Cover: Rancid

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Rancid's guitarist and singer Lars Frederiksen's tone of voice has a slight tinge of fear in it when he calls me from Somerset, Wisconsin. Somerset nestles on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota and, in keeping with all other small towns in Wisconsin, can easily boast about being a place that time forgot. Around those there parts, cultural progress is a slumbering beast that refuses to come out of hibernation, no matter how hard us big-city types poke it with a stick. Roller-skating rinks are just now being erected, Rubik's Cubes are being shipped in by the truckload, yo-yo demonstrations are all the rage, tattoo shops only offer two choices (unicorns or wizards), and the lost art of taxidermy has always had a home there.

Frederiksen's overtly punk get-up of multicoloured spiky hair and combat boots would normally garner the "you aren't from around here, are you, boy?" stare from this thumbless population still grappling with evolution. Tonight, though, Frederiksen has found himself smack dab in the mecca of morons, the Valhalla of the vapid. Yes sir, tonight the sleepy town of Somerset plays host to what could be a nightmare for any punker: Ozzy Osbourne's molten metal meltdown, Ozzfest! And, no shit, Rancid are on the bill.

"If I was in high school I would be shitting my pants right now. I'm going to see Motörhead no matter what and I think I'm a lot tougher now than I was in high school. So if it ever came down to it I could probably kick some heavy metal ass," laughs Frederiksen.

True, you can hear punk rock in everything from beer commercials to video games nowadays, but Ozzy fans in places like Somerset don't take too kindly to punkers sharing the same stage as their Ozzman. Jiminy, I bet Randy Rhodes would be turning in his grave right now if he could see the desecration of his stage. Frederiksen doesn't seem too worried, though, as he and his band have been outcasts all of their lives. When most hardcore bands were beginning to look like the jocks that beat them up, Rancid continued to grow mohawks and adopt the look of U.K. groups like Discharge, the Exploited and Charged G.B.H. When cookie-cutter hardcore bands were playing at the speed of light, Rancid slowed it down and allowed space for ska and dancehall, way before the current onslaught of ska/punk bands, all the while picking up fans that run the gamut from squeegee punks to Ozzy fans (the state of Wisconsin excluded?).

Rancid's true talent, though, might be that despite their massive appeal, they have always stuck to their guns and have never had to answer to the punker-than-thou set who are always eager to point the sellout finger at anything that goes up the charts.

The key to retaining their punk-cred points could lie in Rancid's impressive track record:

Punk point #1: Guitarist/singer Tim Armstrong and bassist Matt Freeman cut their teeth with the highly influential ska/punk Operation Ivy, while Frederiksen did a short stint with punk legends U.K. Subs.

Punk Point #2: Rancid's early days came out of the mythical Gilman Street co-op scene, which was home to Crimpshrine, SamIam and Green Day, and run by the late publisher of Maximum Rock and Roll, Tim Yohannon.

Punk Point #3: Well, holy mack, do they ever look punk!

By the time they released their second album in 1994, they had quickly become a major label's wet dream. A&R weasels were banging on their doors with seven-figure offers in hand, begging for a piece of the band. "When all of those people are throwing out that kind of money, you have to think about it. It would be a lie to say that we didn't. But at the end of the day we just thought it was selling our souls away. The weirdest it ever got was when Madonna showed up backstage at one of our shows, wanting to sign us. She actually treated us with respect and was really cool and genuine. She bummed a smoke off me and I was just in total shock as I gave it to her. I never thought in a million years that Madonna would be into what we were doing, let alone bumming a smoke."

Despite blowing off major-label money in order to retain the complete control they currently have on Epitaph, for the first time in their lives Rancid have found themselves living quite comfortably and no longer having to worry about the hard reality of where their next meal is coming from. Throughout their success, Rancid has always put importance on giving back to the punk community that has helped them. Be it Armstrong's new label Hellcat, which is home to the Drop Kick Murphys, Hepcat, the Pietasters and the U.S. Bombs, or Frederiksen's production work for old school U.K. oi legends the Business, among others.

"You have to give back to where you've come from," says Frederiksen, "because it's right around the corner from where you are. I mean, it's true that we have money now and I can do things like get my mom out of the projects and Tim can help all of these bands get their records out. But we've come from working-class families who have earned everything they've got, and we've learned that money won't make all of your problems go away. I think I still have all of the same problems I have always had."

With the Vans Warped Tour being one of the biggest money makers on the festival tour circuit, it seems like punk rock may never go away. And who knows, maybe one day in 10 or 20 years it may even topple the Ozzfest as Somerset, Wisconsin's choice for summertime fun. "As long as there is a fucked-up kid in a fucked-up town with a shitty guitar, there will always be punk rock." You mean even a fucked-up town like Somerset? "Yep, even in Somerset," says Frederiksen. :

Rancid play the Vans Warped Tour with NOFX, Bad Religion, the Specials, Less Than Jake, Deftones... hell, everyone but Ozzy. Saturday, July 25, Parc des Iles, $22.50$29.50+t/s