Rancid

Tim Armstrong – guitar/vox

Lars Frederiksen – guitar/vox

Matt Freeman – bass/vox

Brett Reed – drums

If the members of Rancid seem to share a deeper bond than most bands–or most anyone, for that matter–it’s because they do. From Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman’s childhood friendship in the working class enclave of Albany, CA (a one-square-mile town bordering Berkeley), to the subsequent additions of Brett Reed and Lars Frederiksen (in 1991 and 1993, respectively), they have depended on one another for friendship, support and even survival for the better part of a decade.

Friends from the age of five, Tim and Matt began playing together in high school, eventually forming the short-lived but vastly influential Operation Ivy. From its 1987 inception, Op Ivy would become the keystone of the East Bay scene that centered around the Gilman Street club/musician’s collective; the scene around which the lives of all four Rancid members would converge. The band’s 1989 break-up found Tim spiritually adrift for a spell, eventually straightening out with help from Matt as they co-founded Rancid in September 1991. When it came time to recruit a drummer, Tim turned to friend and roommate Brett Reed, with whom he’d been sharing a crash pad over a liquor store on the South Berkeley/North Oakland border. That Brett had been playing for all of six months was hardly an issue; Rancid was playing shows within two months, releasing its first single on Berkeley-based Lookout! Records (the label that released the posthumous Op Ivy compilation, as well as formative releases from Green Day, Avail, Econochrist, Isocracy, Crimpshrine, et al.) in 1992.

The original three-piece Rancid line-up soon signed to Epitaph Records, recording and releasing a self-titled debut LP by 1993. Meanwhile, the band had set about recruiting a second guitarist. (Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong–no relation to Tim–even filled in for one show and co-wrote “Radio” which would appear on Rancid’s sophomore effort, Let’s Go.) Lars Frederiksen, a native of neighboring Campbell, CA who’d done a stint in a late model version of UK Subs, was approached but initially demurred in favor of sticking with his own band, Slip. When Slip broke up, however, Lars signed up, learning the entire Rancid song catalogue in one week.

Consisting of 23 songs recorded live over the course of four days, 1994’s Let’s Go both focused and expanded upon the raw fury of the previous year’s debut. LP opener “Nihilism” introduced the Lars/Tim dual vocal that has since become a signature of the band’s sound, as the two traded true to life tales of their hardest times. Let’s Go featured track after track that remain staples of the Rancid live show to this day: “Radio,” “Tenderloin,” “St. Mary,” “Ghetto Blaster” and of course the single/video, “Salvation.” A humble chronicle of Tim’s tenure as a Salvation Army resident/employee, “Salvation” broke into the MTV playlists, providing the band with its first taste of mainstream exposure… for better of worse.

By the time Rancid came off a marathon world tour supporting Let’s Go, the major label A&R weasels were nipping at their heels and banging down their doors. More than once, seven-figure offers were made. And more than once, they were refused. (Check the lyrics to “Disorder & Disarray” from the following year’s … And Out Come The Wolves for the full details.) The band remained with its indie label home, rejecting the majors’ front-loaded life-term deals in favor of the artistic freedom and control afforded by their unique Epitaph contract.

… And Out Come The Wolves came out like gangbusters in 1995 with a triumvirate of instant classics: “Roots Radicals,” “Time Bomb” and “Ruby Soho.” … Wolves saw Rancid shattering stereotypes and limitations, as they established themselves as punk rockers capable of world class songwriting. “Roots Radicals” mixed memories of the bandmembers’ personal and musical comeuppance with an avowed passion for reggae music, culminating in one of the most rousing choruses ever committed to vinyl. “Time Bomb” kicked open the floodgate for an impending neo-ska revival. “Ruby Soho” was a rare gem in the form of the quintessential Rancid love song. Additionally, “Journey To The End Of The East Bay” and provided a historical narrative of the Gilman St. era, “Daly City Train” eulogized a departed friend, “Junkieman” featured a poetic interlude from Jim Carroll, and “Alleyways & Avenues” sounded a new generation’s clarion call for racial unity.

Once again, Rancid hit the endless road. The … Wolves tour wrapped up with Lollapalooza 1996, where Rancid played alongside mentors the Ramones, fellow Bay Area residents Metallica, Soundgarden and more. The close of Lollapalooza marked not only the end of Rancid’s 1995-1996 itinerary, but actually the first appreciable time Tim, Lars, Matt and Brett would spend apart since 1993. Perhaps this interval with no recording or touring plans on the horizon gave rise to some of the more introspective lyrics on the new Life Won’t Wait. Perhaps not. Either way, the relatively brief hiatus gave way to year’s worth of sessions in various locales that would eventually be distilled into the most diverse, accomplished and overall satisfying album of Rancid’s career.

… Which is not to say that Life Won’t Wait is a radical departure. Anything but, actually. Just as … Wolves was a logical step forward from Let’s Go (and as Let’s Go was to Rancid), Life Won’t Wait is, quite simply, the next Rancid record. Nothing more, nothing less.

Recorded over the course of a year and in San Francisco, Los Angeles (in Tim’s own home studio, Bloodclot Studios), New York, New Orleans and Jamaica (They didn’t go to Cuba, despite what you may have read.), Life Won’t Wait’s highlights are as varied as they are plentiful. “Bloodclot” is a punk anthem as powerful as any ever recorded, replete with Lars’ lyrical nods to Lee “Scratch” Perry and the Ramones (not to mention a bass break evoking the best of Entwistle and Foxton). “Warsaw” and “New Dress” explore world scale class struggle and out-and-out warfare, the latter drawing brilliant parallels between a working class girl struggling to stretch her budget and children fighting to survive in the former Yugoslavia. “Backslide” sets the tale of Tim’s move to L.A. to an R&B flavored backdrop with an irresistible chorus. “Leicester Square” wears a mod influence on its sleeve, with gritty Rickenbacker guitar tones propelling the true story of a friend attempting to rise above his gangster past. “Hooligans” spins similar tales buoyed by the legendary guitar and vocals of Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples of The Specials.

Of the two songs actually recorded in Jamaica, “Hoover Street” is a poignant addict’s lament (“It’s who I am, baby/Back to it”) with sweet soulful vocal assists from Hepcat, while the title track features Tim and Lars sparring with dancehall kingpin Buju Banton against a canvas of urgent old school ska…and holding their own. The San Francisco sessions offer up the record’sand probably Rancid’s–most daring stylistic stretch to date, “Cranefist.” Hammond B-3 organ and acoustic piano duel over rock steady bottom and rimshots, while Tim and Lars take their vocal skills to new levels of deftness (or should that be def-ness?). New Orleans’ “Cash, Culture & Violence” returns to more familiar territory with help from Mighty Mighty Bosstone Dicky Barrett, while “Wrongful Suspicion” and straight up punk of “1998” and “Something In The World Today” pay homage to Rancid’s East Coast family: The former with Lars’ numerous shout-outs to NYC allies, the latter two paying homage to the Lower East Side punk/HC scenes through vivid lyrical imagery and a cameo from Agnostic Front-man Roger Miret.

Self-produced, culled from life experience, and played live in large measure, Life Won’t Wait is as ambitious and independent as it gets. It’s real, it’s Rancid, and in these times, that’s more than enough.