Rise Against Signs To Dreamworks

Rise Against has signed with Dreamworks
Records. The band has prepared a lengthy statement on their decision, which
can be found below by clicking "read more." The band's last album on
Fat Wreck Chords titled Revolutions Per
Minute was one of our favorites this year, you can check out Aubin's review here.

Hey, we just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on in the Rise Against
camp as of late and keep you in the loop. First off, thanks to all of our fans
that we saw this summer on tour. We had a great time and your response to our
record has been incredible. We also had a long summer of soul-searching, as
we found the invitations to several major labels at our doorstep. This is something
that we've been discussing and contemplating quite a bit in the last six months,
so I think its fair to share with you some of our thoughts on all of this.
As a band, we feel we have something worth saying. We've been touring and playing
our music for people for about three years now. We've been across this country
too many times to count, into Canada about five times now, over to Europe twice,
and we even got to Japan finally this year. I'm speaking in terms of Rise Against,
but if you take a closer look at the band, you'll find four people who've been
passionately dedicated to the scene for along time now. Examine our lives in
this scene and you will find a decade of dues paid.
I bring this up because it is this time spent in the punk rock scene that we
have learned so much and have realized what an impact punk rock and, more personally,
our band can have on people. Emails we receive tell us how important our songs
mean to some of you. To hear from someone at a show that "you're music
has really helped me through some tough times in my life" or " your
songs have inspired me to become more aware of the world around me" are
some the most validating and rewarding reactions to what we do, and we want
to take that impact and multiply it. We have a strong message about standing
up for yourself, about caring about the world around you, and about doing something
that matters with your life. We are very critical of the nine-to-five/dog-eat-dog
system that we live in, our government and its quest for money and power, and
the human condition of stepping on other people to get to the top. This is a
message that we believe in and want to share with the world on a larger scale
then we've been sharing it. We want to reach more than just the believers, we
want to reach the scores of non-believers. And we believe we've found someone
who can take us and that message to the next level without compromising what
we do and who we are.
Dreamworks approached us and let us know that they like what we do and they
want to put their resources behind it. They told us that they think we are a
band with a very important message, a message that not enough bands are talking
about these days. Their faith in what we do and the fact that they cared about
stuff we cared about was an eye-opener. Still, not sure how we felt about majors,
we said thanks for the call, but we're not looking to do that yet. We spent
the summer on Warped Tour with many friends of ours who have aligned their bands
with major labels in the last year or so. We spent many a BBQ talking about
the differences. It was then that we realized that some of these labels were
not there to change anyone or steal bands from their fanbases, but to give them
a chance to realize their visions more completely. Don't get me wrong, some
of these labels are still evil, but some weren't.
Since then we've been approached by over a dozen labels, each wanting to team
up with Rise Against, though none of them really resonated with us. Through
meeting these people, we realized the differences between what we are doing
and what we could be doing, and who we could be reaching with the songs. It
seemed that no one understood Rise Against like the people at Dreamworks. Doing
a little research, we realized that our respected and trusted friends in AFI
we're very happy with the move and Dreamworks has been completely supportive
of their goals as a band. When we realized that this would be a good idea, and
that no one else fully realized our vision, we said no thanks to other labels,
called Dreamworks, and said lets do this.
I understand that some of you will be angry about this, and that some of you
couldn't care less because over half the bands you listen to are on majors anyway.
To those who are angry, I assure you we are not abandoning you. There will be
no compromising what we do and how we do out. There will only be a bigger push
behind what we have to say and how we can say it. You can expect no unnatural
changes in Rise Against. We're not going to start including pyrotechnics in
our show or start wearing make-up (well, maybe Todd will…). We'll only have
more time now to completely dedicate ourselves to what we love to do. We understand
the risk that comes with this and decided to do it. We want to devote ourselves
to writing songs and playing shows without trying to make ends meet by working
between tours at grocery stores and malls. We want to be able to come to your
town as often as we can. We want to be able to further the causes that we have
aligned ourselves with by taking them with us. Causes like PETA, Punkvoter.com,
ARA, Rock Against Bush, Turn It Down (Campaign Against White Power Music), &
many more.
Fat Wreck has been completely supportive of our decision. We've been open and
honest with our friends at Fat about all of this and have actively sought their
advice on this, which they have graciously given us. Rest assured there are
no hard feelings between us. Fat Mike is 100% behind our decision and understands
our point of view on all of this. We will always consider ourselves a Fat band,
and will continue to be a part of the Rock Against Bush campaign as well as
future Fat Wreck compilations. We have made too many amazing friendships over
at Fat to ever sever them.
In the end, nothing else changes. We will still pursue what we've been pursuing
as a band with no alteration. We're gearing up for the "Death Of A Nation
Tour" with Anti-Flag, Against Me & None More Black preceded by a brief
jaunt across Eastern Canada and a Fat Wreck show in NYC at CMJ this year. We
hope to see you sweating it out with us at all these shows!! To those of you
who have read this and written us off, so long and thanks for the memories!
To those of you who feel Rise Against the way we feel it at every show, with
every note and every word, we are still here for you…and we're not going anywhere.
-Rise Against