Rancid's Tim Armstrong Produces Puppet Freak Show
Wednesday March 01, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Tim Armstrong (Photo By Steve Servos)

What happens when you combine Charles Manson, puppets and a rock 'n' roll soundtrack? Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, the 2003 film produced and narrated by Rancid's Tim Armstrong that's just been made available on DVD.

The puppet-animated musical comedy, which boasts "more blood than The Passion Of The Christ," begins on earth in the year 3069. It's desolate and in ruins due to the complete depletion of the ozone layer. Only nomads roam the deserted planet, but one group of cave dwellers discovers a book called Helter Skelter that they take to be gospel. The movie then flashes back to the year 1969, where the meat of the film is laid out — all over the place. The story of Manson and his followers unfolds into a tale of murder, sex, violence, glamour and hilarity.

Besides the apocalyptic plot, there are loads of things to get out of the flick. First off, the puppet voices are done by rock stars. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong lends his pipes to Manson, while fellow Green Day members Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool are also in on the fun. Blink-182's Travis Barker, X's John Doe, Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden, Tiger Army's Nick 13, the Transplants' Rob Aston, AFI's Davey Havok and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's are among the others who contribute their voices to the rancid masterpiece.

A bonus CD of the film's soundtrack comes with the DVD. Among the new songs on the disc are Billie Joe Armstrong's "Mechanical Man," which can now be found on a number of Green Day fan websites. The 21-song CD also includes new material from Wiedlin and the movie's score, which was created by Tim Armstrong and Faith No More's Roddy Bottum.

Live Freaky! Die Freaky! was written and directed by John Roecker, a longtime fixture of the Los Angeles punk scene who also directed the Green Day documentary, Heart Like A Hand Grenade. The film was the first production released by Hellcat Films, a spin-off of Tim Armstrong's Hellcat Records label.

—Phil Villeneuve