This is Craig's Unofficial Anti-Flag Website, enjoy.For the real story on Anti-Flag you have to go way back to 1988. At that time, Pat could hardly play drums and Justin was even worse at guitar. But the fact remained that they were the only punk rockers in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania(the town where they grew up) and when faced with either hanging out at the mall,or attempting to play punk rock, they went straight for the punk rock! By 1989 they were playing just well enough to have a band which they named Anti-Flag. However that band didn't look anything like the Anti-Flag of today. At that time Justin's 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 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 Justin drove across the country to play around on the west coast for awhile. Pat went back to Pittsburgh a week or two after there arrival in San Francisco and Justin hung out there for about eight months to check out the scenery. Once back in Pittsburgh they were more determined than ever to start a serious band. All they needed was a good bass player. That's where Andy Flag entered the picture. Justin had met him a year or two earlier at church. Both of them had been forced to attend church by there moms and Andy was the only other punky kid in the youth group, so naturally, they automatically attracted to each other. As it turned out Andy played bass and he, Pat, and Justin, got together and played a number of times. But then Pat and Justin left for the west coast which gave us no chance to really get anything going. So when they got back from San Francisco they called him up and asked him to join the new band they were forming. He accepted.
They practiced there butts off during the remainder of February and part of March and within a few weeks they were scheduled to play a live radio show on WRCT in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for them, they still didn't have a name! While Pat and Justin had already used the name Anti-Flag years earlier in their other band they 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 idiots 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 crap 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 Justin would see these guys sporting their flags singing along to the Sub Humans, Exploited, Circle Jerks, whoever happened to be on tour, and Justin 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 they had already used the name Anti-Flag they 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. There thinking was that people wouldn't so easily be able to treat there band as entertainment, but instead it would be a vehicle that would force them to think. PEOPLE DON"T HAVE TO AGREE WITH THEM! They just wanted to make a point that they weren't there ONLY to entertain, they had something to say, there was a fundamental belief behind the band. So, the night of their show at WRCT we walked through the doors as Anti-Flag.
Why did they put the hyphen in the middle of "anti" and "flag"? Justin would like to be able to tell you that it's a symbol of defiance, they were snubbing the use of proper English to show there hatred for modern society, etc., etc... Unfortunately, the truth is, there were all just too dumb to know the correct use of a hyphen.Make sure when you sign my guestbook after you click continue you confirm the info or it wont show up!!!!!!Right below you can post messages about anything,and after you type in your message make sure to press refresh so it shows up!!!
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