Punk Lives In The Form Of Offspring

Concert: Offspring with the Voodoo Glow Skulls, Joykiller, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.
Tickets: $18 at The Ticket Office at Expo Square, Mohawk Music, Starship Records and Tapes, the Corn Popper and the Mark-It Shirt Shop in Promenade Mall

When I first heard the Offspring's "Come Out and Play" and nationwide radio in 1994, I knew that rock music had really changed. The whole grunge fuss had seemed expertly contrived and faddish, and even Kurt Cobain hadn't convinced me that his anger and angst constituted a new musical movement. But the frustration and confusion that followed Cobain's untimely demise found itself channeled into punk rock, and just months after the Cobain home went on the market, blood stains and all, this otherwise indistinguishable and esoteric surf-thrash band called the Offspring showed up on the national scene with a grinding, compact moshfest with an irresistible tag -- a Latino-rap catch-phrase ("Gotta keep 'em separated") that provided just enough novelty to feed the mainstream diet.

The single came from the band's third full-length album, "Smash." The title had two unintentional connotations. First, it fulfilled its own prophecy, becoming a smash hit, selling 8.5 million records around the world and writing itself into history as the biggest- selling record from an independent label. Second, it smashed the claim that punk was dead, and although there are numerous punk elitists who will call the Offspring sell-outs for the band's jump to major label Columbia for their recent album, "Ixnay on the Hombre," the success of "Smash" opened the door for the so-called punk revival. The Offspring just began a second leg of this year's world tour in support of "Ixnay," and we caught up with Noodles, the band's guitarist, this week in San Antonio:

Thomas Conner: So what does punk rock America look like out there?

Noodles: It looks like Airwalks and Marilyn Manson T-shirts ... It's always changing. I don't know, though. Are we punk rock anymore? We draw from everywhere. This guy came up to us at a show last night and said, "I'm a big fan of yours. I missed Wu- Tang Clan to see you tonight, and that's not easy for a black man to do in this country right now." It's not just a punk audience we're playing to. I mean, let's not kid ourselves, it hasn't been since "Smash."

TC: You asked one of my next questions: Are you punk anymore?

Noodles: I still consider myself a punk. I have since I was 14 and swore my oath to Satan (laughter), since I first heard a Dickies record and a Sex Pistols record. That was it. I mean, it was all over right then. I really swung the other way and burned all my Rolling Stones records. It took a while for the pendulum to swing back to the middle and I could once again appreciate what people like the Stones had done.

TC: Do you subscribe to the idea of this so-called punk revival of the last few years, or had it never died in your niche in the world?

Noodles: I didn't buy it. I think punk has been getting stronger from the beginning. The movement with the Sex Pistols over here wasn't musical at all. The press was focusing on his spitting and biting and his general insane behavior, not on the music. The underground has been growing and growing since then until it overspilled the banks about three years ago and got kinda out of hand.

TC: Is there still enough of a social situation or division for punk politics to be a viable voice?

Noodles: Well, when the whole football team has tattoos, nose rings and short hair, and they call themselves punks, something has mushed it all out. I mean, that's not the punk I grew up on. The punk I grew up on was when those same jocks beat people like me up for having mohawks and safety pins in our ears. They would line up along the halls of my high school and just slam us back and forth. It didn't hurt, because that's what we did to each other on weekends. But you know, in order to find out what's vital and really happening, you've got to go to the small clubs and see where the freaks are hanging out and speaking with a new voice. You're not going to find it in the quad at school, only in some dingy little alley somewhere.

TC: Tell me about the decision to sign with Columbia Records.

Noodles: We tried and tried to work things out with Brett (Gurewitz, founder of Epitaph Records. Offspring's previous label) for, like, a year. We couldn't work things out and finally had to leave ... We wanted to stay with Epitaph because it felt good to us. We're touring now with two Epitaph bands (Joykiller, Voodoo Glow Skulls). We just couldn't get along with Brett, and he made us mad. Columbia's been great to us. We're very happy with this deal.

TC: Are there still fans calling you sell-outs for the jump to a major label?

Noodles: The cries of "Sell out!" started coming before we even signed to Columbia. We had that just from getting songs on the radio. Then, MTV was like the death knell as far as our credibility among the punk elites. But the people who were calling us sell-outs weren't around when we were touring around the country and selling tapes just to get gas money to make it to the next town; they just heard us on the radio like everyone else. I wasn't worried about any of it.

TC: It's an odd circumstance, isn't it? The more people start to like you, the more people begin to hate you, as well.

Noodles: Yes. The number of people loving you and hating you increases in direct proportion to one another.

TC: When did you first realize that "Smash" was a hit?

Noodles: Someone was showing us a Billboard chart for "heatseekers," and I just couldn't believe we were on a chart at all. It was like, "What the f---? Now we must be a real band." Now I realize how totally lucky we were with it. That was a huge record, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.

TC: How does the new record evolve from "Smash"?

Noodles: I like this album a lot better. The songwriting is a lot more solid. The playing is better. After "Smash," we toured for a year and a half straight, so our playing got much better.

TC: I was glad to see "I Choose" released as a single. It's my favorite track. It's the only punk song I've ever heard use the word "weenie."

Noodles: Yeah, that song rocks. That was one of the songs Dexter (Holland, lead singer) came into the studio with completely done and ready. (Producer) Dave Jerden helped us put together the drums on that, those congas. Jerden (social Distortion, Jane's Addiction) was great to work with. He is, well, weird and exciting. One of the reasons I think my guitars sound so good on this record is the way he set things up for them. We were micing three amps at the same time. Very cool.

By Thomas Conner, from Tulsa Online - September 9, 1997