Hard Force: Since the release of Ixnay On The Hombre, The Offspring has been playing in North America, in Europe, in Australia, in New Zearland and in Latin America. Considering the response of the press and the fans, how would you compare that euphoria to the reserved reception of Smash?

Noodles: With Smash, everything was new and we didn't expect it to sell so much. We didn't expect to make it, let alone go platinum. This is the kind of unexpected thing that takes you by surprise. If our last album does as well as the previous one, it won't be a surprise, cause we will have lived that experience before. But few albums have reached the success of Smash; we would be really incredibly lucky if we had 2 successive albums so overwhelmingly praised. But I'm absolutely satisfied with the way things are going for Ixnay. That's what we had hoped. It's not as successful as Smash but it's making its way, it's doing O.K. I'm happy about that album and I like it even better than its predecessor.

The band has toured like mad almost everywhere in the world. Do you sometimes feel apprehensive of playing in a country in which you've never played before?

Yes, a bit. We never know what to expect. We've been on the road for some time now and I feel kind of afraid every time we play. I even find it difficult to look at the crowd. If the concert conveys a lot of energy and we play like mad, I can't see anything around me, aside from my guitar. I have real fun and sometimes, I lose control of myself on stage. All the places we played are different: in Europe, the concerts in Italy and in Spain were just crazy. There are also some places in the US where it was real madness, like in Florida for instance.

As both a father and a guitarist in a famous band, isn't it difficult for you to raise your daughter while being constantly on the road?

I have to try and combine both. I hardly see her when I'm on tour, but when I come back home, I spend much more time with her than most other parents. I put a lot into that new relationship. And talking about children, I think it's very difficult to raise them well nowadays. It was hard for me to go on tour when she was younger, 'cause I couldn't be back for more than one month. When children are young, it's necessary to be home with them to fund good bases. If I ever have other children, it'll be even more complicated. My daughter is 7 years old now and it's hard not to see her. But I've learnt how to make do.

The introduction of the album contains a speech from Jello Biafra. How did you get to know him?

He's always been a great influence for us. We are big fans of the Dead Kennedys and we often went to see their concerts. Dexter has been in touch with them for 12 years, after sending them letters and press articles. Dead Kennedys' albums contained these posters with bad news from magazines… Dexter would cut out this kind of articles and send them to the band. When Offspring started getting big, Dexter asked Jello some advice about music business. Then he started his own label, Nitro Records, and sought advice from Jello 'cause he had experience with Alternative Tentacles Records. After a little time, they had become real friends. After Dexter had written Disclaimer, he said: 'You know who should say that? Biafra!' He asked him if he was interested and Jello said yes. We have also done 3 shows in California whose benefits were donated to the charity Biafra founded with Dexter, F.S.U. Foundation. He went on stage and did the encore with us. We played Chemical Warfare, Holiday In Cambodia and Burgers Of Wrath that were on a 1994 album with Mojo Nixon. The idea is inspired by the crisis in the States in the '30s.

Is the title Ixnay On The Hombre connected with the skeleton on the cover of the album?

I don't know whether the day of the dead (All Saint's Day) is very important here in France, but in Mexico, it's a holiday. Ixnay relates to the German word 'nichts' which means 'no', 'stop'. 'Hombre' is Spanish for 'man' so the title could be translated that way: 'Stop the man' or 'Do away with him', or 'Fuck the authorities'. The album cover illustrates the way the Mexicans see death. It has a connotation which is more comic than sad. Those representations of death are the symbol of what awaits people after life, in the beyond. In the Offspring's language, it means that there's more shit to come, but, to pass time, why not have fun! There's no point in hating life and feeling like a loser. The skeleton on the cover has nothing to do with those you can find on Danzig's albums.

The Meaning Of Life and Gone Away are very serious whereas Me And My Old Lady and Don't Pick It Up are more careless and shallow. Do you prefer humour to seriousness in The Offspring?

I like both. It's a combination. When I feel happy, I'll feel like going out and having fun. Or sometimes, I've got big worries. And also, sometimes, some things disturb me and I want to unwind, to relax. Sometimes I can also be in a joyful mood and think about essential questions such as those bonds that unite us as a band.

Gone Away evokes the way somebody's death is associated with sadness.

