6. Joe Principe's Rubber-Hand Bass Is Mesmerising
Geffen RecordsIs he even hitting that thing? Principe's flailing style is an inspiration to many, as the more common way of playing a bass is with the fingers, yet the dude is just a machine - utilising a pick and flailing away to the many pounding rhythms the band's songs have. Joe is one of the founding members along with Tim McIlrath, and a core component of the direction the band has taken over the years thanks to bass-led songs like 'Blood To Bleed' and 'Like The Angel' also engraining themselves in many fans' minds.
5. That Feeling When Introducing Someone And They 'Get' Rise Against
YoutubeIt's like years ago when all of a sudden gaming made that mainstream shift and more casual observers of the once-thought to be basement-dwelling hobby were now asking for a game of Call of Duty, or wondering "What the deal was" with Final Fantasy. Sure you can like Audience of One and Survive as fun singalong songs, but have you actually sat down and read the lyrics throughout each album? It's very rare to find a frontman who wields the pen with so much integrity, and who'll sing every note of every song like he wrote the lyric earlier that morning. From loving the band members' personalities offstage to relating to a particular passage or individual lyric, when someone you've given an album or recommendation to comes back and really says something in their songs actually moved or inspired them, it's high fives all round.