''Life Won't Wait'' is the fourth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the American punk rock band Rancid. It was released on June 30, 1998 through

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and em ...

. It was released as the follow-up to '' ...And Out Come the Wolves'' (1995).

Writing and production

Around early 1997, still riding high off of the success of ''...And Out Come the Wolves'', Rancid decided to immediately enter the studio following the ''...And Out Come the Wolves'' tour to record the next album. The recording of ''Life Won't Wait'' took place in the United States (from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

. Two of the songs were recorded in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

: "Hoover Street" and the title track, "Life Won't Wait". With the cooperation of numerous Jamaican reggae artists (such as

Buju Banton Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, professionally known by his stage name Buju Banton, is a Jamaican reggae dancehall musician. He is considered to be one of the most s ...

) is very distinctive on this album, not just in the vocals, but also in instrumental parts, which all makes ''Life Won't Wait'' very different from most of the other Rancid releases. It is also the only album by the band to date not to feature producer/engineer

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums ...

in any capacity, with Armstrong and Frederiksen opting to produce the album themselves. During the writing process the band had recorded over 50 songs, many still unreleased. Some of the released non-album tracks ended up on singles, compilations, and the ''

B Sides and C Sides ''B Sides and C Sides'' is a compilation album by the American punk rock 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 B-sides and rare songs as wel ...

'' collections. The song "Emelia" was co-written by

Vic Ruggiero Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, (also known as Rugaroo, Bad Vic or Lord Sluggo) is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubbor ...

and recorded during these sessions. The song was later re-written and featured on Vic's first solo album in 2001. The cover photo pays homage to John Lennon's ''Rock 'n' roll'' and Neil Young's ''After the Gold Rush'' cover designs.

Reception

''Life Won't Wait'' was released on June 30, 1998, and was the final Rancid album for 16 years to be released through

(until ''

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 ...

''). After its release, the band moved to frontman

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. ...

's label (a sub-label of ''Epitaph''),

Hellcat Records Hellcat Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. The label, an offshoot of Epitaph Records, was started as a partnership between Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, the owner of Epitaph, and Tim Armstrong of Rancid, ...

, who released their next album, 2000's '' Rancid''. Although not as successful as ''...And Out Come the Wolves'', the album peaked at number 35 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart, making it one of Rancid's highest ranking albums. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

described the album as having a ska influence. He praised the music as a "powerful slice of old-school punk — as powerful as any of their records" and claims "it actually sounds a lot like ''...And Out Come the Wolves''". The album received a rating of three and a half out of five stars.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, producer, engineer, mixing, cover photo *

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 an ...

– vocals, guitar, engineer, producer, cover photo *

Matt Freeman 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. ...

– bass guitar *

Brett Reed Brett Reed (born July 12, 1972) is an American musician, best known as the original drummer for the punk rock bands Rancid and Devils Brigade. He joined Rancid in November 1991 and left 15 years later. He played on every Rancid release up to ...

– drums

Additional musicians

– additional vocals on track 5 *

Dicky Barrett Richard Michael Barrett (born June 22, 1964), better known as Dicky Barrett, is an American singer who was the frontman of ska punk band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He was the announcer for ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' until 2022. Barrett is known fo ...

– additional vocals on tracks 4 and 13 *

Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for t ...

– backing vocals (Hey Hos) on track 2 * Lester Butler –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

on track 1 *

Roddy Byers Roddy Radiation (born Roderick James Byers, 5 May 1955 in Keresley, Coventry, England) is an English musician who played lead guitar for The Specials, as well as many rockabilly bands such as the Bonediggers and the Tearjerkers. He wrote the Sp ...

– guitar on track 8 * Simon Chardiet – guitar on track 19 * Alex Désert – backing vocals on track 3 * DJ Q-Maxx 420 (Marq Lyn) – backing vocals on track 6 * Santa Fazio – harmonica on track 14 *

Lynval Golding Lynval Golding (born 24 July 1951) is a Jamaican-born British musician. His family moved from Jamaica to Gloucester, before moving to Coventry when he was eighteen. He is currently living in Gig Harbor, Washington. He is best known as a rhythm g ...

– additional vocals on track 8 * Dave Hillyard –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

on tracks 11 and 18 * Dr. Israel – vocals on track 22 * Thomas Johnson- percussion on track 12 * Kristin Krisapline- gang vocals on track 2 * Ollie Lattgenau – backing vocals on tracks 10 and 15 * Greg Lee – backing vocals on track 3 *

Roger Miret Rogelio de Jesus Miret (born June 30, 1964) is a Cuban American musician. He is the vocalist for New York hardcore band Agnostic Front, street punk group Roger Miret and the Disasters, and hardcore band The Alligators. Agnostic Front are co ...

– backing vocals on track 20 * Mark Mullins –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

on tracks 11 and 18 *

Stephen Perkins Stephen Andrew Perkins (September 13, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he currently plays with Jane's Addiction and Hellride. Following the dissolution of Jane's Addiction, Perkins continued to play w ...

–

steel drum The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

s on track 22 *

Howie Pyro Howie Pyro (born Howard Kusten, June 28, 1960 – May 4, 2022) was an American bass player. He was a founding member of The Blessed, Freaks, D Generation, and PCP Highway. Pyro was also the bass player in Danzig from 2000–2003. Biography P ...

- gang vocals on track 2 *

Marky Ramone Marc Steven Bell (born July 15, 1952) is an American drummer. He began playing in hard rock bands in the New York City area, notably Dust and Estus. He was asked to drum for punk rock band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. He replaced drummer Tommy ...

- gang vocals on track 2 *

–

B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generate ...

on tracks 5, 8-9, 11, 13, 18, 21, piano on 5, 9, 12, 14, 18, 21, percussion on 5 and 18, guitar on 12 * Jamil Sharif –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

on tracks 11 and 18 *

Neville Staple Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955), sometimes credited as Neville Staples, is a Jamaican-born English singer, known for his work with the 2 Tone ska band the Specials, as well as with his own group, the Neville Staple Band. He also p ...

– additional vocals on track 8 * Tim Shaw - gang vocals on track 2 * Eric Stefani – piano on track 3 * Will Wheaton – backing vocals on tracks 11 and 21

Production

* Thomas Johnson (music producer) – percussion, engineer, mixing *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Quee ...

– mastering * Jerry Finn – mixing * Jim Albert – engineering * Robi Banerji – engineering * Albert Cayati – engineering * Michael "Cooley" Cooper – engineering * Kevin Dena – engineering * John Ewing, Jr. – engineering * Grace Falconer – engineering * Lior Goldenberg – engineering * Cappy Japngie – engineering * Walter Mauceri – engineering * Spencer Ledyard – engineering * Steve Mixdorf – engineering * Jonathan Mooney – engineering * Michael Penketh - engineering * Ronnie Rivera – engineering * Michael Rosen – engineering * Kevin Smith – engineering * Rohan "Jimjay" Stephens – engineering * Claus Trelby – engineering * John Tyree – engineering * Howard Willing – engineering * Joe Zook – engineering * Jesse Fischer – artwork, photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Rancid (band) albums 1998 albums Epitaph Records albums