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Rise Against Delivers: Much More Than a “One-Hit Wonder” and Punk Band

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Punk rock group Rise Against is on a fast rise in America’s music scene. The band started as in Chicago in 1999, and changed its name in 2000 before it struck a record deal with Fat Wreck Chords, headed by Fat Mike of NOFX. These days, the group is continuing to record under the Geffen label, which is part of Universal Music Group.

Bandmembers include Tim McIlrath, on lead vocals and guitar, Brandon Barnes, percussionist, Joe Principe on bass and Zach Blair, also on guitar. Everyone except Brandon Barnes is heavily involved in PETA and is a devoted vegetarian. Early on, the band had a few changes, but its core members are now solid and cohesive, partners both personally and professionally.

The band had its first contract with Fat Wreck Chords, a place many top acts have gotten their start. The band has toured hard and its hard work has begun to pay off. Music and merchandise began to flow and to attract attention as the band played with groups like Strung Out, NOFX, Sick of It All, and AFI. In 2003’s Warped Tour, major record companies began to notice the group and came to call on them. By 2004, the group had had one of its biggest accomplishments, making the first of its albums under the Geffen label. In 2004, their album, Siren Song of the Counter Culture, was released.

With that, the group began to appear on the Billboard charts, and finally got a gold record. In 2006, they recorded The Sufferer and the Witness. This album hit the Billboard charts at number 10 and sold almost 50,000 copies during its first week. Some of the top songs for the band during 2004 through 2006 were Prayer of the Refugee,” “The Good Left Undone,” “Give It All,” and “Swing Life Away.” In 2008, their album Appeal to Ransom was released. It contains such hits as “Reeducation through Labor” and “Audience of One.”

Rise Against keeps on touring and works constantly in the studios and on stage, and has released there own brand of Rise Against merch. Their efforts have produced a much bigger fan base, but the edgy punk sound has mellowed to some extent. Fans don’t really care about this, though, because the group’s talent and drive continued to be the catalyst for their great musical talents, and they are continually on show. In 2009, the band will tour again in Canada and the United States, with punk bands Billy Talent, Rancid, and the Riverboat Gamblers.





The guitars that your metal heroes have endorsed

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There are mixed feelings in the guitaring community about signature models -they are customized for another person, not you, and cost alot more because of the name on them. Here’s a few of the signature guitars out there for the ‘metallers’.

Dean Guitars ‘Dimebag Darrell’ range. The average guitarist will have one guitar made for them -Dimebag has a range of 33 guitars made in his memory. The Pantera guitarist died tragically in 2004, and since then Dean have supplied us with a whole range of Dimebag guitars, shaped as flying Vs or Explorers. Depending on the age of the guitar depends of what Pickups you get – EMGs or ‘Dimebuckers’. So select your choice of pickup and decide which of the 33 looks best to you and enjoy hours upon hours of metal. If Dimebag was your hero, this is the range to look at prices range from the ‘dimeblade’ at £219 to the ‘rebel razorback’ at £3500 -so choose wisely.

BC Rich Kerry King Signature series. Not to be outdone, One half of Slayer’s guitaring duo Kerry King, has his own signature range. Available as either a flying V or Explorer shaped guitar as well, painted with tribal designs to match his head tattoos, these guitars look as mean as their owner, but how do they sound? Not bad, they certainly go along way to helping you achieve that harsh ‘Slayer’ guitar tone.The range has BC Rich’s own brand of pickups in them to give the guitar a little added kick.

Jackon’s Phil Demell guitar. Created with help from Machine Head’s lead guitarist Phil Demell, the Jackson guitar has one hell of a kick to it. The guitar has EMG pickups and is shaped like a flying V and ready to tear your head off. Expensive at £1100m but if you’ve got your money and love your metal its the guitar to go for, and it comes tuned to drop B as well.

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Train Your Voice To Sing Higher With These Tips

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A few points to remember about expanding your vocal abilities are as follows.

Before you work on extreme methods of singing high notes, be sure you understand the basics of vocal production. This is absolutely necessary. Your voice can be damaged if you do not comprehend how it works to begin with. You know how a hoarse voice feels if you scream at a baseball game one day and can hardly talk the next.

Vocal ranges are defined as soprano, alto, tenor and bass. SATB is the acronym which refers to the vocal ranges. Your range is defined as the lowest note you can sing pleasantly most of the time to the highest. Your teacher can help you define what your range is or you can go up from middle C until you can no longer comfortably go and downward in the same way. You can refine your range only when you know what it is.

In order that you do not set yourself up for failure, set an achievable goal. If you want to be reasonable, do not set a goal of reaching an extra octave of range in the near future. You may incur lasting injury to your vocal cords if you choose such a goal. Practice and diligence are the only things that will bring results. Always warm up your voice before attempting to stretch it, just like a runner. Warming up is done by all singers and with good reason.

Your voice will become better with time and practice. Runners and singers must follow the same rules in this regard.

Always get guidance from an instructor or program in order to improve. Teacher to student is the best way, albeit expensive. Many online programs offer a perfectly acceptable alternative to the teacher and student relationship.

While you practice your singing at home, try these two ideas.

Exercise standing, facing a mirror. In this way you can observe the position of your jaw and chest. Your posture should be correct and your jaw should not reach up for the high note. It is a natural inclination to reach with your posture, but this harms your ability to hit the note.

None of us hear ourselves the way we actually sound, record yourself and see. It is a shock at first to hear what you sound like, but if you continue to use this valuable tool you will get better even quicker. If you record a lesson you can go over and over it to pick it apart, so to speak. Money for lessons is not easy to come by, get the most out of your lessons.

In the state-of-the-art study of singing, time and effort will produce the best results if you want to become a better singer.

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