Frontman Tim McIlrath revealed at the Louder Than Life festival that he still owns a Metallica shirt he bought in 1991.
Speaking with Rock Sound’s James Wilson-Taylor at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, Rise Against members Tim McIlrath and Joe Principe shared the stories behind their earliest band shirts. McIlrath revealed that he still has the first band shirt he ever bought—a Metallica “Ride the Lightning” t-shirt purchased around 1991 from a store called Potpourri at the Town And Country mall. McIlrath explained that he used to wear the shirt to express himself on designated dress-down Thursdays while attending Catholic school.
Rise Against bassist Joe Principe recalled that his first band shirt was from the Circle Jerks’ 10th-anniversary tour, which he hid from his mother because of the group’s name. The Metallica connection runs deep for McIlrath, who previously named Ride the Lightning in a 2022 interview with SPIN as one of five albums he could not live without, calling the band a gateway into heavy music.
