2012 has been a very busy year for Tim Armstrong of Rancid. He produced Jimmy Cliff's comeback EP "Sacred Fire" and album "Rebirth" and then toured with Cliff playing critically acclaimed shows at Coachellla. If that wasn't enough, Armstrong noted that new material from Rancid and the Transplants would be on the way. Before those records drop, fans can look forward to Armstrong’s latest solo project, Tim Timebomb and Friends, who are releasing a debut album on December 11th on iTunes.
Armstrong has been posting a song a day on his official YouTube channel, often posting them as they are recorded. The songs offer an incredibly diverse mix of originals and covers with several guest musicians, including Pink and Travis Barker. Each video comes with a short note from Armstrong about its personal significance to him. Many are quite detailed and offer wonderful anecdotes about the song, its writers and details about its original recording. Armstrong is clearly a music fan first and foremost and explained the project on his website.
“Tim Timebomb and Friends is a place for me to share with you some of my favorite songs that I’ve recorded with friends of mine. I’ve always enjoyed sharing music, whether I’m just sitting around playing acoustic guitar with my friends or breaking out old 45’s.
“I guess you could call me a music nerd. I like everything from Bob Dylan to the Ramones, to Jimmy Cliff to Cock Sparrer. I plan to bring together a great group of players to record covers as well as some originals. I hope you dig it and encourage you to pass them on.”Armstrong loves ska and 2-Tone and he has recorded faithful versions of a few of his favorites including The Specials "Concrete Jungle," The Bodysnatchers cover of Dandy Livingstone's "Let's Do Rocksteady," Bad Manners "Lip Up Fatty" and The English Beat's "Save It For Later." Have a listen below.
This track is HOT OFF THE GRIDDLE!! It's Friday night, and we just recorded it!! 'Concrete Jungle' was originally on The Specials self titled album, that was produced by Elvis Costello, and was written by Roddy Byers, aka Roddy Radiation. Roddy recorded with Rancid on the 'Life Won't Wait' record -- he played the guitar solo on 'Hooligans'. The Interrupters are my backing band on this one. Check out the the amazing rhythm section of Jesse and Justin, they play like identical twins...oh wait, never mind -- they ARE identical twins.
Tim Timebomb - Guitar, Vocals
Dan Boer - Organ
Kevin Bivona - Guitar
Jesse Bivona -Drums
Justin Bivona- Bass
Aimee Interrupter - Backing Vocals
Mike Bolger - Trumpet, Trombone
Pablo Calogero - Saxes
This is the second 2 Tone song that we’ve done. This one’s originally by the Bodysnatchers–a seven piece all female band who formed in London in ’79. You can check them out in a documentary film called “Dance Craze” which features a bunch of British 2 Tone bands. They toured with the Selector starting in ’79, and singer Rhoda Dakar joined The Special A.K.A. later on.
Tim Timebomb – Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar
Aimee Interrupter – Vocals
Kevin Bivona – Guitar, Farfisa Organ
Justin Bivona – Bass
Jesse Bivona – Drums
Dan Boer – B3 Organ
Pablo Calagero – Saxophone
Lip Up Fatty-This is the third 2 Tone era song that we’ve done so far. I first saw Bad Manners while I was in high school-when they played the Berkeley Keystone in 1983. A lot of the punk rock kids went to that show, and it was so cool to see punks, mods, and skaters all under one roof getting along and loving ska music.
Tim Timebomb- Guitar, Vocals
Kevin Bivona – Guitar, Melodica
Justin Bivona – Bass
Jesse Bivona – Drums
Dan Boer – B3 Organ
Dave Wakeling has a unique guitar tuning on this one. Dave Wakeling said he got it from the Velvet Underground. For those of you who may be keeping score-- this is the fifth "2-Tone" era tune that we've dropped... this time we broke it down acoustic.
Tim Timebomb-Guitar,Vocals
Jason Myers-Guitar
Kevin Bivona-Buitar, BG Vocals
Armstrong has also recorded and released a video for a moving and emotional version of The Faces "Ooh La La" which should be the centerpiece for the new album.
Originally released in 1973, this song was written by Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood for the Faces' third album, also called 'Ooh La La.' As soon as Travis Barker heard my demo for this song, he wanted to play on it, we recorded at his studio the next day and made the video the day after. I have a long working relationship with both Travis and J Bonner. J is my favorite reggae bass player that I've played with and worked with me on Poet's Life and the Jimmy Cliff album. Travis is in the Transplants with me. I'm so fortunate to get to play with these guys. In the video, there's a shot of me standing on a garbage can on the corner of Durant and Telegraph, in the distance you can see the church where my parents were married in 1958. This song is dedicated to my dad Don Armstrong 1931-2012
Tim Timebomb -- Guitars and Vocals
Travis Barker -- Drums
J Bonner -- Bass
Kevin Bivona -- Keys
No comments:
Post a Comment