Rancid at 22? That’s a notion many purebred punks might scoff at, but this Berkeley, Calif., crew is still kicking despite dropping only one album, 2009’s Let the Dominoes Fall, in the last decade.
Rancid’s seven studio albums burn with righteous energy and copious hooks, as influenced by the fervent Ska swing of frontman Tim Armstrong’s previous band, Operation Ivy, as they were ripping The Clash. Released at the height of the mid-’90s Punk revival, the band’s third and most creatively and commercially successful album, … And Out Come the Wolves, holds up remarkably well nearly two decades later; looking back, it’s heartening to remember its trio of catchy anthems — “Roots Radicals,” “Ruby Soho” and “Time Bomb” — were staples of MTV and even Pop radio. Critic Robert Christgau described the record thusly, an opinion that essentially covers the band’s entire discography: “Third time out they’re as far ahead of The Offspring as they are behind The Clash.”
Word is that the band is working on a new full-length record that will surface early next year. Until then, there’s the current tour and a relatively new song called “Fuck You,” a classic Rancid hard-charger in which Armstrong and Co. snarl: “We sing what we want/We do what we want/We live how we want/So everyone sing it with us — fuck you!”
RANCI D plays with Tim Timebomb and Friends, The Interrupters and Gestalts Sunday, Sept. 15 at Bogart's in Corryville. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here .
