Timothy Lockwood Armstrong (born November 25, 1965), known simply as Tim Armstrong, and earlier in his career known as Lint, is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American musician, songwriter, artist, poet, record producer and independent record label owner.
During the 1980s he and longtime bandmate Matt Freeman served in several seminal hardcore and ska punk bands in the East Bay music scene, most notably the band Operation Ivy.
In 1991, he and Freeman formed the punk rock band Rancid, which is credited with the mainstream revival of punk rock in the mid-1990's and is one the most commercially successful punk bands of all time.
In 1998, he, along with Brett Gurewitz, the guitarist of the band Bad Religion and owner of Epitaph Records, founded Hellcat Records.
In 1999 Armstrong formed the hip-hop/punk rock supergroup The Transplants.
During Rancid's temporary hiatus between the albums Indestructible and Let The Dominoes Fall, he released his ska-oriented solo album, A Poet's Life in 2007.
As of 2012 he has produced several albums, including Jimmy Cliff's Rebirth, and has directed a number of films.
Armstrong was born November 25, 1965 and was raised primarily by his mother.
He has 2 older brothers Jeff and Greg.
At the age of five, he met Matt Freeman while playing Little League Baseball in Albany, California.
Freeman and Armstrong formed a band many years later based on their shared love of bands such as The Clash and the Ramones.
They both went to Albany Middle and High School.
Armstrong married musician Brody Dalle in 1997, when she was only 18 and the couple divorced in 2003.
Many of the lyrics on the album Indestructible deal with Armstrong's feelings about his divorce.
Due to their same last names, Armstrong is at times assumed to be the brother of Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong.
Though the two are friends, they are not related.
Tim's cousin, Scott, was the guitarist for Canadian punk band Desperate Minds.
They did not know each other until they were introduced at a show in Chicago in 1988 by John Jughead of Screeching Weasel.
Basic Radio was founded in 1985 and included Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong. The band never released any albums or EP's, but recorded demos and were featured on local compilations. 2 years later they broke up and Operation Ivy was founded shortly after.
In 1987, along with singer Jesse Michaels and drummer Dave Mello, Armstrong and Freeman formed the ska punk band Operation Ivy and enjoyed modest success before the group disbanded in 1989, the same night the album was released. The band would go on to achieve worldwide cult success in the years following its break-up.
Downfall was an aftershock of Operation Ivy. Armstrong, Freeman, and Mello were joined by Mello's brother Pat, and Jason Hammon. Pat and Jason would both play guitar, while Armstrong took up duties on vocals. They lasted three months (December 1989 to March 1990), playing only at a few parties and twice at Gilman St. They released one song on Maximumrocknroll's They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy, Do They Work Hard! compilation, one song on David Hayes Very Small World compilation, one song on Lookout! Records Can Of Pork compilation, and recorded a demo. It disbanded when Freeman joined MDC on bass while Armstrong was a roadie for the band, while Pat and Dave went on to form Schlong.
After the demise of Operation Ivy, Armstrong (being severely depressed) began to suffer from alcoholism, and eventually became homeless. During this time, Freeman suggested the two start a new band together, partially in hopes of curbing Armstrong's alcohol addiction. Armstrong began writing songs that would appear on their first album. Their new band, Rancid would eventually go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful punk rock bands of all time.
In 1999, Armstrong invited roadie Rob Aston ("Skinhead Rob") to add lyrics to some solo material that Armstrong had been creating in his basement, and the two worked together writing and recording music. They formed the group Transplants with drummer Travis Barker, of Blink-182, and released their self-titled debut album on October 22, 2002. A second Transplants album, Haunted Cities, was released on June 21, 2005. The Transplants break-up was confirmed by Rob Aston on January 16, 2006, when he told a reporter that the group had split. However, Barker has recently announced that the trio is currently working on a new album. They played their first show since 2006 on Conan to promote Barker's new solo album, on which the song "Saturday Night" is featured. It was announced in November 2011 on the Transplants official Facebook page that their new album would be "finished" in December 2011.
In 2007, he released his first solo album entitled A Poet's Life with The Aggrolites as his backing band. The track from that album "Into Action" was reported as the number one most played and requested in 2007 on then XM Satellite Radio channel Fungus 53.
In 2012, he launched a side project under the name Tim Timebomb, initially releasing a download only album, entitled "Tim Timebomb Sings Songs From RocknNRoll Theater", containing songs from his musical film series. Since October 29th 2012 he has released a series of songs via YouTube, at a rate of one track each day starting on October 29th 2012. These songs make up a series of download only singles, to date more than 80 tracks have been released, a mixture of original compositiions, covers, and re-workings of his previous songs, including those of Rancid.
Armstrong co-wrote eight songs with P!nk for her 2003 album Try This. He has also collaborated with Gwen Stefani on her debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and has contributed guest vocals on songs for such bands as Bad Religion, Time Again, The Matches, Mest, Good Charlotte, Head Automatica, The Aggrolites and Box Car Racer. He and Matt Freeman also play in a psychobilly band called Devils Brigade.
It was announced on August 12, 2011 that Tim Armstrong was working on an album with reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. Their first single, a cover of The Clash song "The Guns Of Brixton", was released on October 4, 2011. Sacred Fire EP was released late November 2011 and they are planning to release a full length album in 2012.
Armstrong started Hellcat Records in 1997 as a sub-label of Epitaph, owned by Armstrong's friend and Bad Religion member Brett Gurewitz. Armstrong acts as a talent scout for Hellcat, and has final say concerning what groups are signed to the label. Armstrong also owns the merchandise manufacturer Machete Mfg,[7] which provides merchandise for bands on Hellcat Records.
In 2010, Gretsch Guitars introduced the G5191BK Tim Armstrong Electromatic guitar. The single cutaway hollowbody electric guitar featured a 17" wide body in a flat-black urethane finish, parallel tone bars and sound post, two “Black Top” Filter'Tron pickups, Grover tuners, big block fretboard inlays, a harp tailpiece and gold-plated hardware. Gretsch advertising for the model prominently features Armstrong with the guitar. It is based on his 1970's-era Gretsch Country Club model which he spray-painted black and flipped to accommodate his left-handed playing. The signature model is available in both right and left-handed models. Fender also put out a signature acoustic model based on Tim's favorite 60's era Fender acoustic guitar. The "Hellcat" has hellcat inlays in the 3 5 and 7th fret positions and two skulls in the 12th fret. It is outfitted with a tortoise shell pick guard and Fishman brand electronics. It is available in right and left handed models, as well as a 12-string version.