Biography
Matthew "McCall" Freeman (born Roger Matthew Freeman June 14 1966 in Albany, California, USA) is an American musician. He is best known for his bass guitar work with the punk rock bands Operation Ivy and Rancid.
Matt Freeman was born in Albany, California, a working class suburb located between Berkeley and El Cerrito.
He met Tim Armstrong when they were only five years old. They played in Little League together and later attended the same high school. Matt played the trumpet as a kid, and later learned how to play the trombone and played in a Jazz band. He learned how to play the guitar, and eventually began playing bass. They got into punk when Armstrong got a tape of punk bands from his older brother, and began playing music together. They were in a series of bands, the first of which was Basic radio, who broke up in late 1986 or early 1987.
His style is similar to that of reggae bassist, hardcore punk, and jazz. Mostly plays with a pick. He is famous for his virtuostic solos. The sound and style Freeman plays is probably one of the most characteristic features of the music of Rancid.
In May of 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.
He joined The Gr'ups 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 alcohol under control. UK Subs guitarist Lars Frederiksen joined the band later in 1992. Their partnership has continued with Freeman contributing basslines to selected tracks by the Transplants, one of Armstrong's side projects.
He also plays in Shaken 69, formed in '94/'95 and Auntie Christ formed in '96.
Another one of his side projects is Devil's Brigade which is a psychobilly band similar to Rancid.
Matt Freeman provided backing vocals for the Tiger Army songs "Towards Destiny" and "Power of Moonlite".
During Rancid's 2004 hiatus, Freeman replaced bassist John Maurer in Social Distortion but did not appear on their latest album Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll. Freeman did not stay in the band permanently and he was replaced by recent bassist Brent Harding in late 2004.
Following his departure from Social Distortion, Freeman was diagnosed with lung cancer in May of 2005, but was dismissed as abnormal tissue growth and not terminal to his health in June of 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 so he would have something to do with his hands as heard on Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards.
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