You’d think a punk group with the name Rise Against would have rang any anti-government alarm bells well before the Chicago band had successful been granted permits to shoot the video for their new single ‘The Violence’, but it was the appearance of several large Presidential busts that saw the guys stripped of their shooting permit.

“The song talks about whether violence is an inevitability of the human condition, or whether it’s a choice we make, and therefore, can reject,” the band explain in a post.

“The video would attempt to distill this concept. Our director approached us with the idea of filming in a field full of the Presidential busts (basically the giant concrete heads of Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, etc). Our permit to shoot the video was initially granted but subsequently pulled by the board of directors who oversee the location. The reason? They decided we were ‘anti-government.’”

“We found this location compelling as the President heads represent power on both sides of the aisle. Rise Against has unapologetically spoken truth to power.”

Read their full statement below.

https://www.facebook.com/riseagainst/posts/10158543036505705:0

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