Despite a reputation for being vital and new, a lot of punk music casts a nostalgic eye back to more innocent times, even if those times were actually fraught with war and confusion – as Rancid deftly step out in their excellent new single, ‘Telegraph Avenue’.
The band describe this song as their “love letter to the East Bay”, and as Tim Armstrong recalls his younger days in the first verse, it may seem like a tender ode to days past. Then the next verses speak of the tear gas-infused riots over the Vietnam War in Berkeley, in 1969, and the famous ‘Operation Of The Machine’ speech, and the song grows teeth.
The song is the second taste from Rancid’s forthcoming album Trouble Maker, which is due on June 9. The record is producer by Brett Gurewitz, and if ‘Telegraph Avenue’ is any indication, it’ll slot nicely between ‘Let’s Go’ and ‘And Out Come The Wolves’, sonically speaking.
Also, Tim Armstrong rocks an impressive bushman’s beard in the clip, which finds Rancid jamming in a cluttered garage, like they should be.
Check it out below.
