R: Who are Anti-Flag’s biggest influences?

Chris #2: Well… most of them are musical influences, like Billy Bragg, The Clash, The Dead Kennedy’s, and some newer influences on me, like Dead to Me, Strike Anywhere. But I think you’ve got to look at how these bands have referenced the state of the world around them, and look at it in a challenging view, trying to push for progression, and try to make humanity to move forward. Like, you would say, Woody Guthrie is inspired by Martin Luther King. For me, the most inspiring thing is playing music, meeting new people, and that gives you the energy to get up each day, and carry on working.

R: What was it like working with Billy Talent?

Chris #2: Awesome. We have played so many shows with those guys, and are great friends with them. We met them on a Warped Tour in North America, probably five or six years ago. We’ve stayed in contact, and have a lot of shared interests and shared friends. I called them to sing on a song of ours called ‘Wake the Town’, and a couple of weeks later, they called us to sing on their song. I think that any time you can open that door, and incorporate your good friends into your musical life, that’s awesome.

R: Out of your records, which do you like the best?

Chris #2: It’s tough. There are some songs that I really like on each record. The reason why we’re still a band is that there are some tracks on each record that work, and that last as long as we do. I definitely think that the record we’re working on now, has the potential to be my favourite. We have a record called ‘For Blood and Empire’, I like to think people don’t get bored with that one. Sometimes it’s difficult, you make mistakes. It’s just like anything in life, whether you’re driving a car, riding a bike, writing a poem. When you make a record you have the chance to stumble onto something that’s awesome. You could drive down the road, and the parking space you want could be there, or you can fucking drive around the block a thousand times, and can never find it. There’s real life that goes into making records. Sometimes you capture those moments, and sometimes in retrospect, you think - that song should have been a lot shorter than we made it!’.

R: What’s wrong with the world today?!

Chris #2: There’s a lot… look at America. Look at Barack Obama being elected. We talk about all of these barriers that we’re knocking down, against racism, yet we have California, which is supposed to be the most liberal state in America, banning gay marriage. And we’re like ‘Wait a minute, I thought we were progressing’. Then we go to Colorado, and Colorado, in the same election that Barack Obama wins, they repeal Affirmative Action laws. Barack Obama and his wife had both credited Affirmative Action in helping them advance in their lives. And it’s like, ‘what the fuck is going on? I thought we were being progressive’. There’s a lot of hate, a lot of misunderstanding, and a lot of inequality in the world. As a band, our role in all of this is to meet people, write songs, play shows, and talk about the fact that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of the colour of skin, straight or gay, male or female, big or small. I don’t think we’re going to write a song that’s going to change a world, music and records and t-shirts don’t do that. We are getting ready, that’s we’re all about. Being ready to help out, whenever the movement is. That’s the thing with Barack Obama. This is an opportunity to advance, we seized it. We just have to keep pushing. In four years, we’ll get rid of that dude, and get someone in who’s better than him!

R: What one thing would you change about the world?

Chris #2: I would make it illegal for any politician around the world to get money for their campaign. Whether it’s lobbyists in all of our governments, corporations have far too much of a role in the worlds governments. Things are being done in the interest of profits, and not in the interests of the people. It’s an absolutely flawed system.

R: You mentioned your new record, when’s that going to be out?

Chris #2: I think in June… we’re doing the Warped Tour in the US, and would like to get it out for that tour. We’ve finished recording it; it’s pretty fast, pretty aggressive. We’ve tracked 17 songs, I’m hoping we’ll get it down to a smaller number, 10 or 11, something like that, make it 30 minutes long, and it kicks your ass. With ‘The Bright Lights of America’ we did a record that was 50 minutes long, longer songs. This is the antithesis of that. In my mind, it’s just going to be something you can listen to over and over again, whereas ‘Bright Lights’ was something you sat with and digested.