If you’re a conservative or tea partier or libertarian or war veteran who lies awake at night wondering why there’s no band out there that really understands you, The Daily Caller has you covered.
Meet Madison Rising.
Named for Founding Father James Madison, they’re a “libertarian … pro-American … pro-constitution” rock band. Where other bands sing about ex-girlfriends and drunken nights, Madison Rising sings about Occupy Wall Street, the Second Amendment and liberal media bias.
Lead singer David Bray described the band as a “war drum for patriotism”: a constant and uninterrupted pro-American message.
“There are a lot of country acts that are out there that’ll say they’re all about the USA, and then in the next song they’re talking about bar fights and drinking beer in a bar,” explained Bray in an interview with The Daily Caller. “We’re not against those things, but our album and our message is very strictly” on topic, he said.
At the end of the day, Bray said, they’re a rock band. “We’re not reinventing any wheels or anything,” he said. But Bray said he feels that being the kind of rock band that they are is “necessary” in the current political climate.
A big thing that they’re hoping to accomplish is “awareness.”
“When I was young, I went to a rock concert and … felt like I was part of mob … kicked up dirt … it felt good,” said Bray, saying that it was like part of being something bigger than himself. But “not all of the rock concerts I went to were for that greater good.”
His hope is that Madison Rising could be different, and “bring some of those people to the show and have them feel the same way, feel like they’re part of something that’s actually doing something good.”
He wants kids, whose initial instincts might be to go out and do something unproductive “to hear his music and say, “I’m going to go and I’m going to do something a little bit more positive with my life. I’m not going stand around with a sign … I’m going to start a business.”
The “stand around with a sign” part is an allusion to the Occupy movement, about which Bray is not shy about expressing his feelings
“My opinion on the occupy group is there might be a few messages that they’re standing behind that are valid, and even some that we share the same opinion on, but I honestly think their mode of delivery is just wrong,” he said.
The protesters, he said, are “trespassing,” their camps have become a “cesspool for drug dealers and people wanted by the law,” and the movement is “slowly but surely becoming a drain on taxpayers.”
The band even has a song about it called “Honk if You Want Peace.”
“It basically just describes exactly how pretentious and disruptive and, unfortunately, potentially dangerous they can become,” Bray said.
There’s no longer a message in the protests. “Its not about what we’re protesting about, it’s just about the protest,” he said. “When that happens, that’s when it turns into being the wrong thing or the wrong idea or the wrong way to go about it.”
Bray isn’t a big fan of liberalism in general.
“Liberalism actually in my opinion is just an incapability to process capitalism and the truth and what needs to happen,” he said.
They “might say to themselves oh but lets worry about the caribou migration instead of worrying about the human beings on this planet that don’t have jobs and our worried about their next meal,” he went on.
“The caribou will be fine. Let’s worry about … people.”
Bray hopes that this mode of communication can help bridge the age gap, by playing music that appeals to both young and old. Their audiences are a mix of people — but veterans and tea partiers are amongst their “biggest fans.”
“This is our mode of being politically active. We want to at least do something for the betterment of America — something that shows gratitude for our country and our troops and our freedom and our rights,” Bray said.
Looking back, Bray wants to be able to say that “history tells the story that there was a band that stood up for the Bill of Rights and the constitution and being a patriot … and no matter where they went they put up an American flag and played underneath it.”