2008 - Side One Dummy
Les gars de Pittsburgh n'ont pas traîné à sortir leur septième album après le EP A Benefit For Victims Of Violent Crime. Malgré cette sortie rapprochée celui-ci n'a rien à voir. Il sonne très pop punk à la Against Me. Les textes restent engagés et traitent de sujets personnels comme l'assassinat de la soeur d'un des membres, le sentiment d'inadaptation ou des sujets plus généraux dont une large partie sur le gouvernement et la nation américaine. Il y a quelques titres plutôt bons, mais peu nombreux (The Bright Lights Of America, The Smartest Bomb, Spit In The Face). Il sont en général moins rentre-dedans, trop pop à mon goût. Une belle déception après l'excellent For Blood And Empire.
Le groupe explique de quoi parlent les textes sur Punk News :
- Good And Ready For years we've wanted to do a song with timpani drums and from the first moment we played this song in our practice space we knew that this was our chance. This song's message is that allowing abuse on any living creature, is allowing abuse on all living creatures.
- The Bright Lights of America Throughout the life of Anti-Flag many people have shared their stories with us. This song is a reflection of those stories... As Americans, who are we?
- Vices In early 2007 Chris #2's sister and her boyfriend were murdered, but in time, this tragedy eventually became a hugely inspiring event. "Vices" is a direct result of the kindness and support of the people who surround our band: the music community, our friends and our families. We wrote it with the hope that in some small way people will find some solace in its words.
- The Modern Rome Burning In pre-production in Pittsburgh, PA we told Tony Visconti that we felt like this song was close to finished but it needed one thing, a dramatic bridge. His answer,"Screaming!!! Rome and its people are burning and as they burn they scream..." Dramatic enough? We thought so. In a nut shell this song says, let the unjust state burn itself to the ground and from it let us create something just, free, and more perfect.
- If You Wanna Steal We set out to write a stripped down and raw musical composition that from time to time contained an intriguing element (can you say xylophone?) because that would be very symbolic of our lives growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A truly repetitive experience dotted with utter insanity along the way. So many of us believe that our own personal gain is a must, meanwhile we ignore the power that could be ours by organizing...
- No Warning There is an amazing feel and energy at demonstrations and protests which is difficult to recreate and capture in a studio. That said, on this song we set out to capture that feel and energy. This song is about the challenge of growth in a community that is too attention deficient to allow stagnancy, yet often too fickle to allow any deviance from the unwritten code of the underground.
- Spit In The Face This song begins with the question; is the punk rock community the status quo destroying, authority questioning, safe haven for fuck ups and degenerates that it is supposed to be? Or is it nothing more than a microcosm of society? The song ends with the answer. "The nation is dead, long live the new nation."
- We Are The Lost This song describes how some of us have felt through out our lives. Even amongst misfits some people still feel like misfits. When we have felt the need to withdrawal from the world, felt there was no place we truly belong, we have found solace, comfort, and comradeship in the music community. This is a liberation song.
- Go West Harmonica. It was long over due on an Anti-Flag record, but that is because we were saving it for just the right song- this was it! Insecurity, fear, courage, adventure, the possibilities laying in front of you waiting for you to find the strength to do not what is most pertinent or what everyone says you should, but instead to do what you truly desire.
- The Smartest Bomb Sanitized warfare. Weapons so smart that on the battle field the only people who die are the guilty that deserve to die. This is only one of many corrupted messages put forth by the masters of war in the modern world. The time has come for us to wake up to the danger of falling for the propaganda that those in power feed to us.
- Shadow Of The Dead Chris #2 wanted trumpets and god damn it he got it! A rhythmic march and the trumpet sounds. This is a song about celebrating the struggles of those who have come before us. A reminder that we must not regress, we must not become lazy and careless when it comes to protecting our rights as human beings.
- The Ink, The Quill We ran out into the middle of a field to record the thunder! Inspired by the rise of Black Water, the private mercenary force that became so infamous in Iraq, this song was actually inspired by the role Black Water played in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Lawlessness and dead bodies seem to follow this outfit where ever they go and god help you if ever you find them patrolling the streets of your town.