Disclaimer: this video was shot with full permission from the band and is intended for free promotion only. No profit is to be made from this video. video shot and edited by: George Forste 1999/2010 idgf underground www.myspace.com/idgfunderground www.myspace.com/antiflag www.anti-flag.com ANTI-FLAG HISTORY JUSTIN SANE GIVES SOME BACKGROUND ON ANTI-FLAG For the real story on Anti-Flag you have to go way back to 1988. At that time, Pat could hardly play drums and I was even worse at guitar. But the fact remained that we were the only punk rockers in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania (the town where we grew up) and when faced with either hanging out at the mall, getting fucked out of our minds on drugs, or attempting to play punk rock, we went straight for the punk rock! By 1989 we were playing just well enough to have a band, which we named Anti-Flag. However that band didn't look anything like the Anti-Flag of today. At that time my sister, Lucy Fester, held down the lead vocals, and a number of stray guitarists and bass players sifted in and out of the mix. After playing only one show at a church hall we rented the band fell apart and as far as we were concerned was laid to rest forever! Jump ahead to 1993. After playing in a number of forgettable bands Pat and I drove across the country to fuck around on the west coast for a while. Pat went back to Pittsburgh a week or two after our arrival in San Francisco and I hung out there for about eight months to check out the scenery. Once back in Pittsburgh we were more determined than ever to start a serious band. All we needed was a good bass player. That's where Andy Flag entered the picture. I had met him a year or two earlier at church. Both of us had been forced to attend church by our moms and Andy was the only other punky kid in the youth group, so naturally, we automatically attracted to each other. As it turned out Andy played bass and he, Pat, and I, got together and played a number of times. But then Pat and I left for the west coast, which gave us no chance to really get anything going. So when I got back from San Francisco we called him up and asked him to join the new band we were forming. He accepted. We practiced our asses off during the remainder of February and part of March and within a few weeks we were scheduled to play a live radio show on WRCT in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for us, we still didn't have a name! While Pat and I had already used the name Anti-Flag years earlier in our other band we had been kicking around the idea of using it again. Why? Well, it was like this... the name was originally inspired as a result of the late 80's Pittsburgh scene being infiltrated by a bunch of ass holes who toted the slogan, "Freedom not fascism". Well, that would've been great if these jerks practiced what they preached, but unfortunately, their idea of punk rock was VERY fascist! They took to sporting the American flag on their jackets, saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and (like the bunch of goons they were) beating the fuck out of each other and anyone who got in the way. (basically they were just macho jock types who happened to have gotten into punk) At shows I would see these fuckers sporting their flags singing along to the Sub Humans, Exploited, Circle Jerks, whoever happened to be on tour, and I would wonder why? Weren't these bands completely speaking out against everything these "punx" believed in? It seemed to me that these kids were really missing the point to it all. They needed to look "fascism" up in the dictionary so they could learn that fascism controls the masses by 1. Promoting extreme nationalism, and 2. Using systematic violence and terror. (To these kids credit they were against racism but they failed to realize that you can be anti racist and still be a fascist!) With that in mind, even though we had already used the name Anti-Flag we felt like it was a name that could still say a lot about the current state of the punk rock community and the world as a whole. Our thinking was that people wouldn't so easily be able to treat our band as entertainment, but instead it would be a vehicle that would force them to think. THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO AGREE WITH US! We just wanted to make a point that we weren't there ONLY to entertain, we had something to say, there was a fundamental belief behind the band. So, the night of our show at WRCT we walked through the doors as Anti-Flag. (Fuckin' right!) Why did we put the hyphen in the middle of "anti" and "flag"? I'd like to be able to tell you that it's a symbol of defiance, we were snubbing the use of proper English to show our hatred for modern society, etc., etc... Unfortunately, the truth is, we were all just too dumb to know the correct use of a hyphen. Moving right along... Where Did Anti-Flag Go From There? For about three years after forming Anti-Flag played local gigs and did our best to play as many out of town shows as possible which was hard because we didn't hav