Tim Armstrong

Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965 ) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.

Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants.

Prior to forming Rancid, Armstrong was in the ska punk band Operation Ivy.

Basic Radio was founded in 1985 and included Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong.

The band never released any albums or EPs, but recorded demos and were featured on local compilations.

Two years later they broke up, and Operation Ivy was founded shortly after.

In 1987, along with singer Jesse Michaels, bassist Matt Freeman and drummer Dave Mello, Armstrong formed the ska punk band Operation Ivy and enjoyed modest success before the group disbanded in 1989, the same night the album was released.

The band would go on to achieve worldwide cult success in the years following its break-up.

Armstrong's cousin, Scott, was the guitarist for Canadian punk band Desperate Minds, but they did not know each other until they were introduced at a show in Chicago in 1988 by John Jughead of Screeching Weasel.

Dance Hall Crashers (named after the Alton Ellis song "Dance Crasher") was formed in 1989 by Armstrong and Matt Freeman after both musicians expressed an interest in starting a band rooted in more traditional ska and rocksteady than what they had been playing with Operation Ivy.

The first line-up featured Armstrong on vocals and Freeman on guitar, as well as drummer Erik Larsen, keyboardist Joey Schaaf, vocalist Andrew Champion, guitarist Grant McIntire, and bassist Joel Wing.

The band played their first show at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley in 1989.

Shortly after their debut, Freeman and Armstrong left to pursue other interests.

Downfall featured Armstrong, Freeman, and Mello, as well as Mello's brother Pat, and Jason Hammon (also a later member of Dance Hall Crashers).

Pat and Jason would both play guitar, while Armstrong took up duties on vocals.

They lasted three months (December 1989 to March 1990), playing only at a few parties and twice at Gilman St. They released one song on Maximumrocknroll's They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, but Boy, Do They Work Hard! compilation, one song on David Hayes' Very Small World compilation, one song on Lookout!

Records' Can of Pork compilation, and recorded a demo.

It disbanded when Freeman joined MDC on bass while Armstrong was a roadie for the band, while Pat and Dave went on to form Schlong.

As time went on, Armstrong suffered from depression and alcoholism, and eventually became homeless.

During this time, Freeman suggested the two start a new band together, partially in hopes of curbing Armstrong's alcohol addiction.

Armstrong began writing songs in 1991 that would appear on their first album which was released in 1993.

Their new band, Rancid, would eventually go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful punk rock bands of all time.

Rancid has released ten studio albums since their formation with their latest, Tomorrow Never Comes, being released in 2023.

They met in 1995, when Dalle was 16 and Armstrong was 30, after Rancid and Dalle's band Sourpuss both played Summersault Festival in Australia.

In 1997, along with Brett Gurewitz of the band Bad Religion and owner of Epitaph Records, Armstrong founded Hellcat Records.

He was married to musician Brody Dalle from 1997 to 2003.

In 1997, when Dalle was 18, she moved to Los Angeles to live with Armstrong, and she formed the band The Distillers.

Some of Rancid's songs on 1998's Life Won't Wait ("Who Would've Thought", "Corazón de Oro") detail Armstrong and Dalle's relationship, and songs on 2003's Indestructible ("Fall Back Down", "Ghost Band", "Tropical London") deal with Armstrong's feelings about his divorce.

In 1999, Armstrong invited roadie Rob Aston ("Skinhead Rob") to add lyrics to some solo material that Armstrong had been creating in his basement, and the two worked together writing and recording music.

The couple separated in 2003, after Armstrong saw a picture of Dalle kissing Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine; she and Homme would later marry.

Homme claimed he received death threats from Armstrong's fans.

Dalle claimed Armstrong was very controlling of her and it took her three years to leave him.

In 2012, through his website, Armstrong started releasing music that influenced him, along with stripped-down cover songs of his own under the name Tim Timebomb.

Armstrong is also a songwriter for other artists.

Armstrong won a Grammy Award for his work with Jimmy Cliff and Pink, and has also worked with Joe Walsh and The Interrupters.

At the age of five, Armstrong met Matt Freeman while playing Little League Baseball.

They grew up a few blocks apart in Albany, California, where Armstrong lived with his mother, father, and older brother Jeff.

Freeman and Armstrong formed bands many years later based on their shared love of bands such as The Clash and the Ramones.

They both went to Albany High School.

Armstrong's relationship with Bikini Kill drummer Tobi Vail inspired the Rancid song "Olympia, WA" from ...And Out Come the Wolves.