The Punk Principle

Ahhhh... how quickly things change in the wacky world of rock and roll. Just a year ago the Offspring found themselves perched precariously on rock's cutting edge- just another high-energy, low-visibility punk unit battling for survival on an indie label. Today, they're as "mainstream" as you can get. That's what can occur when you release an album that just so happens to sell three million copies. It's not that vocalist Dexter Holland, guitarist Noodles, drummer Ron Welty and bassist Greg K have changed their musical perspectives one bit; it's the world around them that's changed. With the runaway success of their album Smash, and singles like Come Out And Play, these Southern California protopunks are no longer on the outside looking in. They've emerged as a primary force in rock's latest "cultural revolution", the band (along with Green Day) leading an unprecedented punk charge to the top of the charts. Recently we spoke to the dreadlocked Holland about the Offspring's sudden and unexpected success.

Hit Parader: Does it bother you that the Offspring are considered almost a top-40 band by some people?

Dexter Holland: People have always had the right to think whatever they want about us. It's just that there are a lot more people thinking about us now. It's not like we've changed our attitude at all since we started out ten years ago. Back then, we'd play in front of a dozen friends in a club, and it would be great. Today, we're playing three sold-out nights in New York, and that's great too. We've stayed true to the musical beliefs we've always had.It's the rock scene that's shifted more towards us.I remember back in the late-'80s when West Coast rock meant basically heavy metal, I asked the guys in the band if they still wanted to keep playing punk music. We couldn't even imagine playing anything other than what we'd been playing all along.This is what we like to do, and if the fact that our music is now played on the radiobothers some people, that's not our fault.

Hit Parader: You mention that the band has been together for ten years. Why do you think it took so long for people to catch on to you?

Dexter: I guess it's the same reason I just said. The music scene was very different ten years ago.We kind of stood out like a sore thumb against all the guys with the big hair and tight leather pants.What we were doing was not what the record labels particularly wanted.None of the small local labels in California would even waste a stamp on us to send us a rejection letter. It was a little frustrating. But we were still having fun, so we just kept on going. Making a lot of money from this has never been a big motivation.We kind of gave up on that idea a long time ago.

Hit Parader: How did you finally get around the dilema of not landing a record deal?

Dexter: We took that into our own hands. Back in 1987 we recorded a few of our own songs for a 7-inch, and we pressed about a thousand of them. Believe it or not, we couldn't even give those things away! I get a laugh because some fans tell me that now those things are worth a little money because of our success, but back then we had to go two years before we unloaded the last of 'em. But a few of those records must have gotten into the right hands because some guys from Nemesis Records tracked us down in 1989 and gave us what they call a press and distribution deal, which means we pay for recording the record, but they'd distribute it for us. Unfortunately, the album we did for Nemesis didn't do much better than our first record; maybe two thousand of those sold. But we figured we'd give it one more chance, so we also did an EP for Nemesis, which featured our new songs. When that didn't sell, we realized we needed a label that could give us a little promotion. So we moved on.

Hit Parader: How were you paying your bills during all this?

Dexter: We were doing ok in the clubs - though we'd only play about once or twice a month. There were a couple of places that we kept playng, and we developed a pretty strong fan base. Those club owners knew that when we were there, they'd have a good house, and that those people would spend some money. So they kept booking us. Some of the others places we would play would close after about a month - they couldn't stay in business. It wasn't easy, but we had other things going on in our lives, so the music was just for fun.

Hit Parader: Did you ever consider just giving up on the band and pursuing "real" lives?

Dexter: The band was too much fun to ever give up. It was an outlet for all of us. We'd consider trying to fit in on what was going on in L.A. at the time, but we just couldn't see ourselves as a glam metal band. So we just kept pursuing other options. We just kept being rejected by every label we appraoched - and these weren't excactly major labels we were going after. Brett Gurewitz, who runs our current label, Epitaph, even rejected us a few times before he gave us a chance in 1991. I still don't know what it was that made him go back and listen to our demo again, but when he called us up and offered a deal we jumped at it.

Hit Parader: Your first album, Ignition, put you on the rock and roll map, but it was still a long way to Smash.

Dexter: It was. Ignition came out in late 1992, and I think Epitaph originally release 10,000 copies of that album and when those sold out we couldn't believe it. We were on the road at the time, doing our first U.S. tour, and we were really surprised when we were told the label had to press more records. I don't know if Smash going platinum got us any more excited than knowing we sold 13,000 copies of our first album.

Hit Parader: Now that you're stars, do you find that there are different pressures placed upon you that you never expected?

Dexter: Not really. I think that's true because we haven't accepted playing the role of "rock stars." That's not what this is about for us all. We've tried to avoid getting caught up with all the side issues that do pop up when you have a successful record. We've tried to watch that we don'toverexpose ourselves and make people sick of us. I don't know if I ever thought we'd be in this position. But after ten years of trying, we're enjoying it.

From Hit Parader - 1995