Tim McIlrath Talks Punk Protest Music

Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against talked with Brooklyn Vegan about their new song:

If you can believe it, I wrote this song before the protests and pandemics of 2020. The music is almost a year old at this point, but I didn’t get around to fleshing out the lyrics til late last year/early this year – before the pandemic and the resurgence of the BLM movement. I guess if I had to explain why they sound like they were written this year, it’s because I’ve always trafficked in dystopian imagery. When you do that, you are sort of looking into the crystal ball and trying to see where things are going if we keep going in the current direction. I didn’t think we’d be here now today. But it didn’t stop me from writing “Broken Dreams, Inc.”

Interview: Jeremy Bolm of Touché Amoré

Touche Amore

After the emotional toll 2016’s Stage Four took out of Jeremy Bolm, Lament feels like the Touché Amoré vocalist finally coming up from under the weight of that record for some much needed air. “Stage Four was a mandatory record for my well-being,” explains Bolm. “I wasn’t as focused on doing everything perfect as I was doing it to feel better.” Lament is the band putting in the best work of their decade-plus career – if there’s been one constant about Touché Amoré, it’s that the Los Angeles-based band has always given a shit. From the art direction to the visuals to the actual music, nothing about this band is ever half-assed, so it makes total sense why the quintet would seek out “The Godfather of Nu-Metal” Ross Robinson (a man who’s had his hands on little-known records like Korn’s self-titled album, Iowa, Relationship of Command, Worship & Tribute – just to name a few of the records that completely changed aggressive music) to produce the band’s fifth album. Robinson pushed Touché to their absolute best, resulting in some of the most challenging yet rewarding, genre-pushing music of 2020. “I can comfortably say I’m proud of this album more than any other in our discography,” says Bolm. Below, we discussed working with Robinson, how the Andy Hull collaboration came about, and the genesis behind the best Touché Amoré songs ever.

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SongKit App Review

Apps

Brian Sutich reviewed the new songwriting app SongKit for Chasing Sound:

You can think of SongKit as a super powered, musician-focused songwriting text editor. And the difference from other songwriting apps I’ve tested over the years are significant. SongKit is way more than just a nice coat of paint.

You can write lyrics, chord charts, and even tab. The power comes in when using notations. Right now there are chord chart and tablature notations, and it seems like more will be on the way in future updates of the app! You can use multiple voices in a song, and in my testing of the app, found that if you had two voices (guitar and piano) you could switch back and forth, and the chord diagrams would adjust accordingly – a really nice touch. If you’re using the app live or for practice, there’s a helpful autoscroll option that scrolls the song depending on your preferences.