Rancid mines drummer's Orem roots

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Orem's Branden Steineckert has been the drummer for influential punk band Rancid for three years now, yet has never played with his band in Utah.

That will change this week, when Rancid -- a four-piece California band that blended ska and punk into an infectious stew and found unlikely mainstream success in the 1990s -- makes good on its promise to play a one-off Utah show before launching a world tour in Japan.

Rancid had canceled a Utah show last year when a band member fell ill. (Hear that, Dave Matthews? Why have you canceled your second Utah show in as many years?)

The band is touring to support its new album, "Let the Dominoes Fall," released in June, which was largely written in Utah, despite three-fourths of the band living in the Bay Area.

"It was nice to get away from what we were used to," said Lars Frederiksen, guitar and vocalist for Rancid. "It was nice to go to [Steineckert's] backyard. He was new, and we wanted to welcome him, and we wanted to know where he came from. ...He's very proud of where he comes from."

Steineckert said he lived in "millions of places" as his Mormon family moved around the country, eventually settling in Orem. While he felt like a bit of an outcast growing up, once he started touring the country and world with his former band, The Used, he felt something he didn't expect.

"As soon as The Used started touring, I got to miss the place," Steineckert said of Orem. "When you tour, everywhere you go are large cities and metropolises. We have some isolation here."

Steineckert chose to remain in Orem, surrounded by family, and he's become a rabid Real Salt Lake soccer fan. He claims to have no intention of relocating -- after all, if he ever needs to join his bandmates in California, it's just a short plane ride away.

He is especially eager to play with Rancid for the first time in front of his Utah family and friends. "There was always chemistry with Rancid, and when he joined, it exploded," Frederiksen said. "We jelled immediately."

Frederiksen credits Steineckert's working-class background for fitting in so well with Rancid, despite being a newcomer to a band that has been together since 1991. Orem has made Steineckert who he is, Frederiksen said. "I don't think Branden would be Branden if he [were] born in New York City," he said.

"I live in Orem," Steineckert said, proudly. "This is home for me. My roots are planted here."