Political punk rockers Anti-Flag have never been shy about speaking their minds on the current governmental issues and social injustices facing the world, and 2015’s American Spring is no different. The Pittsburgh-based band is spending much of the year bringing their brand of rock around the world, including an Australian tour with Pennywise and multiple trips through Europe. Bassist Chris “No. 2” Barker shook off the jetlag and took a few minutes out of his travel schedule to talk to Myspace about the new album, political punk rock, and (of course) hockey.

How would you describe American Spring?

The reason you make a record is to leave something behind. American Spring is a collection of songs we hope to leave behind. When people look at back at this time in history and see who the voices of dissent were, they see these four kids from Pittsburgh in a band who were speaking out against the seemingly endless police brutality in 2015 and the drone strikes carried out by a president who was previously seen as an anti-war president. It’s also about how you would react in a lot of these situations, which I think makes it the most personal Anti-Flag record we’ve done. 

Anti-Flag’s sound has evolved a lot over the last 19 years. What do you think contributes to that?

We’re constantly trying to be better as a band and be better songwriters. We’ve seen what works on a song, we’ve seen what’s inflammatory, and we’ve seen how we can musically marry a song to the message of the song. There are also some years where we play over 200 shows, so we all get better at our instruments.

It’s also about the relationships we’ve made over time. We worked with Tom Morello for the first time on The Terror State (2003), and he’s still in our lives today. He plays on a track on American Spring, and just to have someone with that kind of talent around makes us better.

Is there some extra responsibility to be in one of the most outspoken political bands of this era, compared to a band that writes about relationships and daily life?

The responsibility is really to ourselves. If we’re not working to make a change every time we play a song, it’s a disservice to ourselves and to the community. For example, the last two records (2009’s The People or the Gun and 2012’s The General Strike), we went from a major label (RCA, until 2009) to our friend’s label (SideOneDummy). They’re still good, but there’s definitely a sense of complacency in them. We were kind of coasting, and that’s not what we want to be doing. American Spring is us returning with the political ideals that were the reasons we picked up instruments in the first place. It’s important that we walk in step with the songs we play.

Anti-Flag always puts on such a high-energy live show. What’s your advice to a new band looking to work on their live performances?

It’s really about treating it as your craft. There are some times when we’re in week four of a tour and playing a small show to 150-200 kids somewhere in Europe or the Midwest. When we’re playing smaller venues, it’s about finding the things that make you passionate about playing music. We found it in the community. Even if it’s only 100 kids there, that’s 100 kids who really believe in the punk rock scene. They’re not there because it’s cool, no one told them to go there. They’re there because they care about punk rock, the scene and the community.

My advice to a band in general is to just do it. Don’t do something because you think you’re supposed to do it or because you think you’re supposed to sound a certain way. The way Anti-Flag works, we fall on our faces sometimes because not everything we do works. Sometimes we put out music like American Spring and it gets a great reaction, and sometimes we put out music that doesn’t get as much of a reaction, but we keep doing it.

As a hockey fan, who’s going to win the Stanley Cup next year?

Every offseason, I have to say the Pittsburgh Penguins. I don’t think it’ll be the Blackhawks this year. I could see Pittsburgh and LA in the Finals, but it could be someone we haven’t seen, like St. Louis. It would be cool if Calgary made a big run again, but it’s my duty as a fan to say Pittsburgh. I’ll take the Penguins at least until official rosters are released, then I’ll make a more informed pick.