The Bass Shed Podcast
THE BASS SHED PODCAST is a collection of in-depth interviews with Double Bassists & Electric Bassists from all over the world. Hosted by Los Angeles freelance Bassist Ryan Roberts, each interview examines artistry, career, culture in a personal ad relaxed style. Rated in the top 10% of ALL podcasts in the world, and listened to in more than 80 countries, The Bass Shed Podcast is a valuable resource for every bassist of any genre.
The Bass Shed Podcast
EP 151 - Joe Principe (Rise Against)
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Joe Principe has spent more than two decades anchoring the low end for Rise Against, helping build one of punk rock's most influential and enduring bands.
In this episode of The Bass Shed Podcast, Joe reflects on the band's origins following the breakup of 88 Fingers Louie, how Rise Against came together, and the challenges of building a career from the Chicago punk scene. He shares stories from the early years, the breakthrough success of Revolutions Per Minute, and how the band has remained committed to its values while evolving musically.
Joe also offers an inside look at the making of Rise Against's latest album, Ricochet, discussing the band's approach to the record, how they view each album as a snapshot of who they are creatively, and why staying authentic has always mattered more than chasing trends.
Beyond the music, the conversation explores balancing family life with decades of touring, raising independent and open-minded children, the influence of punk culture, veganism, activism, and using a platform to support meaningful causes. Joe also discusses his bass influences, evolving gear, touring rig, and why playing with a pick remains central to his sound.
Whether you're a bassist, songwriter, or lifelong punk fan, this episode offers an honest conversation about longevity, creativity, and staying true to your convictions.
Joe Principe & Rise Against
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https://riseagainst.com
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https://www.facebook.com/riseagainst
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https://www.youtube.com/@RiseAgainst
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Jerry Jemmott: 15 Timeless Basslines
Own the book and learn the stories behind some of Jerry Jemmott's most iconic recordings, complete with note-for-note transcriptions and firsthand commentary from Jerry himself.
https://www.thebassshedacademy.org/741259528234
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For us, it's about you know making this world a better place, you know, like uh making a positive change or or writing songs to inspire a positive change is that's for me that's the goal.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to episode 151 of the Bay Shed Podcast. My name is Ryan Roberts. In this episode of the Bay Shed Podcast, I am joined by Joe Principie. He's a founding member of one of the most influential punk bands titled Rise Against.
SPEAKER_00Before we get started, if you enjoy conversations with today's leading bassists, make sure to subscribe to the Bass Shed Podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Every subscription helps us grow and connect the bass community. Now, here are a couple of resources for bass players.
SPEAKER_02If you're a double bassist, you have to check out my friends at Lemur Music. For over 40 years, they've been one of the most trusted names in the bass world, offering strings, bows, cases, pickups, accessories, and expert advice for bass players of every level. Visit LemurMusic.com or click the link in the show notes and use the promo code THEBASESHED all one word to save 10%. LemurMusic.com. Alright, folks, I'm excited to tell you about the book I put together with bass legend Jerry Jamont. Jerry Jamont 15 Timeless Bass Lines. Jerry Jamont 15 Timeless Bass Lines explores 15 classic bass lines from Jamont's incredible career. The lines that help define the sound of soul and RB recordings by artists like Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, and so many more. You can find Jerry Jamont 15 Timeless Bass Lines at the BasshetAcademy.org or click on the link in the show notes below. As I mentioned, Joe Principy is on the episode with me. Joe Principy has been the bassist and founding member of the group Rise Against since the band formed in Chicago back in 1999. Over the past 25 years, Rise Against has become one of the defining bands in modern punk rock, earning multiple gold certified albums, platinum-selling singles, touring the world, and building a reputation for combining powerful songwriting with a strong social conscience. Following the release of the band's 10th studio album titled Ricochet, Rise Against launched the ART project, All Rise Together. This is a new fan-driven community initiative that invites fans, this is a new fan-driven community initiative that invites fans into the band's creative world as they head out on their 2026 spring tour across the US and Canada. Joe Principe joins me to discuss the band's formation and really really staying true to core values in a changing music industry. And while everything's kind of circling uh around and there's not too much that's stable. Joe's gonna speak about the importance of what it means, and he's gonna speak about what success means for himself personally and for the band. It's a very fascinating conversation. I loved having Joe on the podcast, and here it is. Here's my talk with the bassist of Rise Against Mr. Joe Principe. How are you doing, man? Sorry about the last one. I didn't even consider Daylight Savings Time was gonna bump the whole thing. So sorry about that.
SPEAKER_01No, all good. Sorry about that. I'm good. We we are uh we're in Pittsburgh right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're on tour. Yep. Yeah, cool. Uh now from the looks of things, it's a pretty substantial tour. You guys are out for a minute.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we our last show's April April 4th.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um it's like night, night after night, different city every night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's been it's like we we the older we get, we uh we've gotten smarter with touring and giving us some giving ourselves more days off.
SPEAKER_02I mean none of us can hang like we used to. That's uh that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but we I mean one we did a tour once way back in the day where it was 51 shows in 53 days.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Now, is that was that regional or was that kind of all over the the nation?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was all all over all over North America. Oh, oh wow, yeah, yeah. So that that was uh the back in the days of us being in a van with a trailer.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. I'm assuming touring is a much different situation now. You're not in the van with the trailer.
SPEAKER_01It definitely way more comfortable now. Yeah, we have a bus. Um yeah, we I I mean I have nothing to complain about. We're we're definitely lucky to have uh to be able to do it at this level, you know. We're we're very lucky.
SPEAKER_02Right. Now you guys, you guys have been at it for a minute. Uh for listeners of the podcast that are being introduced to the group for the first time through this, talk about talk about the group, Rise Against. How long? How long has the band been together?
