Rancid
Let the Dominoes Fall
“Over the eighteen years we’ve been a band we’ve
seen a lot of things and been a lot of places. We’ve always done it our way. Never compromising, never wavering. We’ve outlasted passing trends, fads
and bands because Rancid is a brotherhood which can’t be broken. Coming from working class families, our
band has never forgotten where we come from. From academics to homeless kids on the streets and everyone
in between have related to our music.
We’ve never felt tighter and more alive than on this album. The following are thoughts and
interpretations behind the music of Let the Dominoes Fall.” – Rancid
“When I listen to anything by Rancid, Let The
Dominoes Fall included its all about telling stories. Stories that pull people in, stories that make you feel
strong, loyal, love of where you’re from, your town, your region, your country,
but also stories about the misuse of power and taking on anyone no matter how
big or powerful and pointing out the wrong in the world. Stories representing the underdog,
stories that draw a line and say cross it if you dare. – Jeff Armstrong (Tim
Armstrong’s brother)
“East Bay Night”
“This song was written about growing up in the East
Bay. Writing about the bay area
always came easy to us. In so many
ways you are where you came from, it’s engrained in you. It can shape you and define you as well
as the experiences you may have throughout your life. As you grow up you rediscover where you came from. So much of our history, family…..roots
come from the Bay Area. We had
finished our record and decided to record a few more songs we had written,
which is not uncommon for us to do.
For example we wrote “Ruby Soho” last minute, “Salvation” was the last
song written at the very end of making Let’s Go. So
when we feel something we go with it.
“East Bay Night” is another song like that. It harkens back to Operation Ivy and Rancid’s first record.” – Rancid
“Tim and I grew up in the East Bay and our
parents still live in our childhood homes. It’s a big part of who we are and continues to be. The song has a classic Matt and Tim
dueling bass and guitar middle section.
It sounds very East Bay punk rock feel to it. When we were recording it, I did the bass solo with my old
77 P bass. It is a little out of
tune on the high register. The
bass is twenty years old, it happens.
Mr. Brett wanted me to do it over again with another bass, but Tim said
no. Out of tune, so be it, it
stays.” – Matt Freeman
“I’ve been playing music with Matt for twenty
five years and have known him since we were in the first grade. There’s a deep connection between us. So when we play music together that
connection we have come across.
How could it not! We don’t
think about it, it just happens.
The middle eight in “East Bay Night” is a great example of our
chemistry. He’s flying through the
scales and I’m playing the octaves.
It’s loose and it’s wild, but it’s real to me.” – Tim Armstrong
“Punk rock is best when it’s blaring, adding the
soundtrack as you gather with friends.
As the mental Polaroid camera is taking snapshots of the interactions
between us, this is a song that documents that like photograph.” – Lars
Frederiksen
“This Place”
“This song is about the American Rust Belt, “…..the
coals on the fire ain’t burnin no more in the lake shore foundries.” Jobs have been lost, families
destroyed. – Rancid
“I’ve
been going through these cities for years and know them well. I know what they look like and sound like;
it’s like a movie I’ve seen twenty times. The last time we toured through the
Rust Belt the downtowns looked gutted and they didn’t feel the same. That feeling is what inspired this
song.” – Tim Armstrong
“It’s about the dying industrial regions of this
great country and with it the dying of the middle class. Speculators and bankers that came into
these cities and closed factories and sold them off overseas or just let them
die. Putting nothing in its place
and moving on like some mythical destructive monster. To me this song has a real Who vibe mixed with classic
Rancid hardcore that could have been on Let’s Go.” – Matt Freeman
“Up To No Good”
“This song is about survival at any means
necessary.
We understand what it means to hit rock bottom.” – Rancid
“Growing up in a crew there’s always a dubious
personality. The natures of those
who play the game of survival are not for us to judge but only to observe. There is an honor among thieves, whether
you agree with it or not, it exists and thrives in this day and age. To our friends on the inside a message:
We will celebrate your return and up to your release we will hold you in high
regard. Love always.” – Lars
Frederiksen
“There was a very live, spontaneous feeling when
we tracked this song and the drums were recorded in the first take. Tim had showed us an idea he had on his
acoustic, then we sat around for a minute with Mr. Brett and went over ideas
and parts on acoustics. Then Brett
said “great, let’s record it!”…..so my very first time playing this song on
drums was what you hear on the record.” – Branden Steineckert
“”Up to No Good” is a four on the floor Rancid
type ska song. Similar to “Time
Bomb” we thought a Hammond B-3 would be a good addition. Vic Rugerio from The Slackers and Roger
from The Aggrolties, two of our favorite B-3 players, were unavailable. Chris from Hellcat suggested Booker T,
who happened to be in town mixing his new album for our sister label Anti. Since we were labelmates, Booker said
he’d love to do it. Ain’t that
something Rancid is labelmates with Booker T, I like the way that sounds.
