(*both laugh*) Episode 46: Lars Frederiksen on his debut solo record, ”To Victory”!

Despite having a career that has consisted of more than three decades of writing and recording and playing music professionally in bands like Rancid and the Old Firm Casuals and Stomper 98 and Last Resort and Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and Oxley's Midnight Runners and probably more that I'm forgetting, next Friday (November 26th if you're keeping track) marks the release date for the inimitable Frederiksen's debut release as a solo artist. The album is called "To Victory" and it'll be released on Pirates Press Records (and yes, physical copies of the vinyl version do exist!) and it features reworked versions of a half-dozen tracks that span Frederiksen's entire career arc as both a music fan and a music maker. Fear not, fans off Frederiksen's particular style of aggressive songwriting; this solo release doesn't see him abandoning his street punk roots for a beard and a flannel and a campfire acoustic guitar. It's still raw and aggressive, yet the stripped down version of a song like "Motherland" or "Skunx" finds the lyrics resonating on a much more personal level. We were lucky enough to have a lengthy and wide-ranging conversation with Frederiksen about all things "To Victory," from the initial batch of several dozen songs that were proposed, to playing his first show as a true solo artist, to the sort of shifts in perspective and priorities that come from going through a divorce and the death of his mother and finding a new partner and turning 50 all in the span of a couple of years...a span that included a global pandemic that forced the shutdown of the entire music industry for the foreseeable future.

Lars Frederiksen "To Victory" music videos:

"Skunx" - https://youtu.be/vJ-JHDHQD9Q

"God And Guns" - https://youtu.be/B7UvBZE_RS4

"Army Of Zombies" - https://youtu.be/qsO0ANtKpjM

Order "To Victory" here: https://shop.piratespressrecords.com/products/lars-frederiksen-to-victory-12-ep-cd-cassette

More Lars merch: https://kingsroadmerch.com/lars-frederiksen/

Follow "Lahz's Lockah" on Instagram to catch when he sells some of his personal memorabilia...could be old records, could be wrestling action figures, could be old pants...you never know: https://www.instagram.com/lahzs_lockah/

Check out the Wrestling Perspective Podcast that features Lars, two former MLB All Stars Jason Kendall and Dmitri Young, 4x Stanley Cup champ Darren McCarty, Impact Wrestling's Petey Williams and Dennis Farrell: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJXIX4REmMnNkqVTIaohL6Q/featured

(*both laughs*) theme song is an excerpt from [laughs] track "Hurts To Laugh." © KALI MASI 2021 ℗ Take This To Heart Records 2021