SPEAKER_01So Rise Against was kind of birthed out of the the ashes of my my old band, my old punk band. Uh we were called 88 Fingers Louie, which was a character on the on the Flintstones. He was a piano thief. So terrible name. But you know, at the time, you know, in the in the the whole like the wave of like you know, punk rock, you know, skate punk, like bands like Bad Religion and No Effects, like we we were in that world, you know, we were on Fat Records, and then we moved over to Hopeless Records, which they're probably one of the biggest independent labels right now. Um, they have all-time low. You know, they they Avenge Sevenfold came from Hopeless Records. So like um, and so we we had broken up in early 1999, and then basically the core guys of the band, every everyone except the singer, we were like, okay, do we replace the singer? Do we just start something new? And we we were like, you know what, we'll just start something new, we'll start over. And we started auditioning singers, and then we uh oddly enough, like I knew of our singer Tim. I I knew him just through the local punk shows, and but I was really close with his his wife now, but his girlfriend at the time. Um, she would come see my band play all the time, and she was she was really great, you know. We hit it off, you know, we hung out all the time. And I ran into Tim at a show in Indianapolis. It was AFI, Sick of It All, and a band called Indecision. And I was like, hey, I'm starting a new band. Do you want to try out for it? And no one, no one thought it would work because my background, I was more on the old school punk rock kind of tip, you know, growing up. And he was a little bit more in like the Fugazi, you know, like that kind of world. Um, just like a little bit later period, like emo. Like, I guess you at this point, I guess you could say early 90s, you know, emo, and you know, that kind of scene. And it just clicked. Like, and then we that we definitely went through like some drummer, you know, uh issues, and we and six months into that, you know, so we're talking at this point, um early 2000, right? So we we were looking for a drummer, and I could not find a drummer in Chicago that could play fast and keep good time and had a great, you know. I I was really looking for like uh, you know, someone who's really good with their kick drum, especially playing faster songs. Um and we stumbled across our drummer Brandon just through mutual friends, and he came from Denver. He flew out to try out, and we literally had zero fans. We had just signed to Fat Records, um, just kind of like through my relationship with those guys with my old band. And um, and then yeah, here we are uh 25 years later. So basically, like the band started in yeah, late, late uh December 99, early 2000s.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. Now that's a that's a crazy time to be putting together a new project with the dawn of like social media is really kind of I don't know the exact dates of when all that stuff happened, but that how social media would then change the music industry and all that. Was there any nerves or any apprehension about starting a new project and the state of what the industry was like at that time?
SPEAKER_01So no, because it was it was like right before everything changed drastically, right? So like um for me, like I'm I'm four years older than our singer and our drummer. And I was like, do I want to start something new? Um you know, do I want to start something new at 26 years old, or do I want to just go to college and get like a normal job? And and then I was like, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna just follow my heart. Um I don't know how to get my my lap my iPad to stop doing that.
SPEAKER_02No man, that's dude, that's the Waynes World Extreme close-up. I'm into it.
SPEAKER_01It's like it's like, damn it, Apple.
SPEAKER_02No, no worries, no worries.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so like um I I I was definitely hesitant to to you know make another go of it. And luckily, like I had a bunch of friends and family encouraging me, you know, and then we that you know, I I just did it, and we spent, you know, of course, we went through the proper, you know, the the we recorded a record, then we just got on any tour that would that would take us. You know, our label helped us out a lot. My connections with my old band helped us out uh a great deal. Um, we didn't have a booking agent, you know, for like the first two years of the band. So like we just literally rewrote the coattails of of what I did in the past. And um we, you know, things just started clicking. Um, and then when we when we recorded our second album, we're we're talking like 2002, you know, November 2002. Um we were we were kind of like a unified um idea as far like musically, right? Like we we kind of figured out what we wanted to be. Um and it just clicked, you know. That record, uh the songs kind of wrote themselves, you know. Um it it was all the stars like aligned, you know. Um, so that that's really like kind of what what put us on the map, I think, uh, you know, globally, really.
SPEAKER_02Okay, and that was oh two.
SPEAKER_01That was like oh two. It came out in 2003. Okay. Um, and that was our second album on Fat Records. It's called Revolutions per Minute. And um, yeah, like it then we just I mean we continued to tour as much as we could. It was before we were married, you know, and had children, so we could just go. Um and uh yeah, we uh we toured with bad religion, you know, sick of it all. Basically, any like we toured with hardcore bands, punk bands, ska bands, like it just we kind of fit in with like all of it.
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right. How has it been sustaining a band for this long now that you have families and spouses, and how how has that transition been? Like getting into you're not 26 anymore, hopping in a van and live like, yeah, let's just go play music. Uh you got some different responsibilities. How is that how has that changed the band? And how do you sustain the longevity of a career being on the road?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, we're mindful of of uh kind of like the the work family life balance.
SPEAKER_02That's huge for all musicians, and uh I probably want to dive a little bit more into this after after you get done with the initial uh response.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, it it really is all about balance and my but it's all my family's used to, right? So they know like that's my job, you know, and I I but they're my kids are are you know they're teenagers now, so they'll come out and see us play. You know, it's like a different vibe. They're they're they're kind of in their own worlds. Um sometimes they don't even realize like I'm leaving for a tour until I'm literally out the door with bags. I'm like, I told you guys a million times I'm leaving. But but you know, yeah, they're busy. Um, and it's all my wife uh is is used to, you know, like it that's just we kind of just gotten like the rhythm of that. Um but I I think I think um if anything, it it's it's probably the hardest on me because like we'll have days off and then it makes me super homesick. You know, so you kind of you just have to keep like occupying your time and your mind and you know make use of that time, you know, like like um, you know, I like to see friends like when I'm out on the road, you know, like that's huge. Uh reconnecting with people. Um and without playing music, I would I would go nuts. Like I need that release in my life. So it's funny because like you you it's like a catch 22. You complain about touring, and then when I'm home for longer than like a month, then I get super antsy. And you know, it it's tough because like it makes me want to it makes me want to write new music, but then also like I'm I'm in dad mode, so I'm I'm driving kids around. Well, now my oldest can drive kids, you know, the other siblings around.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_01You know, but yeah, like like so it's definitely like uh it's bittersweet, you know.
