Rise Against

About Rise Against

The lies are inescapable. On every screen, the merchants of disinformation exert their cruel dominion. There is the queasy sense that we’re drowning in a slipstream of screeching noise and mindless ephemera. The water is rising. The ground is shaking. The shadows are long and the lights are low. It’s the perfect time for a new album from Rise Against.

Few bands have ever been as accurately named as the Chicago punk quartet. While fleeting styles and fashionable imitations have entered and exited vogue, Rise Against have remained a north star of artful resistance. While continuously updating their formula, they’ve sustained their original spirit of rebellion over a quarter century – amassing a body of work that doubles as a chronicle of our collective unraveling. Melodic hardcore detonations co-exist in perfect tension with dire warnings about the looming dystopia. And on their latest Loma Vista release, Ricochet, they’ve made what might be their most visceral, urgent, and high-stakes song cycle.

In the four years since Rise Against’s last opus, the world has continued to be torn asunder by shameless falsehoods, brazen greed, and episodes of shocking cruelty. This devolution has not gone unnoticed by the band. Ricochet takes these crises under the scope and dissects them with lucid clarity, raw emotion, and global perspective. Amidst a period of nationalist aggression and isolationism, the album reflects on our own interconnectivity. A form of chaos theory in which our unruly actions and anger wreak havoc in ways that aren’t always easily understood.

About Destroy Boys
Named as one of Spotify’s 2024 New Noise Artists To Watch, Destroy Boys have no intention of slowing down. Punk rock might have been the force that brought Destroy Boys together, but it’s far from the only touchstone for their music. From their first record through their fourth, they have continued to write and sing about what they know and drive fans to notice them. School drama and elitist cliques encountered in their teens have given way to the pain of relationships and the inherent feelings of misunderstanding and isolation that is all too common for young people navigating a hybrid of physical and digital worlds. The band has recently toured with some of the most legendary groups in pop-punk, from Blink-182 to Pierce The Veil.

Started in Sacramento in 2015 by Alexia Roditis and Violet Mayugba while they were still in high school, initially the band released acoustic demos on Bandcamp. Destroy Boys’ first proper record, Sorry, Mom remains a classic for the band’s fans, having spawned the underground hit I Threw Glass At My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m On Probation. The follow up record, Make Room, recorded by Martin Cooke (Death Cab for Cutie, Of Monsters and Men) was tracked in just 4 days and yielded favorites such as Crybaby and Duck Eat Duck World (later featured on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack.)

Adding drummer Narsai Malik to the fold in 2018, Destroy Boys began to tour in earnest, venturing as far as the UK, opening for numerous up-and-coming indie bands. As their own songs took off on Spotify and TikTok they signed with Los Angeles label Hopeless Records in 2020. Working with Philadelphia producer Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive) their first Hopeless release was the snarling, one minute ripper, Muzzle. The eventual LP Open Mouth, Open Heart, released in late 2021 chronicled a band dealing with familiar pandemic-frustration and the rise of online gossip and bullying - and they dealt with these head on with songs ranging from Escape to Locker Room Bully.

Rolling into 2022, the band toured the UK with Alkaline Trio and Taking Back Sunday before crisscrossing the US several times as they continued to support the LP. With lauded performances at Riot Fest, Lollapalooza Chicago, Dia De Los Deftones, and more, they have since released their fourth album, Funeral Soundtrack #4. Working with Carlos De La Garza (Bad Religion, Paramore, The Linda Lindas), the recordings dig further back to embrace everything from garage punk to 90’s college indie rock.