Booker T. & The MG’s with Booker T on
B-3, Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and Al Jackson Jr on
drums in our opinion are one of the greatest bands of all time.”
– Tim Armstrong
“One of the best parts besides watching Booker
play was watching all the star-struck studio engineers. These guys are all old hands who’ve
seen everything, but Booker was that impressive. We are very lucky to have him on our record.” – Matt Freeman
“Last One To Die”
“This is about the survival of our band. Over the last eighteen years we’ve seen
a lot of bands and friends pass on, quit or move on for various reasons, yet we
keep moving forward. We’re able to
do it because this is a family and our friendships with each other are first
and foremost. The music is a
direct result of that.
We new from the very first show what it was all about.”
–
Tim Armstrong
“One of my favorites. We all wrote this one together at Skywalker Ranch one night
when we had finished tracking for the day. This one was really exciting because it just came out of us
so naturally and quickly. We were
all singing and jamming, it felt like a celebration and anthem which in turn is
exactly what it became. To me it
sounds like Oi music meets Bruce Springsteen. This is one of the many songs I got to sing back up vocals
on. So we are all singing the
chorus’.” – Branden Steineckert
“This is a toast to all that have been with us
along the way. In the vain of the
mighty Cock Sparrer.” – Lars Fredericksen
“Disconnected”
“This song is about that evolution of
change. For better or worse our
country isn’t the same as when we were younger. When you grow up in America
you’re taught in the public school system to be loyal and to love your country
through reciting “The Pledge of Allegiance.” In general, some of us covet it, or in some cases even rebel
from it. Sometimes you can feel
close or far away from a place, family member or even your own home town. It doesn’t mean you love it less or
disrespect it by disagreeing with its current values and or views. True patriots will stand for what they
believe in, even if it goes against the grain. We jammed this one acoustic after hours and it clicked
almost immediately. The way we play
the chorus seems straight forward but there is a swing to it. This keeps it moving but still manages
to be rocking. It reminds us of Woody
Guthrie.” – Rancid
“We had the idea early on of having songs where
each singer in the band takes a verse singing. This is one of the first that we tried it on. Lars sings the first verse, Matt second
and Tim sings the third verse. I
had a little room in the bridge and last verse to throw in a few playful drum
parts so I had fun with that. The
drums on the beginning of the last chorus were inspired by Sham 69.” – Branden
Steineckert
“I Ain’t Worried”
“Don’t give a fuck what people say. Trust your gut and never give up, the
rest comes naturally.” – Tim
Armstrong
“I think the chorus says it all. In the vain of Linton Kwesi Johnson,
just sped up some.” – Lars Frederiksen
“This is one of those songs that the minute I
wrote the bass line I regretted it.
Just because of how hard it is to play well consistently. Its super fast, 16th notes,
and all down strokes. It’s the Dee
Dee Ramone technique. People
always underestimated how hard his style was to play until they would try to do
it. Don’t underestimate Dee Dee.”
– Matt Freeman
“Another on with each person taking a verse. This time Tim takes the first verse,
Lars the second and Matt the third.
I took a different approach to the drums on this one, somewhat inspired
by Dave Mellows drums on Operation Ivy’s Unity. Again this one felt like a nice rhythm heavy track so it
gave me space to throw in some tricks.” – Branden Steineckert
“Damnation”
“Blown out and abandoned hotel buildings that
were once new in the times of great American prosperity. Cold fronts of society’s collapse blow
in, where poverty and despair now live.”
– Tim Armstrong
“It’s got the Chuck Berry riff on the chorus
accompanied with the Greg Ginn attitude.” – Lars Frederiksen
“Fast hi hat, fast down strokes on guitars.” –
Branden Steineckert
“New Orleans”
“We felt it very important to show our adoration
for one of our favorite cities and one of the most culturally rich and vibrant
places in the world. Lars takes
lead vocals on this one.” – Rancid
“New Orleans is like an old friend to us. We’ve done some serious time there,
playing shows and recording some of Life Want Wait. “She’s got a walk, a stoic grace.” – Tim Armstrong
“I feel the bass line is a tribute to Donald
“Duck” Dunn. It has a lot of his
style. New Orleans is an important
city to any musician that has ever been there. We have been lucky enough to have been going there since the
80’s with Operation Ivy. I know it
will come back. It’s that special
and resilient a place.”
– Matt Freeman
“Civilian Ways”
“When I hear that song “Civilian Ways” I think
of my brother Greg sitting in the desert in unthinkable heat as darkness
falls. Thinking about how when he
gets home he is going to sit there in the old house he grew up in and raise his
kids, listen to AC/DC, drink his beer, baby his plants and grow old. I feel the fear in a brave man as he
sits there waiting not knowing what is going to happen next. Greg told me once that the whole time
he was in Iraq he was in that hypervigilent state, where you have eyes in the
back of your head and know everything going on all the time. A situation I can’t even honestly imagine. I feel like the song is also for me and
other family members who have to watch the news every night and hear about the
dead soldiers in a place we will never know but where our family’s blood may
spill.”
