At the time of my conversation with sole founding member and frontman Marc Riot in mid-November, the band, which also includes guitarists Kelley and Bryan, bassist Mike, and drummer Adam, were outside The Graceland just hours before they’d hit the stage at the Seattle, WA stop on the Death of a Nation tour supporting Anti-Flag, Against Me!, Rise Against, and None More Black.  Inquiring about being a part of this tour elicited much excitement from Marc, who said it’s “absolutely amazing,” adding between laughs, “It’s kind of just being a kid going on tour with bands that you like listen to all the time.”  Another thing that’s apparent while speaking with the vocalist is his respect for Anti-Flag, the band that signed Thought Riot to their A-F Records imprint.  With their questioning of society’s norms and the status quo as well as speaking about all things political, they make for a fitting addition to A-F.

However, things weren’t always so great for Marc and Thought Riot, which he started in the summer of ’97 directly after graduating high school.  The problems began early: only a year later, after procuring present bassist Mike, everyone else in the band had left and at that point, Marc says, “I didn’t know if I’d ever be in a band again.”  Still, Marc (who also plays guitar) and Mike kept writing songs and practicing, and in early 2000 fate stepped in when Kelley joined on guitar, bringing around a couple of her friends Brian and Brad, a guitarist and drummer, respectively.  In fact, Marc doesn’t even consider Thought Riot a band until gaining the three new members in 2000. 

With this line-up, Thought Riot made great strides, honing their skills and playing gigs, finally signing with A-F and putting out an incredible album in early 2002 entitled ‘Shattered Mirror Syndrome’ – truly one of the standouts that year.  Shortly after the debut LP was released and they hit the road for the ensuing tour, Brian and Brad left the band.  Well, to round out the line-up, another Bryan took the second guitar position – Marc and Mike had known him since kindergarten – and Adam, a friend throughout high school, took over on drums.

Now, a great aspect that differentiates Thought Riot from many other political-edged acts is the degree of hope dominating their songs on both their debut as well as the follow-up, the recently released ‘Sketches Of Undying Will’ – the title itself says it all.  Sure they speak of vast injustices in society and tackle bleak subject matter, but still they manage to transmit it all in a positive light.  What also adds to this encouraging and populist-type feel is the use of gang vocal choruses that are prevalent throughout their albums, lending to a real sense of solidarity and the idea that together, we CAN make a difference.  Just listen to the first song on the new record, “With Love, the Underground”, a wonderful opening track that is both invigorating and optimistic.  Basically, what the song is about is the good things that have gone on in the scene.  Like Marc says, “I wrote [it] because I was noticing a lot of times we just hear bands that focus on the negative…but there [weren’t] any…songs saying, ‘Here’s a pat on the back for being involved and being aware and talking to people,’” continuing, “Obviously it’s got its problems, but for the most part, we really help make our voices heard or at least the voices of dissent heard in the greater community.”  He goes on to mention how the people in the underground scene have helped make issues like the WTO, animal rights, and the anti-war sentiments known.  “I just think that’s absolutely amazing,” he concludes.  Subsequently, there is no doubt this man’s heart is embedded deep within the scene and in heightening awareness of important social issues.

On the same note, “Breaking Old Tablets”, the opening track from ‘Shattered Mirror Syndrome’, also conveys an important message, one about staying open-minded and questioning established ideas.  Yet, Marc takes it one step further, explaining, “The core of any…progressive music or ideas is that you have to be willing to challenge yourself.  Obviously you’re gonna challenge what everyone else says, but the ability to challenge yourself, if you don’t have that, then really you’re just spouting out someone else’s views.”  This specific idea is expounded on in a new song called “On New Tablets” as well as “Sign of the Times” from their debut, as they both pertain to being in control of your own life and that you need to do things because YOU want to do them, not because others dictate it.  Marc elaborates, “I kinda wrote ‘On New Tablets’ as maybe a little bit of a wake up call for some people to go, ‘You know what?  There is meaning here and being a part of the underground scene; let’s have the courage to actually live our lives like this.  Let’s not just let [punk] be a fashion.  Let’s make something really honest and true with it.’ ‘Cause it can be there, and it is there, and that’s why I wrote songs like ‘With Love, the Underground’.”