SPEAKER_02How do you how do you keep up the the punk ethos of uh what I assume I'm not a punk musician, uh but how do you keep that up when you have um adult responsibilities and you're not you're not a punk, like you're not a punk anymore. When we're in our 20s, I think we all go through that phase a little bit about you know pushing boundaries and trying to find out our place in the world and all that stuff, and then you become uh older and you become part of the machine, so to speak. You know, you get a job, you're paying your taxes, you're you you're part of it. Uh, then it's not punk. You become everything you were pushing against, so to speak. So how does how does having the responsibilities of being in dad mode and being a husband, how do you still keep the punk ethos and bring that kind of energy and that uh raw visceral thing in the sound of the music?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think for for me, uh when I'm when I'm picking up a guitar or a bass writing music, I still have that angst in me. But I I also I I've always written right for whatever whatever I'm feeling for that moment, you know, that that time, like I don't I don't force anything. So like and I grew up listening to hardcore punk, you know, police, Elvis Costello, you know, um uh The Stranglers were huge uh for me. Um, but then also like New Wave, you know, I'm kind of all over the map. I love I love 80s pop, I love Duran Duran, you know, John Taylor's amazing. Um, so like I just when I'm sitting down, like I'll feel all those things, you know. Like I'm not just writing, you know, yeah, fast, like screamy songs. Um, but I do have that in me still, you know, as at this, you know, point in my life. And I I need that side of I need that side to come out of me, you know, as well as a gent, a gentler side, you know. Um, but living in like family mode is I definitely have to remind myself, like, okay, uh it's not just me like against the world or against, you know, whatever. If I if I disagree with someone in my neighborhood, like other parents at school functions, I just have to be mindful of like this is for my children. Sure. You know, I don't want I don't want to like, I don't want to embarrass them. I don't want to say something that's gonna, you know, maybe haunt me later. Not that I would, but right, right, right, right. I I kind of I definitely walk that line a little bit. I and I'm mindful of you know my surroundings. Um, you know, but and I'm also realistic, right? Like I still have those values in me, but there's a bigger picture with the family.
SPEAKER_02I think I think musicians on a whole are don't always understand balance the best in the world. I think artists on a whole, that's not just musicians, actually. Um, you know, it's I was talking to a student about this not that long ago because it's like all the the characteristics that go into making someone great at their craft are not the characteristics that help you succeed in the world. It is the exact opposite, actually. You have to be completely obsessive and just tunnel vision on one thing, you know, and and kind of be a slave to it and just you know be willing to die for the thing. Um and that doesn't that doesn't translate into having a tempered, balanced life outside of music. Uh how have you personally gone about putting those two mindsets together about have you need the the one that's all consuming and then you need the one that's balanced and and living in service to other people and and things like that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I still struggle with it, you know, like you know, my wife will have to say, like, you know, like hey, pay attention, you know, like I'll cause I'll get my head into something as far as like a piece of music I need to finish, you know, like I and it's like she's like you you have to, you know, the kids uh are they're looking for you know advice or rides or this and that. Like, you know, you have to be in you get your head in the game a little bit. Um it I still struggle with it, you know. Um, because it's not that I don't want to be present, you know, in whatever they need from me. Um, but also like I I fixate on things. So I'll I'm literally out shopping with my kids and I'm still like fixating over like a base fill or something.
SPEAKER_02I'm like yeah, there's this thing turning in the back of your mind, like you're there, you're present, but then there's like there's something on the back burner still boiling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, totally. Yeah, it but but uh you know I do I do the best I can for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that that's something we uh we all have to kind of learn to navigate uh in our own ways. Um you guys just came out with a record, correct?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we came out with a record. It's called Ricochet. Um yeah, it we definitely um it's a record we changed up uh the process a little bit. You know, going on our 10th record, we switched production teams. We used uh the producer Catherine Marks, who's done like Boy Genius and St. Vincent. Um, definitely not known for like like to be in like the rock world. Um, and that's by design. You know, we we purposely wanted to just work with someone that was kind of out of left field a little bit. Um, and then we had Alan Mulder mix the record. Um, but at this point, we had we recorded the record like three years ago. It just took a long time to come out, you know. It's like getting the timing with the label and uh just making sure everything, you know, everything was like kind of aligned. Um, so it came out in August 2024. Um and yeah, this is because we were on tour last year with Papa Roach, we were direct supporters. This is our first um headlining tour, you know, for the record. It's been it's been this long drawn-out process. Um but yeah, like like I said, like so the the it was definitely like we mixed up the process a little bit, you know, just being a band for so long. We we figured we would owe the owe that to ourselves.
SPEAKER_02How is how's the response been from longtime fans who know you with this certain specific musical identity? Um, have the fans uh accepted the new sound and the new kind of production team and how that shaped the sound?
SPEAKER_01It's definitely all over the map. It's like any record. You can you can't you can't win, you know. Like um, yeah, like I I think I think if you think you're gonna woo somebody by something new, like you're mistaken because you'll you'll woo maybe 25% of the people, and then then there's a set other 75%. They're like, why don't you why don't you write like your second album? Or why don't you know everyone's kind of and I I'm the same way. Like there's bands I love, you know, it's like even like we'll take the cure for instance. Their last record is amazing, but it's incredibly, incredibly mellow, and it's got a different kind of color to it. Um where me, like I want songs like Boys Don't Cry, but they wrote that in like 1981. So like you know, so you know, it's you can't please everyone. Um, but I feel like every record's like kind of just that stamp in time, you know. Yeah, yeah. So like moving forward, our next record, it probably won't be that. It probably, you know, maybe it'll be a nod to like the past, or maybe maybe it won't be. You know, it's like it's kind of like whatever we're feeling in that moment again, you know.
