Anti-Flag announce guest-filled new LP ‘Lies They Tell Our Children,’ share new song & video

Karma Oak

Anti-Flag have been mad as hell for three decades, and they've never let up on delivering infectiously catchy singalong punk anthems that attack the bigotry, injustice, and oppression that continue to plague our world. Their last album, 2020's 20/20 Vision, was one of their best (and one of that year's best punk albums in general), and now they're ready to keep that momentum going with new album Lies They Tell Our Children, due January 6 via Spinefarm (pre-order). The pandemic gave the band a chance to spend more time on this album than they've spent on an album in over a decade, and it features a number of guests, including Rise Against's Tim McIlrath, Bad Religion/Minor Threat/Dag Nasty's Brian Baker, Killswitch Engage's Jesse Leach, Pinkshift's Ashrita Kumar, Bad Cop/Bad Cop's Stacey Dee, Die Toten Hosen's Campino, Silverstein's Shane Told, and alt-country singer Tré Burt. It was recorded, produced and mixed by Jon Lundin. The band also call it their first concept album. They write:

Look, this is our 13th album. There's no other way to put it; Lies They Tell Our Children is the best fucking version of Anti-Flag we have ever been. We haven't been afforded the privilege and ability to spend every day together writing and focusing on every detail of an album in well over a decade and I think you can feel that collaboration and collectiveness in these songs more than any other record of ours. That collaboration was only extrapolated on with the inclusion of the eight guests who are featured on the album, spanning genres, years of friendship, and a vast array of perspectives.

The album itself is the first conceptual album the band has ever done, spawned out of a compulsive need to not just comment on the dystopian corporate wasteland we all face but to trace it back to the origin of this fate; the political policies, laws, cultural shifts, and lineage of injustice that have led us to the world we live in today.

Like the band itself, of course the album is an anti-war statement both in the literal and figurative sense. This is an important moment in history and demands an urgent response, but we thought it was also important that we retrace our footsteps to the beginning of these issues. In order to better understand how to eradicate climate devastation, imperialism, war based economics, systems predicated upon racism, and the increasing belief that these things do not even exist, you have got to take people to the source. This idea is the crux of The Lies They Tell Our Children; put this wretched history in their face and demand their empathy.

The first single is "LAUGH. CRY. SMILE. DIE.," a song about climate change that features Silverstein's Shane Told. It's exactly the kind of fired-up song that Anti-Flag has always done best, and it serves as a very promising taste of this album. It comes with a video created with the INDECLINE Activist Art Collective that features the band performing in front of an upside-down American flag spliced with footage of an abandoned building getting tagged with activist graffiti. Check it out below.

Anti-Flag also have a bunch of tour dates coming up, including multiple editions of their traveling ANTIfest, one of which happens at NJ's Starland Ballroom on October 15 with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Surfbort, The Black Tones and Catbite. All dates are listed below.

Tracklist
"SOLD EVERYTHING"
"MODERN META MEDICINE" (Feat. Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage)
"LAUGH. CRY. SMILE. DIE." (Feat. Shane Told of Silverstein)
"THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES" (Feat. Tim McIlrath of Rise Against + Brian Baker of Bad Religion)
"IMPERIALISM" (Feat. Ashrita Kumar of Pinkshift)
"VICTORY OR DEATH (WE GAVE 'EM HELL)" (Feat. Campino of Die Toten Hosen)
"THE HAZARDOUS"
"SHALLOW GRAVES" (Feat. Tré Burt)
"WORK & STRUGGLE"
"NVREVR" (Feat. Stacey Dee of Bad Cop/Bad Cop)
"ONLY IN MY HEAD"

Anti-Flag -- 2022 Tour Dates
9/16—Burlington, VT—Higher Ground (With Brendan Kelly, Mint Green)
9/17—Boston, MA—Brighton Music Hall—ANTIfest (Early Show) With Mint Green*
9/17—Boston, MA—Brighton Music Hall—ANTIfest (Late Show) With Brendan Kelly*
9/18—Hamden, CT—Space Ballroom (With Brendan Kelly, Mint Green)
9/23—Birmingham, AL—Furnace Fest—Sloss Furnaces*
9/24—Charleston, SC—Music Farm (With Doll Skin, Teens in Trouble)
9/25—Louisville, KY@ Louder Than Life Festival—Highland Festival Grounds— KY Expo Center*
9/30—Washington, DC—Black Cat
10/1—Pittsburgh, PA—Roxian Theatre—ANTIfest (With Four Year Strong, Microwave, Heart Attack Man, Catbite, Dissidente)*
10/6—Boise, ID—The Shredder (With Bad Cop / Bad Cop, The Last Gang)
10/7—Seattle, WA—El Corazon (With Bad Cop / Bad Cop, The Last Gang)
10/8—Portland, OR—Crystal Ballroom—ANTIfest (With Good Riddance, Bad Cop/ Bad Cop, The Last Gang, Alien Boy, The Macks)*
10/13—Richmond, VA—Canal Club
10/14—Virginia Beach, VA—Elevation 27
10/15—5 Sayreville, NJ —Starland Ballroom—ANTIfest (With Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Anti-Flag, Surfboart, The Black Tones, Catbite)*
10/29—Gainesville, FL—FEST 20—Bo Diddly Plaza*
10/30—Gainesville, FL—FEST 20—Bo Diddly Plaza*
11/4—Chicago, IL—The Metro—ANTIfest (With We Are The Union, Suicide Machines, Gully Boys, Blind Adam, and the Federal League)*
11/5—Detroit, MI—The Sanctuary (We Are The Union, Blind Adam and the Federal League)
11/6—Silverado, CA—Punk In The Park—Oak Canyon Park*
12/4—Phoenix, AZ—Crescent Ballroom (With We Are The Union)
12/9—Buffalo, NY—Rec Room (With Cancer Bats)
12/10—Toronto, ON—Danforth Music Hall—ANTIfest (With Cancer Bats, Dilly Dally, Dead Tired, Indian Giver)*

*FESTIVAL DATE

WITH VULGAIRES MACHINS AND MUDIE:
11/12—Sherbrooke, QC—Granada Theater
11/13—Quebec City, QC—Imperial Bell
11/15—Joliette, QC—Salle Rolland-Brunelle
11/16—Ville de Saguenay, QC—Théâtre du Palais Municipal
11/18—Trois-Rivières, QC—Cabaret de l'Amphithéâtre Cogeco
11/19—Montreal, QC—MTELUS