It's an experience Dexter went through. Those lyrics can bring about other interpretations too. He doesn't really like to talk about that.

Though they sound fun, the lyrics if Cool To Hate relate the life of a guy who hates everything. Given that most of The Offspring's fans are young, aren't you afraid that they might misunderstand you?

To tell the truth, my greatest fear is that parents don't get the meaning of the song. The kids are gonna laugh and won't think of anything wrong but the parents are likely to take it literally. They will bug the shit out of their kids and send them in lunatic asylums. I got friends who have had that kind of problem. Their parents thought they were raving mad and sent them to special establishments, but they were wrong. It's the parents who should be sent to those institutions.

How did you get in touch with the Brazilian percussionist Paulinho Da Costa the famous studio musician, who joined in I Choose and Don't Pick It Up?

Dexter had heard him and liked his work; so he invited him to play on the album. I don't know how he got to meet him, but it wasn't like: 'Hey, we need a Brazilian guy for that!' Paulinho is great, his percussions are fantastic. We try to play I Choose live, but Paulinho plays such an important part in the tones of that song. We tried to replace him punctually, but it doesn't always work.

You break punk standards when you play guitar riffs like the one in Gone Away or the Indian-like solo in Me And My Old Lady, which are most of the time elements that can be found in groups playing metal and hard rock. Were you influenced by those styles?

Yes, before I heard punk music, I only knew what was broadcast on the radio. I was used to listening to the Rolling Stones, Kiss and Simon & Garfunkel. When I got into punk, The Dickies were the band I was the most listening to. It has made a repeat of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' which was great. I was curious to hear the original version so I bought the album 'Paranoid' and I loved it. I'm not a sectarian person. Punk has been my favourite style for these last 20 years but I'm also listening to other stuff that is more recent: I like Jane's Addiction and Prodigy a lot.

The album finishes that way: 'I think you guys should try heavy metal. Kiss my ass!' followed by the laughter of American host Calvert DeForest. What does that mean?

It's a joke. The vinyl version is different from the CD's. One song on the vinyl is called Cocktail. We asked Calvert to express himself in the studio and this is an extract of what he said. Then we put this message at the end of the album as a joke. It's about the barriers between punk, rock, heavy metal and techno music that are going down. This is really what must happen.

Ixnay is your first album on Columbia-Sony Records in the U.S.A. Are you satisfied with the work the company did?

Yes, they show great consideration for us. Basically we saw a company like that one as a way to distribute our albums everywhere. From that point of view, they did a good job. As far as promotion is concerned, things depend on us for the most part. For instance, I am currently doing this interview. The band plays, tours and does good shows. It's not up to the company to tell us what to do to sell more. If it decides to act that way, we'll just drop it.

Without taking into consideration the problems of the contract, do you miss your previous company, Epitaph Records?

I miss some people, some friendships. But the bands at Epitaph are still our friends and we bring some of them with us on tour. We played with Joykiller recently. I have also met a friend from Epitaph who is very receptive to our success. It's a pity to think that we're not working with him any more. But I don't know what to say. I didn't want to leave Epitaph. It is both sad and better for everybody.

Before accepting to do that interview, your manager asked me to give him copies of our magazine and a list of the bands I have interviewed those last 3 months. You are very selective about the magazines in which you accept to appear. What are your relations with the press?

They're getting better. Things are different now. Two years ago we wanted to stay underground 'cause punk was really too fashionable. Green Day broke out 6 months before we did. You could see them everywhere. We thought all this agitation was exaggerated. So we tried to keep away from the media, to appear in certain magazines only. Now things have calmed down. We see the press in a different way. It's like I told you before: if we want to promote The Offspring, the press is a good tool. Sometimes, especially in daily newspapers, I read talk taken out of context. But in general, if you are straight and honest with the press, you can get your message through.

Let me be kinda curious for my last question…Your real name is Kevin Wasserman. What does your nickname 'Noodles' mean?

Noodling means playing an annoying guitar riff. Thom Wilson, our previous producer, told me when we were recording our first album: 'You can't help pissing us off with those riffs. We should call you Noodles!' So we kept the nickname. But we had to clear the soundtrack of this album because of the 'noodling' noises!

By Daniel Oliveira, from "Hard Force" French magazine - 1998
Translated by Sam