'Old school mentality': Rise Against delves into 'deep cuts' on headline tour

Punk rock outfit, Rise Against, is using its current tour as an outlet to revisit and celebrate its catalog of music.

“We’ve been a band for almost 25 years and I feel like when you hit that milestone, you should celebrate what you’ve accomplished and your legacy,” said Joe Principe, bassist, backing vocalist, and co-founder of Rise Against. “And, play songs that maybe we’ve forgotten about or we forgot what they mean to fans.”

Rise Against performs with openers L.S. Dunes and Cloud Nothings on Monday, Nov. 11, at Revel Entertainment Center.

Over the years, Rise Against has seen the days of radio singles shift to streaming. The shift has influenced the band’s rotating set lists.

“There’s songs that we thought were deep cuts that are very popular,” Principe said. “We still have that old school mentality. But, we realized, like, ‘Hey, we should kind of just celebrate the band and what we’ve accomplished.’ It’s been super fun because we’ve been doing free rotating set lists and within those set lists, we kind of swap out songs here and there. It keeps it interesting for us. I love playing in general, but when you’re playing the same set your whole tour, it gets a little bit like Groundhog’s Day.”

It has been a few years since Rise Against has released new music. Most recently, its album, “Nowhere Generation” debuted in June 2021 at the top of multiple Billboard charts, according to a band news release. The band followed up with a one-year anniversary celebration of the album and dropped a five-song EP, “Nowhere Generation II,” in June 2022.

Fans will not have to wait too much longer with the band planning to release new music in the near future.

“We are kind of gearing up to have new music out next year,” Principe said. “Nothing is set in stone yet. There are no exact dates, but we are kind of prepping behind the scenes for that.”

Principe elaborated further about the new project by saying the band has “definitely recorded an album.”

“We’re just trying to figure out the best time to release new music, and we do plan on being on tour all of next year,” he added. “We definitely have a busy year ahead of us, but we just wanted to knock the dust off and get back out there.”

Rise Against’s last tour was with The Used about two years ago. The band unexpectedly canceled its Albuquerque date on the day of the show, leaving fans disappointed and wondering what happened. Principe vaguely recalls the show being canceled due to Tim McIlrath, Rise Against lead singer and rhythm guitarist, getting sick and losing his voice.

“Oh, wow, we owe you guys,” Principe said of making it up to Albuquerque for the cancellation.

Principe said the band is fortunate to have fans that have followed it for years and continue to introduce its music to younger generations.

“You see parents and kids and anyone in between,” he said of the shows. “We’ve always been very lucky in that regard. I would say almost every show on this tour is sold out, which is amazing. And it’s great to see what we’ve done over the years (has) resonated with a lot of people and it’s still stuck with them.”