Matt Freeman
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Matt Freeman (born Matthew Freeman c. 1966) plays bass guitar in the punk band Rancid.
Matt Freeman was born in Albany, CA, a working class suburb located between Berkeley and El Cerrito. He met Tim Armstrong when they were only five years old. They played in Little League together and later attended the same high school. They got into punk when Armstrong got a tape of punk bands from his older brother, and began playing music together. They were in a series of bands, the first of which was Basic Radio, who broke up in late 1986 or early 1987.
In May of 1987, Freeman and Armstrong formed the band Operation Ivy. After Operation Ivy broke up in May 1989, they formed a new band, Downfall, which included all but one member of Operation Ivy and two additional members. Downfall recorded a 10-song album which has never been released, then broke up. Freeman and Armstrong next formed Generator, who played a number of shows, but are not known to have recorded anything. After that, Freeman played with the political punk band MDC for about a year.
In 1992, Freeman and Armstrong recruited drummer Brett Reed and formed Rancid. U.K. Subs guitarist Lars Frederiksen joined the band in 1994.
During Rancid's 2004 hiatus, Freeman replaced bassist John Maurer in Social Distortion and appears on Social Distortion's album Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll. Freeman was replaced in Social Distortion by Brent Harding, as of early 2005.
Freeman was diagnosed with lung cancer on May 11, 2005 (source: punkinsider.com (http://www.punkinsider.com/main.php?page=news&action=article&id=391)).
External links
- Photo of Matt Freeman (http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/neburi/images/matt-1.JPG)
