by Gregor Arkady

Created on: March 12, 2009   Last Updated: March 15, 2009

I still remember the first time I listened to "The Viking". I was 15, it was a hot summer day, and it had been released a few days earlier. I'd been listening to punk rock for a few years at that point, having been introduced to bands like Pennywise, the Offspring, Rancid and Lagwagon by a friend of mine who was a few years older than me. I'd never really listened to Lars Frederiksen's side project, Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, but a buddy of mine said they were an outstanding punk rock band. So, with the release of "The Viking", their second and final album, I figured I should check them out. I put it on the stereo in the car, my mom saying for the millionth time, "I'm not going to enjoy this, am I?" and was immediately blown away. I had never heard anything quite like that album, and to this day I never have.

The opening track, "Bastards", hit me like a shotgun blast of aggression and fury, all raw and spiky. This aggressive undertone continued into "Skins, Punx and Drunx", "Fight" and "Gods of War", which are all excellent examples of traditional straight ahead, balls-to-the-wall punk rock. Other tracks, like "1%", which dealt with Lars' troubled childhood growing up surrounded by Hells's Angels' bikers, or "Switchblade", showed a more carefully crafted sound, sacrificing none of the raw power but presenting a more refined and thought out song, complete with bridges and even guitar solos. Sometimes the songs really took me by surprise, such as "For You" or, "My Life to Live", which a friend of mine would later describe as, "The punk rock 'Mambo #5'". One of the most incredible moments of the album, however, was the final track: "The Viking". It's no small wonder the album and this track share the same name, because to this day I have never had a song hit me like that one did. Coming directly after the fast-paced "Streetwise Professor", "The Viking" was like a cigarette and a cold beer after a night of fighting: it calmed you down, brought things into perspective and forced you to look at your life. It was more of a blues song than a punk rock song, complete with a lightly overdriven guitar, a Hammond B3 organ line and... wait, is that... VIOLINS AND CELLOS? It was equal parts country, blues, rockabilly, soul and punk rock, all thrown into a blender, creating something at once aggressive and passive. Even my mother, who has never been any great fan of punk rock, was spellbound by this track, and insisted on listening to it over and over.

This album was the first time I realized I could take the blues music I loved like Howling Wolf and Albert King and combine it with the raw fury of punk rock. Each song is arranged and written like a blues song, yet performed with the howling intensity that comes only from punk rock. It was a monumentally different kind of punk rock, one I had never heard before or since, and this is the album I play for my friends who try to tell me that punk rock doesn't take any talent to play. Right next to the snarling vocals and the brash guitars were tasteful guitar solos and lyrics that really made you think. It's a concept album, a story of the fast life of Lars Frederiksen and a salute to all those who grew up living a crazy life full of violence and love. It may just be one of the greatest tragedies of all time that this was the final album to come from Lars and the Bastards, because I often wonder what their next album would have sounded like. After all, if they went from a fairly standard punk rock album to this, what would the future have held?

Learn more about this author, Gregor Arkady.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.