Fly Me

The Offspring regains indie cred with Americana

Dexter Holland is "pretty fly for a white guy. " With his spiky green-blue hair and exalted status as a vocalist for a punk band whose aptly titled 1994 release, Smash, became the biggest-selling indie record of all time, he's innocently enthusiastic and eager to to address the band's new album.

One principal topic is that "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)," the title of the Offspring's first single off Americana, the band's fifth album, is not self- referential. "I'm addressing a socially relevant issue," laughs the 30- something singer. "Everybody wants to be cool in Orange County (California), and a lot of times they never quite get it." A sample lyric from "Fly": "Now he's getting a tattoo/He's getting ink done/He asked for a '13'/But they drew a '31'," bolstered by a "give it to me, baby" chorus that sounds like it's sung by Rosie Perez. "Fly," indeed.

Produced by Dave Jerden (Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains), Americana continues to explore the literate but lighthearted punk territory that worked so well on the 11-times platinum Smash and on '97's closely scrutinized major label debut, Ixnay on the Hombre. On their lastest-from a cover of Morris Albert's 1973 schmaltiz hit "Feelings" (changed, of course, to double-time and feelings of "hate") to "Pay The Man," which started life with working title of "Stonehenge"-Holland's often pained and poignant lyrics are buoyed by Noodles' distinctive work on his Ibanez Talman and new AR series double cutaway with whammy bar.

While Americana is undeniably an Offspring record, the eight minute, Middle Eastern-tinged "Pay The Man"-not to be confused with a Page & Plant song!-is a departure from the band's usual upbeat, one-two-punch fair. "We actually tried to play the song live a couple times," begins Noodles, sipping flavored coffee in the kitchen of a Burbank, California, recoring studio. "I think everyone in the audience just thought we smoked a whole lot of pot! I would not call this a punk song, but lyrically it's got the punk attitude. Changing the rules and branching out, that's punk rock."

The Offspring do play by their own rules, ones that can be bent or broken depending on the circumstances. While they haven't pulled a Green Day and sold a song to Seinfeld, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. "We have a 'Don't Ask, Don't Sell' policy," chimes in Noodles, whose nickname came from producer Thom Wilson telling the guitarist somewhat derogatorily that he was "Noodles Romanoff," "always roamin' off in some noodley direction."

The Offspring have also eschewed late-night talk show performances. "There's something that I think kind of minimalizes you as a band," Holland believes. "The idea that someone can watch you on a 12-inch screen while they're eating a TV dinner rather than going to a concert and getting the feel of it. It doesn't represent the band very well."

With Americana, the one-time self-confessed "sucker with no self-esteem," affirms that "every record is pretty much do or die, especially nowadays. If I don't sell three million records, am I going to commit suicide? What can you do? You can't second-guess what the audience might say, and if you try to gear your writing toward that, you're truley lost. You don't know which way is up. This is more a natural progression. I'm more comfortable with the kind of band we are now. It's not a bone of contention any more."

By Katherin Turman, from "Guitar" magazine - December, 1998