SPEAKER_02As uh As an artist, what are your personal thoughts on respecting the catalogue you've released and kind of giving your fans a sense of that and still pushing yourselves creatively forward?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it's tricky. I think for me, um, I can't speak to um because like typically you know, our singer and myself write the music of the band, and we come at it from different angles, um, you know, to a certain extent. Um, but that that's that's always been a great mix. Um I feel like from my perspective, I try not to think about it too much because that gets in the way of a vision. That gets in the way of like what I'm trying to accomplish. So as long as like I'm true to myself and just kind of follow like my gut instinct and what whatever I'm working on at the time, uh to to make sure the idea is there and it's solid. Um that's all that's all my goal is, you know. I try not I try not to think about any anything like anything outside of that. Um and it it can be challenging, you know. Um, but again, I what if if there's a bass sitting here or a guitar, I'll just pick it up and I start noodling, and that's when I come up with the best ideas, I think, because I'm not I'm not overthinking it, you know.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Uh what are some sources of inspiration? And I know it can be anything at any given time, uh, but what are some regular sources of inspiration for your writing process?
SPEAKER_01Um again, it's writing is a release for whatever mood I'm in, right? So it's I'm I'm not super vocal generally. Like I'm not like uh I'm definitely like a quiet person.
SPEAKER_02Um I think that's a bass player thing. Yeah, 100%. Like in a group setting, one-on-one, we might get a little bit more chatty, but when it's when it's like more than two people, we kind of just hang back, like watch it unfold, chime in a little bit. It's how it's how we play. Like we're just gonna lay back. Uh, here's a little bass feel bass fill, like conversationally, and I'm just gonna go back to holding it down.
SPEAKER_01I know I leave it's funny because I leave our I leave it up to our guitar player, Zach, to do all the talking. And that's like shows right in his guitar playing. It's like soloing, like it's yeah, it's like makes sense. Yeah, um, yeah, I I think um I think um it's it's all about the mood and the release for me personally. Without it, again, like I think I would I would you know uh I just need that in my life to get it out of me, right? Um, and I think that um that's all over the map, you know. Like um, you know, it it really just reflects um my writing reflects the mood of the day, you know. And I know like, you know, maybe I I wish I could elaborate more, but it's really just that simple.
SPEAKER_02Just staying in the moment, staying present, staying present with yourself emotionally and grounded and expressing that exactly. Yeah. Now you you've talked a few times about uh being true to yourself and and that what we just mentioned there. Um at what point in your personal life or musician career did that become uh a strong beacon to to follow instead of trying to chase the industry or to sound like one of your heroes, at what point did it really become um I'm just gonna stick to my guns, I'm gonna be honest, I'm just gonna do me, you know, and that's and release authentic music because that's not always the case, and sometimes people have to go through a process to get to that place.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think for us as a band, it's been like since day one. Oh it's just it's been in ingrained in us. I think going growing up in the punk community and the hardcore community, um it's like a a sense of belonging, family. And when I was growing up, the mainstream world was like the enemy, right? It's like, well, don't, you know, and of course I was this angsty kid. Um and but I I I realized as every step of the band, um, we um we've carried that with us. Even when we signed to a major label, we took less money to maintain creative control of the band. You know, it wasn't about the money, it wasn't about um cashing in for the time being. It was like there was like a long game, you know, in our heads. It's like, let's actually use this for better distribution. You know, every band says that. Oh, I we signed to a major label for better distribution. And I would say that's true for most cases, but a lot, you know, there's also those cases where people wanted the money, right? So what they don't realize is you have to pay that money back, and then you're gonna be in debt with the label. Um, we don't want that. And I would say up until the last record, we've never demoed for a record label. We literally went into the studio, recorded it, and whatever came out is what we released. And we were lucky enough to have people surrounding us to uh let us do that and to understand like you can't mess with this band or it's gonna be very obvious. Because there that's what makes this band successful is who we are as people, and we're we are our best um, you know, judges of what we should sound like, you know. So, like, like when I write a song, it's almost impossible for me not to hear Tim's vocals over the piece of music I'm writing. It's like a blessing and a curse, you know, but it it's just a it's just because we've been writing together for so long. Um, I think that um, but it's it's advantageous, you know, for me to do that. It's like I can hear because I can write something and I'm like, oh, that sounds too much like you know, the clash, or that sounds too much like the bad brains. But like as soon as he sings over it, it's it's us, you know, right? So, so it's easy to put stuff under the microscope, but one once you get the bigger picture of the band, you know, it it sounds like Rise Against. So we we didn't want, I would never want outside people to tell us what this band should sound like. Um, we did the last record, we did demos for the the label we're on now, and that was only because we were taking a step into like an the unknown world of like a different producer, and we just wanted to make sure like the roots of the band were intact, you know, before we kind of let someone else take the reins.
SPEAKER_02Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Uh, but but other than that, it was yeah, it's all it's all uh us and it's always been since like the day day one, you know.
SPEAKER_02We'll be back right after this.
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SPEAKER_02Excellent. Um what you just mentioned, like not kind of selling out for the the money of a record deal or something like that. The band has had success. Um, top ten albums on the billboard charts. Yeah. How do you measure success if it's you're not looking at it just by like a financial career standpoint? What does success mean for you personally, and what does success mean for the band?
