Are there any Rise Against songs that just flat out can’t be done on an acoustic? Is The Eco-Terrorist In Me off the cards for a gentle strum?
“(Laughs) You never know! Sometimes you’ve got to get real imaginative to make it work. But I can't imagine State Of The Union working, it's just not going to be the same song – or Eco-Terrorist... and Dead Ringer. Acoustic guitars only sound so good played hard and fast, they don’t sound good that way. They require you to play with a little bit of finesse and then you have to find a way to sing to it. But that would be a fun challenge to take the songs that you think would be least acoustic appropriate, and then try to make them.”
Likewise, are there any Rise Against acoustic versions that you think are better than their original studio counterparts?
“Oh, that's a great question. I really like Faint Resemblance that we added on the ukulele for Ghost Notes and we've been doing Wait For Me me these shows that's pretty cool as a ballad-y kind of song. The Violence and Prayer For The Refugee worked out really great too, and Audience Of One is a good acoustic song, too. Some of them are just as good and some of the fans would argue are better as an acoustic.”
We spoke about how you had hesitance about playing Forfeit live. Now onto an older one: Rumours Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated is one of the best Rise Against songs ever and you never play it live… Level with us, what’s the deal?
“Oh my god (laughs). There are songs that we’ve never played live for all kinds of different reasons. First of all, it's got to be a song that all four of us – or at least one of us – has some sort of enthusiasm to push for it. I mean, no-one's ever pushed for that. It's funny you bring this up, because I had an issue with that song that I've since gotten over, but it really is a vocal thing. It was a challenging song vocally, especially in that pre-chorus when I sing, ‘When I dieeeeeee.’ Probably like five years ago, if you asked me to hit those notes in the middle of the show, I would just never hit them. And I'm actually a far more confident singer today as I sit here than I was five years ago, so I'm more open to try shit out! If somebody would have brought that song up before, unless someone in the band was really pushing for it, I was going to be like, ‘Let's not do that one.’ But if they brought it up now I'd be like, ‘Alright, I'm up to the challenge, let's do it!’”
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