If there’s one thing you can count on with Against Me!, it’s the passion. They’re dedicated to their ideals and to a raucous stage show. But even the intellectual and reasonable folk-punks from Florida can go beyond being impassioned to the realm of straight irked. And for their new album White Crosses, all it took was a local church and a few pieces of wood to send them into a manic delirium.
“[There were] 4,000 white crosses, each about a foot high off the ground, and a big billboard with a bunch of children’s faces and this thing explaining what it was,” lead singer Tom Gabel said in an interview with ChartAttack regarding the nearby Prince Of Peace Votive Church’s pro-life display. “It was called the Cemetery Of The Innocents, and there was one cross to represent every abortion that happens in America every day, statistically. I had to look at it every day, just going to practice, going home, going to the grocery store, just seeing it every day. It was huge, massive. I would just, daily, fantasize about getting out of my car or getting off my bike and stomping every one of them into the ground.”
And that kind of anger shows on the album, which is due out May 4th. With a bare bones tracklist of 10 songs, including titles like “Because of the Shame” and Suffocation”, not to mention a smoking hot lady on the album cover (see what we mean above), the rage is pretty palpable on this one.
But never ones to give into their baser instincts, Gabel and the band took that energy and turned into some healthy self-deprecation and satire, like with the album’s first single, “I Was A Teenage Anarchist”, which is tentatively scheduled for release on April 27th.
“I’m no longer a teenager, I’m grown up, and for me, a lot of this record was me spending time reflecting on the past when I was writing,” Gabel said about the song. “When I think back to my past, I was a teenage anarchist, and my experiences in the anarcho-punk scene were that the people saying the loudest that they were the most open-minded people were in fact the most closed-minded people. But the song has the autobiographical elements, but it’s also just that feeling when you’re young and you’re so inspired and ready to take on the world, and that was what drew me towards anarchism in the first place, you know?”
White Crosses is in stores on May 4th via Sire Records. See the band on tour starting April 16th in Greenville, SC. (Tickets here). Find all the info, along with the preview of “I Was A Teenage Anarchist”, below.
White Crosses Tracklist:
01. White Crosses
02. Teenage Anarchist
03. Because of the Shame
04. Suffocation
05. We’re Breaking Up
06. High Pressure Low
07. Ache With Me
08. Spanish Moss
09. Rapid Decompression
10. Bamboo Bones
Against Me! 2010 Tour Dates:
04/16 – Greenville, SC @ The Handlebar *#
04/17 – Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz *#
04/18 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson Theater *#
04/20 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House *#
04/21 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hal l*#
04/22 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig Music *#
04/23 – Toledo, OH @ Headliners In Toledo, Ohio *#
04/24 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom *#
04/25 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *#
04/26 – New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place Of New Haven *#
04/28 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall *#
04/29 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony *#
04/30 – Farmingdale, NY @ Crazy Donkey *#
05/02 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Diesel Club Lounge
05/04 – Rock Island, IL @ Rock Island Brewing Co. *#
05/05 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown *#
05/08 – Henderson, NV @ Punk Rock Bowling at Sunset Staton Hotel And Casino
05/10 – Lubbock, TX @ Jake’s Sports Cafe And Backroom
05/11 – San Antonio, TX @ Scout BAR
05/24 – Munich, DE @ 59:1
05/25 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor Koln
05/26 – Hamburg, DE @ LOGO Hamburg
05/27 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
05/29 – Hatfield, UK @ The Forum at University Of Hertfrdshire (Slam Dunk Festival)
05/30 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds University Union at UniversityOf Leeds (Slam Dunk Festival)
05/31 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow (Slam DunkFestival)
06/01 – London, UK @ The Relentless Garage
06/02 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 3
06/03 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy 2
06/13 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
08/12 – Oslo, NO @ Middelalderparken (Oyafestivalen)
08/15 – Korso, FI @ Ankkarock Festival
* = w/ Dead To Me
# = w/ Moneybrother
