Rancid

For The Record...

Members include Tim Armstrong (born in 1966 in Albany, CA, the youngest of three brothers; son of a maintenance worker and a cookie factory worker; member of Operation Ivy, 1987-89), lead vocals, guitar; Lars Frederiksen (born in 1972 and raised by his mother, a former nanny, in Campbell, CA; former member of Slip and the UK Subs; joined Rancid in 1993), guitar; Matt Freeman (born in 1966 in Albany, CA, and raised by his father; member of Operation Ivy, 1987-89), bass guitar; Brett Reed (born in 1972; son of divorced parents), drums. Formed band in Albany, CA in 1990; signed with Epitaph Records and released debut self-titled album, 1993; released platinum-selling Let’s Go, 1994; released the acclaimed album …And Out Come the Wolves, 1995; released Life Won’t Wait, 1998. Addresses: Record company—Epitaph Records, 2798 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026, phone: (323) 413-7353, fax: (323) 413-9678, website: http://www.epitaph.com. Publisher—I Want to Go Where the Action Is Music/BMI. Website—Rancid: http://www.rancidrancid.com.

Punk rock band

Rancid, who cut their brand of punk music—a formula heavily influenced by the Clash—with ska, reggae, and sometimes rockabilly and pop elements, helped put northern California’s East Bay on the musical map. Although some critics dismiss the group as mere throwbacks to the early days of punk music, loyal supporters often call them the Rolling Stones to Green Day’s Beatles. In truth, most punk enthusiasts place Rancid somewhere in between these two descriptions; while Rancid, known for sporting bondage trousers and colored mohawks, does often mine guitar riffs from their forebears, the street-smart group nonetheless produced short, clever songs that always sounded exhilrating.

As a result of their solid punk-pop songwriting platform, Rancid—formed in Albany, California, in 1990—was able to break into the mainstream in the mid-1990s, finding their way on to modern rock radio and MTV with the hit songs "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho" from their third album … And Out Come the Wolves. For Rancid, comprised of lead vocalist/guitarist Tim Armstrong, guitarist/vocalist Lars Frederiksen, bass guitarist Matt Freeman, and drummer Brett Reed, reviving punk music meant more than the dyed hair, tattoos, and

body piercing. The band’s gritty lyrics and hard-edged sound reminded everyone just what punk rock was all about. And despite all the attention, Rancid, without fail, remained true to their craft.

"We really haven’t changed," said Armstrong, discussing the group’s 1998 album Life Won’t Wait in an interview with Roiling Stone’s Lorraine Ali. "We’re still loyal to the scene that gave us so much. We started a record label, signed all our favorite bands and still go to shows. We’re just trying to give back what we got out of it." Indeed, punk rock literally saved the members of Rancid, all of whom grew up in a world of blue-collar poverty. "It’s such a cliché to say that music saves lives, but for me it’s really true," Frederiksen revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone, as quoted by Fred McKissack in the Progressive. "Two years ago I was shooting dope and drinking myself to death. I wouldn’t be here today if these guys hadn’t become my family."

Rancid’s roots lay in the East Bay scene centered on Gilman Street, a club in Berkeley, California. The nonprofit, all-volunteer operation provided groups like Green Day and Rancid, as well as Rancid’s precursor Operation Ivy, with a supportive environment and an opportunity to play in the late-1980s and early-1990s, times when options for the new breed of punk bands were limited. Reed, who had previously been hanging out in the more hard-core clubs of San Francisco, saw Gilman Street as a revelation. In Berkeley, people were accepted into the fold, whether they were hardened street kids or not. "You could have fun at shows instead of having to deal with the whole violence thing," the drummer recalled to Alec Foege in Rolling Stone.

Since then, however, Gilman Street has more or less become a shrine to popular punk bands from the East Bay, as well as a hangout for greedy major-label A&R representatives. After Green Day and the Offspring, bands that hailed Operation Ivy as a major influence, became platinum-selling superstar acts, it wasn’t long before record industry representatives in search of the next big thing started showing up at Rancid gigs. Sure enough, by December of 1994 Rancid, too, was considering a lucrative offer: a 1.5 million record deal with Epic Records, along with a $500,000 publishing contract. Finding themselves surrounded by a mob of managers and booking agents, Rancid in the end decided to stay with their original home, Epitaph Records, the Los-Angeles based independent label that also fostered the careers of the Offspring, NOFX, and Pennywise. "Staying on Epitaph put so much fire in us, man," Armstrong told Foege. "During all the bullshit, we developed a Rancid motto: The only people that are happy with us are us."

