Anti-Flag bassist Chris #2 (pictured second right) has revealed to Kerrang! that their new album The Bright Lights Of America will challenge their fans' ideas of what the band are all about.
"We had that in our minds as a plan before we even started," explains the bassist. "We wanted to engage people with it, we wanted people that expect the political slantings of Anti-Flag to see the title and say 'The Bright Lights Of America is obviously the bombs being dropped in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's obviously the race for economic stardom that seems to have engulfed everyone's lives in this country'.
"But to us, the album is about hope and the four of us surviving in this insane world that we live in. It's stories about growing up and why we're here and why we feel the way that we do, why we feel that a person's race and economic status - whether they're straight or gay, male or female - does not dictate the success that they should have in life. That's essentially what the record means to us!"
The album - recorded in Lexington, Kentucky with producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, Morrisey) - was written and recorded over a three-month period - a long time for the punks, whose last album For Blood And Empire, was made in three weeks.
"There was very little left up to guesswork other than the things that we wanted to be spontaneous," says Chris. "There are a lot of gambles for us on this album. A lot of songs we wrote are about things very different from the norm."
The bassist reveals that the murder of his sister and her boyfriend in early 2007 had a massive impact on the album's lyrical approach.
"So many people reached out and consoled me during that time," he explains. "I think that there's a lot more personal political messages on this record, more than ever. I think that from us people expect socio-global political songs. I think that there's a lot about the individuals that make up the world on this record, more so than ever. I'm looking forward to playing these songs for a very long time."
The Bright Lights Of America is out now via Hassle. The band will play Give It A Name in May and a series of UK shows.
Just goes to show how badly they're struggl...
