All language subtitles for Beyond Barricades - The Story of Anti-Flag

(static buzzes)

(crowd murmurs)

- [Man] You wanna tell us
real quick where we are?

- We took a train a few
stops into Toulouse proper

and then just walked right down the street

and ended up in this square,

and it's clearly a memorial
for the attack in Paris.

(crowd applauds)

Somebody just appeared out there.

I'm not sure who it is though.

I'm on the side of the
people, so I'll clap for them.

- Anti-Flag is one of the hardest working

bands in show business.

Every time I contact those guys,

they're always on tour, for
20 years they've been on tour.

I saw them play at the
Key Club in Los Angeles

at some benefit show and
I was just blown away

by the unapologetic political
ferocity of the show.

- My friends, in three simple words sing

fuck police brutality!
(upbeat punk music)

- Not a huge amount of American bands

that have such a strong
political content in their music.

And so that's always drawn me to them.

- I grew up on punk music,

and there was a lot of social commentary

and political commentary
in a lot of those songs

by other bands, but they were like,

that was the forefront of their,
you know, their existence.

- I remember seeing the balcony,
and I grew up in Chicago,

so I've seen many shows at the Metro,

and watching the floor
just erupt with just energy

and enthusiasm and
sing-alongs and thinking like,

holy shit, this band is incredible..

- Kills fucking fascists.

- It's kind of an interesting,
an interesting melange

of clash and discharge,

raw and playing at the
very edge of their ability,

which I am a huge fan of.

It could go tragically
wrong at any moment.

There's a tension that's there

that a lot of my favorite music has that,

and they definitely have it.

- You've got a Pat who is
both sort of personally

really on the front lines
of political activism,

also is a great drummer and
sort of the steam engine

of the band, and then you
have Chris number one,

who is the strong, silent
type, his waters run silent,

but his waters run deep.

And number two was of
course the, you know,

the fiery leapfrogging punk presence

who, you know, is barking
orders to the youth of the day

about the solidarity that
they must have at the show,

we must take care of each other.

And then Justin, who is the
heart and soul of the band

and wears his feelings on his sleeve

and just is a great front man,

those four things come
together to make for

really one of the great punk bands.

- Oh yeah, whenever I look back
on the history of the band,

there are definite consistencies
that stand out to me.

I mean, whether there was
a Republican or Democrat

in the White House, or punk
rock was in or out of fashion

in the mainstream, or, you know,

whether there were five or
5,000 kids at an Anti-Flag show,

we still consistently made music

and fought battles that
were important to us.

And to me, this feels like the only thing

I've ever wanted to do with my life.

And I'll probably die
while I'm doing this,

but I'm cool with that.

(tense music)

♪ You're gonna die, gonna die ♪

♪ Gonna die for the government ♪

♪ Die for a country that's shit ♪

♪ We're looking to start a new army ♪

♪ Underground network ♪

♪ Alternative communication ♪

♪ Turncoat, killer ♪

♪ Liar, thief ♪

♪ Talk, talk, talk, talk about it ♪

♪ They wanna tiptoe, walk around it ♪

♪ These times can break you ♪

♪ These times can leave you torn apart ♪

- Pat and I met playing under nine soccer,

but we really became friends through music

and that started when we were teenagers

'cause we were both interested
in playing in bands.

- We had known each other for a long time.

As we grew together and we realized that

we were looking for other things in life

and playing music was one of them.

- I had a guitar and I had
a drum set and I was like,

"Hey dude, why don't
you come over and play?"

And we made like the worst music.

I mean, he could hardly play the drums

and I really couldn't play the guitar,

so it was like, I wouldn't
really call it music,

- But I remember watching
"Another State of Mind"

and it's a movie that Social Distortion

and Minor Threat were in and
they got into an old school bus

and drove around the
country and played in shows.

And I saw that at a very young age

and I was like, that is what
I want to do with my life.

- The first expectations
were that it would be fun

to play in a band, and
then Minor Threat formed

and so I was playing in a band.

And then after that, the idea was

wouldn't it be amazing to
make a record at some point?

And then it was, wouldn't it be fun,

it'd be amazing to go play other places.

You know, the aspiration was like, well,

if we've got to play New
York and then that's it,

we're Kiss, I mean, this is it.

This is, you know, that was the,

it was just amazing to even think that

that could be possible, but still,

it was, the reason why
Minor Threat broke up

the first time was the guitar
player had to go to college.

It's like, okay, well I
have to go to school now.

Yeah, I get it.

I mean, we just, no idea that

we'd be talking about this now,

that it was important in any way.

I mean, it was important to us

and it was something
that we enjoyed doing.

- When I first started,

I was just putzing around
in my parents' back room

with some kids from around the corner,

so it was really just like most people,

it was just a way of being social.

It was, you know, a little
gang, we're in a little band.

- You know, people have
asked me like, what,

when did your political education begin?

It began, I was the only
black kid in an all white town

to be out on the playground.

When I first walked out there,

I got to see sort of injustice firsthand.

And I didn't really choose
to be a guitar player,

that chose me, and then
once I was anointed

with that blessing or that curse, it was,

I always thought it was my responsibility

to weave my convictions into my vocation.

- My mother was born in Pittsburgh.

My dad was born in Ireland.

He immigrated to
Pittsburgh, my parents met.

My folks grew up devout Irish Catholics.

That changed very rapidly in the 1970s.

One of, I think one of the positive things

about the Irish or the Catholic religion

is liberation theology.

And it's the idea that you
should spend time with the poor

and you should help the poor

and you should fight for the poor.

My mom decided that the Irish
Catholic church was sexist

and that it wasn't the place for her.

She felt like it was
really limiting to women

and she didn't think any
people should be limited

in any way, and then this is like

right in the midst of the Vietnam war,

people are starting to figure out that

the government is lying about the war.

And so all of a sudden my
parents took this big shift

away from the Catholic church.

And I, I'm kind of the end result of that.

Hello father.
- Hi guys.

- So this is Martin and Teresa Geever.

- Here we are.

- And they're the reason
that I'm here in this world,

rabble rousing and
causing all this trouble.

- You never learned it from us.

- No.
(laughing)

- My mom was the first
person that my dad knew of

that was opposed to the Vietnam war.

It was hard to rebel in my family.

- So a lot of Irish
music is protest music.

And I just grew up with
that with my mom and dad.

And I'm sure Ayman did too.

And then there was
always something going on

in this country that you had to protest.

I don't think I ever
insisted that the kids

go along with what we
believe, I think we lived it

and then they got a chance to decide.

- My dad would keep all his
tools and whatnot down here,

you can see it's total disaster.

And then you come up these steps.

We'd have to load our gear
up and down this stairwell,

which was always a nightmare.

And this is what it is today.

It's kind of a,

my dad paints and my sister paints.

You could see the ceiling's really low.

You know, you kind of, we
had to set the drums up here

because it was the only
space that was open enough

for the drums to be able to fit.

It's not much to behold these days.

It is what it is.

It was good to us though.

- Everybody else wanted to go to college

and to start the next phase of your lives,

and I was like, fuck you, I'm gonna go,

and I couldn't join the
Peace Corps 'cause I wasn't,

didn't have a degree.

I couldn't do a lot of other things.

Obviously didn't want
to join the military.

So to get out of Pittsburgh,

I found a camp for mentally
handicapped people in Iowa

and I was like, I got on
a Greyhound bus and left.

Right before Justin realized
that he was gonna come back

to Pittsburgh, he called me up and said,

"okay, here's the deal."

He said, "this kid, Andy,
he's really good bass player.

Me, you, and Andy we'll get the band

and we'll really make a
go playing in the band."

- Ninth grade rolls around, eighth,

probably eighth grade and my mom was like,

"Hey, I'm gonna this church

and I want you to come with me."

And I was like, "are you
out of your fucking mind?"

She's like, "you know,
someday you might move away,

and when you do like, you
know, you might be down

or you know, you're gonna
be looking for people.

I just want to be sure that
you don't fall in with a cult."

So she's like, "look, there's this church,

they're called the
Unitarian Universalists,

they're really open minded,

you don't even have to
believe in God to go there."

And that's where I met Andy.

So Andy and I met as a result of my mom

making me go to church.

- And I was like, okay, that's great.

And then when Justin came
home from San Francisco,

we started working on Anti-Flag
with Andy, me and Justin.

