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Anti-Flag.
 Before the call even came through, I knew this interview wasn't going to be so much about the music. Sure, Anti-Flag are amazing and they're excited about their first Australian tour, but it's not difficult to see where the band's heart, soul and minds truly are: using the power they have as a band to inspire fans, change the world, and generally fuck with the government that's been forced upon them. You know, all the stuff punk bands used to do.
"Yeah, we've been part of PunkVoter.com and all of that but Anti-Flag's been rocking against people like Bush for far longer than George W Bush Jr has been around," explains guitarist Chris Head. "What is happening and what is popular in culture, that's all dictated by society. And what's happening in all of our societies right now is there's war going on, and that's what I think has re-lit the fire. Punk bands who back in 2000 wrote an album about heartbreak and how my girlfriend dumped me are now writing about politics; but a lot of people are saying 'Oh, you're just trying to cash in!' and nothing pushes my buttons more than that. If we were trying to cash in, we'd just write a song called America Is The Best and we'd be selling millions of albums because, as the election results have proved, there are far more people involved in the pro-America movement than we could've ever imagined. But do we try and convert these people, or do we just accept that they are lost souls and go on without them? Because we're always trying to take new ideas to people - and we always will - but are there some who are unreachable? I don't know."
Like so many others who are part of this new political movement, Chris Head manages to put a positive spin on a bad situation. "I think the only good thing that Bush has brought the world is that he's inspired what was an un-inspirable group of people. He's lit a fire under everyone's asses to really pay attention to what's happening in the world. One of the things which is interesting is how there was this great build-up of the anti-Bush Regime movement. And when the election came, everyone was sort of holding their breath and waiting for the apocalypse. But what they don't understand is that in late November, everything had stopped. It's only now that things are starting up again, and that they're trying to introduce all this crazy legislation we've been waiting for. And the scary stuff is what's going to be happening over the next four years, and it's going to happen slowly, strategically and before you know it we'll be in jail for having a 'bad name' like Anti-Flag. I mean, The Patriot Act Part 2 is already being written," he laughs. "But when it comes down to it, all we have is our voice, stirring up hell and letting them know that just because George Bush may have got more votes, it does not mean that he has a mandate."
So for the record, once and for all: does Anti-Flag hate America? "No! We don't hate America at all. I don't hate anywhere. The name Anti-Flag really comes into things when I speak to people like you: I don't see you as Australian, I see you as a human being. I don't see a person from Germany as being German. The focus really needs to be more on people. Right now it's so easy to sit here and say 'Yeah, drop a bomb on them. They're different than us!' but when you really put it into perspective, they're people too. And if you travel around like we've had the fortune of doing, you find and meet like-minded people. Even when we travel to somewhere like Japan, which we're going to for the first time just before we hit Australia, we might not understand each other. But once we get through that language barrier, we find we all really came from the same background.
"Really, I'm just really excited to come out and shake people's hands that I've never shaken before, talk with people I've never talked to before. We are still about coming out and playing music. But our shows are more than just music turned up live - we try and communicate a sense of community and brotherhood and sisterhood and whatever else, which is far more important to us."
Ryan Smith
 | Anti-Flag play at the Adelaide UniBar on Sun 20 Feb with The Lawrence Arms. |
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