Lars: My name is Lars Frederickson and I play guitar in Rancid
PP: How'd u guys get started, Rancid that is?
Lars: Ok, Well I guess about two and a half years ago Matt and Brett and Lint formed it up and went on for about fifteen months. Thats basically how it happened.
PP: Why did you join Rancid?
Lars: Well they felt that the music would be more powerful if they had a second guitar player. And I knew them from other things and we kept in touch with each other and they asked me to join and I said yeah I was into it.
PP: Why did you guys switch record labels so much?
Lars: The Lookout was the very first single and Im not too sure, but I don't think that Lookout wanted to do anything further with Rancid, and mr. Brett got a hold of the Lint and them and the Rancid demo and wanted to sign them. We're still on Epitaph. The Fat Wreck Chords thing is just kinda something that we did, we wanted to do singles on ther labels. We can do that, so we just wanted to do that.
PP: What's the deal with the "Someone's gonna die" song on your latest 7"? Lars: Well, it all goes bback to one of the first punk singles I ever bought in the early 80's and it was really just a favorite song of mine. We all loved it, it was an old punk rock classic and we decided to re-do it and hopefuly come out with a good song with it and i think that we did all right with it.
PP: Who was that by originally?
Lars: It's by Blitz an old oi band. A lot of people think that oi music is racist and things like that, but those people don't really have a clue at all. Anybody who knows about oi music knows it was all about standing together no matter what color you were or where you came from. It was about working class music and having a good time. A lot of people misinterpret it just because there was some stupid skinhead in 1987 at a Skrewdriver show that yelled "Oi!" because he was totally unaware of what was going on. People thought that oi meant being racist and in fact it is not racist at all, it's a very open movement, it was anyway. Oi music is all about unity and sticking together and fighting against what's fucked up in the world.
PP: You don't consider Rancid "oi" then do you?
Lars: Well...I don't know. Rancid is it's own thing. I can't really pinpoint exactly what the music is. TTo me it's just punk rock at it's street level. It's in our blood. I don't think wthat we could be doing any other music. Lint and Matt were in OPIV and that was like one of the most brilliant things that has ever existed, I believe. They love ska a lot and I love skinhead reggae, like Desmond Decker, Jimmy Cliff and stuff like that and punk rock. There's all types of influences that come into our music and oi music was the first punk music i ever heard, like Blitz and Sham 69 and bands like that. What I think we're all about really is a bunch of inluences all wrapped up in to one and that is what makes us Rancid I guess.
PP: Ok, tell me about your new record and tour that's coming up.
Lars: Well the new record is going to be out June 12th, I believe, on Epitaph. It's got 23 new songgs on it, actually there's two songs from the Fat WC single ("Radio" and "Dope Sick Girl"), but they're a little bit different, we changed them around a little bit. We start the tour on Thursday which is the second of June and we'll be out for a month. The we come home for a month and we do a couple of local shows and I think we're playing with Sick Of It All over here for like five days. Then in September we're gonna do a Canadian tour and an east coast tour.
PP: Do you guys try to get any political ideas or anything across through your music?
Lars: I don't think this band is really out to change the world or anything. Basically what we talk abouut is experiences that happen to us every day, being broke, things that we've been through, addictions to certains things. We basically talk about things that have effected us throughout the years. It's kinda therapeutic to sing about what we know. Coming from the street level point of view is basically what we're all about.
PP: Ok what the hell are you guys doind with a video on MTV? (laughter)
Lars: Ok well listen. We neverr did the video for it to be on MTV. We didn't really give a fuck where it went to. We basically did it to capture where we weere aat that time on film. We did it to have fun and wee did it becausee we don't give a fuck. We like doing them...We're doing another one.
PP: For what song?
Lars: For "Nihilism." We did it because we love it. We loveee doing it and it's our art and it's what we're all about. I think that MTV would be a lot cooler if there was bands...Fuck, as a maatter of fact I was just watching MTV at a friend of minee's house, I mean I don't even have MTVv aat my own house, where I live because I don't have money to afford cable.
PP: Neither do I
Lars: How did you know then? What are you doing watching MTV either?
PP: I actually don't. I don't watch TV. Someone told me. It sounds like I'm making it up, but it's true.
Lars: Well it's true. We were on it twice. I don't really give a fuck. I don't really caare what people say. If people don't like it, Fuck off. If they do like it that's fine. I don't really care. We're not a bband out there trying to make people happy. We're doing what we wanna do and if you like it, that's great we're totally stoked, but if you don't, hey that's fine, go your own way, I don't wanna hear about it.
PP: So no apologies, huh?
Lars: No, Fuck that shit! I stand my ground with everything I do. I mean it's my fucking life. If I want some kid trying to tell me what I can do and what I can't do with my ffucking music, ya know he's gonna have a definite problem with me. You know what I'm saying? It's kinda like if someone said, "Well, your fucking fanzine was in the New York Times." That'd probably be pretty cool. Maybe for you, maybe it wouldn't be. Then some kid trying to tell you that that's stupid or wrong, thatt's bullshit. You gotta do what you gotta do. If you feel it in your heart you gotta go for it and that's exactly what we did, and MTV just picked it up. We had no idea that it was gonna go there. Actually we didn't really care. It didn't effect us at all. We were just like, "Oh, big deal." We're still the same punk band that we were a year ago and we'll probably be this way for the rest of our lives because that's what we're all about is punk rock music and having a good timeee. I believe personally that it's all about the music and once you start trying to read into it then you blow it. Then it's not fun anymore. Music is supposeed to be fun and have a message and have something to say. I believe that's what wee do and when someon's trying to reead into my music and my art to try to figure out iif there's something "P.C.", politically correct or incorrect, about it. I just tell those people to fuck off because I'm not politically correct in any means. I'm not a sexist or a racist, but at the same time I don't give a shit abouut things, ya know? If that's right or wrong, being on MTV in somebody's eyes.
PP: So, do you help write the lyrics to the songggs then?
Lars: I wasn't on the first record, I joined the band right after the first recorddd was made. It was before it got released and they decided that they wanted to have somebody come in, so I did it. The record was releaased two months, I think, after I was in the band and this new record I co-wrrote three songs and lately I'm helping a lot more. I'm kinda cool with that. Lint and Matt are probably the best song-wrriting team that I've ever worked with and it's kinda a pleasure even to just watch them work. The new record I actually sing a song and I sing half of "Nihilism" with Lint. We kinda co-shared the vocals. But it's reeally cool, I'm really stoked about that because I was given the opportunity to sing and that's like reeally cool. That just makes me be thankful. I'm very humble aabout those things. I don't like getting a big ego because egos are for rock stars and for people who haave small dicks or something...so, I don't even bother with the egos and that whole trip. I'm just still the same person I was a yeear aago. So, that's where I'm at.
PP: Ok, thanks. Do you have any last comments or wanna leave an address?
Lars: Yeeeeah, please write to us at Rancid; PO Box 4596; Berkeleeey, CA 94704. Thanks a lot for helping us out and giving us an interview and your time, and your support.