Rise Against on the Power and Pitfalls of Political Punk

Do you think they're helping set the stage for people to make ambitious statements with political punk on a larger scale?
Definitely. By their sheer size and just how they inundated the world with their music. They're the U2 of my generation. The fact that they have taken that, and write a record like American Idiot, and to continue with those politics today — that's setting a precedent. Especially for such a broad musical fanbase. Kids in Middle America, who grow up in conservative towns, they're letting them know: "Hey, if you don't agree with the government, with the bloodthirsty trigger-happy patriotism that are country is infected with. You're not alone. There's is more of us out there." When bands get big, you risk a lot by choosing to be political.

You guys are an anti-consumerism band thrust into bigger levels of exposure. Do you have to turn down opportunities?
Oh yeah. We did a cover of a Danny Elfman song off of A Nightmare Before Christmas. We were all big fans of the movie, part of that cult fan base. So when we we're approached by a company like Disney, it was weird. But it's a song by a songwriter we know and love — it's fucking Danny Elfman! So we thought let's be a part of this. And it was awesome. That was a good thing... So, Disney was like "You guys did a great job with A Nightmare Before Christmas, we loved it, people loved it. We have another project we'd like you to be a part of. We want you to cover songs from High School Musical." Needless to say, much to my daughter's chagrin, it was something that's obviously not us. It would just be awful.

Have you seen High School Musical?
I have not. My daughter is turning to five this summer, so she's just starting to get into that kind of stuff. We have the soundtrack... because they sent me the soundtrack [Laughs].