- I wanted to name the
band Anti-Flag because

every time corrupt politicians
want to start a war,

they pull out the flag, and with the flag,

they bring this corrupted patriotism.

And time and again, what we see is that

these wars benefit no one
but this corrupt group

of politicians and the wealthy
people that they represent.

- We played a lot of shows
in the Pittsburgh area.

We would put on our own
shows because again,

there wasn't the infrastructure
of clubs and promoters

because nobody cared about punk rock.

We decided that we would rent musical gear

and we set up the recording
equipment ourselves

and recorded "Die For the
Government" and "System."

♪ You're gonna die, gonna die ♪

♪ Gonna die for your government ♪

♪ Die for your country that's shit ♪

♪ You're gonna die, gonna die ♪

♪ Gonna die for your government ♪

♪ Die for your country that's shit ♪

(upbeat punk music)

- When we recorded "Die
For the Government,"

I don't know what we thought
we were gonna do with it.

I have no idea, a friend of ours,

the old man who had the
old man radio hour in Erie,

he had some contact with New Red Archives

and Nicky Garratt, who was in the UK Subs.

- With "Die For the Government,"

I was excited because the UK Subs

was one of my favorite bands.

- And I remember Nicky Garratt calling us

and saying, "Hey, I heard your record

and I'd like to put it out."

And that was, yeah, it was
an amazing moment for us.

'Cause we didn't, it
didn't make any sense to us

that he would call.

- The record was actually
gonna have distribution,

which was incredible.

It was gonna be distribution

outside of like the little DIY distros,

which to me was important
because we had this message that,

you know, this overall philosophy

that we were trying to put
out into the mainstream,

I was like, wow, you know,
like for the first time

I was like, wow, we could take
this out of the punk basement

and possibly impact other people with it,

other kids who might be
thinking about joining the army,

maybe they'll hear this record
and they won't join the army

Andy left the band.

- [Pat] He and Justin didn't get along.

They both had very strong personalities.

- Andy was a great guy.

If Andy and I hadn't
been in a band together,

we would have been awesome friends,

but being in a band together,

we were just both so strong-headed

about how things should be that

we just butt heads, you know?

- And that made my whole world collapse.

We don't have a band anymore

and this thing that I love
so much is gonna go away.

And Justin and I were like, you know what?

Fuck Andy, we're gonna
continue this no matter what.

- Then we had a bunch
of fill in bass players,

people who were not gonna be in a band,

but that would fill in for
a tour or a couple of shows.

- What happened is we went
back to 1988 with Justin and I.

We're like, "who wants to play bass?"

Anybody we know who can play bass,

come and be in our band.

And then we found Cock who was Canadian.

- Her name was actually Jamie,
but her nickname was Cock.

- And she was the perfect
person to join our band

because she's like, "I'm
on welfare in Canada.

I just have to go home every couple months

to prove to the welfare agency
that I'm looking for a job,

even though I'm not.

And then they pay me money
and I can do whatever I want."

And we're like, "you're the
perfect one to be in our band."

- But before Jamie, actually
we, Chris Head played bass.

We knew we had to get somebody permanent.

Our friend Sean Wayland said,

"Hey, you should get this kid Chris Head,

he's as insane as you guys,

all he wants to do is play in a band."

- The things that I was doing were not

really very gratifying.

It's kind of the singer of
the band was a drunk kind of,

and the other guys in the band

really didn't want to
be playing in the band

and just were doing it
just for something to do,

and I was kind of like hoping
to find something more.

- [Justin] So Pat and I agreed.

We were like, we should
ask them to be in the band,

but we don't want him to play bass,

he's not good enough
and we could see that.

He just didn't have the
right feel for bass,

but I knew he could play guitar,

and he was a good guitar player.

So I was like, look,
let's add a second guitar.

- I was like, yeah, this is great.

I'm in the band, you know? Awesome.

I'm gonna be doing music
again, I'm super stoked.

(machine grinds)

I've always been into like arts and crafts

and things like that.

I grew up, before I joined the
band that was doing pottery

and a lot of drawing in high school.

I was actually gonna go
and become a ceramicist

before I joined Anti-Flag,

and that's, you know, I guess, yeah.

I was actually gonna go
away to ceramic school

and get a master's of the arts.

Yeah, I'm sure people don't,

wouldn't expect someone in Anti-Flag

to be sitting here making
little green plant arrangements.

(dramatic music)

- [Man] What was the outcome, dude?

- The outcome? We lost, it was terrible.

You know, the first cassette
tape I ever got was MC Hammer,

"Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em," ya know,

and it was awesome when
I played it all the time

and I loved it.

And then my brother, he was like 16 and 17

and he was always on the
other side of the law.

I would meet cops and they'd be like,

oh, you're, you know,
Mike's little brother.

Yeah, we're gonna get them.

You know, they would say
shit like that to me,

like 10 years old, you know?

And so very early on, I knew I hated cops,

even though I didn't know
why I hated cops, you know?

My brother would always work on his cars

in the garage at the house.

I heard this music coming from his car

and it was a song called
"Fuck the Police" by NWA.

And I was like, fuck MC Hammer,

this is what I listen to now.

That's all I listened to as a kid,

and I would be popular
with my little friends

because I had tapes that
said the F word, you know?

But like, for me, it like
really struck a chord with me

because like these
people were talking about

being fucked with, by cops all the time,

and like, that was something
that I could identify with

because my brother was going through it.

That's kind of like the
gateway drug to it all,

that you talk about and
that I hope Anti-Flag to be,

is that you can get a
record in a record store,

but then you look at the back
of it and you listen to it

and you're like, what inspired this?

Little did I know that that
was happening in Pittsburgh

with Aus-Rotten and Bad Genes
and Anti-Flag and these bands.

And I would go and see them
when they played in town.

And actually like my first punk rock show

was an Anti-Flag show at Charlie's.

- We would always be playing Pittsburgh.

Our first shows like as a
band, we would always go out

and it was like this running joke,

it came to a point where everyone,

we would get there and the
guy who owned the house

was like yeah, you know,
I think Justin Sane

might come out to the show.

We're like "whoa, no way."

- It was the first time
that I've realized that

someone from our town could make songs

that people would care
about and listen to.

- [Justin] He was like this
naggy little brother, you know,

that was like, "dude, can I
come to the show with you?

Hey, can I hang out with you?

What are you doing?
Why are you doing that?

What do you like, why do you like that?

Who's your favorite band?"

You know, like, and it was usually wasted.

Like he'd just be drunk and
falling all over himself.

- I just, I probably drank a
bunch of box wine and was like,

"good show, dude, play this fucking song."

You know, who knows?

- When we were kids, like
that was part of like,

being in the punk scene
was like drinking 40s

and smashing them on the wall

and then walking into like
the VFW hall or whatever,

and you know, being at a show.

- We started writing "New Kind of Army"

and Cock was becoming
more and more of a burden

through this process, and
we couldn't just play.

Like if somebody called us and said,

"Hey, you want to play a show
next week in Pittsburgh?"

We couldn't because we had
to go drive up to Canada,

get her, bring her back across the border.

We're never sure whether
we're gonna be able to

get her back into the country,

and so it became more
and more problematic.

- When it became apparent that that Jamie

wasn't gonna be our bass player anymore,

I knew we had to find somebody

and I just wanted to find
somebody who's dedicated

to just going out and doing
it as much as we were.

- Basically what had happened was

I was better friends with
Jamie than I was really

anyone else in the band and
got a letter one day from her

that she was back in Canada

and that she was no longer in the band.

While I was reading that
letter, my phone rang,

and this is my mom's phone,

I was 16 years old or something like that.

- Called him up and I was
like, "Hey man, you know,

we're needing a bass player
and can you play bass?

You know?"

And he's like, "yeah, yeah,
yeah. I can play bass."

So I was like, "well,
why don't you come over

and we'll sit down and
we'll see how you do."

- He was smart enough
to know to not bring me

to like a practice with everybody.

- So he came over and we
went upstairs in the shack

and we sat down and I was
like, "okay, you know,

here's one of our songs
and here's how it goes."

- And I practiced and he was like,

"you don't know how to play bass,"

because I played guitar and I
thought it was the same thing.

And it's not.

- [Justin] I mean, he
couldn't play like four notes.

He was terrible. Like, it
was amazing how bad he was.

- He politely told me I
didn't know how to play bass,

and then not only did that,

he kind of took it one step further

and we went through a bunch
of things and he, you know,

all the way down to how to
hold a fucking guitar pick.

