PITTSBURGH — Anti-Flag is becoming an anomaly in the rock world, entering 2023 with the same four guys who solidified the band in 1999.
There's a reason for the longevity, says drummer Pat Thetic.
"It's really unusual — incredibly unusual — and it's a testament to the fact that we have a mission with the band. We have a belief structure, and we make allowances to be able to keep that mission going."
That included spending the latter part of '22 touring every weekend, as far as Montreal and Alabama, even though two of the members — Thetic and guitarist Chris Head — now have small children at home.
"Rock 'n' roll disrupts your relationships, you know. That's the nature of the beast," the drummer says. "We thought doing weekends would make it less disruptive. But, to be honest with you, after doing this for 25, 30 years, there's no way to do rock 'n' roll without it being disruptive to your personal life. It's just the nature of it."
This will be another busy year, as the Pittsburgh punk band launches it with the release of its 13th album, "Lies They Tell Our Children," the follow-up to 2020's "20/20 Vision." The album, produced by Jon Lundin (Good Charlotte, Senses Fail, Sleeping With Sirens), was recorded at the band's new headquarters in Sharpsburg, with the drums cut at Mr. Smalls Studio.
The band considers it a concept album about an American political system "that's putting profit above people," in the words of co-frontman Chris #2.
The band is at the top of its game on a loud and boisterous set of protest anthems tackling such issues as political corruption ("Sold Everything"), for-profit health care ("Modern Meta Medicine"), the treatment of immigrants ("Shallow Graves") and the exploitation of workers ("WORK_STRUGGLE").
Straying from its tried-and-true thrashy punk, Anti-Flag provides tasty elements of screamo, pop and Celtic punk with an array of special guests, including Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage), Tim McIrath (Rise Against), Brian Baker (Bad Religion), Ashrita Kumar (Pinkshift), Shane Told (Silverstein) and Stacey Dee (Bad Cop/Bad Cop).
"It was a conscious attempt," Thetic says. "We're like, 'All right, let's try and bring other voices on to our record and see how it goes.' They do this in hip-hop all the time. In rock, it's not really done.
"It's awesome to do it because within rock you see people all the time in passing on tours and doing different events but you don't really get to actually work together. It's like opening up a present when you get their version back and you open it up on the computer and it's like 'Oh [expletive], that sounds awesome!'
Bringing in Leach, for example, on "Meta Modern Medicine" makes the song one of the heaviest that Anti-Flag has ever recorded.
"He may not be completely in line with us, musically, but socially and politically, he's very similar to what we're trying to achieve," Thetic says.
Kumar's contribution to "Imperialism" makes the song pop-catchy while also "changing the whole perspective from just geopolitical imperialism to a personal level of imperialism," Thetic says.
As for the choice of Lundin as producer, Thetic says, "He brought an energy and a focus on modern music that we struggle with and a focus on the technology, because we are not as skilled in the technology, obviously, of getting great guitar sounds and great drum sounds. He helped us find the sound we were looking for."
Anti-Flag will hit the road in February on a cross-country U.S. tour and return to Europe in June to deliver the band's message, which they've always described as anti-war, anti-imperialist and anti-Wall Street but not anti-American.
It's the message that will keep driving Anti-Flag toward a 25th anniversary with this same lineup.
"We've been able to be consistent," Thetic says, "in that we agree on all the same tactics and beliefs. Sometimes the details of how to achieve the goals differ, but the goals of the band have always been the same. We don't argue in the band about what battles were fighting. We might argue about whether this chord is the right chord or not, or whether this drum part is to this or too that, but the main mission of the band has been the same from the beginning, and we've all been consistent on that."
"Lies They Tell Our Children" was released on Friday.