SPEAKER_01I would say those are one and the same for me, and it's about reaching as many people as we can. And I think the the the the what's important is not to force feed our beliefs, our ideals, you know, at people, but it's like it's about presenting factual information and let the audience making up their own minds. And hopefully it resonates with people. Um, I would never I would just would never tell someone like what to believe. Um but it's all for us, it's about you know making this world a better place, you know, like uh making a positive change or or writing songs to inspire a positive change is that's for me, that's the goal. Um that kind of measures success. When I hear people saying like, you know, I'm I'm vegan, I don't care what people eat, you know, but for me personally, it works for me. Sure. Um when people come up to me and say, Oh, I went vegetarian or or vegan because of you, you know, that's that's huge for me. Um, not because I want people to be like me, but because I don't I disagree with some of you know that industry, and uh it's cool to see people listening to to what we're singing about or to what I'm saying in in the interviews or or whatever, you know, and not just about like diet, it could that could apply to anything, you know, political beliefs or or uh just how I I carry myself in in you know my neighborhood, um, the way I raise my children, you know, like things like that. Like again, I I I don't want to tell someone what to believe, but I just hope people are giving my opinion a chance and and being open to it, you know.
SPEAKER_02Now this this leads us into another uh kind of topic. It's not even another one, it's just uh whatever. Uh community is a big part, like you've talked about it several times already. Uh yeah, the importance of community and what you guys are doing now with a new project called ART. Uh talk about ART.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So all it stands for acronym for All Rise Together. And it's we wanted something that we could participate with um with our fans and and let them be a part of our creative process, let them be a part of just our creative world. And what we did was we we had recorded something, let me think, like four songs live in a live setting, and we picked 50 fans and they wrote posters uh based on lyrics that mean a lot, you know, mean something to them. And they so they made these posters and we posted the posters as our backdrop in the video. That's cool. Um, and so it was like they were a part of you know that our world, you know. Um, and we're kind of taking it on the road a little bit where we have a Dropbox at our merchandise booth where kids can write postcards and it could really could be whatever they want. It could be art, it could be what we mean to them. And I I think we we haven't really pinned down what we're gonna do with the postcards at the end of the tour yet. I I would imagine we're gonna use it for you know social media purposes, you know, our posts. Um, but I think that's huge. Uh, you know, I think that's it's important because when I was growing up, my my family life was great. My mother was very um loving and pushed me to play music, but outside of that, I grew up in a very close-minded Italian, like good fellas neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02Where we haven't actually spoken about this, and sorry to interrupt. Where are you from originally?
SPEAKER_01We haven't I'm I'm from Melrose Park, Illinois. Okay. So that's like if you Google it, it's it was like Mafia growing up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the Al Capones, the Al Capone hood.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. 100%. Yeah, so it was very close-minded. I grew up skateboarding and in a punk rock very young, and I was immediately an outcast. Other than I think people left me alone a little bit because my family were police officers, and so I just kind of got left alone, but I still didn't maintain many friendships, you know, from my youth.
SPEAKER_02Was that because your your parents worked for the authorities and were cops? And so no one really wanted to get too close to you because pending punishment is you know, right around the corner?
SPEAKER_01Well, it was more like we're not gonna bully this kid because his dad is the chief or uh a sergeant, you know, uh at the police station. Okay, yeah, like, but um, they didn't want to hang out with me, they just left me alone. Okay. So like I I luckily I found activities right growing up that I could do for myself. Like, I I hated the team sports environment because of that reason. Like, I just I just didn't fit in with that. So I found skateboarding really young and I looked outside of that and I found a community in neighboring suburbs, and then that kind of went hand in hand with me getting into punk rock and music in general. Um, and then I started going to to concerts really young and I and I discovered that community, and I felt I finally felt like okay, I'm with like-minded people and I fit in here, and I we want I wanted to carry that experience um you know to to now with our fans for them to experience that um with us, you know. Yeah, um, but but yeah, it was it was definitely an interesting uh childhood growing up in that in that environment.
SPEAKER_02Uh it's fascinating. It's fascinating uh how that would, you know, the the child of a police officer in that kind of environment. Um yeah, there's there's kind of that's probably another podcast. Uh but I do think that a lot of people um continue on their music journey for reasons similar to that, where they find community, where they find like they're finally recognized as an individual because maybe they weren't in other aspects like sports or something. When with your children, do you talk about this and to them and how to kind of be mindful about what communities they're getting plugged into, but that it's okay to find the community and be recognized for what they have to offer as an individual.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I realized early on when my kids started forming relationships, you know, maybe when they're like seven, eight years old, to not you want to guide them gently. At least I did. I didn't want to say you need to do this because they're gonna do the opposite. Of course. Um, we taught my wife and I taught like be kind to people, don't judge people based on race, you know, sexual orientation. Um, you know, just just everyone is their own person, let them be an individual. And and that's that's why you know this world is amazing, right? Like we're all just our own people and we all it's all about getting along and respecting people. So we we put we kind of instill that that you know, those ethics in them. And then what I realize is it it it it works because they're amazing kids, and I hear them talk, you know, about everyday issues, lives, uh, people other people in school, and they do, they're very kind and they're very open-minded. Um and I feel like when you again, it's like the force feeding thing. If if I've if I was told my kids you need to think this way, they're gonna be the exact opposite.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I I you have to just kind of give them the tools to be good people early on and hope that they're making good choices. Because, you know, I mean, I know like so I mean I have two siblings. Um uh my oldest sister, that's actually how I got into punk rock. She was five years older than me, and she I used to steal her cassettes, right? Like, and I got so I got into like you know, bands like Dad Kennedy's very young, like fifth grade. Oh wow. Um, but but she was like, you know, she grew up partying and you know, just having teenage, you know, whatever, parties and whatever. We same mother, right? Uh and my father passed away when we were really young, um, like when I was like seven years old. Um, so um he like my mom did the same for all of us, but I think that's where the individuality comes into play. I I never drank, I never tried a drug where my sister partied, you know, and then she got out of it when she got into college or whatever. But it's this again, it's like upbringing only does so much because at the end of the day, we are still our own person, you know. Um, you can only do so much, uh raising raising your children, you know, without again, without being like that strict jerk parent, you know, yelling at their kids every day.
