Politically-driven Pittsburgh punks Anti-Flag are taking their music to new heights by incorporating timpani, xylophone and trumpets on their new album, 'The Bright Lights of America.' And that's not the band's only evolution. The same goes for their activism, which has recently seen the band helping to fund noble causes like Military Free Zone and the local, Pittsburgh-based Center for Victims of Violent Crime.

"The CVVC is close to me because they helped my family when we were dealing with the death of my sister," bassist Chris #2 tells Spinner. "She was killed in February 2007, and it's something that I've been struggling to deal with. We've worked hard to try to get money into the hands of the people that need it. We released a twelve song benefit ['A Benefit For Victims of Violent Crime'] on our own label [A-F Records] last fall. It was a home grown thing, and our label RCA was good to us about doing it."

'The Bright Lights of America' features a song penned for Chris #2's sister, called 'Vices,' as well as anti-war missives like 'The Ink and the Quill' and 'The Smartest Bomb.'

"As for Military Free Zone, it's about the education process," he says. "A lot of the people who listen to our band are going into high school, and a lot of them don't even know that their private information is being handed over to the military for recruitment. When we found out how that really directly affected our audience, we wanted to champion that cause."