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For the real story on Anti-Flag you have to go way back to 1988. At that time, Pat could hardly play drums and I was even worse at guitar. Full Bio

For the real story on Anti-Flag you have to go way back to 1988. At
that time, Pat could hardly play drums and I was even worse at guitar.
But the fact remained that we were the only punk rockers in Glenshaw,
Pennsylvania (the town where we grew up) and when faced with either
hanging out at the mall, getting fucked out of our minds on drugs, or
attempting to play punk rock, we went straight for the punk rock! By
1989 we were playing just well enough to have a band, which we named
Anti-Flag. However that band didn't look anything like the Anti-Flag of
today. At that time my sister, Lucy Fester, held down the lead vocals,
and a number of stray guitarists and bass players sifted in and out of
the mix. After playing only one show at a church hall we rented the
band fell apart and as far as we were concerned was laid to rest
forever! Jump ahead to 1993. After playing in a number of forgettable
bands Pat and I drove across the country to fuck around on the west
coast for a while. Pat went back to Pittsburgh a week or two after our
arrival in San Francisco and I hung out there for about eight months to
check out the scenery. Once back in Pittsburgh we were more determined
than ever to start a serious band. All we needed was a good bass
player. That's where Andy Flag entered the picture. I had met him a
year or two earlier at church. Both of us had been forced to attend
church by our moms and Andy was the only other punky kid in the youth
group, so naturally, we automatically attracted to each other. As it
turned out Andy played bass and he, Pat, and I, got together and played
a number of times. But then Pat and I left for the west coast, which
gave us no chance to really get anything going. So when I got back from
San Francisco we called him up and asked him to join the new band we
were forming. He accepted.

We practiced our asses off during the remainder of February and part of
March and within a few weeks we were scheduled to play a live radio
show on WRCT in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for us, we still didn't have
a name! While Pat and I had already used the name Anti-Flag years
earlier in our other band we had been kicking around the idea of using
it again. Why? Well, it was like this... the name was originally
inspired as a result of the late 80's Pittsburgh scene being
infiltrated by a bunch of ass holes who toted the slogan, "Freedom not
fascism". Well, that would've been great if these jerks practiced what
they preached, but unfortunately, their idea of punk rock was VERY
fascist! They took to sporting the American flag on their jackets,
saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag, and (like the bunch of
goons they were) beating the fuck out of each other and anyone who got
in the way. (basically they were just macho jock types who happened to
have gotten into punk) At shows I would see these fuckers sporting
their flags singing along to the Sub Humans, Exploited, Circle Jerks,
whoever happened to be on tour, and I would wonder why? Weren't these
bands completely speaking out against everything these "punx" believed
in? It seemed to me that these kids were really missing the point to it
all. They needed to look "fascism" up in the dictionary so they could
learn that fascism controls the masses by 1. Promoting extreme
nationalism, and 2. Using systematic violence and terror. (To these
kids credit they were against racism but they failed to realize that
you can be anti racist and still be a fascist!)

With that in mind, even though we had already used the name Anti-Flag
we felt like it was a name that could still say a lot about the current
state of the punk rock community and the world as a whole. Our thinking
was that people wouldn't so easily be able to treat our band as
entertainment, but instead it would be a vehicle that would force them
to think. THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO AGREE WITH US! We just wanted to make a
point that we weren't there ONLY to entertain, we had something to say,
there was a fundamental belief behind the band. So, the night of our
show at WRCT we walked through the doors as Anti-Flag. (Fuckin' right!)
Why did we put the hyphen in the middle of "anti" and "flag"? I'd like
to be able to tell you that it's a symbol of defiance, we were snubbing
the use of proper English to show our hatred for modern society, etc.,
etc... Unfortunately, the truth is, we were all just too dumb to know
the correct use of a hyphen.

Moving right along...

Where Did Anti-Flag Go From There?

For about three years after forming Anti-Flag played local gigs and did
our best to play as many out of town shows as possible which was hard
because we didn Hide Bio