SPEAKER_02Sure, sure. No, I mean, I don't have children. Um it seem excuse me, it seems like a a fine line to walk to raise them to be open-minded and in understanding of people that come from different cultures and backgrounds and and lifestyles, but still have a sense of what their core values are. So to instill uh a sense of core values, but yeah, maybe maybe someone over there doesn't line up with what you believe for you. Like let you you brought up being vegan earlier. Also, I'm not a vegan, but uh you're vegan, but you're like, okay, cool, you want to eat meat, eat meat, you know, but that's not for me. So you're you're respecting someone else's decision, but you still have your core value. How does that translate into that? And uh, I mean, I should probably bring this back into music somehow because this is like a psychology podcast. Um, but I I do think it's all the same because all these things come out in the music. Um, but let's yeah, maybe this part will get edited out. I don't know, but how do you how do you do that? How do you teach them to be open-minded and still have a a core sense of values? And honestly, I think that there's nothing more punk than that. Like, to like to be accepting, especially in where we're at these days, to be accepting, but still be like, yeah, but I'm right here. Like, I'm I'm not moving me. But you you do you, that's all good, you know. Handle it if that's how you want to, if that's how you want to roll, do it. I'm not gonna do it. This is me. Uh, I think that that's pretty punk, is like to accept to not push back against the society, but accept it. You know, it doesn't hurt me if someone else is the like just for the sake of vegan, and that's a very uh non-intrusive thing to use as an example. It doesn't hurt me if you're vegan, be vegan, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go protest the fact that someone's vegan. Uh all right, cool, man. Do it. You know, if that's yeah, if that's your thing, cool. I think is more punk than anything these days.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, like well, it's funny because I definitely had a very conflicting moment. Uh so we raised our children vegetarian, and then you know, when they when my two oldest, my oldest son's 17, my daughter's 15, and my youngest boy's 12. When my daughter, you know, like right when she turned 14, um, um, because she just turned 15 in January. Um, I would say about six months ago, she started wanting to try like fish, you know, and I was I was very conflicted. And and at first I was like, no, you know, like I don't know. But then it took my wife saying, you have to let them make their own choices, you know. And I was like, she's like, they're, you know, you know, my daughter's, you know, now she's 15, you know, she's becoming like this young adult. Yeah. And I'm like, she's right. Like I have to I have to let them decide if that's what they think that's what feels right to them. Like I can't stop them. They're not, they're not, it's they're not harming anyone or themselves, right? So like the like they're the and I want them to be an individual. So I had to like kind of you know take the brakes off a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I feel like myself. Yeah, I feel like it doesn't that's not an end result. That's just a uh wanna try fish. Yeah, you know, and maybe maybe that's a phase. Maybe they go through a salmon phase for two years, and then they're then they're out, you know. It's not an end result, it's just they need to test it for them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. So well, we well, you know, we we got through it. I kind of you know, I I uh I got out of like dickhead dad vegan mode.
SPEAKER_02No, are you are you uh do you uh what got you into the vegan lifestyle? Is it food processing industry? Is it dietary, mainly health reasons? Yeah, you know what?
SPEAKER_01Both it was I was so my uh my high school job was working in a butcher shop. Oh boom, that is and it was very again, small neighborhood butcher shop, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like in Chicago, I can only imagine, I can only imagine a butcher shop in Chicago. Oh yeah, around, sorry, Illinois. Uh it wasn't Chicago, but uh yeah, what what that would be like that is the most beautiful you can get I mean there there I won't say I mean I definitely saw everything.
SPEAKER_01I you would see like yeah, like you know, I you'd see like meat getting delivered, and the butchers would go through it, and then they would find like a tumor on a piece of meat and just cut it off. I mean, it happens, you know, like sure. I don't want to get too far into the the weeds with it, but so that kind of started making me think like I don't know if I want to see behind the curtain, exactly. Right. So, so and then you know, and then I started when I started going to punk shows, I started meeting uh like-minded like people that were vegetarian, and at that point I still wasn't ready to like make that commitment. Um, and then one day, actually, we were recording our first album in Lafayette, Indiana. Uh, that's where the studio was. Okay, and I I went to Burger King and I got like chicken tenders, and I bit into it, and it was just all like this fatty, weird yeah, not chicken, chicken, not chicken. Yeah, and that that was I literally was like, all right, that's it, I'm done. And I never really thought twice about it since. And then over the years I ended up just going vegan, like straight vegan. Um, just more about yeah, not supporting the industry, um, and you know, you know, the I'm a big like anti-cre, you know, animal or anti-animal cruelty, you know, guy. Uh, I I want to, you know, speak, you know, speak for the animals. So um, I just went that route and it felt it felt right for for my lifestyle, you know. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Uh I know being socially conscious is uh something that's important to the band and kind of having maybe for the lack of a better term, mission. Um besides causes like this, uh animal cruelty causes. What other what other causes or or missions are important to the band to communicate to fans to get them thinking about other things in the world?
