Lars Frederiksen was born on August 30, 1971 in the South Bay city of Campbell, California. His mother, Minna Frederiksen came from Denmark, she came to the US as an immigrant, barely able to speak English and with very little money. Lars’ father, John Dapello abandoned the family when Lars was just 4 years old.
Life was a constant struggle for Minna and she worked two jobs to try to support her two sons’, Lars and his older brother Robert.
However seeing his mother struggle gave birth to his survival instincts for later in life and surely helped to instill that working class “punk rock ethic.” His first introduction to music was by his brother Robert, who was four years older than him. Some of Robert’s favorites were Kiss and AC/DC and Lars immediately fell in love with the powerful music. One of his first introductions to punk was when he saw the movie “Rock n’ Roll High School”. He watched in 27 times in a row. It was to be the first time he heard The Ramones and said they changed his life.
One of the first punk gigs he went to was Social Distortion in 1982 where he got to hang out with the band and had a song dedicated to him – he was only 11! However, Lars’ was a pretty crazy 11 year old by all accounts. He was already working as a drug delivery boy for the local hells angels and done several stints in juvenile hall for crimes such as breaking and entering, possession of a controlled substance (PCP) and cruelty to animals (he was high and put chewing gum on a dog (?!). He was also a member of local gang the Skunx and by age 16 he became the leader of the troupe. He became addicted to amongst other things, heroin. But it wasn’t all bleak; also in this year he picked up the guitar and learned to play. At 18 he was asked by Charlie Harper to join the punk band UK Subs, Lars remembers it as being like “going on tour with my dad”. When his band Slip opened for a lil’ band named Rancid at Gilman Street, Tim dropped a broad hint to Lars that if his band ever broke up well………..luckily it did and Lars locked himself in his room and learned to play the entire Rancid record. Tim says “I think he knew the songs better than we did.”
The rest, as they say, is history – Lars became a critical member of Rancid after recording their second album Let’s Go in 1994. Lars became the official “motormouth” for the band, taking over the role as chief Rancid spokesman when it came to interviews and playing live gigs.
He formed his side project band Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards in 2001. Making a somewhat autobiographical album, which focused on his childhood, and growing up in Campbell, CA.
He has also produced a lot of records for bands including the Dropkick Murphys and the Anti-Heroes.
On a personal note, the last few years have been very tough for Lars, in 2001 he returned home from tour with the Bastards to find his wife of 3 years, Megan, had packed her bags and left him. Also on tour with the Bastards, he slipped a disc in his back, had to have surgery and was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease – a disease that could eventually crumble the bones in his spine and he may not be able to walk. And probably the most devastating thing to happen was his older brother, Robert sadly died of an aneurysm. Lars wrote the song Otherside on Indestructible in memory of his dearly missed brother.
No comments:
Post a Comment