Rise Against Drop New Single ‘Prizefighter’ Ahead Of Download Festival Spot This Summer

On the heels of playing LA’s Kia Forum, and releasing recent single Nod, Rise Against have shared their second new single of 2025. Out now on Loma Vista Recordings, Prizefighter illustrates the internal battle between making art, maintaining autonomy, and meeting the demands of the present day’s never-ending, rapidly-shifting attention span. Rise Against vocalist and lyricist Tim McIlrath says: “‘Prizefighter is about a compulsion to create, that then creates an audience, and then your connection with that audience and your responsibilities to that audience, and how much an artist is obliged to that audience. It’s trying to reconcile the shift from spectator to the public arena, and what you owe the people that are your fans versus what you owe your own mental health.”

Rise Against (Alexa Viscius)

Watch the Prizefighter video, showcasing the symbolism behind the song, the roaring energy of Rise Against’s live shows, and the deep devotion of their fans below:

Prizefighter follows Rise Against’s blazing return with Nod – their first new single in three years – which arrived days after the US presidential inauguration, and delivered “a particularly potent rallying cry for the moment” (Rolling Stone). Quickly uniting millions in its call for community and compassion, encouraging listeners to not sit idly by as world events, societal changes and technology shape our ways of life, Rise Against have since toured across three continents this year, and have made Nod a highlight of their live sets. Watch the video below:

Produced by Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Foals, Manchester Orchestra, St. Vincent) and mixed by Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, Paramore, Queens of the Stone Age, The Killers), Prizefighter now marks a propulsive page-turn in Rise Against’s next chapter, revealing another side of the band’s outspoken perspective and prescient point of view.

Like the body of multi-Gold and Platinum hits that have come before, Prizefighter and Nod further amplify the type of invigorating music, defiant messages and bulletproof melodies that have earned billions of streams, filled arenas, topped charts, broken records, and, above all, joined fans in an embrace of vital issues. Just as the stakes could not be higher, the Chicago punk rock band is back bigger, louder and more progressive than ever.

Currently in the midst of their Rise Of The Roach tour, band members Tim McIlrath (lead vocals/guitar), Joe Principe (bass/vocals), Zach Blair (guitar/vocals) and Brandon Barnes (drums) will be on the road all year long, with a slew of summer festivals, dozens of arena and amphitheatre shows, and more on the horizon, all throughout the US and abroad before descending on Download Festival in the UK on 13th June.