Operation Ivy
Friends since high school, Armstrong—who then went by the moniker "Lint"—and Freeman from 1987-89 played together in Operation Ivy, one of the early bands that launched the scene at Gilman Street. Formed in Oakland, California, with drummer Dave Mello and vocalist Jesse Michaels, Operation Ivy drew inspiration from the Ruts and the Clash, as well as Great Britain’s Two-Tone movement. The band released the Hectic EP in 1988 and the full-length Energy in 1989, both on Lookout ! Records, before succumbing to the pressures of local success and unbroken touring and calling it quits. During their two short years of existence, Operation Ivy amassed a passionate following around the East Bay. Armstrong remembered the night before one sold-out show in particular, when he was approached by a 15-year-old fan. "I can’t get in," the youngster told him, as quoted by Foege, "but I love you guys, and we have the same last name." Without pausing to think, Armstrong led him in through the kitchen entrance. That young fan, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong (of no relation), still considers that night one of the most important and inspiring events of his life.

After Operation Ivy disbanded, Armstrong and Freeman formed a few more short-lived bands. Then Freeman joined a band called MDC (Millions of Dead Cops), a decision the bassist admitted had a lot to do with his strained relationship with his father, a Berkeley police officer, while Armstrong worked as a roadie for the same group until his serious drinking problem prevented him from adhering to the schedule. His worsening addictions finally resulted in five trips to a detoxification facility in nearby Richmond, followed by a stint with the Salvation Army collecting unwanted clothes and furniture. Then, with just two weeks of sobriety under his belt, Armstrong contacted Freeman, informing his pal that he wanted to regroup. Freeman, by this time employed at a truck-rental company, immediately agreed.

Returned to Punk as Rancid
"Armstrong’s street clothes—blue-green bondage pants, cherry-red combat boots, a white muscle T-shirt and a shredded jean jacket held together by safety pins—scream London 1977," wrote Foege. "But unlike the average zonked-out anarchist, Armstrong exudes a distinctly Brandoesque magnetism. Dark, gentle, brooding, Rancid’s leader and main lyricist cuts a rangy, handsome profile. He talks as if he’s got marbles in his mouth and walks with a slacker slump; but when he speaks, his eyes glow, and he chooses words with the utmost care."

Born the youngest of three brothers in 1966 in Albany, a lower middle-class town just north of Berkeley, Armstrong grew up in a decent neighborhood in an old house his mother inherited from her father. However, the family remained poor. Armstrong’s father, a maintenance worker, also had a drinking problem, and his mother, a worker at a cookie factory, eventually had to support the entire household on her meager income alone. "Mom’s a real hard worker," Armstrong said. "Even though we had no money, she was too proud to go on welfare. And she’d try to take us nice places like the Oakland Zoo."

Armstrong formed his first band with older brother Greg, who later became a career sergeant in the United States Army. Listening to his brother’s extensive record collection, which included the Ramones, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys, and the Circle Jerks, Armstrong became a huge fan of punk music. His all-time favorite band, however, was the Specials, a British ska outfit. Like Armstrong, the other members of Rancid shared a similar background, both musically and socially. Freeman, raised by his father, a single parent, was also born in 1966 and grew up in Albany, and Reed, born in 1972, spent his childhood shuffling back and forth between his divorced parents’ homes.

Frederiksen, born in 1972, came from a broken home as well. His mother, a native of Denmark, came to the United States as a nanny and worked for many wealthy New Yorkers and celebrities, including, at one time, Gene Kelly. The son of an absent father, Frederiksen, a high school dropout, spent most of his childhood in Campbell, California, a small town near San Jose with a predominantly Mexican American population. Well-known for his red mohawk haircut, Frederiksen grew up listening to bands like Crass, Discharge, and the Subhumans, who, he admits, scared him a little at first. Today, Frederiksen outshines all his bandmates as the one with the most tattoos.

At the time Armstrong and Freeman recruited Reed to join Rancid, the aspiring drummer, who had just bought a used drum kit from a junkie in San Francisco, hardly knew how to play at all. But within a month, Rancid played its first show as a three-piece. In 1992, Lookout! released the trio’s first seven-inch single, "I’m Not the Only One." Initially, Rancid flirted with the idea of using Billy Joe Armstrong as a second guitarist. But in the meantime, Rancid received an offer from Brett Gurevitz of Epitaph Records to record their debut album, and during the sessions, they met Frederiksen and invited him to join the group. Rancid released their self-titled debut album in April of 1993, then embarked on their first national tour, followed by an extended tour of Europe.