- So we've met a few more times

each time he just got
like noticeably better.

And within a couple of
weeks, like I was like,

I'll tell you what, man,
why don't you come over

and you and Pat and Chris, and
I want you all play together.

- I didn't know anything about it, him,

and subsequently I know that he and Justin

were formulating plans behind my back.

And so I wasn't real happy about this,

and obviously Justin was aware of this,

my frustration with the plan,

but he said, "well, let them
come into the practice room

and we'll see what he can do."

He came in and he said,
"hi, my name is Chris."

And I said, "we already
have a Chris in the band."

And I said, "you'll be number two."

And that is really shitty thing to say,

but then that name stuck

and he's been number two since then.

- So it was funny, Two leaves

and Pat are talking
about it and Pat's like,

"yeah, there's like some potential there.

This might work, but I
don't know, we'll see."

And Head was like, "I don't want him.

He's no good. He's annoying."

- And I remember seeing Two at shows

and just thinking this dude's,

you want this fucking
crazy dude in the band?

He's like 16 years old and
he's just seems like a nutjob.

- Like Head fuckin' was so,
had no interest whatsoever.

Like he didn't like him,
he wasn't good at bass.

It was just like, Head
was like, "fuck this kid."

For me though, it was like,

that marks the current lineup
that we had ever since.

And that's really where the history

of Anti-Flag truly starts.

(punk music)
♪ Drink drank punk ♪

♪ Drink drank punk ♪

♪ Drink drank punk ♪

The words are "drink drank punk."

On the count of one, two, three,

for the love of god, don't fuck up.

One, two, three!

- [Crowd] Drink drank punk!

- We'll see you when we fuckin' see ya,

good night and good luck!

Peace.
(upbeat guitar riff)

- We always wanted to be on Fat

because Fat was the record
company that was doing stuff.

Even though I felt as a West
coast punk rock was sold out

punk rock and East coast
punk rock was true punk rock.

- Especially in Pittsburgh,
all the bands were political.

And if you weren't political,
you were kind of a poser band.

- East coast punk was about
squatters and revolution.

- I think that there is a
certain thing about east of Ohio.

You need snow to really get it,

that the leather jacket makes more sense.

- It was really interesting for us to like

have an opportunity to go out
and tour with these bands,

and then realize like,
oh yeah, you know what?

These guys actually are just like us.

Like, they're really cool.

And they came out of the exact same scene

that we came out of.

I met Fat Mike at a Bouncing Souls show.

Pete from the Souls introduced me to Mike

and I gave him a copy of
"Die For the Government,"

and Mike was really cool,
he was like, Oh yeah, man.

So it's cool, and he
called me like the next day

or the day after and he's like,

"Hey, Justin, like, yeah,
like, yeah, it's Fat Mike.

why don't we do something together?"

And I was just like, "fuck
yeah," like I was so stoked.

- So I think we sent them a
copy of "New Kind of Army"

that we created, and Fat Mike said to us,

"it's not good enough
to be on Fat proper."

- He just totally pulled the
rug out from underneath me

and he's like, but I don't
want to put it out on Fat.

- And he said, "but I'm
starting this other record label

called Honest Don's."

- Honest Don's put out a
sampler and Mike was like,

"look, I'm gonna put you on
the sampler and you know,

see how you guys like it,
it'll be good for Anti-Flag.

People get to know the name.

Sampler's gonna be everywhere."

I open it up, right, and like
take out of a box like this.

And it's like, okay, got the CD

and it's a picture of this like clown

and he's kneeling over
a giant bowl of cereal

that looks like Cocoa Puffs
or something like that,

and he's taking a shit
in the bowl of cereal,

it's called "Honest Don's Greatest Shits."

We all just looked at
each other and we're like,

"we can't be on this fucking
label. There's no way."

So I make the call to Fat Mike.

And I remember it was
like Pat sitting here

and I'm on the phone with him here.

And we're like really nervous, you know,

because I'm gonna try to talk
them into putting us on Fat.

And I'm like, "yeah,
man, I got that sampler."

I'm like, "dude, that is not us."

And he's like, he's like, "well,"

he offered an extra five grand

'cause he really wanted
to put out our record.

And I was just like,
"dude, I can't do it."

And he was like, "well, I'm
not, I can't put it on Fat."

I was like, "all right,
well we're not gonna do it."

And he went, "what?" (laughs)

That, it was amazing,
he was like, genuinely,

I think he was like, I blew his mind

that we weren't gonna do it.

He was like, "that was a mistake."

He was like, "I should've
put you guys on Fat."

That record sold 100,000
records really fast,

and it's sold 100,000 records faster

than the record we put out
in Fat, the next record.

So, ultimately it was kind of funny.

He was like, "yeah, I
fucked up on that one."

- It felt almost like a contest you won.

It's like, oh, we're gonna do
a record on this cool label,

we're gonna tour the world once,

and then we're gonna go back
to school and get real jobs.

You know, it was kind of, that's
what it would've felt like.

Every time I hit a city, I was like,

I'm never going back here,

I should take a lot of pictures, you know.

- In 1999, Rage Against the
Machine, were going on tour,

and each member of Rage
got to pick one band

to play, open up a quarter of the tour.

My choice was Anti-Flag,
that's the good news.

The bad news is there was
no way to contact the band.

The only contact information was a PO box,

I believe somewhere in Pittsburgh.

So I wrote letters to that PO box saying,

"this is Tom Morello from
Rage Against the Machine.

We would like to take you
on tour. Please respond."

- And I had just seen the
"Guerrilla Radio" video.

I'm watching like this band's,

this is who we should be playing with.

Like, this is a band that's huge

and they're saying the
same things we're saying.

Dude, they're awesome. We
need to play with that band.

I'm gonna call Greg at
Go-Kart and see if we can get,

see if he knows anybody who
knows anybody who knows anybody

who can get us in touch with
Rage Against the Machine,

and that same day or in
the same like 48 hours,

Tom Morello called Go-Kart
'cause he had bought

"A New Kind of Army" and he was like,

"I want to play shows with these guys."

And so I finally got
ahold of Greg at Go-Kart,

and he was like, I was like,
"hey, did you get my message

about Tom?" and he was like,
"yeah, did he call you too?"

And I was like, "no, I
called you seeing if you had

any contacts for them."

And he was like, "wait, what?
Like they just called us."

And so like, it just, it was crazy.

- The Rage Against the
Machine tour came around

and we were super stoked to do it.

And it was my favorite band at the time.

And it was gonna be massive
arenas on the east coast.

One of the being a show that was protested

by the entire police
force of Philadelphia.

- I remember being in the
hotel before the show,

watching the news and the
chief of police was on the news

telling parents not to let
their kids go to the show

because Rage Against the Machine
supported Mumia Abu-Jamal

and the police were protesting the show.

So when we arrived, the
entire arena was surrounded

by cop cars, with all of
their lights going off

in protest to the show.

I already, I was just like
"this band's doing it."

Like all the shit we talk about,
like this band's doing it.

- Getting to that arena and
seeing the line circled around

with the police with all their lights on.

- No one was deterred
by the chief of police.

The show was very successful.

In fact, they like opened up more tickets

than they've ever sold at that place.

And so I remember tuning my
guitar and turning around

and they had sold the
seats behind the stage,

like the back corner.

And so there was more
people like behind my amp

than I've ever played to before my life.

Rage came out, and you know,

de la Rocha said something like.

- Well let's make it clear.

- We don't support any killers.

- Especially not killer cops.

- And then they played "Guerrilla Radio,"

and then I was like, "this
is what I was talking about."

- Let me tell you, it's not easy

to open for Rage Against the Machine.

At the Drive-In opened
a quarter of that tour

and were booed off stage
on a nightly basis.

- And At the Drive-In had
the toughest go of it,

like to the point where de
la Rocha would have to go on

and introduce them every night.

You know, you always hear like
this story about, you know,

The Offspring opening up for somebody,

getting booed off the stage
and rocks thrown at them.

And now they go on to mega stardom.

And so I often wonder, hey,
maybe it would have gone,

maybe our trajectory would
have been a lot higher

had we gotten rocks thrown at us

while playing with Rage
Against the Machine.

- Unfortunately, we did
really well on that tour.

We were recording in Pittsburgh,
the record "Mobilize."

- And I woke up in the morning

and I was gonna be headed to the studio.

