had decided it would be a good idea to get them involved since they had a long history of getting involved in related events. When officials found out they were going to perform, they shut down the stage's power and the band performed two songs using megaphones.
They also regularly support political organisations which include:
The band's song "Die For Your Government" was sung by anti-war protesters who briefly blocked a road to prevent US troops from deploying to Iraq in August 2010. They have appeared in the 2010 music documentary Sounds Like A Revolution, about new protest music in America.
Category:American punk rock groups
Category:Fat Wreck Chords artists Category:Musical groups established in 1989 Category:Musical groups from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Street punk
an:Anti-Flag cs:Anti-Flag de:Anti-Flag et:Anti-Flag es:Anti-Flag fr:Anti-Flag gl:Anti-Flag hr:Anti-Flag it:Anti-Flag lv:Anti-Flag nl:Anti-Flag ja:アンタイ・フラッグ no:Anti-Flag pl:Anti-Flag pt:Anti-Flag ro:Anti-flag ru:Anti-Flag simple:Anti-Flag sk:Anti-Flag sr:Anti-Flag fi:Anti-Flag sv:Anti-Flag zh:Anti-FlagThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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