As you read this Rancid will probably be leaving Milan, Italy heading for
Munich Germany in a van with Epitaph honcho Brett Gurewitz in toe. Gurewitz,
who hasn't been road warrior-ing since his days in Bad Religion, is actually
sleeping on the bus and swapping stories with Rancid's bus driver, Graham
Gower. Gower always drove Bad Religion on their European tours, so he knew
Gurewitz way back when. The only thing that is different this time around,
according to Gower, is that Gurewitz is carrying a PowerBook instead of a
guitar. Rancid returns to America on October, and with only a few days off
for jet lag, Tim Armstrong will get down to work directing Rancid's new video
for "Junkie Man," the cut which features Jim Carroll on backing vocals.
Armstrong has directed all of Rancid's videos expect for "Time Bomb" on the
advice of the bands manager, who wanted him to get "spiritually ready for
touring" and focus on that, instead of getting involved in the videos. Except
that when the video for "Time Bomb" was finished, there was a small problem.
So Armstrong rolled up his sleeves and spent three days editing the video, to
it's current state of perfection. This time Rancid's manager Jim Guerinot
didn't even bother to tell him not to direct "Junkie Man." Instead, he just
hired a production director who will deal with all the mundane hiring and
logistics. That way Armstrong can concentrate on his art.