Sold Millions of Records
Frederiksen, who had played previously with Slip and the UK Subs, made his recording debut with Rancid in early-1994 on the single "Radio Radio Radio," a song co-written with Billy Joe Armstrong and released on the Fat Wreck Chords label. In February of that year, Rancid entered the studio to begin sessions for their second album. The twenty-three song Let’s Go, released later that year on Epitaph, drew comparisons to the early Clash sound played at a frenetic pace. The album took flight immediately, earning gold, then platinum status. Not surprisingly, major labels started calling, but Rancid turned down offers from Maverick Records, home to Madonna, and Epic in favor of remaining with their friends at Epitaph. The entire staff at the company flew up from Los Angeles to celebrate upon hearing the news.

A return to the studio in March of 1995 resulted in that year’s …And Out Come the Wolves. More fully formed and ska-influenced than its predecessors, though not exactly groundbreaking, Rancid’s follow-up went platinum as well, won rave reviews, and showed up on several "best of" lists; Spin ranked …And Out Come the Wolves at number ten on its list of "20 Best Albums of ’95," the Village Voice listen the album at number 16 for its annual critics’ poll, and Entertainment Weekly ranked the album at number six on its "Top 10 Albums of 1995."

After Armstrong formed his own imprint label, Hellcat, Rancid returned in 1998 with Life Won’t Wait, which included a collaboration with Mighty Mighty Bosstones vocalist Dicky Barrettt for the song "Cash, Culture & Violence." Life Won’t Wait became a best-seller, too, and garnered the group further praise from the music press. Rancid announced that a fifth album featuring more straight-ahead punk would hit store shelves in August of 2000.

By the end of 1998, Rancid had played more than a thousand shows, canceling just one date since the group’s formation because of an illness. "We’ve always gone everywhere," Frederiksen informed Mark Healy of Rolling Stone. "Even if it was Copperas Cove, Texas—where we played between pinball machines, ’cause the stage broke. It could be some kid just putting up this gig, renting out whatever he could get his hands on, just because he’s excited about bands being able to come to his town. That’s the beautiful thing about punk-rock touring: There’s always a kid somewhere who will put on a show."

Selected discography
Rancid, Epitaph, 1993.
Let’s Go, Epitaph, 1994.
…And Out Come the Wolves, Epitaph, 1995.
Life Won’t Wait, Epitaph, 1998.

Sources
Periodicals
Billboard, June 6, 1998.
Boston Globe, June 4, 1998.
Guitar Player, September 1998.
Progressive, January 1996.
Rolling Stone, September 7, 1995; April 30, 1998; October 29, 1998.

Online
Sonicnet.com, http://www.sonicnet.com (June 17, 2000).

View more Entertainment & Arts videos

• Genres: Rock

Biography

One of the cornerstone bands of the '90s punk revival, Rancid's unabashedly classicist sound drew heavily from the Clash's early records, echoing their left-leaning politics and fascination with ska, while adding a bit of post-hardcore crunch. While some critics dismissed Rancid as derivative, others praised their political commitment, surging energy, and undeniable way with a hook. And, regardless of critical debate over their significance, the band's strengths made them perhaps the most popular neo-punk band after Green Day and the Offspring. Their third album, 1995's ...And Out Come the Wolves, made them a platinum-selling sensation and an inescapable presence on MTV and modern rock radio. While they never translated that success into an enormous blockbuster record (like the aforementioned bands who hit the mainstream first), that wasn't necessarily their ambition, choosing to stay with the independent punk label Epitaph and the creative freedom it allowed them. That decision helped them retain a large, devoted core audience as revivalist punk-pop began to slip off the mainstream's musical radar.

Rancid were formed in 1991 by San Francisco Bay Area punk scenesters Tim Armstrong (guitar/vocals) and Matt Freeman (bass). Lifelong friends and longtime punk fans, the two had grown up together in the small, working-class town of Albany, near Berkeley; they'd also played together in the legendary ska-punk band Operation Ivy, Armstrong as "Lint" and Freeman as Matt McCall. After Op Ivy disbanded in 1989, Armstrong and Freeman spent a few weeks in the ska-punk outfit Dance Hall Crashers, as well as Downfall; Freeman later briefly joined the hardcore band MDC. Meanwhile, Armstrong was waging a battle with alcoholism (but, fortunately, winning), and to help keep his friend occupied, Freeman suggested they escape their day jobs by forming a new band, which became Rancid. The duo added drummer Brett Reed, Armstrong's roommate and a familiar presence on the Gilman Street scene where Operation Ivy had cut their teeth. Just a couple of months later, Rancid were performing live around the area, and in 1992 they released a five-song debut EP on Lookout! Records.