There's a morning radio show
that I like to listen to,

and I remember the day,
it was a news program

and they were talking
about that a small plane

had run into the World Trade Center,

but they thought it was an accident,

and they thought it was a small plane,

and the details were pretty iffy.

I left, I ate breakfast, I left the house,

I got into the car and just
as I turned the car on,

the radio came on and I heard
the radio announcer saying,

"Oh my God, Oh my God."

And I knew something
really bad had happened.

So turn the car off,
went back in the house.

I turned on the TV and that was uh,

they showed the second plane hit.

And then that's when I knew

this wasn't gonna be a regular day.

I knew something was, was really bad.

(tense music)

- We called each other

and we said we're not coming in today.

- Everybody's too freaked out.

You know, what do we, we didn't feel like

we were going to be able to
work in a productive way.

- For me personally, I
had, my dad apparently

was in New York city getting
ready to have a meeting

in the World Trade Center,

and I didn't even know he was up there,

and I'm sitting there
watching all this on the news,

you know, probably about
2:30, 3:00 rolls around.

My mom calls me and she's like,
"yeah, your father's okay."

When the planes hit, they
were right down below,

and then they finally got out of the city

and I had to actually drive up to New York

to pick my dad up.

- And then it was almost pretty immediate,

like it was in the next
eight hours of that

which it became known
as a terrorist attack

and nationalism ran rampant

and people were waving American
flags and calling for blood.

And, and we were in a
band called Anti-Flag.

(somber music)

Yeah, there were a few conversations

as to what we should do.

And then the next couple of weeks,

while being in the studio
and working on those songs,

it became a discussion about

whether or not we're still a band.

- Basically. We thought the
band was gonna be, you know,

no more because people are gonna not want

to hear what we had to say anymore.

People were, you know, our
records got pulled places,

our t-shirts all got pulled.

- Hot Topic, which was the one stop shop

for all your alternative
needs at the time,

they sent back all of our merch

and they pulled it from the shelves.

Our records came down everywhere.

- And that was, that was everywhere.

You know, you're getting
records all over the place.

People sending our shit
back to us, you know,

saying that they didn't believe in

what we had to say anymore.

And no, even like my parents
I think questioned, you know,

what we were doing at the time.

- We knew the response was
gonna be violence to violence,

and we knew that there had to
be an opposing voice to that.

- And then we wrote "911 for Peace"

and decided that it was
more important than ever

for us to be Anti-Flag.

♪ I don't wanna die ♪

♪ I don't wanna kill ♪

♪ I don't wanna kill ♪

♪ I don't wanna die ♪

♪ We all are human ♪

♪ Let's start to prove it ♪

- We put the song up for free,

and I remember it had
like 100,000 downloads

in the first day and
people were kinda like,

we broke our servers.

Yeah, that was certainly
a moment where we,

we recognized that we weren't alone.

- That was the tour where
were we said to ourselves

"all right, it's been long enough."

Now we have to critically
assess what our government

and what our representatives are doing.

And we need to be free
to express how we feel

about the direction they're taking us in.

- Constantly running into skinheads,

constantly running into people.

It was on the Mobilized
tour where in Florida

people came to the show,
they wanted to kill us.

- I mean, you would be
shocked. You'd be surprised.

It's almost hard to believe, but it's,

to me it's understandable
why that happened.

People were in shock. People
were scared and mourning.

So I understand why people
fell animosity towards us.

They were looking for justice or revenge

or whatever you want to call it,

and we were one of the
first groups to come out

and say that going to
war over 9/11 is wrong.

Not a lot of people wanted
to hear that message

at that very moment.

♪ Sing power to the peaceful ♪

♪ Power, power to the peaceful ♪

♪ Power to the peaceful, whoa ♪

♪ It's power to the peaceful ♪

- Large groups of pro-Russia
troops surrounding

Ukrainian bases, ordering
their forces off of them

so they can occupy them.

The international warning to
Russia to end its invasion

is being ignored.

- I got a 5,000 rupee dollar bill.

- [Chris] If I go in the water?

- If you take up all your
clothes and run in there.

(laughing)

- 5,000.

- We went to Russia for
three or four shows.

- It's funny how like you go to places

and you play in a band

for a really, really fucking long time,

and no one really bats
an eyelash, you know.

Like most of the time it's
like, oh, you're cool.

Like, wait, you get to go
to Europe, that's amazing.

Like good for you, you know?

And this was one of the first times where

folks came out of the woodwork
and were like, "don't go."

- According to people around
us, we shouldn't have gone

because we're very close
to a war with Russia.

- And I thought that
was really interesting.

Like Steve, our drum tech,

I remember like his Facebook
page whenever he was like,

"I'm gonna Russia," like
people like, you know,

he's like a younger kid, so like,

I'm sure it was yinzer
moms and things of the ilk

came out and they were like,
"be careful, please, Stevie,

come back alive," you know, and
all of this like crazy shit.

And I was thinking to myself
like that never happens.

It's always like "good for you!" You know?

And so the have the dynamic of,

to have the dynamic of that change,

and see it had changed
was really interesting.

And then we landed in Russia

and we spent the first four
days in St. Petersburg.

We had our best experience
ever in Russia on this trip.

- You know, they call St. Petersburg

the Pittsburgh of Russia.

They don't, but I do.

One thing that was really
striking to me was when we landed,

they took a picture of us
because they were like,

people are canceling shows.

So this we'll put this
picture on Instagram

and people will know
you're actually in Russia.

- My experience in Russia
was absolutely incredible.

It really gave me a great sense

of how well propaganda works.

You talk to people face to face,

and once you get beyond
whose side is right

when it comes down to politics,

you realize that there's
a ton of people out there

just trying to make the world better

on a day to day basis for
the people around them.

And that the majority
of people don't want to

have anything to do with
their leader's bullshit.

- This is a train full of our gear,

which means there's no room for
us 'cause there's only gear.

- [Chris] Where are we going?

- Uh (stammers) Moscow.

- This is the a fucking
glamorous life, bro.

- But then the shows,
they were really great.

They were all successful and packed shows

and people, I feel as if it
was like a sigh of relief,

like, you know, like people in Russia want

folks to know that not
everyone is homophobic,

not everyone is racist
or sexist or, you know,

pro or against Ukrainian.

I think for them to have an opportunity

to have like a night of solace,

like that's eventually
what the shows became.

They weren't political
statements one way or another,

as much as they were just
a place to go and be free

for an hour, and then
everybody wanted to hug.

Like it was crazy, man.

Like there was no such
thing as personal space.

Like everyone was just
like getting you in that.

And this, this tends to be a trend,

but the scenarios that we kind
of get the most freaked out

about end up working out really well,

and the ones that were
like this is a sure bet,

that ends up being a goddamn clusterfuck.

So there's no, there's
obviously no rhyme or reason

to any of this stuff.

- Russia is trying to
take over the Ukraine.

The Ukrainians are trying
to keep the Russians out,

or at least some of them are,
and since we left Russia,

there was a Malaysian
flight that got shot down.

- Based on reports from
Reuters and Interfacts,

a Malaysian airlines flight
with about 295 people on board

has crashed, we are told from reports

in Reuters and Interfacts,
this happened in Ukraine

near the Russian border.

- The plane gets shot down.
It's a fucking tragedy.

And we don't know what to
do about, we feel helpless.

I mean much like everybody else does.

- I thought, yeah, this
is what happens when,

when people use power and
violence to get their way.

- So that all being said,

we get the news that the
plane has been shot down.

We internally sit, the
four of us with Jesse,

and I think it was Justin, he's like,

"well, it's cool, man, we're on a bus."

And Jesse's like, "actually,
that's the one show

you fly into." (laughs)

And we're like, "awesome."

So we're afraid, but we're gonna do it.

We're not gonna let fear dictate anything.

- I'm not worried about it at
all, but I'm probably naive.

I think that horrible
things happen all the time

to everybody all over the world,

and it's either gonna
happen to you or it's not,

and you can't really do anything.

And if you live in fear of
bad things happening to you,

you never get anything done.

So I'm a believer of just stay
on task, get the job done.

And if something bad happens to you,

your relatives will make a lot of money

'cause you'll sell a lot of
records after you're dead.

(tense music)
(engine hums)

- If someone falls down, we pick them up.

If someone falls down, we pick them up.