SPEAKER_01Um you know, we've done stuff with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, um, you know, just to raise money to support them, especially Chicago winters are brutal for the unhoused community. So um we raise money to provide meals, uh clothing. Um you know, we've done a lot of that. Um I think for me personally, like, you know, like in this, it's funny because people are like, how do you pick and choose like what you're gonna support? And I I think the easiest is to start in your community. And that's why like an organization like the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is huge. Because Tim and I live in Chicago, we grew up there. Um, where even in my community in the town I live in now, like just even like remind people like don't dispose of things incorrectly, like batteries, recycle them, recycle electronics, don't put it in a landfill. It's like stuff like that where like my kids could actually take part in it. So I I I I try to focus my efforts again, locally, you know, community-based. Um and then you know, the yeah, the band again, the band's, I feel like every record we've done something that's more focused. We've worked with C Shepherd, you know, to uh you know, to speak up again or out against the whaling industry. Um, we've done stuff with Greenpeace over the years. Um you know, the list goes on and on. Um, but because there are so many worthy causes, it's really hard to focus on just one. True. Um, especially on like a like a tour cycle for us is two years. So we try to like focus around that, you know. Um uh actually I on on uh I'm trying to think, but yeah, like I guess at the end of the day, like you have to think it's easier to think locally. Um and and you could you could I know it sounds it sounds trite, but you'll see the change if you're acting locally, you know, you'll you you you'll be able to see what you're accomplishing.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. That's cool. And I I I love that that's part of uh what you guys are doing, and I think that that's important because music on so many levels is uh a healing device, you know, and and should be used for that. I think whether it's a tough love approach of maybe mirroring society to show them what needs to be changed, that's healing starts there. You gotta know that there's a problem before you can address it. So I still think that that's an aspect of healing, or doing more of a boots on the grounds, uh boots on the ground thing like you guys are doing. Um, being really proactive, I think that that's fantastic. Um, two-year tour cycle. So this one that just started, you're you're out for till April, then how long are you home before you go back up?
SPEAKER_01So we we have some scattered festivals in May, like like Warp Tour Festival is in DC. We're playing that uh in May, and we're playing um Welcome to Rockville in in um Florida, Daytona Beach. That's also in May. That's like with my chemical romance. I mean, I'm there's like a million bands on on the on the fest. Um great, they're fun to play. And then we um we'll head over to Europe end of June or mid mid-June for uh like playing festivals over there and some again scattered headliners um to fill in the the the uh the uh off days. And um that takes us into August. And then we we're figuring out now what the fall's gonna look like, but I would I would imagine it would be more uh headlining shows in the States. Okay, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh this wouldn't be a proper proper base podcast if we didn't talk about what's your rig? What are you playing?
SPEAKER_01So, you know what's funny? I okay, growing up, it was the tried and true ampeg SVT classic, uh 8x10 SVT cabinet uh with a sansamp.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, given the era you were talking about, like 100%. That's that's the sound for all of that. Like everybody was playing that rig in that genre, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. Yeah. Um, but you know, it's like playing hot, sweaty punk shows, the ampeg heads would always fail, they would always overheat. You know, you always get the red, the red-green LED going, you know, you're like, oh, it's overheating. I mean, but but you can't touch that sound, right? So um I did that for years and years, and then um, you know, at some point I I switched like Mesa had the big block bass head. Uh that it literally had the best distortion channel ever, you know, for what I did as a punk bass player. I absolutely love that head, but again, they would they had heating, the the the heating element would fail, and then it would it would just fritz out. So I went through so many of those heads. And um then the last tube amp I used was the Fender Baseman 300, Fender like the Pro 300 or whatever. That's a great head, like the distortion on that's amazing. Um, you know, um uh again, and I think uh I was using the Fender 8x10 calves, but then at some point I moved into Dark Glass. I started playing the Dark Glass 900 head because they're like literally indestructible solid state, you know. I I never had anything overheat on me. I played that for about three years. Uh the distortion on that head, again, so good. Uh so do you have typically any oh go ahead, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Uh do you typically use the the stock fuzz distortion elements instead of running anything external, a stop bonks or a processor?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so exactly. So I would I'm again I'm I'm pretty uh I'm pretty basic. Um because I couldn't get the distortion I wanted through the ampeg, I used the sans amp. And then um, oh you know what happened? I at some point, even with the fender stuff, um I used the the dark glass uh the B7K pedal distortion, like the distortion pedal, uh with that head, and that kind of got me where I wanted to be. And then at some point, Fender or uh Dark Glass, sorry, Dark Glass started uh making the you know those heads, and I I kind of struck up a uh conversation with the rep at Dark Glass, uh Lauren. He's a great dude, uh at least at the time, now he's with Neural.
SPEAKER_02Um I was gonna say, oh, he's not a great dude now. Like at the time he was a great dude, and now he's kind of a dick, but whatever.
SPEAKER_01Um, but yeah, like so I went into just yeah, the the dark glass, the dark glass distortion was just amazing. Um, and I I never really changed my tone from song to song, so I never really needed any stomp boxes or um even like I'm a fan of chorus on bass, but I never really you know incorporated that into the the rise again sound. I did I did for like maybe two songs out of the lot the 25 years that we've been a band, but only on record. I never really brought it live. Okay. Um but I also realized very late in life, like, oh, I sh I play a lot of bass chords in in my uh you know, in my style, and chorus really brings out bass chords, you know, and I I should have been taking advantage of that, but I didn't. Um but yeah, like so so dark glass, and then I think I was still I was using like a 410 cab. I think uh when I went to Dark Glass, I I started playing the orange orange cabs were like indestructible. Um, so 410 orange base cabinet, and then the last year, year and a half, I just went straight quad quartz, no cabs, just straight, just quad. Okay, yeah, okay, and then I've I've always played, I played a P bass, Fender P bases with Seymour Duncan quarter pound pickups, and then not the not Ricochet, but the record before Ricochet, I went back to playing a jazz bass because I I grew up playing jazz basses just because you get that just aggressive, you pop through the mix, you know, with the jazz bass.
SPEAKER_02When you get that bridge pickup in there for sure, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's funny because on our record knower generation, I was like, I'm gonna go back to jazz because the bass lines on that record were very busy, and I want to pop through the mix, you know. So and uh always again, always see more Duncan quarter pound pickups. Okay, and that's that's what I'm playing live now. Like it's Fender Jazz, and I I'm playing Dark Last stuff via the quad Cortex.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, yeah. So like the it's the studio rig is then the same as the the live rig.
