LIFE LESSONS
LARS FREDERIKSEN
He’s Rancid’s guitarist (and about a dozen bands’ besides) and counts Gene Simmons and Rob Halford among his fans. These are the lessons he values above all others
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
Punk for life: Lars Frederiksen
PICTURES: TAYLOR WAHL
RS FREDERIKSEN HAS many fingers in many pies. Best known as the guitarist in Berkeley, California punk legends Rancid, he’s also in numerous other bands, has his own wrestling podcast called The Wrestling Perspective Podcast, has produced classic albums from the likes of Agnostic Front and Dropkick Murphys, and is also an avid follower of Millwall football club. It’s been quite a ride for a snotty punk rock kid, so we caught up with him to ask what he’d learned through it all.
PUNK REALLY ALLOWED ME TO EXPRESS MYSELF
“There was a guy named Sean Gregonis who lived in our neighbourhood. The first time I saw him he was wearing a white t-shirt, had rolled-up jeans and was carrying a boombox listening to X. I wanna even say he had a little dog collar chain like Sid Vicious. My brother became friends with him first; this is like 1979, and we also watched Ramones’ Rock’N’Roll High School video together a bunch of times. Where I grew up there weren’t many opportunities to express yourself in any way. I gravitated to punk for the shock value. I think I’m a pretty provocative person, and I liked the freedom to say what you wanna say, to dress how you wanna dress.”