Happy Birthday to Tim McIlrath of our beloved hometown heroes Rise Against. His passion for music, doing what’s right, and representing Chicago in such a special way has never wavered since the band broke out to be a worldwide sensation. Over the years at PIqniq, the Nights We Stole Christmas, and even just running him into on the streets like right after playing Wrigley Field, Tim has always just been down to Earth around these larger-than-life situations. Let’s celebrate our special times with Tim and the RA gang down below.

Listen to our new long-form interview on our new History of Alternative with Tim McIlrath about how politics have inspired some incredible songs in the alternative space.

Feeling a Halloween candy hangover? Listen to RA’s Tim sing Misfits ‘Halloween’ with Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance, Mike Herrera of MxPx/Goldfinger,  Angels & Airwaves drummer Atom Willard, and Ryan ‘Fluff’ Bruce from Dragged Under.

At Piqniq saw two superheroes unite to bring ‘power to the people’ as Tom Morello had McIlrath join him on-stage with a lot of WKQX listeners. It was surreal to say the least. Watch this wild video of that here.

Spend some time with this special Lounge session we taped with Tim and our various interviews with him through the years.