|
|
Tim Armstrong - Guitars Rob Aston - Vocals Travis Barker - Drums
In December 1999 - The Transplants crawled out of the woodwork, initially as a side-project that Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong conjured up at his home recording studio. Call it curiosity or simply finding a release from the constant reality that is the all consuming life of any successful musician, the fact remains that a change in style, or sometimes just the freedom to experiment, is like a vacation for any superstar.
After Rob Aston had moved to Los Angeles, he started hanging out with Tim on a regular basis. Tim was playing him some of the bits he's been working on, until he ran through something that left Aston, as he recalled, "blown away"… While they were mowing over the track, Tim suggested that Rob write some lyrics for it, and he immediately agreed. Aston admitted that it was a nerve-wrecking experience when, all of a sudden, you're writing something for Tim Armstrong of Rancid, it's all good sitting around talking about it, but he actually committed and put it down. All of this was aside from the fact that Rob had never been in a band before in his life. It all seemed to fall into place however, and when there was a spare moment the two would hit the studio and record.
As it started out, Tim played all the instruments, relying on artificial samples and loops to recreate the entirely absent drum beats. The initial side-project seemed to become a viable reality for Tim and Rob, and they decided to try and find a suitable drummer. They phoned up Travis Barker of Blink 182, who, without hearing any of the songs, agreed to join them in studio. Proving why he is one of the leading drummers in the fast-track world of modern punk, and as a testament to ample experience for both Blink 182, as well as Box Car Racer -- It took Travis all of 5 hours to lay down all the drum tracks -- A record was born! It was not just another record for them, but a record that they could be extremely proud of.
Their Self-titled debut was picked up by Hellcat records - who have also worked with Rancid in the past, and it was released in October of 2002.
Pete Stoman - December 2004
Return to my Transplants page or my music page Website © 2000-2008 mattsmusicpage.com. All rights reserved. Operated by MM Page, LLC
|
|