Russ Rankin is a Bay Area hardcore punk legend. Widely known for his tenure as the vocalist of Santa Cruz band Good Riddance, Rankin’s hardcore background also includes his time on the mic with supergroup Only Crime and on bass for Creep Division’s 2000 self-titled Indecision Records release, fronted by Craig Ahead.
Partnering once again with Indecision, Rankin and the label have announced his latest solo offering, A Season in Hell, a collection of six songs—three originals and three covers. The record’s lead single, “What Brand of Hell,” features urgent musical stylings accompanied by Rankin’s signature brand of poignant, introspective lyrics.
The title of A Season in Hell comes from the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers, which is based on the 1980 novel of the same name. The film is a period musical drama set in the 1960s about a band trying to hit the big time. A Season in Hell is the title of the band’s rejected second album. “I liked it, and I thought it fit what had been a particularly difficult year and a half to two years, musically,” says Rankin.
The record is Rankin’s third solo release and comes on the heels of Good Riddance’s recent opus, Before the World Caves In. Paul Miner (Death by Stereo, Terror, Internal Affairs) recorded it at Buzzbomb Sound Labs in Orange County, CA. “I’ve known Paul forever, and I recorded my first solo album there in 2012,” says Rankin.
He recorded all of the vocals and stringed instruments himself and recruited Adam Gomez (The Dickies, D.I.) to record the drums. “I do my best to write lyrics that make people think,” says Rankin, commenting on the common thread between the lyrics of his solo material and his work in Good Riddance.
It’s important for the singer/songwriter to make sure he is leaving a new mark on listeners with each and every song. “I’m not interested in saying the same thing countless others have said before (and probably said more succinctly),” he continues. “It’s become really important to me to work the lyrics from that point of view.”
The desire to keep things fresh is apparent in a body of work that stretches back to the 1990s. On the musical front, something just felt different about these songs. Although Good Riddance is known for a wide variety of punk stylings ranging from aggressive to melodic (yet always heartfelt), something about this collection of songs just didn’t fit with Rankin’s main musical focus.
And yet, they didn’t seem to fit with his previous solo releases—2012’s Farewell Catalonia and 2022’s Come Together Fall Apart—either. The two records, released 10 years apart, feature sparse drumming and a mixture of electric and acoustic guitar, likely a nod to folk-punk legend Billy Bragg. “This was always envisioned as sounding like a full band—it’s not in the same universe as my other, more acoustic solo releases,” says Rankin, who shares that he has no plans to take this version of his solo work on the road.
While the previous records were released on Paper + Plastick and SBÄM Records, respectively, Rankin liked the new songs enough to record them and see who thought they might be worth releasing. That person was his longtime friend Dave Mandel of Indecision Records.
Rankin is excited about his partnership with Mandel and says, “Even if no label had been interested in releasing them, I would still have been glad that I recorded them. [Working with Indecision] was a positive experience, and everything came out sounding even better than I’d hoped.”
While his previous solo releases arrived a decade apart and were staggered between Good Riddance releases, Rankin found time to put together these songs during a busy period for the band, while promoting a new record and touring around the world in support of it.
The record features three covers: “Cheap Tragedies” by The Avengers, “Starry Eyes” by The Records, and “The World Turned Upside Down” by Billy Bragg. “Being from the Bay Area, and being the age I am, The Avengers were on my radar early when I got into punk and hardcore music. I think I first heard ‘Cheap Tragedies’ on a compilation and have loved it ever since.”
Pulling from across the Atlantic, “Starry Eyes” is a power pop song from The Records that caught Rankin’s attention through SiriusXM’s First Wave channel. “The hooks were everywhere. It got stuck in my head right then and has never left. Just really top-shelf songwriting, in my opinion.”
The final track is actually a cover of a cover. Describing the song as inspiring and earnest, Rankin says, “When I heard Bragg's arrangement of Leon Rosselson’s song ‘The World Turned Upside Down,’ it gave me chills.”
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A Season in Hell is out September 25th on vinyl via Indecision Records (pre-order).
Hear Russ talk the ‘core, Good Riddance’s split with Ignite, and everything in between on his 2022 episode of the Revelation Records-related podcast Where It Went, here.
Tagged: good riddance, only crime