You got it?
(crowd cheers)

Everyone else, hands up like
this, hands up like this,

hands up like this.
(audience clapping)

That's the shit!

That's the shit.

That's fucking massive.

(upbeat punk music)

- He realizes that the
people on the ground,

they don't, it has
nothing to do with them.

It's all about the power

and people trying to show
that they control this region

or they control that region,
but a friend of mine said,

"how does it feel to be in a country

that's been at war for the last 10 years?"

And I'm like, "well, the day
to day life, we don't feel it."

We were in a war with Afghanistan.

We were in the war in Iraq for years.

And the day to day, our
life, we don't feel it.

Much like the people in Russia,

the day to day life, they're not feeling

like they're invading
the Ukraine right now.

They feel like they're just
going about their business.

(upbeat music)

- "Rock Against Bush" was Fat Mike's baby,

and his argument, and I
think it was a very sound one

was that he played a show and there were

maybe 5,000 people at the show in Florida,

and had he had said
something about the election,

maybe some of those
people would have voted

not for George W. Bush
and possibly for Al Gore.

And that would have changed
the outcome in Florida.

Mike said, "let's put together this tour,

and what we'll do is we'll
go into the states that

the election is close and
try and make young people

impassioned about this electoral process."

- [Announcer] Gentleman is
recognized for one minute.

- Mr. Speaker, I want to
introduce you to four young men.

Justin Sane, Chris Two,
Chris Head, and Pat Thetic.

They are a major punk
band called Anti-Flag.

They're straight edge
punk, no drugs, no alcohol,

just kids from Pittsburgh with
interesting colored hairdos

and a great message for young
people, register and vote

or be told what to do
and where to go and fight

by an administration that
will not talk straight

to the American people.

- On this tour, we'd
get up in the morning,

we'd go to protests, we'd go to rallies

and talk to people about
who are doing political work

and electoral work and things like that.

- If you want to make change,
you're gonna get out and vote.

And that's why what punk rock is doing,

punk folk is doing is
in my view, stirring up

and making people think about
the opportunity they have

to actually make a change.

Lots of punk rock is
about apathy and anger,

and it's the apathy I want to get rid of

and get the anger going.

- We had speakers every night,
we had student organizations

and student movements coming out.

- Please welcome Anti-Flag.
(audience applauds)

- History is not shaped
by presidents or popes.

History is not shaped
by congressmen or kings.

History is certainly
not shaped by Fox News.

History is shaped by the
people. It is shaped by us.

- In order for a band to be great,

or for an artist to be great,

they have to be true to themselves,
and I was attempting to,

I was trying to make Audioslave
a more political band

than Rage Against the Machine.

And then I woke up one day and thought,

well, I'm the only guy in the
band that wants to do that.

So this is not gonna be
an authentic endeavor

unless it's real, and it took
a less political direction,

but I needed an outlet
for my worldview in music.

I had been only playing folk music

for maybe two or three years at the time.

And standing out there
with an acoustic guitar

alone in front of a punk,
teenage punk rock audience,

waiting to go ape shit for
Anti-Flag to come on stage

was a great artistic
learning experience for me.

You know, this is an audience
that didn't know one of my,

I didn't have a record out,
I didn't have a solo record.

I was playing no material
that anyone was gonna know

in a style of music that perhaps
they were unfamiliar with,

and perhaps they were even hostile to,

and going out there every day

and trying to win over that crowd

was something that was really
artistically fulfilling

for me and was an
exciting part of the tour.

- Unfortunately, it did not work,

and it was very frustrating
when it didn't work,

but that's how it goes.

♪ As I was walking a ribbon of highways ♪

So yeah, it was incredibly frustrating

that Bush took the White
House for a second term,

but I would argue the punk
voter was successful in that

it helped activate a whole
new group of young activists.

♪ This land was made for you and me ♪

♪ This land is your land ♪

♪ This land is my land ♪

♪ From California to the New York island ♪

♪ From the redwood forest ♪

♪ To the Gulf stream waters ♪

♪ This land was made for you and me ♪

♪ Take it, Number Two ♪

♪ I've walked and rambled ♪

♪ I've followed my footsteps ♪

♪ To the sparkling sands of the desert ♪

♪ When all around me ♪

♪ That voice was sounding ♪

♪ Yeah, this land was
made for you and me ♪

- [Justin] We left for the
Rock Against Bush tour.

- We flew out in the
morning and it was raining

in the morning, and we landed in Seattle

and we got a phone call.

The stream behind our offices was rising

and it was flooding.

Okay, but so was the water in the building

parking lot yet or not?

Okay, so it was up to the trailer.

- Everything's flooded,
the warehouse is flooded.

You can't even, you can't get across town,

Pittsburgh is totally flooded.

- [Firefighter] Unbelievable.

- [Reporter] Unbelievable is right.

The nearby Family Dollar store deluge,

muddy waters rushing through the streets,

the current so powerful it
carried away a huge dumpster.

Water up to the bumpers
of the few cars left

parked on the street.

- We invested everything
we had into the label

and it was working, and the
record label was doing well

and we had a list of about 20 bands

who were all making records
and releasing material.

- Everything that was
in there was trashed.

Yeah, it was a mess.

- The water was, you
know, over waist high,

almost chest high throughout
the entire office.

It's gonna to get there

'cause it's going rain
all day tomorrow too.

- Wow.

- [Pat] We are screwed.

- Well we can't think about it now.

There's nothing we can do.

Even if we got on a plane and got there,

they wouldn't even land us in Pittsburgh.

To be on that tour where
we needed to have focus

and to know things at
home were such a mess,

we just knew that losing
a computer in the mud

wasn't as dire of an
issue as the discussions

we were having at some of
these Rock Against Bush shows

where we were talking to young people,

and those were really like
dire moments in activism.

They felt, they felt dire.

They felt like, they felt life or death.

Unfortunately, we were all right.

And I remember coming
home and it was, yeah,

it was brutal, it was really
depressing to come home.

If you've ever been through a flood,

everything just stinks and is waterlogged

and full of bacteria and it's
just a horrible existence.

Our truck was ruined, our, yeah,

everything that we had was ruined.

It wiped out the local
business that was next to us

that was a builder supply company.

It wiped them out completely.

So to look at it and to
say like our record label

and our band survived it,

and to see a company that had
been existence for 30 years

not be able to survive it, like,

there's definitely something to say

about us being able to keep it together.

And for lack of a better
term, keep it afloat.

- It would have been very
easy to pack up and say

"let's be done," but we just
kept moving little by little,

and sooner or later we were out of it

and we had good people who helped us out.

- You start these bands and you know,

you're not careerist about them at all.

I know all those guys and I'm
sure all of them never thought

they'd be doing this for a living.

You know, you start in
a garage with your buds.

You barely know how to play, you know,

and you never foresaw yourself

still playing music professionally.

I remember reading my first record review

and I was like, "Oh wait, now
I'm the guy in the review."

Like I used to be the
guy reading the reviews,

you know what I mean?

Just kinda like, Oh yeah,
I guess that record sucks.

Or, Oh yeah, this one's awesome.

And it's like, Oh no.

Now I'm in the review, and
you realize like, oh yeah,

you're, you're throwing
yourself out there.

- We'd had major label offers for years.

I mean, we've had major
label offers for five years.

We were never interested in them

mostly because we were comfortable
and happy where we were.

We just felt comfortable with the people

we were working with, working with Fat.

We were happy there.

They understood us, we understood
them. They were friends.

- We felt like Fat really
stuck their necks out for it.

Tom played the record for Rick Rubin

and Rick loved the record.

He asked us to come to LA and play a show.

- Rick Rubin approaching
us made total sense to us.

I mean, we knew where he
came from ideologically.

He came from a very similar
place that we came from.

His record label was American Records.

It was an upside down
American flag, you know?

I mean, we thought, wow, that's perfect.

That's where we want to be.

- I remember being like,

"we're really just gonna
fly to LA and play a show

because Rick Ruben wants us to?"

Like, that seems fucking lame.

Like, what is this? You know?

But then you think about
it and you're like,

well, I mean, Slayer,
Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys.

It was enough to turn our heads.

- [Justin] After going to a major label,

our punk rock career could be over.

- We started getting a
lot more of the criticism

of becoming, you know, sellouts.

But to be honest with
you, we were sellouts

whenever they put out
the first seven inch,

we were getting shit for that.

"Die For the Government"
came out on New Red Archives,

Pat and Justin were sellouts for that.