A line from “On New Tablets” – “Are we striving toward a cause/Or rebelling just because?” criticizes people who view the scene as just a fashion and don’t really think about how they can affect positive change.  About this situation, Marc says, “We see a lot of kids that come out to the [Anti-Flag shows particularly] that are doing things, they’re starting groups, they’re making fires, and then there are the kids that you just wonder,” the kids that are just there “because”, adding, “For some people, that’s what they do and they grow out of it, and other people, that’s really all they’re doing and I’m hoping that something can show them that there can be more to it.”  Still, as adamant Marc is about his politics in punk – “Everything I listen to usually has something to it,” citing favorites like Crass, Propaghandi, and Anti-Flag – he assures kids that even if they’re not into Thought Riot’s lyrics or the messages and just really love the music, it’s all right: “We’re cool with that too.  If you just wanna come and rock out, that’s ok,” although this counters how he approaches music.

And seeing how much thought and time the frontman puts into his lyrics, it would be nice if people would take the time to actually read them and try to get something out of them, which by the way, isn’t too difficult, as they’re so powerful.  The lyric writing process this second time around was even harder than for the debut, as Marc confesses with a laugh, “I was really, really fucking nervous because a lot of the feedback on the first album was how everyone seemed to like the lyrics, so it made it kind of a pressure that I never experienced before.”  He wanted to write even better lyrics than on the previous record, “so it took a lot [longer] and [I] was probably a little more stressed.”  He admits that he had been writing and reworking the lyrics for about a year, and hopes “they’re a little bit more poignant, a little bit more to the point, and maybe make you think in a different way.”  And that’s exactly the goal of Thought Riot, to offer up new ways of thinking.  It’s that simple.  In any case, mentioning that the lyrics seem quite poetical this time around, Marc asks, “Political or poetical?” almost in a shocked tone, going on to say, “I will take that as a compliment!”  He had actually started reading poetry while writing ‘Sketches’ so it seems as though the art rubbed off…

Being that while the band was in the process of writing their second album while everything was going down in Iraq, it’s only natural some references or feelings towards the war would come through their material.  And it does – take, for instance, “A song in Response to…” with distressing lines like “Calculations made in spite/While we police the world supplanting democracy with a smile reflected in a knife” and the excellent “Homeland Insecurites”, whose message really is so true.  On it, Marc pleads, “Selling out our civil liberties in exchange for illusion, deception” and sarcastically sings, “No peace without a cop posted on every corner/So please, relax/We’ve got you on our screen/You’re safe and sound.”  He, like most intelligent citizens, realizes what a joke all this beefed-up “security” is and what a farce the Patriot Act is, yet he reveals much hurt that so many have gone along with this “illusion”, that people don’t have enough sense to realize one can never be truly safe – no matter how many lies the government tells us. 

However, Marc and the band knew they didn’t want to write a record that was all “anti-war in Iraq” themed.  They knew it would be done, and it has.  The challenge Marc sees in writing material is being original.  He posits questions such as “How do you still try to not do what everyone else is doing?”  Therefore, he made a conscious effort to only write a couple songs pertaining to the topic – “A Song in Response to…” and “Homeland Insecurities”, which as aforementioned, deals with the after effects of 9/11 on this nation.  Marc summarizes the whole phenomenon and obsession as a “hysterical, fanatical grasp at this thing called safety and security that just does not exist.”

For an enlightened listening experience, pick up Thought Riot’s ‘Sketches Of Undying Will’ and while you’re at it, their debut ‘Shattered Mirror Syndrome’ as well.  It cannot be stressed enough how important records like these are nowadays.  Likewise, as Marc advises, if you want to know more about topics that the band touches upon check out Underground Action Alliance via www.anti-flag.com and also the band’s own Website www.thoughtriot.com. 

According to Marc, Thought Riot will be dedicating 2004 to touring in support of ‘Sketches’.  After their stint on the Death of a Nation tour, they’ll take time off – from touring at least – to work work work.  “Over the last five months, we’ve basically been on tour four months…and so we haven’t had time to work, so we’re running on pennies and dimes right now,” he quips.  After they earn some much-needed cash, some weekend tours through California, Oregon, and Nevada are likely throughout January and February, and then in March they’re hoping to get to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  Asking about when us poor East Coasters will have an opportunity to see them, he says they’re planning on getting out here in “early, early May.”