
Tim Armstrong was born in Oakland, CA November 25 in 1966. He is the youngest of three brothers. As a child, Armstrong met Matt Freeman while playing Little League Baseball in California at age 5. Freeman became one of his best friends and the bass player for Rancid. Armstrong and Freeman grew up together in Albany, California. Embracing punk culture during high school, Armstrong's favorite bands were the Clash and the Ramones. Armstrong was quoted in 'Maximum Rancid - The Unauthorized Biography Of Rancid', that: "If it wasn't for the Ramones, Rancid would have never become a band." After the demise of his first locally (and later internationally) successful band, Operation Ivy, Armstrong suffered from alcoholism, and eventually became homeless.[1] During this time, Freeman suggested the two start a band together, partially in hopes of curbing Armstrong's alcohol addiction. Armstrong began writing songs that would appear on their first