Indestructible (Rancid album)
Indestructible is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was produced by Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion) and released by Hellcat Records with distribution through Warner Bros. Records on August 19, 2003. Despite critical acclaim, the band was criticized by some of its fans for "Indestructible"'s "poppier" sound on some of its tracks. It debuted at number 15 on the charts, with 51,000 copies sold in its first week, making it Rancid's highest debut at the time though it would be surpassed six years later with their 2009 album, "Let the  Dominoes Fall". "Indestructible" marks the last recording by drummer Brett Reed, who left the band in 2006 and was replaced by current drummer Branden Steineckert (formerly of The Used). Additionally, it is the only album that features songwriting contributions from Reed. Writing and production. Rancid played 10 shows in the US with NOFX in April 2002; following this, the band began recording their next album, which continued into November, with producer Brett Gurewitz. Work on it meant a year long for the band. Most notably, finishing up the album was extremely stressful for all of the members of Rancid. "Indestructible  was the most personal album the band ever recorded as it covered personal issues including Tim Armstrong's divorce from ex-wife Brody Dalle on songs such as Fall Back Down", "Ghost Band" and "Tropical London". The other emotional part of the album was the album's last track "Otherside", which Lars Frederiksen wrote and dedicated to his brother Robert who died in 2001. The album was also dedicated two of band's mentors and influences, Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone, who both died during the making of the album. Strummer is mentioned in the album's title track. Post  production of the album consisted of cutting the record down from 25 tracks to 19 tracks. The six tracks left off of the final album were "Killing Zone", "Stranded", "Trouble", "Road To Hell", "Warfare", and "Squatter House". Killing Zone and Stranded were used as b-sides and bonus tracks for the record. Trouble was reworked and released as a single on Pink's third album "Try This". That version of the song won Tim Armstrong and Pink a Grammy. Road to Hell was re-recorded and a Japanese bonus track on the 2nd Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards album "Viking . Warfare and Squatter House remain unreleased. Release. On June 6, 2003, the album's track listing was posted online. From June to August 2003, the group went on the 2003 edition of Warped Tour. On July 24, Indestructible", "Back Against the Wall", and "Red Hot Moon" were posted on the band's website. "Fall Back Down" was released to radio on July 22, 2003. A music video for the song was posted on Yahoo! Launch on August 4, 2003. The album was delayed a number of times before its official release. First scheduled for release was summer/fall 2002, then  early 2003, mid-2003 and finally August 19, 2003. One of the reasons why "Indestructible" had yet to be released was their various other activities. Singer/guitarist Tim Armstrong released an album with his then-new side project Transplants and second guitarist Lars Frederiksen released an album with Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards. Warner Bros. Records released the CD version while LP was released by Epitaph. In August and September, the band toured Europe, a few shows of which were as part of the Reconstruction Festival. On September 30, they appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". They then embarked on  a headlining US tour in November, with Tiger Army; Nekromantix, the Frisk, and Roger Miret and the Disasters appeared on select dates. In February 2003, Rancid toured across Japan. "Red Hot Moon" was released to radio on October 28, 2003; a music video for the song was released to days later, and was filmed at CBGBs in New York City. In December, the band went on the Hellcat Tour with Tiger Army and F-Minus. Tim Shaw of Ensign sang Skinhead Rob's section of "Red Hot Moon" during the tour. Later in the month, the band performed at the  KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas festival. "Tropical London" was released to radio on April 27, 2004. Following the release of the album, the group went on hiatus while each of the members toured and recorded albums with other bands. Reception. Prior to the album's release the band signed a special distribution deal with Warner Bros. records which was met with major backlash from many of the band's fans for abandoning their independent roots. To ease tension among the fans, the album was released with no mention of Warner Bros. on the album packaging. According to a label spokesman "It 's a unique deal that doesn't play by the traditional record biz rules. It's Rancid putting out an album on Hellcat, with the possibility of additional support from [Warner Bros.]." In a statement, Lars Frederiksen discussed the Warner Bros. deal by saying "We have absolutely no complaints with Hellcat. Yes, we are considering additional support that Warner Bros. might be able to provide, but whatever happens, we're sticking with Brett Gurewitz. All I care about and all I have is my music, my bandmates and my band. We are going to do whatever we need to do  to survive." The album was met mostly with critical praise and made its chart debut at #15 making it the band's biggest debut at the time however some fans criticized the album for being a bit "poppier" with its sound claiming a major label had an influence over the band's music making it more appealing to mainstream listeners (despite the album being written prior to the band's agreement with the label), while some felt the album to be a mixture of "...And Out Come the Wolves" and "Life Won't Wait". The album's first single "Fall  Back Down", a song Armstrong wrote about his divorce and how he could always rely on his close friends, was also met with some backlash from fans for the music video for featuring members of Good Charlotte and Kelly Osbourne. The album's second single, the ska-influenced "Red Hot Moon" features a rap at the end by Skinhead Rob, a member of Armstrong's side project, Transplants. Chart positions. Album - "Billboard" (United States) Singles - "Billboard" (United States)