White Crosses

Tom Gabel said the following in an interview about this song:

"I wrote the majority of the record in St Augustine, in Florida where I recently moved to and just around the corner from my house there's this church and the front lawn is covered in these little white crosses, and behind them there's a piece of text saying each of the crosses is there to represent how many abortions occur in America every day. So the song is in essence a pro-choice song, and seeing those crosses everyday, I fantasized about smashing them down, or driving my car through them. I think there's something to be said for acts like that - it'd be very gratifying, but instead I play music and write about this stuff. That's why I say in the lyric, "I want to smash them all"

i really find it hilariously sad that people will always listen to obviously liberal bands without hearing what the lyrics are really saying and say that its their favorite band. but then they find out one thing about them they dont like and realize that they hate them. i had an extremely conservative christian friend whos favorite band was Rise Against until a couple of years ago when i told him that they are all mostly vegetarian, straight edge, and extremely liberal. then he decided he hated them after listening to them everyday of his life. same friend was supposed to hang out with me and another friend one day and when he called to see what we had planned, we told him that we were gonna just chill and play green day rock band. he said he might come over after we were done with that cuz he hates green day for "hating america".

so basically, before you decide you "love" a band/artist, do some fucking research and, more over, listen to what their fucking songs are about. the internet can be a beautiful tool if you use it correctly....

I'm going to give a very simple answer but I think this is about some big adventure that he had or a walk he went on while tripping on amphetamines

Ponytails swinging back and forth Behind beach blonde college girls out for a jog St. Augustine, shine your light down on me Pop hits from the nineties Echo out of tourist filled bars I'm met with arms crossed under dirty looks I am treated like a common thief

Telling us what he sees, tells us he feels persecuted for who he is where he goes because of who he is.

Eavesdropping in on conversations I wander aimless, leering at strangers Strung out on the amphetamines that you gave to me Eyeballed with suspicion by a pencil skirt in high heels You realize that you're talking to yourself Cannon fire explodes out over the bay

He's talking about an amphetamine trip, guess only people who have been there no how it is haha.

When your tripping out on amphetamines, the world seems to have more deeper meaning, guess this is his interpretation of how he sees the world while tripping...

Oh yea and eavesdropping on conversation, you tend to hear a lot of shit that suddenly makes sense hahaha

It's San Marco Avenue, not St. Marco. San Marco is a road in St. Augustine, FL. I'm guessing the "light" refers to the St. Augustine Lighthouse, and "cannon fire" refers to Castillo de San Marco, a fort in St. Augustine.

trolls like exagainstmefan i wanna smash them all

tom's internal monologue while walking down the street converted eloquently into song lyrics

yawn