– Jeff Armstrong (Tim Armstrong’s Brother)
“My
brother Greg has always supported me.
He was the first musician I ever played with when I was a teenager. Greg joined the army and I stayed. Music has always been a way for me to
communicate with my family. As a
songwriter it’s my vehicle. I wrote this song pretty quick, almost as if it
wrote itself. The idea came after
hanging out with Greg on the front porch reminiscing like we’ve done a thousand
times before. This song is
inspired by his year in Iraq. It’s
less about the war and more about a person returning home.” – Tim Armstrong
“I think this is one of my favorite songs Tim
has ever written.”
– Branden Steineckert
“I play upright bass on it. Originally meant for the acoustic
record, when Mr. Brett heard it he thought it belonged on the actual record.” –
Matt Freeman
“Bravest Kids”
“This song took a couple of different forms
before we recorded it the way we did.
The message was always the same.
While the mainstream news media is focused on a bunch of trivial
bullshit, there are courageous young men and women overseas fighting and dying.
” – Rancid
“Skull City”
“”Some
cities born, some cities burn, some cities die, some cities learn, some cities
take the worst of the turn.” Inspired by northern soul, this is about hard hit
cities the working poor, the dancing girl is a metaphor. That rhymes. Hahaha” –Rancid
“LA River”
“I sing lead on this song. It’s about people coming to LA, not
making it out and getting caught up in all sorts of bad stuff. The LA River is the backdrop. It doesn’t look much like a river to
me, but it still has a certain beauty about it. The song has an X type of harmony in the chorus and a
rockabilly guitar part. We love
this city and have been influenced by all the great LA bands. X, Chircle Jerks, Bad Religion,
Blasters, Black Flag, etc. Novels
of James Elroy, Jack Webb police shows, Adam 12, Dragnet.”
– Matt Freeman
“Lulu”
“Another story of survival, a common theme
throughout the record, “Lulu” brings to light the hardships of a poverty
stricken single mother. With
today’s struggling economy more and more single parent families are left out to
dry and to fend for their survival without any assistance or help.” – Rancid
“Dominoes Fall”
“To control the outcome of any situation can often
be a tumultuous task. Lost in the
insanity you might not only lose the important things that you cherish but also
lose yourself in the process. This
song is an example of letting things go and letting them turn out as they may. In the vain of The Lurkers. This is the title track of our
record. Every record title for us
seems to be the last thing we think of.
It’s hard to sum up a record with a title in the middle of the process
although this is the greatest description of where we are at this particular
moment in time. Let life go where
it takes you. Take what comes no
matter what it is. There’s only a certain
amount of stuff that you have control over so just let it go. One of the first new songs that came
out of the after dinner writing sessions at Skywalker.” – Rancid
“Liberty And Freedom”
“Plain and simple, this song is about the
systematic suppression of ideas and censorship. It’s also a protest song in the folk tradition of Woody
Guthrie. Scare tactics to keep us
in fear are perpetuated by terror threat alerts and TV news programs who never
concentrate their efforts on positive sides of life. While the powers at the helm argue for their own agendas
that keep them in disagreement, it seems they agree, side by side, to the greed
and lust for more of their fair share of the American dream. Some of us might be content on sharing
a glance or a conversation. Fat
cats eventually sleep to long while the starving rabble stay awake waiting for
a moment to strike. The graffiti
on the walls will always leave clues.
Follow them.” – Rancid
“You Want It You Got
It”
“It’s
another track where we split vocal duties on each verse. “Punk Rock is our religion”.” – Rancid
“Locomotive”
“A continuation of the survival theme of the
record. “Locomotive” is about the
journey of life. While the end is
the same for all of us, it’s the path you take to get there that defines you
and there isn’t any formula or map to guide you.” – Rancid
“That’s Just The Way It
Is”
“The spirit of punk rock involves taking
risks. It’s about questioning
authority and not subscribing to society’s norms and not falling into the rut
and becoming a sheep. Without
risks you’ll never discover your potential. “This song is a prophecy, a mature assessment, or a
realization. In the vain of
Culture and Peter Tosh.” – Rancid
“Highway”
“This was the only song that we recorded that we
felt would fit at the end of the record. It’s the best way to explain every
individual in the band and it sums up the pure pleasure of playing together and
the hope that it never ends. “It’s all I’ve ever done, all I’ve ever known,
just wanna play one more show and make some music with my friends”.”
“See you in the pit.” – Rancid