Rancid's Matt Freeman has lung cancer...

[LESStar58]

A number of web sites have reported that Matt Freeman of Rancid/Operation Ivy fame, who has also played with the likes of Social Distortion and The Transplants, has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

It was made public by The Transplants bandmates, vocalist "Skinhead" Rob Aston and Tim Armstrong...

This is incredibly sad as Matt and his wife had recently welcomed their newborn son into the world...

Anyone wishing to know more can find out at this link...

Aversion.com feature

This years Warped Tour will be deicated to Matt and I'm sure punk rock fans everywhere will send their best wishes to him and his family!

it's really not my week for finding out about people getting sick...

 

[rock_on_knights]

aww that sucks I like Rancid, their cool.

best of luck to him.

 

[tiburon]

Wow this really sucks I am a huge Transplants fan (not that they did too much) and a big Rancid fan, hope everything turns out okay for him.

 

[LESStar58]

Matt was the bassist on the new Transplants album...

 

[Red Bear]

Hope he gets well soon, he is the man behind Rancid(Tim armstrong is a jerk) and hope it all works out ofr him.

 

[fat_mike]

Tim aint a jerk and matt is very much rancid. shockign news about one the true great bass players. maxwell murder bass solo is testament to what this guy brings to a band.

add that to the health problems of lars and rancid will gone real soon. one last tour down under would be brilliant.

 

[weasel]

Yeah, I love Rancid (and operation ivy), I've been hoping for years to get to see them play live, maybe now I never will. Real sad. *puts on And Out Come the Wolves*

 

[pennywisealfie]

thats f**ked! i hope he kicks cancers butt! go matty!

Is he the unknown bastard?

 

[Red Bear]

Tim aint a jerk and matt is very much rancid. shockign news about one the true great bass players. maxwell murder bass solo is testament to what this guy brings to a band.

add that to the health problems of lars and rancid will gone real soon. one last tour down under would be brilliant.

Personally cant stand Tim Armstrong. Maxwell Murder bass solo is great.
Havent heard about health problems to Lars. Whats doing there?

 

[fat_mike]

Lars has a problem with his spine. a weird condition that will see him confined to a wheel chair in the very near future.

matt could be the unknown bastard, i got the new bastards album and if it is him he's holding back on the bass big time.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

maxwell murder bass solo is testament to what this guy brings to a band.

best punk basist ever in my opinion

 

[Red Bear]

best punk basist ever in my opinion

Lex Feltham was better IMO, or at least i prefered him, but Matt is certainly awesome.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

[/QUOTE]Lex Feltham was better IMO

he certainly was good, punch in the face was probably his best effort. what ever happened to him anyway?

 

[Red Bear]

Dunno, disapeared. I reckon some of the sh*t off Dick Sandwhich/Coughing Up A Storm and the song Its Up To You were better.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

ahh
coughing up a storm, what an album
genius, fraud, hate
such great songs

 

[newman]

Are you crazy? Matt Freeman was asked to play bass with Social Distortion. Lex was not.

That tells you who the better bass player is.

This is very, very bad news for me. I was, and still am, a huge Rancid fan. I have sat by and watched as side project after side project has eroded the chances of Rancid ever scaling the heights they did in the lets go/wolves/life wont wait eras. Music that I truly, truly love. I have stuck with them and defended them through all the selling out, bad records and rock star paparazzi flirtations. I have seen them twice and been bitterly disappointed both times. First in 95 they played in a freaking shed and were so impressed by their own punk-rockness, the show was complete pap and the second time they were 4 hours late and Tim was totally blasted.

 

[goldcoastpunk]

Matt is an awesome bassist.. Hope he can recover from this terrible disease...
Tim Armstrong is very very cool, i think it was Matt who was the other member of Operation Ivy along with Tim and also the 2 founding members of Rancid.

Also i think i heard somewhere Lex was kicked out of Frenzal because he did something with a young girl or something along those lines....
Lex was cool...

 

[LESStar58]

Are you crazy? Matt Freeman was asked to play bass with Social Distortion. Lex was not.

This is true...but somehow I don't think Mike Ness has heard of Frenzal Rhomb...

 

[Red Bear]

Matt is an awesome bassist.. Hope he can recover from this terrible disease...
Tim Armstrong is very very cool, i think it was Matt who was the other member of Operation Ivy along with Tim and also the 2 founding members of Rancid.

Also i think i heard somewhere Lex was kicked out of Frenzal because he did something with a young girl or something along those lines....
Lex was cool...

Course matt is a great bassist, just prefer lex. And i dont think anyone bar the band actually know why lex left/was kicked out.

 

[LESStar58]

GOOD NEWS!

This is from www.epitaph.com:
We have received a lot of inquiries about the health of Rancid bass player, Matt Freeman. Your concern is deeply appreciated and here is the official word on the status of Matt at present:
"Matt Freeman recently underwent a successful surgery and his doctors have determined that his condition is not terminal. Matt is now home and recovering well. Matt and Rancid would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, love and prayers."


www.operationivy.com reckons it wasn't even cancer after all:
"Apologies for not updating earlier, but Matt's health problems proved to be a serious infection rather than cancer. He will be taking a break but then returning with Social Distortion, Rancid and the Transplants."


Looks like Matt is on the mend! Fantastic news!