Rancid Return with New Album in June

Seminal punk band Rancid - Tim Armstrong (guitar/vocals), Lars Frederiksen (guitar/vocals), Matt Freeman (bass/vocals), and Branden Steineckert (drums) - have set June 2nd for the 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 19 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 premier on April 7 via a widget available now on Rancid's MySpace page, myspace.com/rancid. Fans can register to get a personal embed code and then spread the widget to other sites. Every time someone enters valid info into the widget a point will be allotted. The 25 people with the most points will receive a pair of free tickets to see Rancid on tour this summer with Rise Against. For a complete itinerary go here.

Let the Dominoes Fall is Rancid's seventh album and first studio release since 2003's Indestructible, which reached #15 on the Billboard Top 200. That album inspired the Los Angeles Times to hail Rancid as "one of the most popular and enduring of American punk bands," while Rolling Stone called them "brutally exuberant."

Let the Dominoes Fall Tracklist:

1. East Bay Night
2. This Place
3. Up to No Good
4. Last One to Die
5. Disconnected
6. I Ain't Worried
7. Damnation
8. New Orleans
9. Civilian Ways
10. The Bravest Kids
11. Skull City
12. L.A. River
13. Lulu
14. Dominoes Fall
15. Liberty and Freedom
16. You Want It, You Got It
17. Locomotive
18. That's Just the Way It Is Now
19. The Highway

news source of www.guitarworld.com