- And that's when I
realized like, you know,

they were going through what
a lot of us went through

as bands that grew up in a punk rock

and hardcore scene playing political music

and then found yourselves getting popular.

- I was one of those kids
back in the day, I'll admit,

when you know, like Rancid and Green Day

started picking up steam
and being played on MTV.

I was like, "ugh, this just
sucks, dude, fuck 'em."

I don't necessarily feel
like they were sell outs,

or I'd never labeled them as that,

but the dude that used to
pick on me in high school

was now listening to Rancid and Green Day

and rocking out to them.

- When Bad Religion
signed to a major label

when I was 15 years old
and I was mad at them

for doing that, you know what I mean?

And so it's something I think it's natural

to kind of want to keep your favorite band

that only you really know about,

you and your friends know
about, in your pocket.

- We knew we were gonna get a shit storm

for signing to a major label,

but I also think that it
speaks to the ambition

of this band to be heard.

- That started the whole slew

of all the other majors
becoming interested in us.

- Rick Rubin was king,

and if Rick wanted to sign your band

and the other major labels
weren't at least in presence,

their bosses felt as if

they weren't doing a good enough job.

How did you not know about this band

that Rick Rubin wants to sign?

So what we ended up being a part of

was this insane bidding war for Anti-Flag

through a bunch of major labels

who probably never listened to us,

probably had no idea
of what we were about,

but just knew that it would
look bad on their career

as A&R folks if they
weren't in the same room

when Rick Rubin was in the room.

You know, that's the quote
unquote music business,

and it's stupid.

- And one of the things
that I really enjoy doing

is asking the presidents
of these companies

whether they were gonna
have a job next year,

because they knew they didn't know.

They knew that the
industry was collapsing,

US was going war.

The major media was afraid of everybody

because of September 11th.

A protest is one thing, but
artwork and ideas in the culture

that are there every day
are, have a lot more power.

- If you're making art
that everyone can agree on,

you're probably making pretty shitty art.

An artist's responsibilities
are very simple, in my view.

It's to be true to yourself, that's it.

- Going on stage and saying, you know,

we're against the war in Iraq.

You know, we think that it's
based on a false premise

and we shouldn't be there.

And if you were an audience
member in that crowd,

you'd say, "okay, I'm at a punk rock show

with a band called Anti-Flag,

Rise Against, and Against
Me, they're talking about

how they were against
the war, big surprise."

But when our band started
at existing outside

of the punk rock world, those
words had more weight to them.

- This came, especially at a
time where in the mainstream,

there was a total vacuum
about the righteousness

of the Iraq war, and we felt like

if we had an opportunity
to insert ourselves

into that discussion that we could have,

we could have an effect,

but ultimately when I look back on it,

it was totally worth it.

Would I do it again tomorrow
if I had that same opportunity

and I felt like I could take it

and do something positive with it?

Fucking right, I would.

- Through it, we met a really nice guy.

His name was Matt Marshall, and he signed,

he's the one who signed us to RCA.

- And you know, the peace
movement hadn't stopped

the invasion of Iraq, but what I thought

was really amazing was that
we had a couple of thousand

punk rock kids that
were not gonna go fight

and kill and die for oil.

And to me, that was a victory,

realizing that our music had had an impact

and changed some of their minds.

Like it's amazing when you
meet somebody who says,

"you know, man, after 9/11,
I was gonna join the military

and then I found your band

and it totally changed
what I was gonna do."

It was that night when
I thought to myself,

we made the right decision going with RCA.

- Music is a really like a
really strong guiding light

to a lot of people of all
ages from all over the world.

If there's a message in
there that can really

get under someone's skin and
make them think about the world

around them, I mean, I
think we're all better off.

- It's pretty much changed everything.

Like the way that I grew up,

I guess my family is quite conservative

and quite right wing ideas.

And that's how I was brought up

and I just didn't know any better.

And then I started hearing bands like this

and bands like Green Day
and like Bad Religion

and things like that that
just changed everything.

They just changed the whole
way that I was thinking

and the whole way that I saw the world.

- And then it unlocked
an entire world for us.

We all of a sudden had a label in Berlin.

We had a label in London.

We had a label in Spain.
We had a label in Japan.

- Us and Against Me had a good time

giving Anti-Flag shit for
signing to a major label.

And then as history would unfold,

both of us would eventually
sign to a major label.

- I feel like they walked
on eggshells around us

because they were afraid of us.

They were afraid to offend us.

They didn't want to do anything wrong.

They knew at any moment
we could turn on them,

and they were afraid of that.

- [Pat] They were so afraid of us

and didn't know what to do
with us, they wouldn't say no.

- They spent money on Military Free Zone,

which was our nonprofit
organization which worked

to stop predatory military
recruitment in schools.

We had them give money to
local DIY punk rock venues.

We had them give money to
independent media companies,

you know, that we supported.

(crowd cheering)

- It was that the end of
the Blood and Empire touring

and we were touring across Canada

with a band called Billy Talent.

Through that entire tour
we were doing coat drives

'cause it was winter in Canada.

All that we asked was that

if you came to the meet and
greet, like bring a coat.

And so every day we'd have a box

and we'd fill it up with coats

and then we drop it off to
the local homeless shelter.

And we're sitting in the food
court and I got a phone call

and it was my sister's ex,

who is the father of my nephew.

Oh, he, what he said to
me was "Chrissy's dead."

That was the first thing he said to me.

You know, after a couple
seconds of trying to

like gain reference to
what he was talking about

or what the hell any of that meant,

I found out that she was killed.

Her and her boyfriend
slash fiance, depending on

what they told you that
day in their relationship.

It was actually a cousin
of mine who came by

and saw that the dogs were
outside and that the door's open.

It just looked odd to her,
so she walked up the steps.

They were in the dining
room and you could see them

right through the door.

So, and, and yeah, it was over drugs.

We still don't really know what happened.

We know that it wasn't,

if it was over drugs, it wasn't over much.

It was probably 30 to a hundred
dollars worth of cocaine.

And she was shot twice
in the back of the head

and her boyfriend then, they assume,

charged at the person who shot her

and he was shot in the
chest and the stomach.

And then the guy just
left out the front door.

My niece was there and
she was 11, 11 months old.

They found her on my sister's chest

whenever they came and cleaned up.

And it took a, it took not long,

it was maybe a day or so before
they had found the murderer,

as they said, and we sat there

and we heard the confession tape.

The kid, when they took him in,

he confessed to killing them.

And then what, through the trial,

we watched them do a pretty good job

of creating reasonable doubt,
and that's all you need.

He was found not guilty, and
in the process, I felt insane

'cause I saw it happening.

I could tell that it was being mishandled.

I could tell that the
prosecution was inept

and that the main goal was
to just create this idea

that maybe it wasn't him and,

and they succeeded in that
because even to this day,

I don't know if it was him.

I heard the confession tape as well.

And I don't trust police as
far as I can fucking throw them

to not scare a 19 year old
kid, he was 18 or 19 years old,

into confessing to that, so,

you're challenged to, you know,

all the beliefs that you have
and you live in this world

where you write these punk rock songs

and you support the Mumia
Abu-Jamal who's on death row.

And then you're at the
dinner table with your uncle

who's saying "fry him," and you're like,

well, I don't necessarily
believe in the death penalty,

but I also know how everyone
is hurting because of this.

And if this kid really did
it, what's his punishment?

Like, what do you do then?

I still don't fucking, I don't
know, I don't have a clue.

(somber music)

- When you're in a band for 20 some years,

a lot of bad shit happens to you.

When shit gets bad, the four of us

are gonna be there for each other.

Two, I think in his dark hours,

looks to work and looks to rock and roll

to distract him through the process.

- [Two] I know that I was really
keen on not taking a break

and not putting down an instrument.

I wanted to become a better musician

and a better song writer and
I was really focused on that.

(somber music)

- [Justin] In the two
and a half years between

"For Blood and Empire" and
"The Bright Lights of America,"

everyone who worked on our
record at RCA was let go.

So we had a completely new team

working "Bright Lights of America,"

a team that frankly wasn't
invested in it at all.

- [Pat] Justin brought in
the idea of Tony Visconti,

who did David Bowie records
and had just most recently,

and this is why it was on Justin's brain,

done "Ringleader of the
Tormentors," the Morrissey record.

That record had a lot of the
stuff we were talking about,

had timpani, it had bells and whistles

and children's choirs.

