Old Friend - Rancid

Really any Rancid song would do. Giving me one last chance to dance around my room and play air guitar in front of the mirror.

Operation Ivy was together from 1987-1989 (in the two years they were together they played 185 shows), Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman later formed Rancid in 1991 with the drummer Brett Reed, picking up where The Clash left off. Lars Fredriksen later joined the band in 93’. Operation Ivy’s story is told in the song Journey to the End of the East Bay on Rancid’s album And Out Come the Wolves.

The Rancid Punx have given us a slew of punk rock over the years, other than their six, soon to be seven, full length releases, they have a number of side projects. Ever since 2000 they have released a full length album each year.

2000 – Rancid (self titled)
2001 – Fredriksen’s project, Lars Fredriksen and the Bastards, releases first album.
2002 – Armstrong's side project The Transplants release first album.
2003 – Rancid’s Indestructible released.
2004 – Lars’ second solo album, The Viking, released.
2005 – The Transplants second album Haunted Cities.
2006 – Tim Armstrong’s solo record. It is being released over the internet a song at a time and can be downloaded for free as a thanks to all the fans and support over the years.
2007 – Rancid is set to release their seventh album.

Tim Armstrong also started a record label, Hellcat Records, in order to help out other bands and help get the music out to the people. A lot of punk bands have made their way to Hellcat, including: Dropkick Murphy’s, U.S. Bombs, Tiger Army, Time Again, The Unseen, and The Clash’s Joe Strummer’s band, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.

When a Rancid song is played in between sets at a concert it is one of the only times where everyone is singing out loud together and dancing when there is no one on stage, because we all know the music and are thankful for it because it helps us to get up when we’ve “been knocked out, beat down black and blue,” and odds are they are the reason we are at the show in first place.