Modern Americana

It's unlikely there is anyone under the age of 30 in America who hasn't been exposed to the thumping beats and "give it to me babys" of the Offspring's "Pretty Fly [For A White Guy]." The single, off the Southern California band's fifth album, Americana, is an MTV staple, alternative radio favorite and an omnipresent force in snowboarding stores across America.

It's the second time this Huntington Beach quartet has delivered a chart-crashing song with a chorus more indelible ("And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy") than a Marks-A-Lot stain.

As Americana lingers in the top five on the Billboard album charts and the band prepares for the impact of its second single, "Why Don't You Get a Job?" singer Dexter Holland (a.k.a. Brian Holland) discusses the perks and pitfalls of mainstream popularity, the finer points of pop hits versus punk rock and his other life as the head of Nitro records, cover band fan and b-role actor.

CDnow: On "Pretty Fly," you combine Latino rhythms, hip-hop breaks, poppy hooks and punk rock sarcasm. Do you want the Offspring to continue down that path of meshing styles and sensibilities?

I like the idea of mixing it up a little bit. It's hard to come up with a whole new genre of music. I think that's where it’s going - mixing elements from different kinds of music.

Do you feel that whole punk revivalists label was too confining?

Musically, we try and go beyond that. I don't just want to be like "1983! Yeah, Discharge!" I love the energy of punk rock, but I like combining that with good tones. There were a few bands that did that, but it was rare. Also, old punk was about the disenfranchised. Those are ideas and feelings that are real relatable by regular, average kids so naturally, it's become more of a mainstream thing.

"I like taking some of what's been good to us and putting it back into the music scene."

Your last record, Ixnay on the Hombre, was far more experimental in terms of the Offspring sound. There were no real immediate hits on there like "Pretty Fly" or "Come Out and Play." Were you trying to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as a novelty song?

I just wanted to stretch out our sound. We wanted Ixnay to be exactly the way it was, though I know it was different. I didn’t want to say, "Smash did really well, so let's be careful and only do what we did on that record." So, once we did Ixnay, we had a lot of different places we could go on this record. We could draw from more places. Even if I had written "Pretty Fly" for the last record, it wouldn’t have been the same thing.

You guys play a mean cover of Morris Albert’s '70s tearjerker/nausea-inducing "Feelings." Did you ever consider asking him to guest star on the song?

We did consider asking him. You know, a lot of people will bring the original artists to play on the songs - like Korn with Cheech and Chong doing "Earache My Eye." We thought maybe Morris would be into it, but he wasn't. Instead, he’s suing us. But c'mon, the song deserved to be butchered. I can't believe no one had done it yet.

You also mess with pleasant images on the cover artwork to Americana. That cherubic kid cuddling a dog-sized cockroach is creepy as hell.

I like the cover 'cause it sort of fits in with the whole Americana thing. The kid is nice, lives behind a white picket fence, like a Rockwell painting, but then there's something much more dark and sinister lurking on his lap -- the cockroach. The artist Frank Kozik did it. He does a lot of concert posters. We faxed him lyrics, then had him do his own interpretations of song. So it’s like we have our own comic book of Kozik stuff.

"I like the cover 'cause it sort of fits in with the whole Americana thing. The kid is nice, lives behind a white picket fence, like a Rockwell painting, but then there's something much more dark and sinister lurking on his lap - the cockroach."

I read that Smash is still the highest selling album on an independent label, ever. That’s pretty amazing.

It is. But no one gave indie records a chance. When artists started to break, they would all go to major labels. Like Beck with "Loser" or Nine Inch Nails. They were next highest, they went gold, but in the middle they went to a major label. But that's just rock. There's a lot of rap bands doing well on independent labels.

"Keep 'Em Separated" is such a classic pop hit, even bar bands are covering it.

Yeah, I've gone to regular bars and had that happen a couple times. It's almost surreal.

A lot of times those cover bands are from a different era, different sensibilities, into Van Halen covers. I went to this one dive bar once, and there was this band with a long-haired, Jackal-type singer, and they were doing "Come Out and Play" with a metal feel, the guitar leads and screamers [does a Dio-esque scream]. They had a tip jar in front set up, so I went right up and dropped a five-dollar bill in the tip jar, looked the guy straight in the eye and said, "That was awesome." He had no idea who I was.

So aside from climbing up the charts and infiltrating Everytown, USA, with "Pretty Fly," what else have the Offspring been up to?

We're also on this record put together by Fat Mike from NOFX. He runs Fat Records, and he's doing a compilation. Its working title is Punk Rock 101, which I think is hilarious. He's getting 101 punk bands all on one CD to do 30-second songs. He's got everybody from Rancid to Green Day to Pennywise to NOFX, Bad Religion. Anybody you can think of is on this thing.

We're also doing the F.S.U. [a benefit foundation that provides social services for those who need them] thing we set up with Jello Biafra [of the Dead Kennedys.] We do shows, then give money to various causes. Last year we did a half dozen shows, then split the proceeds between Aids Project L.A., Amnesty International and smaller organizations like the Tree Foundation.

I heard you also appeared in the upcoming movie, Idle Hands.

Yeah, I get blown away two seconds after I hit the screen. It's not out yet; they’re still perfecting it. What they do is show it to like 40 kids, ask them what they think, then re-edit it and show it again. It's beta-testing. We should beta-test our records. Should it be, "Give it to me, baby?" or "Give it to me, darling?" We’re not sure.

How's your own label, Nitro, going?

Great. We just moved to a bigger space and have a whopping six bands on our roster. I try just to sign one band a year and not go too crazy on it. I try to keep in mind what I want to do with Nitro - and it's not to have the biggest indie label. I just want to sign bands I admire and enjoy working with, then do the best job possible on their record.

Nitro now has Guttermouth, AFI, Jughead's Revenge, Sloppy Seconds … I started out signing all OC [Orange County] bands, then recently began signing bands from all over. I like taking some of what's been good to us and putting it back into the music scene.

By Lorraine Ali, from CDNow