The battle lines have beem drawn, and the respective rock and roll armies have chosen their sides. On one side are the forces of "power pop" punk, spearheaded by the likes of such chart-topping giants as green day and the offspring, bands that over the last 2 years have taken the punk frontier to previously undreamed of commercial heights. On the other are the proponents of "pure" punk- a faction comprised almost exclusively of bands still struggling tro gain a foothold in the mid-'90s rock marketplace. For the latter side, however, a new champion has recently appeared on the rock battle firld, a band with a style, attitude and sound that litterally reeks of punk purity, passion and power. That band is rancid, and according to their most ardent supporters they're here to save punk from the ravages of over-communicialization and under-appreciation.
almost single-handedly these east bay bashers have emerged as the saviors of "traditional" punk values, a fact shown loudly and proudly on their latest album, ... and out come the wolves. With their outlandish hair, spit-in-your face 'tude and bash-it-up song approac, vocalist/guitarist tim armstrong, guitarist lars frederiksen, bassist matt freeman and drummer brett redd (that is how they spelled it not a typo) may well be the band that will save punk from itself- the group that gets people to realize that there's more to this musical stlyle than cute 3 minute songs, tailor-made for MTV. To the members of rancid, punk music is often angry, always being volatiles and frequently dangerous... try telling that to green day.
"we actually like the guys in the offspring and green day a lot," Armstrong said. "Billie Joe wrote a song for our last record, and we're on the same label as the offspring. I know some people would like to turn all this into some kind of war between the bands; you know, that we're representing one side of punk, and they're representing the other. But that's not the way we reall look at it, I think our band is a little different, and out attitude towards things may be a little more severe, but we think there's enough room for everyone."
Recorded at both fantasy studios in berkely and electic lady in new york, ...and out come the wolves represents a major step forward for rancid on a number of fronts. much like their current disc's predecessor, Let's go, a perponderance of the material on wolves is up-beat, infectious and starting in its bombastic energy flow. Such songs as junkie man, time bomb and roots radicals are out-and-out fun, not that much different from green day-styled punk/pop. But this time around there are also seems to be a darker underpinning to some of rancid's music, as if the forces of punk had deemed now to be the time for the band to step forward and give the form much needed direction/ armstrong, though, doesn't necessarily want the responsibility of "saving punk music" dropped on his band's shoulders.
"some people try to make too much of what we are and what we do," he said. "We're just a bunch of young guys who enjoy playinh loud, three-chord music. You really shouldn't read much more into it than that. It's been really weird for us in recent months when people have started acting a little differently towards up. I mean some people have always looked at us strangely- we expect that. But now, just because we have a few albums out and have started to get some recognition, we've had fans coming up wanting our autographs or wanting to take our picture. We haad some trouble with that. would they ask their auto mechanic or their plummer of an autograph? well we're not different than those guys. we're just a blue-collar band, playing blue collar music for blue collar kids. we don't want to be rock and roll stars."
whether they're on a star-trip or not, the fact remains that the members of rancid have paid their dues to get to their current status within the rock community. All the way back to the late 80's when all these boys were still in their teens, they were bucking the "glam metal" fashions of the era by joining suck seminal bay area bands as UK subs, operation ive and smow, groups that were known more for their inventive utilation of stules raning from ska to hardcore than for laying down faster-than-light guitar leads. By late 1991, rancids first incarnation had come together and 6 months later their debut album was released. While that record made little impact on american shores, it turned the band into instant celebrities overseas, and prior to returning to the studio in 1993 to record let's go, the group lunched a highly praised and highly successful european road jaunt.
"Maybe its because much of the music we play has european roots, but we've always been accepted over there," Armstrong explained. "We've been able to play headline shows in England while we were still struggling here. When the first album came out, we knew it was going to be a struggly to make it in america. the whole bay area was very alive with bands that sharred the common sense and purpose and musical perspectivbe, and we thought we'd all have a long difficult time ahead. that's why the success of green dfay has given us so much hope. they stuck to their guns, yet they've also made it to the top. it shows us that it can be done."
done indeed already, ... and out come the woles has outsold the bands previous discs anad seems to be well on its way to establishing rancids stellar credentials. now, a new question appears on the band's collective dokket. Much like the offspring, rumors have begun to about that the rancid boys have been approached by major labels who want them to leave their safe- but admittedly small- home at epitaph records and sign with the big boys. For their part, rancid feel that they'd rather stick with the "devil" they know, then start trying to deal with the devil they don't know.
"Epitaph has been very good to us," Armstrong said. "And I like to believe that we've been food to them too. it's bery helpful to see that a band like the offspring had to go through something much more severe than we did, and they stayed loyal to the people that got them there. We never did expect to have the kind of success they had, so out problem will never be as acute. we're just kind of contenet to be where we are, with people who understand us and give us total freedom.. If we were ever to move I don't know how comfortable we'd be. But we're not trying even think about things like that. All we want to do is have the chance to make new albums when we have enough songs together and then get up on stage and play 'em. If we're working with people who understand us and understand what we want to do, then we couldn't be happier."