In 2003 I was at college and introduced to Rise Against by my friend Steve. He'd got into them via some other bands from that scene and lent me their first album, The Unravelling. I enjoyed it, so was pleased to see they were touring with The Mad Caddies as part of the Fat Wreck Tour. A lot of my friends were into ska punk back then, and a few were into more regular punk, with a healthy overlap between the two - that meant that the Fat Wreck Tour was big news. I'd been to a ska punk gig on the first day of college (Save Ferris, as my friend Thom had a spare ticket and I had nothing better to do) and had a great time. I've never had much time for ska on record at any point in my life, but that night introduced me to the fun you can have seeing it live. I learnt to move my legs when I dance that night, something which has caused much embarrassment to many people around me for many years since.
Anyway, the same friend had bought four tickets to see Mad Caddies and Rise Against down in Brighton, and had borrowed his parents' car to drive down there. However, my invitation was not entirely for the best reasons. Thom wanted Olly to come, but not Olly's girlfriend at the time so invited me instead to fill up the car and use the last ticket. I was aware of this, but wanted to see Rise Against, so wasn't too offended. We drove down early (listening to 2 Many DJs most of the way - an album I strongly associate with that road trip and one other down to Cornwall) and explored Brighton. Olly had to spend a lot of the day on the phone to his rather pissed off girlfriend - I have a grainy, 2003-quality picture of us hanging out on Brighton beach with Olly in the distance, on the phone. I remember it well.
The gig was in the Concorde 2, the only time I ever got to go to that venue. It was sweaty, packed and great fun. Flipsides and Lawrence Arms played first and second, Rise Against third and then The Mad Caddies. Rise Against had just released Revolutions Per Minute and I'd heard a few songs on Thom's minidisc player in the library. It was clearly a catchy record, and both the songs I knew from the first album and the new ones sounded great. Just after their set I saw Thom come back from the merch table with a copy of LP, so went over to grab a copy for myself. I regretted buying it early as it was a pain to keep hold of during the mayhem that ensued for The Mad Caddies, but it survived perfectly, and I was still able to enjoy the band. I've since learnt to keep my record buying to the end of the night, something blindingly obvious in hindsight.
Before I write about the music, the most notable thing about this record is that it has the smoothest edge of any record I've ever touched. I know that's a very strange thing to mention, but it's like butter. Some records, as you flip them over you feel like they're trying to carve away your fingerprints with their sharp edges; not here, the edge flows so neatly between your fingers I can never just turn it over once - going from side A to side B usually involves a few times back and forth just to make the most of it. I wish all records were on such round-edged vinyl. Like I said, a strange thing to care about, but if you felt it, you'd know.
Revolutions per Minute is a great record - fast, energetic and raw-enough vocals to make it sound way more edgy that it might do otherwise. In the years since then, I listened to a lot of other punk, and my time in Cardiff was particularly dominated by bands like Hot Water Music (and local bands who tried to sound like HWM), Small Brown Bike and other gruff-punk bands; it's a genre I have a lot of time for still. I've not listened to Rise Against much in the last 10 years, so it's funny playing it now having listened to so much other punk music. One thing is that it sounds like one of the guitars is missing pretty much all the time. I remember thinking Black Masks and Gosoline was a great song, and it's still incredibly catchy, but I can't help but think the whole thing needs another guitar. I'm not sure I've ever thought that about a song before, but here we are. Same is true of Blood-Red, White & Blue. At first I thought maybe I just had it on too quietly, but no matter how loud something sounds missing. They're perfectly good songs and enjoyable despite that. Voices Off Camera:, Torches and Last Chance Blueprint are great songs too - choruses that are instantly familiar. It would be a year before I'd see American Beauty and hear where the samples came from in the latter. Amber Changing closes the album-proper with a huge chorus before the band, inexplicably, go into a cover of Any Way You Want It by Journey, which is a very strange way to finish the album.
The fact that I've not really listened to Rise Against much in the last 10 years is worth dwelling on a bit. I only own their first two albums and have vague memories of hearing some singles from the third that were very clean, polished and just a bit annoying (or should that last word be "preachy"? If I'm being honest, that was what made them annoying). I know my brother remained a fan, so maybe I should borrow his copies and have a listen to the later stuff the band did. Anyway, between all that and going to university (in the first term I was introduced to Black Eyes and Hum), Rise Against didn't seem so interesting anymore. After that I had my ATP-years and gruff-punk-years (I've never exclusively listened to one genre, but I can sum up most of my life in broad waves of genre-focused discoveries) and whatever genre-years I'm in now (I think a gradual transition from post-rock into neo-classical/noise (all of which are neatly covered in one section in my local record store)).
I've had more fun listening to this album than I thought I would (and more fun that all that criticism implies), so I'm looking forward to digging out The Unravelling for its blog post sometime in the future.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Gig
When: 23/04/03
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
