ANTI-FLAG

Anti-Flag is a punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, formed in 1988, and known for its outspoken left-wing political views. Much of the band's lyrics have focused on fervent anti-war activism, criticism of United States foreign policy, corporatism, U.S. wealth distribution, and various sociopolitical sentiments. The line-up includes singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic, who founded the band; later members are guitarist Chris Head, and singer/bassist Chris Barker who replaced Jamie "Cock" Towns, who had replaced original bassist Andy Flag in 1997 following his departure one year prior. Anti-Flag is known also for their advocacy of progressive political action groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International. Most recently, the band has focused criticism on the United States bailouts, which were executed to give massive portions of capital directly towards salvaging the national banks.[2]




Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Early years (1988–1995)

1.2 First three albums (1996–1999)

1.3 Fat Wreck Chords (2000–2004)

1.4 RCA (2005–2009)

1.5 SideOneDummy (2009-present)

2 Activism

3 Symbol

4 Criticism

5 Band members

5.1 Former members

6 Discography

7 References

8 External links



[edit] History

[edit] Early years (1988–1995)

Anti-Flag was formed in 1988 by singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic. During the band's early years, various guitarists and bassists moved in and out of the band, including Justin's sister, Lucy Fester (aka Lucy Geever-Conroy) formerly of Chicago band Toothpaste. The band failed to solidify, and it fell apart after playing just one show.[3] In 1993, Justin and Pat reformed the band, now with Andy Flag on bass.



[edit] First three albums (1996–1999)

In 1996, the band released their first album, Die For the Government, on New Red Archives. Andy Flag left the band in the summer of 1996 because of personal disputes between himself and Justin. For a brief time after Andy's departure in 1996, Sean Whelan of Pittsburgh band the Bad Genes filled in on bass. It was during this time that Sean was also playing in another band (57 Defective) with guitarist Chris Head, whom he introduced to the band.



In early 1997, Pittsburgh guitarist Chris Head began filling in on bass. In late 1997, Jamie Cock took over as the new bassist, moving Chris Head over to second guitar, which he preferred. The current line-up finalized in 1999 when Chris Barker, also known as Chris #2, replaced Jamie Cock on bass.



In 1998, the band released their second full-length release, Their System Doesn't Work For You. The album contained all nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well as 10 new unreleased songs. The band decided to release the album independently, and Their System Doesn't Work For You became the debut release for the band's own A-F Records.



In 1999, Anti-Flag released the album A New Kind of Army on Go-Kart Records/A-F Records. The album addressed a wide variety of topics such as political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity within the American youth. The cover art page unfolded into a poster featuring the phrase "Too smart to fight. Too smart to kill. Join now. A new kind of army." In addition to this, the band had a disclaimer at the bottom of its album cover saying,"Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means unity."