Frontman Rou Reynolds explained the song's meaning to Kerrang: "It's basically just a statement of what we do in the live arena. Just the mayhem, the sweat, the connection that you get at our shows and in live music, and as a wider concept as well."
Reynolds expanded on the almost grime-sounding track in a press release: "I see 'Rabble Rouser' as putting music to my job description," he said. "Bringing people together and getting them rowdy and energized. The track's influenced by the plethora of genres that I was lucky enough to grow up with; from jungle to garage, to grime, to dubstep."
"I torture rock stars with pliers," Reynolds sings in the song's opening line. The vocalist explained: "The line 'I torture rock stars with pliers,' I often go for a few weeks of getting so frustrated with how stagnant certain musical scenes can be. But the most obvious example is The Warped Tour – we've played that and there's been some amazing bands who've inspired us on it, but at least half of it is just an onslaught of really uninspiring banal, recycled trash. And when you're living that for months, it's really hard not to let it get to you (laughs)."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.