Tonight We're Gonna Give it 35%

Hello. My name is Malice. I live a few blocks from Times Square in New York City. What am I doing Friday night, you ask...?

I'm going to The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale. To see the band AGAINST ME! perform their musical numbers.

I wasn't aware of the existence of AGAINST ME! until about a week ago. Since then, I've been familiarizing myself with their oeuvre whilst cleansing my demons at the gym. Their first full-length album was called "Reinventing Axl Rose". I like Axl Rose. The album and the title track don't really have anything to do with Axl Rose, except maybe in some sort of spirit (or critique).



Sample of lyrics from "Reinventing Axl Rose":

We want a band that plays loud and hard every night.
That doesn't care how many people are counted at the door.
That would travel one million miles and ask for nothing but a plate of food and a place to rest.
They'd strike chords that cut like a knife.
It would mean so much more than a t-shirt or ticket stub.
They would stop at nothing short of a massacre.
Everyone would leave with the memory that there was no place else in the world and this was where they always belonged.

They are a punk rock band with a sound that has begun to sound more poppy with their more recent albums. (To the dismay of some of their fans, but you can never please people.)

An interview with Tom Gabel of AGAINST ME! from a few years back.

A more recent interview with Tom Gabel of AGAINST ME!, concerning their upcoming album "White Crosses".

This track, "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart" off their last album NEW WAVE, features Tegan Quin from TEGAN AND SARA:


This is what's happening.

[UPDATE]
Found this interview with Tom Gabel from June 2008 where he actually talks about Axl Rose a bit...



I'll accept the jabs, though I do believe the racism and homophobia has been blown out of proportion—particularly when you take into consideration some of the other metal bands of that era, and personalities that have flourished since then (e.g., Eminem). Chinese Democracy (which came out a few months after this interview) has no signs of racism or homophobia. Ending Axl Rose defending now.