Matthew "McCall" Freeman (born Roger Matthew Freeman; April 23, 1966) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his bass work with the punk rock bands Operation Ivy, Rancid and as the frontman of

Devil's Brigade The 1st Special Service Force was an elite American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, under the command of the United States Fifth Army. The unit was organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana ...

Playing style

In an interview streamed from the Rancid website before the release of '' Rancid'' (2000), he revealed that his style was heavily influenced at an early age by John Entwistle, bassist for

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. He typically uses a hard pick but sometimes will

fingerpick A fingerpick is a type of plectrum used most commonly for playing bluegrass style banjo music. Most fingerpicks are composed of metal or plastic (usually Celluloid or Delrin). Unlike flat guitar picks, which are held between the thumb and fin ...

. Freeman's playing style is considered atypical in the punk rock world due to his frequent use of

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

and

arpeggios A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

as opposed to "motoring" through a chord progression's root notes as is typical of punk bass playing.

Singing style

Although

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong ...

and Frederiksen are the principal singers in Rancid, Freeman has taken the lead vocal duties in a number of gritty sounding songs through the years, including the songs "Black and Blue", "Rigged on a Fix", "Black Derby Jacket", "Tenderloin" and, "L.A. River". He is known for possessing a deep and raspy singing voice. Freeman was also the primary co-lead vocal for the first Rancid album, before Frederiksen joined the band, with his role subsequently being reduced by choice.

Gear

Freeman plays

Fender Precision The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of bass guitar, electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stri ...

and Jazz Basses. His 1977 Fender Precision was used as the basis for the 2011 Squier Matt Freeman Signature Bass. He has also played

Music Man Stingray Music Man StingRay is an electric bass by Music Man, introduced in 1976. History In 1971, Fender employees Forrest White and Tom Walker, unhappy with the way CBS was managing the company, left their positions with Fender to start their own ven ...

s, Ibanez ATK's and

Rickenbacker 4003 The Rickenbacker 4001 is an electric bass that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a two- pickup "deluxe" version of their first production bass, the single-pickup model 4000. This design, created by Roger Rossmeisl, was manufactured between 19 ...

's in the past.

Bands

Operation Ivy and Downfall

In May 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.

Dance Hall Crashers

After Operation Ivy, Freeman and Armstrong formed the ska band the

Dance Hall Crashers Dance Hall Crashers (often abbreviated to DHC) was an American ska punk band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California. Initially founded by former Operation Ivy members Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, the band has had a fluid lineup over its care ...

, however they left the band shortly after its formation. The band went on to become moderately successful throughout the 90s.

MDC

He joined MDC in 1990, completing one US and one European tour and playing bass on their 1991 release Millions Of Dead Cops II: Hey Cop! If I Had A Face Like Yours.... The lineup for this version of the band consisted of Freeman, original singer Dave Dictor, original drummer Al Schvitz and guitarist Bill Collins, formerly of Fang, Special Forces and Intensified Chaos.

Gr'ups and Rancid

He joined

The Gr'ups Daniel Sea (born January 7, 1977) is an American filmmaker, actor and musician. They rose to prominence through their role as Max Sweeney on Showtime's drama series ''The L Word''. Personal life Daniel grew up in Malibu, California, raised by h ...

in 1991. In 1992, Freeman and Armstrong recruited drummer Brett Reed and formed Rancid. Rancid is his most successful band yet. He considered Rancid a side project until Armstrong had proved to him that he had his alcoholism under control. Guitarist

Lars Frederiksen Lars Erik Frederiksen (born Lars Erik Dapello, August 30, 1971) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Rancid, as well as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and ...

joined the band later in 1993. Their partnership has continued with Freeman contributing basslines to selected tracks by the Transplants, one of Armstrong's side projects.

Social Distortion

During Rancid's 2004 hiatus, Freeman replaced bassist

John Maurer John Maurer may refer to: * John Maurer (Social Distortion) (born 1961), American punk musician * John Maurer (jazz musician), American instrumentalist and instructor * John J. Maurer (1922–2019), American politician See also

* John Mauer ...

