Rancid

  • Berkeley, CA
    hometown
  • Rock
    genre
  • 1991
    started
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About Rancid

Official Site: http://rancidrancid.com/ | @rancid


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

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Music

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  • Last One To Die
    rancid
    Video
    Last One To Die
  • Red Hot Moon
    rancid
    Video
    Red Hot Moon
  • Ruby Soho
    rancid
    Video
    Ruby Soho
  • Time Bomb
    rancid
    Video
    Time Bomb
  • 69069
    SoundStream
    SoundStream
    song name
    0:00
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    All the music you want, just 10 bucks a month. Try it free.
    • Time Bomb
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/7/2/8/4/1/902514827.mp3
    • Ruby Soho
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/2/7/0/5/1/902515072.mp3
    • Roots Radical
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/2/2/8/4/1/902514822.mp3
    • Maxwell Murder
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/3/1/7/4/1/902514713.mp3
    • Olympia WA
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/2/5/2/5/1/902515252.mp3
    • Journey to the End of the Easy Bay
      http://listen.vo.llnwd.net/g2/5/7/0/5/1/902515075.mp3

Photos

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  • Rancid
    Courtesy of Warner Bros Records
  • Tim Armstrong of Rancid
    Rancid
    Tim Armstrong of Rancid
    Appio
  • Rancid
    Rancid
    Rancid
    John Shearer
  • Rancid

News

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  • Rancid
    Rise Against Ready To Hit The Road With Rancid
    www.billboard.com
    Touring with Rancid this summer will be a dream come true for Rise Against, according to frontman Tim McIlrath. "It's amazing just to tour with such a...
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  • Rancid
    Rancid To 'Let The Dominoes Fall' In June
    www.billboard.com
    Nineties punk mainstay Rancid has completed work on "Let the Dominoes Fall," the band's seventh album and first in six year. "Dominoes" is scheduled f...
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  • Rancid
    Listen: Vampire Weekend Cover Rancid
    www.pitchfork.com
    Photo by Napoleon Habeica During a BBC radio session last week, chart-topping indie rock band Vampire Weekend played a cover of Rancid's 1995 pop-punk...
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  • Rancid
    Jimmy Cliff Covers Rancid's "Ruby Soho"
    stereogum.com
    If you were a high school punk at any point in the 1990s, Rancid's "Ruby Soho" is a song that's running through your veins at all times. Rancid frontm...
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  • Rancid
    Lookout! Records - Former Label of Green Day, Rancid, Ted Leo - Calls It Quits | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    comment. For the rest of Lookout!'s repertoire, "Inventory, masters, artwork -- that's all going back to the artists... Our efforts to close out Looko...
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  • Rancid
    Rancid - "Fuck You"
    stereogum.com
    Veteran Berkeley punkers Rancid are, quite simply, my favorite band of all time. If the ninth-grade me hadn't stumbled across them, I would be a very ...
    Read More

Tour Dates

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  • Jun 11 Tuesday
    Detroit, MI, US The Fillmore Detroit
    Buy Ticket
  • Jun 12 Wednesday
    Toronto, ON, Canada Echo Beach at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
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  • Jun 14 Friday
    Montebello, QC, Canada Montebello Marina
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  • Jun 14 Friday
    Montebello, QC, Canada Montebello Marina
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  • Jun 16 Sunday
    Boston, MA, US House of Blues
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  • Jun 17 Monday
    Boston, MA, US House of Blues
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  • Jun 19 Wednesday
    Silver Spring, MD, US The Fillmore Silver Spring
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  • Jun 20 Thursday
    New York, NY, US Terminal 5
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  • Jun 21 Friday
    New York, NY, US Terminal 5
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  • Jun 22 Saturday
    Philadelphia, PA, US The Electric Factory
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  • Jun 23 Sunday
    Norfolk, VA, US The NorVa
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  • Jul 11 Thursday
    Seattle, WA, US Showbox SoDo
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  • Jul 12 Friday
    Seattle, WA, US Showbox SoDo
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  • Jul 13 Saturday
    Vancouver, BC, Canada Commodore Ballroom
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  • Jul 14 Sunday
    Vancouver, BC, Canada Commodore Ballroom
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  • Jul 16 Tuesday
    Edmonton, AB, Canada Shaw Conference Centre
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  • Jul 17 Wednesday
    Calgary, AB, Canada MacEwan Hall, University of Calgary
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  • Jul 19 Friday
    Salt Lake City, UT, US The Depot
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  • Jul 20 Saturday
    Salt Lake City, UT, US The Depot
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  • Jul 21 Sunday
    Las Vegas, NV, US House of Blues
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  • Jul 23 Tuesday
    Tucson, AZ, US Rialto Theatre
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  • Jul 24 Wednesday
    Tempe, AZ, US Marquee Theatre
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  • Jul 26 Friday
    Hollywood, CA, US Hollywood Palladium
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  • Jul 28 Sunday
    San Diego, CA, US House of Blues
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  • Jul 29 Monday
    San Diego, CA, US House of Blues
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  • Aug 2 Friday
    San Francisco, CA, US The Warfield
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  • Aug 3 Saturday
    San Francisco, CA, US The Warfield
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  • Sep 13 Friday
    Chicago, IL, US Humboldt Park
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  • Sep 13 Friday
    Chicago, IL, US Humboldt Park
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Discography

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  • Let the Dominoes Fall (2009)
    Rancid
    Let the Dominoes Fall (2009)
    Epitaph
  • Indestructible  (2003)
    Rancid
    Indestructible (2003)
    Hellcat Records
  • Rancid [2000] (2000)
    Rancid
    Rancid [2000] (2000)
    Hellcat Records
  • Life Won't Wait (1998)
    Rancid
    Life Won't Wait (1998)
    Epitaph Records
  • ...And Out Come the Wolves (1995)
    Rancid
    ...And Out Come the Wolves (1995)
    Epitaph Records
  • Let's Go (1994)
    Rancid
    Let's Go (1994)
    Epitaph Records
  • Rancid [1993] (1993)
    Rancid
    Rancid [1993] (1993)
    Epitaph Records
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