Alkaline Trio and Rise Against revisit their shared Chicago roots on new split single
Alkaline Trio and Rise Against have released a new split single, with the two Chicago punk institutions taking on songs from each other’s catalogues ahead of their co-headlining US tour.
Rise Against have recorded a version of Alkaline Trio’s Private Eye, while Alkaline Trio have answered with their take on Rise Against’s Re-Education (Through Labor). Both tracks are available digitally, with a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl pressing also available to pre-order.
The exchange brings together two bands whose history stretches back to Chicago’s Fireside Bowl circuit, long before either act reached the scale of their present-day touring lives. Rather than a straightforward nostalgia exercise, the release finds each group putting its own stamp on a song closely associated with the other.
A Fireside Bowl connection revisited
Matt Skiba said the project had brought back the spirit of the bands’ earliest days in the city’s punk scene.
“It’s so much fun and such an honour to be swapping cover tunes with a band we’ve known personally and loved since we both formed and came up from our shows at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago,” Skiba said.
“To see Rise Against become the band they are today has been a blast to track and to be a small part of through the years. To reconnect with this band and these people once again via tour and this release feels the way it did when we first started: it’s almost completely for the love of each other and each other’s band.
“It feels like a tradition we started decades ago that naturally comes back to us; we are grateful to say.”
Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath said the relationship between the two groups reaches back even further than their respective formations.
“The connection between Alkaline Trio and Rise Against actually pre-dates both bands’ inceptions, so we’ve all been there for both the awkward first steps and the flashes of promise,” McIlrath said. “We have an understanding and appreciation of each other’s bands that could only come from being from the same scene.
“To still be standing this many years later is a testament to the fertile Chicago musical soil we come from and are proud to represent. We had so much fun sinking our teeth into their legendary song Private Eye.”
Limited 7-inch edition accompanies digital release
The two-track release is also being pressed as a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl single. Pre-order the vinyl here.
The split arrives days before the bands begin a lengthy run of US co-headline dates, opening in Dallas on 22 September and closing in Irvine, California, on 23 October.
Alkaline Trio and Rise Against US tour dates 2026
- September 22 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
- September 23 – Austin, TX – Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park
- September 25 – Clearwater, FL – The Baycare Sound
- September 26 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre
- September 27 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
- September 30 – New York, NY – The Rooftop at Pier 17
- October 1 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
- October 3 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summer Stage
- October 4 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
- October 6 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory
- October 7 – Waukee, IA – Vibrant Music Hall
- October 9 – Council Bluffs, IA – Harrah’s Stir Cove
- October 10 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave / Eagles Club
- October 12 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
- October 14 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
- October 15 – Albuquerque, NM – Revel Entertainment Center
- October 17 – Las Vegas, NV – Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
- October 18 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
- October 20 – Seattle, WA – WAMU Theater
- October 22 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
- October 23 – Irvine, CA – Great Park Live