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...

shortly before the release of their then-new album '' Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll''. Freeman did not intend to stay in the band permanently and he was replaced by current bassist

Brent Harding Brent Harding (born March 3, 1967) is an American musician who is the current bass player for the California punk group Social Distortion, which he joined in early 2005. Biography Harding joined Social Distortion in January 2005, replacing tem ...

in late 2004.

Charger

In 2020 Matt formed a heavy metal band,

Charger Charger or Chargers may refer to: * Charger (table setting), decorative plates used to fancify a place setting * Battery charger, a device used to put energy into a cell or battery * Capacitor charger, typically a high voltage DC power supply ...

The Crew

In May 2021, Freeman along with fellow Rancid bandmate

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. ...

, Fletcher Dragge ( Pennywise), Byron McCracken (Pennywise), and

Mike Muir Michael Allen Muir (born March 14, 1963) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and the only sole continuous member of Los Angeles-based bands Suicidal Tendencies, Los Cycos, and Infectious Grooves. He has also released several solo al ...

(

Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stor ...

) formed a punk rock supergroup called The Crew. The band's first single, "One Voice", was released on Epitaph Records.

Health issues

Following his departure from

, Freeman was diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in May 2005, but was dismissed as abnormal tissue growth and not terminal to his health in June 2005. He had been a smoker for 20 years but had quit, seemingly by coincidence, shortly prior to this. He learned to play the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

so he would have something to do with his hands as heard on the

Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards was an American street punk band formed to release the songs that Lars had written. Their songs include subject matter consisting of drinking, fighting, drugs, sex, prostitutes, gangs, and street life. They wer ...

album ''

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

''.

Discography

Operation Ivy

* Turn it Around compilation (1987) * '' Hectic'' EP (1988) * ''

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

'' (1989)

Downfall

* ''They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard!'' compilation album (1989) * ''Very Small World'' compilation album (1991) * ''Can of Pork'' compilation album (1992) * ''Later That Same Year'' – "My City"

MDC

* ''Millions of Dead Cops II'' (1991)

Rancid

* '' Rancid'' (1992) * '' Rancid'' (1993) * ''

Radio Radio Radio ''Radio Radio Radio'' is an EP by the American punk rock band Rancid. The EP was released on August 26, 1993, through Fat Wreck Chords with the catalog number FAT 509. It was also their only release on Fat Wreck Chords. It is the first Ranci ...

'' (1993) * '' Let's Go'' (1994) * '' ...And Out Come the Wolves'' (1995) * '' Life Won't Wait'' (1998) * '' Rancid'' (2000) * ''

BYO Split Series Volume III ''BYO Split Series Volume III'' is a split album featuring the American punk rock bands Rancid and NOFX. It was released on March 5, 2002 through BYO Records' as the third entry in their ''BYO Split Series The ''BYO Split Series'' is a serie ...

'' (2002) * '' Indestructible'' (2003) * ''

B Sides and C Sides ''B Sides and C Sides'' is a compilation album by the American punk rock band Rancid (band), Rancid. It was first released online on December 11, 2007, followed by a standard release on January 15, 2008. It contains a number of A-side and B-side ...

'' (2008) * ''

Let the Dominoes Fall ''Let the Dominoes Fall'' is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Rancid. It is their first album of new material in nearly six years, following 2003's '' Indestructible'', and their first with drummer Branden Steineckert, wh ...

'' (2009) * ''

Honor Is All We Know ''...Honor Is All We Know'' is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Rancid, released on October 27, 2014. It is the band's first studio album since ''Let the Dominoes Fall'' (2009), and their second one to be recorded under ...

'' (2014) * '' Trouble Maker'' (2017)

The Gr'ups

* ''The Gr'ups'' (1992) * ''Vinyl Retentive'' compilation album (1993)

Auntie Christ

* ''Life Could Be a Dream'' (1997)

Devils Brigade

* "Stalingrad" / "Psychos All Around Me" 12" single (2003) * "Vampire Girl" 12" ep (2005) * '' Devils Brigade'' (2010)

References

External links

Room Thirteen interview – August 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Matt 1966 births Living people American male singers American punk rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists American rock singers Singers from California Place of birth missing (living people) Rancid (band) members Social Distortion members Operation Ivy (band) members Guitarists from California 20th-century American bass guitarists Downfall (band) members Transplants (band) members Devils Brigade (band) members Shaken 69 members Dance Hall Crashers members