Rancid 'Last One To Die'

• 22nd May 2009

Seminal punk band Rancid – Tim Armstrong (guitar/vocals), Lars Frederiksen (guitar/vocals), Matt Freeman (bass/vocals), and Branden Steineckert (drums) – have set June 1st for the UK release of Let The Dominoes Fall (Hellcat/Epitaph), their first studio album in six years. The platinum-selling band recorded at George Lucas' Skywalker Sound Studio, with production by Epitaph Records founder/Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Let The Dominoes Fall features nineteen new songs, all written by Rancid. Special guest and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Booker T contributes Hammond B3 organ on one track, ‘Up To No Good.’

“The crew is back doing what we do best,” says Armstrong. “We approached every element of this record as a team, and the result is my favorite Rancid record to date.”

It’s also their most topical. From the unflinching observations of ‘This Place,’ ‘Lulu’ and ‘Locomotive,’ all of which presage the current economic meltdown, to ‘The Bravest Kids’ which rails against media’s kid-glove treatment of the Iraq war, and the mostly acoustic ‘Civilian Ways,’ inspired by the soldier’s journey of Armstrong’s brother to Iraq and back home again, Let The Dominoes Fall feels timely, adamant and alive.

‘Last One To Die,’ the first single from the new album, will precede the album on 25th May.