Join the New Kind of Army. Too Smart to Fight, Too Smart to Kill.
Jul 30 '00
When did Live Concert Editorials become available on Epinions, anyway? I must have missed something. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.
I'm taking this time to write a piece on one of my all time favorite live bands, Anti-Flag from Pittsburg, PA. Before I start, I would like to give those of you who are unfamiliar with the band a taste of who they are and what they stand for, since they're quite possibly the most misunderstood band in the modern Punk scene.
When the average person first hears of Anti-Flag, they tend to think "Sounds like another hypocritical Punk band with an anti-establishment and anti-everything else type message." People will go on believing this without even listening closely or giving Anti-Flag a fair chance. I've heard that ignorant type of person start nasty rumors, call them hypocrites, and create all kinds of slander, simply because THEY DON'T REALLY HATE AMERICA! So why do they call themselves Anti-Flag? The following passage should sum it up for the most part. It is quoted from the insert of their 1999 release, A New Kind Of Army:
"Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means the common people of the world are better off living in unity and peace. Anti-Flag means to stand against corporate greed that hurts millions while benefiting a handful of extremely rich. Anti-Flag means to fight against mindless nationalism. Anti-Flag means unity."
I remember my first time seeing them back in the fall of 1997 with The Smooths and No Use For A Name at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA. I had just recently gotten into their music, and totally dug their message. At that show, they performed in the middle slot after The Smooths. I'll never forget watching their drummer Pat Thetic pinning up an upside-down American Flag behind them and thinking, "damn that's witty". Then Justin Sane (Vocals/Guitar) came out, and instantly expressed his love for the city of Boston and its then outstanding Punk scene. Man, did he put on a show. Back then they used to always open with the song "Davey Destroyed the Punk Scene", about a greedy, and egotistical kid who thought it would be cool to become a "Punk Rocker" simply to go to shows and be ignorant and ruin the exciting and unifying experience that Punk shows are supposed to bring. This song would get the entire club dancing and singing along, never denying anyone of some good, clean Punk Rock fun. The rest of their set, which included songs such as their anthem "Die For Your Government", "Their System Doesn't Work for You", "Safe Tonight", "The Truth" and "You'd Do the Same", put me in a state of shock. I promised myself I would go out and see them again. I've now seen them perform 10+ times, only once missing them play a show in the New England area.
Ever since then, Anti-Flag has gone through some small lineup changes, but finally settling with a permanent bass player by the name of #2, and a new backup guitarist named Chris Head. Despite this, they seem to keep getting better every time I watch them perform. Justin Sane never fails to grab the microphone between songs and tell us who they are, what they stand for, and how much fun they want to see us have.
My most recent live Anti-Flag experience was on July 20, 2000, when they played the Vans Warped Tour for the second straight year. This year, though, they were on the entire tour and played second on the main stage (In 1999, they only played a couple of dates and played a local stage. There was a mud fight and we all got dirty. I loved it). Apparently I was destined to to have a great day, because Anti-Flag was just about to start when I arrived. This was the largest crowd I had ever seen in front of them, and I was interested in seeing the outcome. As always, they blew me away along with everyone I saw watching them. They opened powerfully with their tune "Captain Anarchy", which made the crowd go absolutely insane and not seem to want to stop. I was also happy to notice a lot more people singing along then I had expected. During their set, Justin took his normal breaks from the music to express his feelings on countless topics. He commented on the upcoming Presidential election, agreeing with me completely in saying that all Gore and Bush want is power, that they're both fake, greedy, and exactly alike in so many ways. He made a point to kids who don't want to vote to consider such other candidates such as Ralph Nader and Jello Biafra from the Green Party, who both have some powerful values and ideas that do not include corporate and government greed and murdering defenseless people in wars. Even if you don't agree with him, you have to respect his courage and his honesty to stand up and speak out against what he believes him. And he always makes perfect sense. And yet they still call him a hypocrite.
Anyway, the most amazing part of their set at Warped Tour 2000 was their closing song. Justin had a close friend replace him on guitar to play "Die For Your Government", while Justin got down in the crowd, put his arms around all the kids, and had one massive sing along. This was the first time I had felt that much unity and compassion in a crowd during a Boston Punk show in a very, very long time.
Just one last comment on the guys themselves. If you ever get the chance to talk to any of the guys in the band, jump on the opportunity. Justin and Pat are two of the friendliest, funniest and easy going guys I have ever met. They seem to love when fans approach them and tell them how rad their set was, or tell them that you believe in what they say. Justin even gave my buddy Erin the pick he played with at a show a couple years ago after their set, and she's kept it around her neck ever since. He's just that cool.
Check out this band. Anti-Flag has all of the brains, the energy, the compassion and the talent that is necessary for an outstanding live show.
"There's no justice in a system that's controlled by greedy old men who want to control our lives." - From the song "No Apology", off their 1999 release A New Kind of Army
Also check out:
Die For Your Government
and
Their System Doesn't Work For You
Peace.
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Epinions.com ID:
Suburbia25
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Member: Matt Whelan
Location: Scituate, MA
Reviews written: 94
Trusted by: 101 members
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