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Exclusive: Charger (Rancid, Operation Ivy) Are An Old-School Juggernaut
The new track by Charger, featuring Matt Freeman of Rancid and Op Ivy, is perfect music for anyone who lives in leather.
Listen to the new single from Charger, the new band from Rancid/Operation Ivy's Matt Freeman
Charger might only have formed last year, but that doesn’t mean they’re a new band. Well, not entirely, anyway. That’s because the Bay Area trio feature Matt Freeman from Rancid and Operation Ivy on bass and vocals, Jason Willer – who sits behind the kit in Jello Biafra’s Guantanamo School Of Medicine – on drums, and Andrew McGee on guitar. Together, the three of them create a rip-roaring, mind-melting, full-throttle, rumbling rock’n’roll that has definite and deliberate nods to ’70s hard rock legends Motörhead weaved into its DNA.
Watch Your Back is the a brand new single which follows on from the band’s self-titled debut EP, which came out on Pirates Press Records back in May of this year. A rollicking, rambunctious rock song, it – ahem – charges full steam ahead with an incredible vigour and force, bringing back the spirit of the late legend that is Lemmy (and his band, of course) while also maintain one step in the current world at the same time. Which, as Matt succinctly explains, was the very point of this brutal yet melodic song: "The impetus to Watch Your Back is there is surveillance everywhere,” he explains. “Whether it's the government, tech companies, or your neighbors, you have to watch your back."
Listen to the song below right now!
The band will head out on tour with labelmates The Old Firm Casuals (Lars Frederiksen from Rancid's other band) on November 29 for a short run of three shows in the U.S., before taking a little break and then playing a few more shows both just before and then just after Christmas.
The full list of dates is as follows:
November
29 – Phoenix, AZ The Rebel Lounge
30 – Las Vegas, NV Backstage Bar & Billiards
December
1 – San Diego, CA Brick By Brick
20 – San Francisco, CA Slim’s
27 – Oakland, CA Eli’s Mile High Club
28 – Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction
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