The People or the Gun

Writing and production

On December 2, 2008, Anti-Flag's bassist, Chris#2, posted in his blog [1] that Anti-Flag had begun the recording of their album with "The Economy is Suffering, Let it Die." By December 18, Chris #2 had posted that nine songs had been completed, and on February 16, 2009, two pictures of the tentative track listing for The People or the Gun were posted on the blog.

In a March 21 interview with bassist Chris #2 in The Edge Magazine, he revealed that the band had recorded seventeen songs, but he wanted to cut the track number down "to a smaller number, ten or eleven," and make it a 30-minute album.

Promotion

The band embarked on two tours to support the release of the album. The Eastpak Antidote Tour co-headlining with Alexisonfire with support acts Four Year Strong and The Ghost of a Thousand, which saw the band doing 35 dates across Europe, between October and November 2009. The Economy Sucks, Let's Party! Tour began in January 2010 and took the band across 22 North American dates, with supporting acts Aiden, Cancer Bats and Fireworks. In February 2010, the band continued the tour into Australia with five performances at the Soundwave Festival.

Album information

In late May 2009, a music video for the album's first single, "When All the Lights Go Out", was released.

A portion of the proceeds from album pre-sales on the SideOneDummy website were donated to Amnesty International. All pre-orders of the album on the SideOneDummy site received a digital download of two bonus songs, "Bring Down Their Wall" and "A Brief Misunderstanding of the Kings and Queens". An album bundle was also available on SideOneDummy's store, which included a three-track EP of unreleased material, plus both a The People or the Gun T-shirt and poster.

The song "The Gre(A)t Depression" includes repeated melodic interpolation of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Bob Dylan.

It also includes backing vocals from Tim McIlrath from Rise Against, Greg Attonito from Bouncing Souls, Wade MacNeil from Alexisonfire and David McWane from Big D and the Kids Table.

Track listing

1. "Sodom, Gomorrah, Washington D.C. (Sheep in Shepherd's Clothing)" – 2:50
2. "The Economy Is Suffering...Let It Die" – 3:36
3. "The Gre(A)t Depression" – 3:08
4. "We Are the One" – 3:07
5. "You Are Fired (Take This Job, Ah, Fuck It)" – 1:00
6. "This Is the First Night" – 3:33
7. "No War without Warriors (How Do You Sleep?)" – 2:28
8. "When All the Lights Go Out" – 3:08
9. "On Independence Day" – 2:51
10. "The Old Guard" – 4:17
11. "Teenage Kennedy Lobotomy" (Hidden track) – 1:06

Bonus tracks

Which Side Are You On? E.P.

Some releases of the album, including the first pressing of the Australian release, the Amazon.de pack, and versions in the US pre-ordered through Side One Dummy or bought at independent record stores, comes with a bonus disc titled Which Side Are You On? E.P. The tracks on it are:

1. "Bring Down Their Wall Again" - 3:14
2. "The Weathermen Know Which Way the Wind Will Blow" - 2:45
3. "Africom" - 3:35

Use in Popular Culture

In the episode "Fresh Blood", Season 3 Episode 11, of HBO's True Blood there is a sticker of the artwork for "The People or the Gun" on one of the doors in Fangtasia.

Personnel

Anti-Flag

Additional personnel

Production

Art