Friends in the Armed Forces

Album: Common Existence (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This stripped-down post-hardcore anthem lyrically balances between Pro-American and Anti-War sentiments. Frontman Geoff Rickly explained to MTV News: "I think it's a really false split between the two, because I'm an anti-war person, but I have plenty of friends who are soldiers and I care about them. I think trying to make a decision like, 'Oh, you're a pacifist; that means you're anti-soldier and you don't support the troops,' is a terrible lie to put people in the middle of. So this song was about being a pacifist and caring about your friends that are in the armed forces."
  • Quicksand's Walter Schrieffels provides backing vocals on this track.
  • Rickly explained to MTV News the reasoning behind the Common Existence album title: "I just liked the idea that the record is about the shared existence of people in general. It's not so much 'me, me, me and my personal story.' I feel like so much punk rock right now is turned inward and it's like an outgrowing of emo becoming mainstream music. I really wanted to say it's just the same thing everybody goes through - that's 'common existence.' That's what life is. No one needs to get worked up about it."

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