By Alyssa Robbins
For the last month, the band Anti-Flag toured across America with Stray from the Path, The White Noise, and Sharptooth and they finished their Silence Equals Violence Tour on February 11 in New York.
Anti-Flag started this tour to take a stand on what is happening in America. Their new album has songs that relate to current issues that people are concerned about, like racism, homophobia, and war. All of the bands that that were on this tour cared about all of these problems and more, which is why they all agreed to tour together.
Besides all of the bands that were there, Anti-flag asked non-profits like Peta2, who wants to stop animal cruelty, Live Love and Strength, which is helping find a cure for bone marrow cancer, and A Voice for the Innocent which helps support sexual assault victims, to help support their tour. The lead singer of Sharptooth, Lauren Kashan even expressed her love for A Voice for the Innocent by sharing her rape story on stage before she performed a song she wrote about the topic. The tour has helped many people find their voice, so they can be able to speak up.
“The Silence Equals Violence tour has hands-down been the most supportive, and inspiring experience for all of us,” Tommy West, the drummer from The White Noise, said.
“This tour touched the lives of many fans,” West said. “When I was backstage looking out into the crowd, the smiles that the music brought to everyone’s face was beautiful.” All of the performers really got the crowd moving and you could tell none of them went home sad.
Since it was the last concert of the tour, it was bitter sweet to play in New York. For Stay from the Path, they got to play for their hometown, but no one wanted to leave each other. They became so close with each other they did not want the tour to end.
Never before have we toured with bands that truly stand for something other than artificial or monetary purposes,” West said. “Huge thanks to Anti-Flag, Stray from the Path and Sharptooth for teaching us so much in just a month.
It was clear that the crowd thought all of the bands deserved another round of applause. Hearing them talk and the seeing the way they looked at the crowd showed how much they really cared about everyone who was there.
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