Brisbane’s pop-punk upstarts Two Times Shy are soaring lofty heights as they let loose their …
After a week of cryptic crosswords, we can finally confirm punk legends Rise Against will release new album WOLVES on 9th June. As a first taste, you can stream new single The Violence below.
WOLVES, their eighth studio record, was produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones) in Nashville, TN. It’s a state the band rarely play in, and far away from their usual Chicago and Los Angeles haunts.
Rise Against are no shrinking violets faced when it comes to writing music with social justice themes, and WOLVES is no exception.
“In many ways, a Rise Against show is a safe space for our fans,” lead singer Tim McIlrath says in a statement. “But I realized that I don’t only want to create safe spaces, I want to create dangerous spaces where misogyny can’t exist, where xenophobia can’t exist. I want to create spaces where those sentiments don’t have any air, and they suffocate: where those ideas die. WOLVES isn’t about creating a safe space, it’s about creating a space that’s dangerous for injustice.”
The band also released a “mission statement” for the album, outlining their “hunt” for political and social equality. You can read the entire statement below.
Rise Against is partnering with skate shoe and fashion brand Vans, previewing WOLVES with performances at The House of Vans in Chicago (21st April) and Brooklyn, New York (24th April). The band will also play the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA on the 26th of April.
WOLVES is the follow-up to 2014’s The Black Market, which hit #1 on the Alternative, Top Rock and Hard Rock Album charts in the US. It also fared well in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Germany.
Pre-orders are available now via EMI Australia.
Rise Against – WOLVES Tracklist
1. Wolves
2. House On Fire
3. The Violence
4. Welcome To The Breakdown
5. Far From Perfect
6. Bulls***
7. Politics of Love
8. Parts Per Million
9. Mourning in Amerika
10. How Many Walls
11. Miracle
WOLVES Mission Statement
I think of WOLVES as an identity. An identity that, in the wake the current political climate, people are starting to find organically. Many of the places Rise Against plays around the world have seen gradual changes in the political climates. We have watched people slowly give intolerance, misguided fear, and eventually, hate a seat at the table.
Those of us who oppose and resist this rising tide of dangerous rhetoric are often characterized as complainers, crybabies, sore losers or ’snowflakes.’ These convenient and dismissive tags might be comforting for those who use them. But the reality is different. They may have the throne, but we are the wolves at the gate.
Our ideas have teeth. Our vision has claws. Our appetite for change is voracious. Our prey is outnumbered and we’re circling in for the kill.
So the music on this record is the soundtrack to this new hunt that we find ourselves on. Some of us are new to these ideas, some of us have been preparing for this fight our whole lives. Further, the issues are global, so this record isn’t just about our home and what is happening here. What is happening here in our country has either already happened in its own way in other places, or is in danger of happening elsewhere.
Like all Rise Against records, there are also songs on here that tackle not just the political, but the personal. Ideally, our songs aim to be as complex as our fans are.
So as we march unapologetically into 2017, we assume these new identities with our fan base and wear them like armor into the fight: We are the WOLVES.