SPEAKER_01So studios all over the map. Okay. I think on the production team, we would normally we what we used on like eight records, which was Bill Stevenson, uh, was a producer. Uh he's also the drummer from the band The Descendants and Black Flag, and he comes from like the punk world and the pop punk world. Um, he's got a studio called The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado. So we recorded most of our records there, and we've always used a DI source, Sansamp. The last record we recorded with Bill, we used the Fender Basement 300 head. We used a Marshall 900 as a source, it's and we blended, right? Depending on the song, we kind of blended, um, you know, whatever. And oh, and a tube screamer, like that was also in the mix.
SPEAKER_02Okay, on the bass.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, I'm a bass.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, I've never checked that out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was it's it's super fun to to to use on bass for sure.
SPEAKER_02Um, so how many tracks, how many tracks would you use? Like you got a you got a direct line, and then let's say you're going through the fender, and then you you got a line coming off of the marshal, then you got a line coming off the tube screamer. So how many how many tracks are you running simultaneously to then negotiate in mix?
SPEAKER_01It's like five, five or six. That's good. That's good. And you just take take the blend, um, and what yeah, again, like some songs lend it lend themselves to like more aggressive tones, and some songs we laid back a little bit. Um, but um, yeah, so that and so studio has always been a different animal than live for us, but I've always maintained like a slightly distorted sound, like on our records. Um even on our last record, um I used the um the fender again. The fender basement, the last record was different. I've only had one source. I used Fender Baseman 300, and then when I wanted to like really get it super fuzzed out, I would use the green pedal on the quad cortex. Okay. Um, and then when Ellen Ellen Mulder, who's done, I mean, he mixed, you know, like he works with like Smashing Pumpkins over the years and the Pesh Mode, and you know, like um he's he's kind of a legend, legendary mixer. He had this uh to my understanding, it was uh handmade, like uh, I don't know if it was a one-off, but he had this little bass combo in his studio that he would re-amp every my bass tracks through that really got it, got this super aggressive tone. So on the record, it's a lot of his this amp that he's had in his studio, just re-amped. Okay. Um, but it yeah, it's it's a really cool cool tone. Um, but yeah, live. I'm just for live right now, I'm running my I think I have a mix of like an ampeg flip top with a a dark glass B7K pedal, and I do use the uh Soviet pedal like for fuzz. Um for like I'm using a fuzz for like our intro that I'm playing because I wanted it to, yeah, I'm playing a lot of big, big bass chords, and I want it to sound just kind of like massive, you know. Um and that's really it, you know. As far as the cab, again, it's a flip top, so it's like the one, was it a 112? I think I'm using. Um, and uh, and that's it, you know, nothing too crazy.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Has it ever been a specific decision to not use the exact same or get as close to possible, uh, replicate the studio live? Because sometimes I know there's bands and and musicians that want to like, okay, I need to basically take the studio, I need to put all that in a box and do the exact same thing every time I hit stage every night. Uh, was it a specific decision to open up rig options and not necessarily try to duplicate the exact same sound live?
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, like I just for me, I wanted to keep it simple uh live. And I I so I basically took like the average, right? The the average tone of like our record and captured that uh with one right, the SVT or the Fender with uh with maybe a distortion pedal again. Like actually the Fender that distortion channel is pretty awesome. I never really used uh like a Dark Last V7K with it. Um but um but yeah, like I just tried to get it's like law of averages, really. I just tried to get like uh an overall I I don't I don't I don't I don't like having too many many things like I don't want things to fail live. Um you know even with my my quad, like I at first I was like oh I should do different scenes song to song, and um I never I never went down that road. I just didn't I don't I still want to complicate it, you know?
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Um, so you're on tour now, and you're on tour till May, uh excuse me, till April for this first leg of the tour. Um where what city are you in right now?
SPEAKER_01I'm in Pittsburgh uh right now. So we we had we had a day off yesterday, we played tonight. Um and I yeah, it's been I mean, I love this city. Um it's been cool just to kind of chill out. Um, and then we start heading, like like tomorrow we'll be in Michigan and then Madison, Wisconsin. And luckily, like the mid that's the midway point of our tour. And then so we have two days off after Madison, and Chicago's like a two-hour drive. So I'm gonna go home for a couple days and regroup. Yeah, yeah, and then then we'll pick back up and start heading out west.
SPEAKER_02Killer, killer, man.
SPEAKER_01Um, man, thanks so much for being on. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00If you've enjoyed this episode, you can support the Bass Shed Podcast by clicking subscribe and giving this video a thumbs up on YouTube, or by following the show and leaving a rating or review on your favorite podcast app. Every subscription, like, rating, and review helps grow and connect the bass community. Thank you for your support.
SPEAKER_02All right, alright, alright. That was my talk with Joe Principy. Uh yeah, the conversation got a little sidetracked, right? I think we talked about uh parenting more than uh maybe we ever have on the Bass Shed Podcast. But it does. All of these factors inform everything, right? Everybody's personal life informs the music, and that is something that always has to be balanced. Um I love how Joe spoke about the balance of family life and his career. Uh, and it's so important to stay true to what core values are and and how he defines success for himself and success for the band. Uh, wonderful insights, wonderful mindsets. And I think that there's a lot there that we can all kind of adopt for ourselves and kind of understand maybe, hmm, what what does success mean for me within my career, uh, within what do I want out of music, what is success? And I think that that Joe's got it dialed in, that it's not about necessarily playing the biggest venues and all that, but it's really about reaching people and having a positive impact on listeners of the band Rise Against. It was great to have Joe on the podcast. You can check out links in the show notes to to listen to the group and to check out their tour schedule, all the things are in the show notes below. Uh, that's about all I got for this one, folks. That's all I got for this one. I'll catch you on the next one in a minute.