The EP caught the attention of Epitaph Records founder/Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz, and Epitaph signed Rancid to a highly favorable contract guaranteeing the group a generous amount of creative control. The band's eponymously titled, first full-length album arrived in 1993, pursuing an up-tempo, hardcore/skatepunk style with few hints of early British punk. Rancid had been seeking a second guitarist, and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong even played live with the group at one show. They pursued Lars Frederiksen, a Bay Area resident who'd joined a later incarnation of U.K. Subs and was performing with the band Slip; Frederiksen initially declined Rancid's invitation to join, but when Slip disbanded, he quickly changed his mind and came along on Rancid's first tour. Frederiksen made his recording debut on the early-1994 EP Radio Radio Radio, a side dalliance on Fat Wreck Chords. Released later that year, Let's Go was the album that made Rancid's name in the punk underground. It marked the beginnings of their fascination with the 1977-era London punk scene, particularly the Clash, and it also provided their first widespread exposure when MTV picked up on the video for the single "Salvation." Let's Go quickly went gold, and with the breakout mainstream success of Green Day and the Offspring that year, major-label interest in Rancid quickly escalated into a full-fledged bidding war (even Madonna's Maverick imprint got in on the action). Ultimately, Rancid decided that no major could offer them the level of decision-making power that Epitaph had given them, and stayed right where they were.

Rancid scored a major success with their next album, 1995's ...And Out Come the Wolves, whose title was a reference to the near-predatory interest in signing the band. The Clash fetish was even more pronounced, augmented with a greater interest in the original Two-Tone ska revival the Clash had helped influence (bands like the Specials). "Ruby Soho" was a major MTV and radio hit, and "Time Bomb" and "Roots Radicals" were hits in their own right. The album went platinum and made Rancid one of the most visible punk bands around. They played the 1996 Lollapalooza Tour, and afterward took a short break, their first since becoming a quartet. During that time, Freeman played with former X singer Exene Cervenka in Auntie Christ, while Armstrong set up the Epitaph subsidiary Hellcat; he and Frederiksen both began doing production work for other bands they hoped to spotlight.

Rancid returned in 1998 with the even more ska-heavy Life Won't Wait, a guest-star-loaded affair that featured members of ska bands the Specials and Hepcat, Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, dancehall reggae star Buju Banton, and Agnostic Front vocalist Roger Miret. While it didn't cross over on the level of ...And Out Come the Wolves, it demonstrated that Rancid retained a substantial fan base. For the 2000 follow-up, their second self-titled release, the group largely scrapped its ska-punk side, recording a visceral, hardcore-influenced album that blasted through 22 songs in under 40 minutes (in contrast to its two lengthy predecessors). Perhaps for that reason, Rancid received a highly positive response from the punk community. The band's installment in the BYO split series arrived in March 2002 alongside NOFX, each band covering six of the other's songs. Rancid's next full-length, Indestructible, followed a year later; though technically released through Hellcat, the album was their first that got additional support from a major label via Warner Bros. The highly personal album (songs were inspired by the deaths of family and friends, and Armstrong's bitter 2003 divorce from Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle) hit number 14 on the Billboard charts, as "Fall Back Down" did well on radio and MTV.

Following the record's release, Rancid went on something of a hiatus, its members working on various side projects: Armstrong continued work with the Transplants, his band with Rob Aston and blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and collaborated with various artists, including Pink; Frederiksen further played with his side band Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards; Freeman briefly joined Social Distortion from 2004-2005. By the spring of 2006, a revitalized Rancid regrouped; they toured worldwide starting that summer to the delight of fans. Several shows, however, had to be postponed and rescheduled after Frederiksen collapsed on-stage in Montreal, apparently suffering a seizure. Soon enough, though, he was back and the band continued on. Rancid promised a new record for the following year, and Armstrong released his first solo album, A Poet's Life, that fall through Epitaph by releasing songs online for free download over the course of several months. With the band getting back on track, it then came as a shock in November 2006 when Reed announced he was leaving Rancid after 15 years; the split appeared to be amicable and he was soon replaced behind the kit by ex-Used drummer Branden Steineckert. After taking some time to look back at their luminous history with a B Sides and C Sides compilation, a music videos collection, and an online webisode retrospective dating back to the bandmembers' days in Operation Ivy, Rancid returned to the studio to record 2009's Let the Dominoes Fall at George Lucas' Skywalker Sound Studio with Brett Gurewitz producing. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi

See words rhyming with "rancid."

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)