Rise Against

The band should stand as living proof to punk rock purists that commercial success is not, and has never been, the same thing as selling out. Yes, the band’s sound is far more accessible today than the visceral hardcore of their early years.

However, if they were to take a cursory listen to the lyrics of any random song of theirs, they would be shocked to find that they are still as intelligent, profound and straight up angry as they ever were and this even stretches to the bands biggest hits.

Take songs like “Help Is on the Way", “Savior”, "Make It Stop (September's Children)" and “Prayer Of The Refugee” for example. These are polarising songs about difficult, yet very topical subjects that don’t shy away from taking a defined stance.

However the combined Youtube hits for those videos are, astonishingly enough, around 86 Million. This is a band that manages to plug the It Gets Better project, PETA and Amnesty International while filling arenas in their home country and large theaters and concert halls around the world.

To have a fully-fledged rock band with a message as vital as theirs playing on such a large scale the world over is a blessing that we haven’t had since the days of The Clash. With a tour schedule like theirs, it’s only a matter of time before they play wherever you are, and there are few bands out their more likely to change your life than the one and only Rise Against.

Real name John Anthony Gillis was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the youngest of ten siblings. His earliest musical influences came from his brothers and he began playing drums at the age of sixteen after finding an old discarded kit in his attic. He began listening to iconic artists such as The Doors and Led Zepplin at an incredibly young age before finding a love of blues and 1960s rock in his teenage years which would go on to inspire the sounds for The White Stripes. He met future collaborator and wife Megan White in a restaurant that she worked in when he was a senior at college, they began a courtship and quickly married.

Whilst finding his way in the music world, Jack was running an upholstery company called 'Your Furniture isn't Dead' during the day and moonlighting in local bands in the evenings to gain live experience and debut some of his solo material. It was only by chance that White began to play the drums yet after the couple branded themselves The White Stripes they scored their first live gig just two months later.

The pair publicly presented themselves as a brother/sister duo and kept a monochromatic theme whilst performing live, only wearing white, black and red. Jack enjoyed huge successes with the White Stripes, winning a handful of Grammy awards, critical acclaim for their revolutionary sounds and numerous sell out worldwide tours along with a prestigious headline slot at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival. In 2011 the band announced they would be splitting "mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band". Due to the successes of his work with White Stripes, Jack White had the chance to collaborate with many esteemed artists on his debut 'Blunderbuss' which was a huge success worldwide charting atop UK and US album charts and performed all over the world with his promotional campaign.

Still working on experimental blues rock, his 2014 LP 'Lazaretto' was another huge success and was applauded by critics for the intelligent minimalist style that has been consistent through his career. Jack White is an eccentric, mysterious artist who has kept the music at the heart of everything he has done.