- And there was a lot of
things at our disposal

to get a little more experimental with,

like we had strings come
in and play on the record.

And, you know, I took a
stab at banjo on the record,

which, you know,

I had never picked up a banjo
in my life until that point.

- We'd been playing long enough
and we'd been playing a lot,

and all of a sudden we were
pretty good musicians, you know?

And I think in a lot of ways,

we were just really excited by that.

- We were like, well, you know,

if they're willing to
pay for Tony Visconti,

this might be a really
cool experience for us

to work with one of
those magical producers.

So let's try it.

(banjo music)

The record didn't sound
aggressive, you know,

it wasn't a very
aggressive-sounding record

and that was by design and,
you know, we stand by it.

I think that there's some
of the most impactful

emotional songs that we've ever done,

but we saw the writing on the wall.

We knew that we were done with RCA

the day the album came out.

You know, we got them to
spend their last dime on us.

- I truly feel as though we
made a deal with the devil,

took his gold and told him to fuck off.

For me as a person to know
that I fucking pissed off

that many rich people
and took their money,

it makes me happy.

- We took the RCA money

and we built our own studio in Pittsburgh.

Subsequently have been
able to use it to record

four or five releases that
we've put out on AF Records

of different bands.

I've been able to record my friends' bands

or people that I know through passing

or people that I really
admire and respect.

So out of the major label,
there's been a long reach

and a long-standing
victory with many spoils.

- I felt as though, as a band,

we had to release one
record, at least one record

after the major label,
because I felt as though

if we just would have gone,
we'd been this independent

punk rock band, went to a
major label, and then broke up.

I felt like that would
be admitting defeat.

- Is it more powerful
to have like sort of,

for a band to leave a
beautiful corpse, you know,

and to have the myth carry on?

- I look to bands that
have made long careers

out of their endeavor.

People need bands that
are here now and present

and able to filter what's
happening in the world today.

- You look back on like The Clash

and they have this big giant
catalog and everything,

you know, you see Minor Threat
and they have like little,

you know, it's not, it's not as much.

Not saying that one is more
important than the other,

but yeah, I think it's
important for bands to like,

fuck, I don't even know
where I'm going with this.

Damn it. Can I start over again? (laughs)

- My ambitions for Rage
Against the Machine

were frankly unmet.

Like I thought that I wanted
to really see if there was

any ceiling, any ceiling
to what a band could do

in the world of political
activism and, you know,

sort of the day to day,
mundane, spinal tap differences

that occur in every band
for every garage band

to every stadium band, in
some ways derailed that,

you know, some of those possibilities.

it's not easy being a band.

You know that when bands are great,

they are volatile components,
and Rage was certainly that.

And so I feel blessed in a
way that we were able to do

as much as we were able to do.

- I love bands with a huge catalog

in the sense where it's like, you know,

they've given their entire
life to what they love.

- Things that are over very quickly

are really easy to romanticize.

- The bands that really
stand the test of time

are like the ones that don't ever give up.

- We weren't just a band who
wanted it to be on a major.

We were something more than that.

Yeah, we came back after the major label

and recorded a record, just
the four of us in a room

without management, without
anybody else involved.

And that made me very happy,

and it felt much better
to be that way again.

Rock and roll is a difficult thing

to have relationships with,

because we're away for
long periods of time.

People grow and I stay the same.

- It's weird 'cause you
live this Groundhog Day life

where like you don't realize
really what you've been doing

for like weeks maybe on end.

Longevity, it's not
overrated, but it's rare.

- The hardest part about
maintaining, like staying in a band

is like, obviously the relationships.

It's like, it's not a normal
thing to throw four people

in and have them live in a car,
you know, for 10, 20 years,

like be away from their
friends and family.

It's like, it's, you
know, it sounds great,

but it's really, really challenging.

And I think a lot of bands,

they've like they just
start to hate each other.

- It'd be nice to be home
for, you know, like birthdays

and special occasions and stuff.

- Pat's relationship ended.

That was a really difficult time for him.

- That was when my life
was in the shittiest

and I was not functioning.

- I had a relationship that ended.

I never thought that that would happen.

That that was the most shocking

and difficult experience that
I've dealt with in my life.

- Most dudes in bands have relationships

that last a year or two years or whatever.

I was with my partner for 12 years.

Two and Amanda were
together for 10 years or so.

I'm not sure exactly how long, but yeah.

And the stress of going on tour every year

for six months of the year
or seven months of the year

becomes more than most
relationships can handle.

You go away on tour and it
feels like one day and they,

the people who are you're
in a relationship with

have a whole life that goes
on while you're not there.

And then you come home and you're like,

"Oh, it's like the next day,"

and they're like, "no, a
lot of shit has happened

and you haven't been here for it."

- I don't know how it'll
change my creative process

from here on out, but
I know that the songs

that I've written in this
timeframe are different.

I know that they get played differently

and I'm sad on stage, and
that's a new thing for me.

That's never been in my world,

even for "The Bright
Lights of America" record,

which had songs specifically
about my sister,

those were never,

they were still the same way.

They were like, here's a thing
and I'm commenting on it,

not, this is what I'm living through

and this is the way I
really feel about it.

Somebody says we need
to make another record,

and everybody starts talking about that,

and I didn't want to do it.

You know, I didn't, I felt
like the normalcy that I had

was destroyed by the band.

Why would I start that process all again?

So I was reminded of every
tragedy I've faced in my life

because of this, and I sat on my couch

and I watched the Mike Brown verdict,

and I immediately was in the
courtroom with my own mother.

And I saw her face

and I saw images from Mike Brown's family.

And I felt like this
is what we talk about.

This, this is what the songs are about.

It's about putting a face and
a reality to these situations.

- Well, today we're doing,
I guess the first official

video shoot for the
song "Brandenburg Gate,"

which will be the lead
single for the new record,

"The American Spring."

(drumming)

- I thought it was like
a really important song

for the record because
it was the first time

we had ever changed the shape
of what we were writing.

You know, normally it comes
in and it's like, well,

I've got these four ideas,
and then someone's like,

"well, there's a police
shooting in Ferguson, Missouri."

Then you know where to direct that anger.

So this was like, hey guys,
I don't know who I am.

And like, where do you direct that?

You know? So yeah.

So it's really cool, and
shooting music videos is weird

and you guys know this.

It feels weird to have your
friends just stare at you

while you pantomime a song.

(upbeat punk music)

♪ I lost my baby to foreign war ♪

♪ She was cut down in the
gunfire of the western world ♪

♪ She was living in sin,
I was living in a lie ♪

♪ She was caught up in the
glimmer of a rich man's eye ♪

♪ I couldn't see her from the other side ♪

♪ They said "son, there's
no glory in your pride" ♪

- The last couple of records
we recorded in Pittsburgh

in our little studio and
it kind of feels like

you're just shelled up
in a cave the whole time.

It's not the most exciting place
to be and write and record.

Where this is, we branched
out, we got to go out to LA

and spent about a month,
month and a half out in LA.

And we're actually in the
sun and got to do things

outside of the studio and
kind of take a breather.

So I think it kind of reflects in it.

(upbeat punk music)

- We pushed ourselves harder
than ever, because to me,

the conversation of do we
make another one of these

was like very real, especially, you know,

like some of the shit
I was saying earlier,

like questioning if this
band took everything from me

and if I should give it the due diligence

to work on something else, you know?

If we're not going to bet on ourselves,

if we're not going to work
very hard, there's no sense.

- When you have that many
records under your belt,

it doesn't matter what you do.

It's we have the freedom to
explore different things.

(upbeat punk music)

- That really helps my timing.

We knew we had a limited
window to work with them,

and once that window
was gone, it was gone.

And I think it adds a
certain degree of tension

to the record, you never
know what conversation it is

that's going to spark another conversation

that could be something that
could lead to a lot of debate

and hopefully, hopefully some change.

In that respect, I've got a
lot of optimism right now.

- It's just a way better
recording process.

Everyone, I think was a
lot happier in the end.

- [Two] They say that it's
like, moments like this

are really important for
creativity and they ain't lying.

- The concept of the band
Anti-Flag is something that

I've been obsessed with since
I was 16 years old, okay?

I finally got this band off the ground.

I love punk rock.

This is where I want to be.
This is what I want to do.

I can't imagine that
the day will come for me

where I'm like, "I have nothing to say.

