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(Feb 11, 2005)
Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards: Viking
Rating - ***
The Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards page
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Mothers, don't let your sons grow up to be punk rockers. This album,
both visually and aurally, covers a range of topics that are (almost) every
parent's worst nightmare: hookers, drugs, guns, suicide, murder, wild sex,
loud rock music, cheap motels .... (I better stop - it's starting to sound
good to me!) But the trick that Lars Frederiksen pulls off here is to
make it seem like this lifestyle is somehow admirable - that all of
America's problems would somehow go away if everyone just adopted punk
rock's wild ways. You have to keep reminding yourself that, no, murder
isn't fun. Drugs are bad, mmmkay?
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This band is a spinoff of a spinoff. Without boring you with all the
details, (most of which I would have to invent anyway,) the ancestral
band was Operation Ivy, known as one of the co-founders of the ska-punk
genre, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones being the other. Then
Tim Armstrong and another Operation Ivy member formed
Rancid, of whom Lars Frederiksen was a member. (Confused
yet?) Finally, Lars Frederiksen formed Lars Frederiksen and the
Bastards, or LFB, and Viking is their second
album. Tim Armstrong produced Viking and co-wrote
and appeared on some of the songs. Lars obviously holds his roots
dear as at least two songs on Viking offer tributes to
some of the Operation Ivy/Rancid personnel.
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All this matters because Viking is possibly the best
punk-rock CD I've come across in quite a while. Some of the
lyrics are fairly objectionable, but they are objectionable
in an amusing sort of way. It's all in good fun here. From the
standout song, "1%":
Swastika tattooed on his head
At the age of 24 he ate a bullet in bed
As Big Danny cleaned up the mess that he left
As he explained it to me, well he wept and wept
He said, "It don't make no f---in' sense"
He told me, "Little Lars keep it under your breath"
Revenge was coming from the tip of his tongue
I guess it was served when Jose didn't run...
Cause I'm a generation terrorist, and when I shoot, I never miss...
The music is really good. Other fine songs include "Switchblade," "Mainlining Murder,"
and "My Life to Live." This is the kind of CD you can listen to over and over
without getting tired of it. And you may feel the urge to sport tattooes, nose-rings,
and leather jackets if you do. But one thing's for sure: you're not going to hear
this on the radio - at least not without a BLEEP or two every few seconds.
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