Lars Frederiksen

Lars Frederiksen - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of 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 the Old Firm Casuals. Also, he currently plays guitar in Oxley's Midnight Runners, Stomper 98, and the Last Resort. He was also briefly a member of the UK Subs in 1991.

This profile of Lars Frederiksen covers Early Life and Family Background, Early Career and Breakthrough, Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards, The Old Firm Casuals and Other projects and appearances.

Frederiksen joined Rancid in 1993 after the band was searching for a second guitar player and was present on their second album, Let's Go. He has produced albums for bands such as Dropkick Murphys, Agnostic Front, the Business, Swingin' Utters, Marky Ramone and the Intruders, Anti-Heros, Pressure Point, and the Forgotten, among others. He mixed GBH's 2010 album entitled Perfume and Piss, as well as Cock Sparrer's 2007 album, Here We Stand, both alongside Michael Rosen.

Early Life and Family Background of Lars Frederiksen

Lars Erik Frederiksen was born and raised in San Francisco Bay Area on August 30, 1971, by his mother, Minna Dapello (née Frederiksen), after his father, John, left at age three. Minna Dapello was a Danish immigrant who, according to Frederiksen, was the only member of her family to survive the Nazi German occupation of Denmark (1940–45) during and after World War II, after her family was killed in front of her. Growing up he his older brother and mother would visit Denmark often where he was first introduced to music such as glam metal and David Bowie.

Frederiksen became introduced to Oi! Music during his time in middle school with much of his musical taste being influenced by his older brother. During this time he first started getting involved in skinhead culture in a interview with Vice he commented on this stating "I mean, most eleven-year-olds don’t know what a skinhead is, but my brother was bringing home music and I always looked up to him. All the music I was exposed to was because of him, so by seventh grade I was a skinhead walking around yelling “Oi! At people and wearing boots, bleached jeans and suspenders to school. They would call me “Farmer Tom” and shit like that; I I would be like, No, I’m into Oi! Music!” and they would say, What the fuck is that."

Frederiksen first got inspired to become a musician after going to local punk shows and thinking to himself "I can be a part of that too. By the time he was 15 he had already been to juvenile hall and dropped out school.

Early Career and Breakthrough of Lars Frederiksen

After dropping out school Frederiksen started to get involved with local bands and playing guitar:

He first gained notoriety by playing with the U.K. Subs on their 1991 U.K. Tour. Then in 1993 he joined Rancid making his debut on their 1993 Ep Radio Radio Radio. From here Rancid went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful punk rock bands of all time, with Frederiksen recording 9 studio albums with the band the most recent being 2023’s Tomorrow Never Comes.

Frederiksen has expressed his personal dislike for signing to major record labels numerous times.

Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards

While still a member of Rancid Frederiksen started a side project named Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards. They released their self titled debut in 2001 where Frederiksen provided lead vocals and lead guitar Jason Woods played bass and Scott Abels tracked the drums. Overall the album was met with positive reception. The group went on to release their second album, Viking, in 2004, and their most recent release was an 2006 Ep titled Switchblade.

The Old Firm Casuals

In 2010 Frederiksen founded another side project, a street punk trio called the Old Firm Casuals alongside Casey Watson (Look Back and Laugh) and Paul Rivas. The group released multiple eps before their first full-length album, For the Love of It All.. Was released in 2013. The group have since released three more albums including This Means War (2014), A Butcher's Banquet (2016) and Holger Danske (2019). He has described the project as a snapshot into his record collection, being heavily influenced by many of his favorite bands.

Other projects and appearances

During the 2010s Frederiksen started another side project called Oxley’s Midnight Runners is the new band of Mike Oxley (Fatskins) along with Dave and Jeff (90 Proof). Their debut EP We Are Legion was released in 2014, they have since gone on to release six more EP’s.

Frederiksen is also a member of the Oi! Band Stomper 98 alongside Sebi, Tommi Tox, Holgi Stomper, Sille Riot, and Stefan H. Their debut album Althergebracht was released in 2018.

Frederiksen appears in several episodes of Tim Armstrong's Tim Timebomb's Rock n Roll Theater as Dante. Lars can also be seen in the documentary film The Other F Word.

During an appearance on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Lars suggested to Ruby Riott she should use the ring name Ruby Soho and assured her that he could also have the song cleared legally for her to use as her entrance theme. The name change was confirmed via a post on Prange's Instagram account.

In 2021 Frederiksen released an Ep titled To Victory, which was made up of acoustic reworkings of songs he recorded with The Old Firm Casuals and Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards, along with covers of songs from KISS and U.K. Subs. From March 29, 2022, April 30, he went on a US solo tour in support of the Ep release.

Frederiksen voiced Steve Apparent in the 2006 stop motion film Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, he also played Volsung in the 2024 horror film The After Dark.

On April 20, 2024, at TNA Rebellion Frederiksen served as the manager for the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions, Jody Threat and Dani Luna, during their match vs Decay.

Legacy and Influence

Inspired by the likes of Ace Frehley of Kiss, Frederiksen originally used a Les Paul until having back surgery in 2000. He stated "When you’re doing hour-and-a-half sets, jumping around like a moron, there’s a lot of stress that you accumulate over the years, Hence, why I had to have back surgery at the age of 29 — because I was jumping around with a 50-pound Les Paul on my shoulder every night for ten years." He now uses his own signature ESP LTD Volsung DCS with EMG DMF pickups.

He has cited some of his most impactful riffs as "Gone Shootin" by AC/DC and "Parasite" by KISS. Individual guitarist he is influenced by includes Eddie Clarke, Phil Campbell and Colin "Jock" Blyth.

Personal Life

Frederiksen married his girlfriend Megan in 1998. They divorced, and he married San Francisco yoga instructor Stephanie Snyder, with whom he had two children, both boys. In May 2020, Stephanie divorced Frederiksen. In 2023, Frederiksen married publicist and writer Joanna Riedl, who took his last name.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Frederiksen), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.