I have no new way to say it,

and I don't want to make
another Anti-Flag record."

- I definitely see no stopping that.

You know, there's always some
new fuck head around the world

or, you know, that you have to weigh into.

- It's right now a historic moment.

We can now project the winner
of the presidential race,

CNN projects Donald Trump
wins the presidency.

The business tycoon and TV personality

capping his improbable political journey

with an astounding upset victory.

Donald J. Trump will become

the 45th president of the United States.

(somber music)

- Alright, so here we are.

It's the morning of the apocalypse.

We're in Washington DC,
it's cold, I'm tired.

So far, the apocalypse totally sucks.

- [Man] I, Donald John
Trump, do solemnly swear.

- I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear.

- [Man] That I will faithfully execute.

- [Donald] That I will faithfully execute.

- [Man] The office of
President of the United States.

- [Donald] The office of
President of the United States.

- [Man] And will to
the best of my ability.

- [Donald] And will to
the best of my ability.

- [Man] Preserve, protect, and defend.

- [Donald] Preserve, protect, and defend.

- [Man] The Constitution
of the United States.

- [Donald] The Constitution
of the United States.

- [Man] So help you god.

- So help me god.

- No KKK, no fascist USA!

No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!

- We're in Houston at the No Ban, No Wall,

protest is happening.

It was like at three, be
here and this is happening.

- [Crowd] No Trump, no
KKK, no fascist USA!

No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.

- The seniors we're delivering to today

are folks on one hand
who grew up in this city

when it was a segregated city,

they were African-American growing up

in the capital of the free world

under the shadow of legal oppression.

A lucky number of them are still here

in this neighborhood now for a new era.

It is an era when this
neighborhood has become

one of the most hip, hot,
and happening communities

anywhere in the country, and
it's also become so expensive

that they can barely afford to live here.

So as we're delivering today,

know that that is the
history of our seniors.

They know that you
could be somewhere else,

you could be anywhere else.

Even with this little drizzle,
it's kind of a beautiful day.

It's a Saturday here
in the end of February.

You don't have to be here.

You've chosen to be here, and
that means so much to them

because they realize that
you're sending a message

that society has often not sent.

- Music is kind of like the
part that I keep coming back to,

that kind of revitalizes me

and kind of gave me some
direction when I was young.

- When I first heard real
political punk, it was like,

that was, I was like, okay,
that's the music I like.

- My first intro to politics really

was listening to Anti-Flag
when I was like 13 years old.

From there, like being an activist

has kind of been in my blood.

I decided in college to
work on a number of issues,

you know, as an organizer,
as a fundraiser,

things like that, and every
issue I worked on, I realized,

you know, we were coming
up against same things.

Either like the legislature
would pass a new law

that would mess up what we were doing,

or the courts would hand
down a new decision.

And so I decided to go to law
school to basically figure out

how to work within those systems

and then come in from the outside.

- Do what you can wherever you are

with whatever you got right now.

So you start where you are.

What around you upsets you?

What around you do you
think should change?

- The idea of going out and
protesting was exciting.

That didn't always result
in tangible changes,

but it was something I felt
like, okay, I'm out here,

I'm doing something, I'm being
visible, I'm being vocal.

- Often it means you need
other people to help you

because it is do it yourself,
but it's also do it together.

Isolation is the biggest
barrier to change.

- And then just point on
whatever levers of power you can.

You know, I think social
media is important.

I know we kind of downplay
like, oh, you tweeted something,

it doesn't make a difference.

I think it actually does. I
think it drives cultural change.

- Other people might not be
interested in demonstrating,

going out, carrying a sign,

but they might be more
interested and writing a letter

to a Congressman or a city
council person or a mayor.

- Sign a petition, have a
meeting with your Congressperson,

call them like do everything you can.

- Just open your eyes, open
your heart to what's around you.

You have a role to play and you have power

to make that difference, so
just go try to make it happen.

- It's still Justin and
me playing music together

the same way it was Justin
and me playing music together

30 years ago.

At this point, if you don't
like it, fuck off, I don't care.

It doesn't matter to me.

I want to write songs and talk to people

who are interested in
activism and politics,

and think that the world can be

different than it is right now.

If that's not your thing,
go away, get the fuck out.

- It started as being this
band that didn't give a shit

about anyone but ourselves in Pittsburgh.

And then it turned into, oh
fuck, we have reach and power.

We should care about more,
we should be grandiose.

We have a message, listen to it.

And now it's kind of reverted back into

I'm not quite sure that any of this

has the power to dilute or to change

or to create a paradigm shift,

but when the chickens come home to roost,

we're gonna be on the
right side of it all.

- To expect Rise Against
to play a show here tonight

and like however many
kids come here tonight

to go out and change the world tomorrow,

those expectations are
a little unrealistic.

- The chief problem, as
always, confronting those

of progressive mind in the
United States is apathy.

And in privilege.

- You won't be surprised to hear that

writing a blog can't
really change the world.

Doesn't often happen,
but it allows you to feel

as the potion who is speaking
that you are not powerless.

And it allows those who
hear you or read your blog

or see your film or read
your post to feel that like,

or hear your song, to feel
that they're not alone.

And that's really crucial.

- If one person came up
to me in the last 15 years

and said, "you've changed my life,"

if one person did that, I
think it'd all be worth it.

And the fact is that there
are thousands of people

who have done that.

- There's always going to
be a group of intelligent,

driven, angry, and aware
kids that will always exist.

And punk rock is the
greatest outlet for that.

- Kind of like thousands of
little cracks in a window.

And you might not see the window breaking,

but like every day it's
cracking a little bit.

And not only can it affect change,

but I think musicians
consistently underestimate

how powerful it is, and so does the world.

- Things don't change from
above, things change from below,

and it takes people to have the commitment

and the willingness to
risk to change the world.

- If there's anything I believe
after playing in this band

over all these years, it's
that music changes people

and people go out and change the world.

(crowd cheers)

Good afternoon, motherfuckers.

(audience applauds)

Take care of one another,
respect one another,

and let's fuckin' go off!

(upbeat punk music)

♪ The memo says we gotta work ♪

♪ To make the facts
fit the false charges ♪

♪ Pull the wool over the
eyes of the filthy masses ♪

♪ Stab the people in the back
for the corporate choice ♪

♪ Roll the propaganda out
using The People's Voice ♪

♪ We don't want to talk about it ♪

♪ The press scribble scribble
every half-truth spoke ♪

♪ Then shoot it round the country
like an April Fool's joke ♪

♪ Hype the nation for a
Desert Storm love affair ♪

♪ Wave the stars and stripes
like you just don't care ♪

♪ They talk it up all day,
they talk it up all night ♪

♪ They talk until their face
turns blue, red white and blue ♪

♪ But when the truth escapes the night ♪

♪ And crawls into the day ♪

♪ We find the picture still askew ♪

♪ They don't want to talk
talk talk talk talk about it ♪

♪ They wanna tiptoe, walk around it ♪

♪ Wave the flag and mindlessly salute ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa ♪

♪ They don't want to talk about it ♪

- I'm a licensed social worker
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

- I'm the director of
alternative juvenile justice

for the national organization leading

the restorative justice
movement here in San Diego.

- I am a social science researcher.

- I work on an ambulance as an EMT.

- I'm an emerging museum professional

and aspiring museum curator from Leeds.

- I teach undergraduate
classes in sociology,

and I also do research on
immigration policies and race.

- I'm Amanda and I am a law professor.

I am in my third year of
teaching legal writing

and communication to
first year law students.

- I'm finishing a master's
degree in gender studies

at the University of Geneva.

- Hi, I'm Rose Mauricio, I'm 15 years old.

I come from Peru, and punk
rock has become my life.

- Anti-Flag definitely
influenced me being involved

with activism as well as
trying to get involved

with community politics to
try and better the lives

of people less fortunate than myself.

- So much out there that is
so messed up, it's so wrong.

and I love to hear other
people speak about it.

- It's reassuring to know that
there is someone out there

who looks at injustice in the world

and feels as angry as I do.

- I'm a punk rocker at heart.

I've always told everybody that

if it weren't for that subculture,

I wouldn't be in the place I'm in today.

- It really fueled my fire to
create a change in this world

and to help other people.

- Anti-Flag was the people that teach me

how I have to treat my community,

with kindness and thoughtfully,

and I'm very grateful to Anti-Flag

to be the kind of persons

that I want to have around all the time.