The Offspring's
Biography
The Offspring
have been playing together since 1986 when Dexter and Greg got together
through their
high school cross country track team in Garden Grove, California. The group
went from
playing covers on the weekends to a deal with Epitaph, the Los Angeles
indie run
by former
Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The 1994 Epitaph release 'SMASH'
spawned
the international
hit "Come Out and Play".
Dexter went
at Pacifica High, a large public school in Garden Grove, Calif. He was
the third of
four children
born to a hospital administator father and a schoolteacher mother, he kept
busy
being a "good
kid" and hoped to be a doctor. "Sports were a really big thing", Holland
says, "I
was on the
cross-country team". He also happened to be class valedictorian (thus his
nickname,
Dexter). His senior year, Holland's older brother gave him a Rodney on
the ROQ
compilation
album. Before then, Holland was a casual listener. But soon after, he was
devouring
Flipside and Maximumrocknroll, fanzines out of Pasadena, Calif., and Berkeley,
respectively,
that are virtual how-to guides to punkdome. His favorite bands were T.S.O.L.
(particulary
1981's Dance With Me), the Adolescents and Agent Orange County bands that
weren't as
hung up on politic as their Bay Area counterparts.
Holland's cross-country
teammate Greg Kriesel discovered punk even later. His
investment-banker
father saw law school in his son's future. And for most of high school,
Kriesel was
a sports fan and self-proclaimed jock (he also played baseball). The first
punk
records he
ever heard were the ones Dexter played for him. "Music wasn't something
that
meant a lot
to me," he says. "But I started listening to it because it was around,
and I got
used to it."
Holland and Krisel formed their first band, Manic Subsidal, with two other
cross-country
teammates one night in 1984 after failing to get in a Social Distortion
show. At
the time,
the two didn't even own instruments, much less know how to play them. "Bryan
and I both
learned together," says Kriesel, "and he wasn't even playing chords at
the time,
so he'd play
on one string, and I tried to do the same thing. By the summer we were
actually
playing songs,
but it took a while." Kriesel's house was the site of the band's first
gigs. "It's
just always
a hangout," Kriesel says, "on any given weekend night up to 20 people could
drop
by. I had
a big upstairs that was pretty much mine, and my mom was downstairs. But
she's
always been
really cool about it. That fall, Holland began premed studies at USC (he's
currently
a Ph.D. candidate in molecular biology). Kriesel was attending Golden West
Junior
College and
later recieved a B.A. in finance from Long Beach State while working part
time in
a print shop
(he's planning to attend law school).
Weekends were
the only time the band could rehearse. Once Holland had written a handful
of
songs with
self-explanitory titles like "Very Sarcastic" and "Sorority Bitch," the
fledgling band
headed for
a cheap studio. Momentarily waylaid when its guitarist jumped ship, the
band
recruited
Kevin Wasserman, an older Pacifica grad who then worked as the school janitor.
Pretty soon,
Wasserman was "not doing a hell of a lot except practicing at Greg's house
on
weekends and
drinking excessively." Being the only member of the band over 21, Wasserman
was particularly
useful when it came to buying beer. "I remember being amazed by Bryan,"
Wasserman
says, "He was valedictorian, he was such a math geek. So when I first saw
him
with black
hair and plaid bondage pants, I was like "What are you doing?" But I thought
it
was cool,
going beyond what I thought was society's role for him."
Ron Welty moved
to Garden Grove for part of high school, and it was there that his older
stepsister
introduced him to Holland. "My mom's been through a few divorces," Welty
says.
"She'd get
remarried and we'd move, and then she'd get divorced, we'd move." Ron was
only
16 when he
begged Holland to let him substitute for Manic Subsidal's drummer who had
started medical
school and was missing lots of gigs.
In 1987, the
Offsping paid to release their own 7-inch single. Unable to afford the
additional
quarter per
copy it cost to paste the front sleeves to the backs, the band bought a
case of
beer and glue
sticks and held a party for its friends. "To this day the covers don't
hold
together too
well," says Holland. It took the band two and a half years to get rid of
the
1,000 copies
it printed. Two years and a pile of rejections later, the Offspring scored
a
contract with
Nemesis, a small punk label distributed by Cargo. After tracking down producer
Thom Wilson,
who had crafted their favorite albums by T.S.O.L., the Vandals and the
Dead
Kennedys,
the Offspring recorded another 7-inch single, called Baghdad, and an album
debut
titled The
Offspring. "All punk bands back in '84 wrote about was police, death, religion
and
war," says
Holland. "So that's what we did." While recording a track for a Flipside
compilation
with Brett
Gurewitz - owner of Epitaph records and then Southern California's biggest
punk
success story,
Bad Religion - the Offspring glimpsed a rosier future. "A little after
that, I got
a tape," says
Gurewitz. "But I have to admit I passed on it." A year later, when the
Offspring
began circulating
demos for what would become their next album to every punk label they
could think
of, Gurewitz reconcidered. "It definitely had what people call the Epitaph
sound,"
he says. "High
energy, rebelleous punk with great melodies and cool economical song
structures.
"In 1992 Epitaph released Ignition, 12 brief but energetic Offspring songs
that
summed up
the previous decade of Orange County Punk. Other Epitaph bands include
Rancid
and NOFX.
In 1994 their
breakthough single "Come out and Play" and top hit "Self Esteem" helped
push
thier third
album, Smash to the best selling independent record of all time (9 million
plus), and
heavy MTV
rotation. After the success of Smash, new fans discovered "Ignition" as
it
reappeared
in stores. Due to the amount of overpriced, poor quality bootlegs, they
rereleased
their self titled "The Offspring" in 1995 with thier own label, Nitro.
Nitro has
released albums
for several other bands, including The Vandals and Guttermouth.
In 1996, the
Offspring signed with Columbia records after disputes with Epitaph. The
first
album from
Columbia was "Ixnay on the Hombre", which came out in February 1997. They
also did some
festivals in Europe. They started a new tour in early 97. And now today
they
are doing
their 5th album "Americana". Which contains fast punk melodies, in other
words lot
more punk
than on "Inxnay on the Hombre", which contains more alternative songs.
News
Skate kids of the world rejoice, the Offspring will release their first
record in nearly three years on Feb. 4. "Ixnay on the Hombre" (pig Latin
for "fuck the man," explains band manager Jim Guerinot) was recorded during
June and July in Los Angeles and was produced by Dave Jerden, best
known for his work with Alice in Chains and Jane's Addiction.
The record
contains 12 new songs and kicks off with a "rant" by ex-Dead Kennedy's
frontman Jello Biafra, who rails against censorship of the arts.
The album is the much-anticipated follow-up to their 1994 multi-platinum
release "Smash."
According to
Guerinot, the Offspring had initially wanted "Hombre" to include a guest
appearance by Larry "Bud" Melman who was going to educate listeners on
"how to make a molotov cocktail."
But after
a little more consideration they thought the better of it. "How irresponsible
could we have gotten?" laughed Guerinot. "[It seemed] better to just focus
on the music."
Just prior to the album's release, the Offspring will travel to Australlia to headline the Big Day Out festival -- Down Under's version of Lollapalooza. The band will then travel to Japan and Europe before launching a U.S. tour around May 1.
Dexter's
Biography
Name~ Bryan
"Dexter" Holland
Born in~ Orange
County, California
Birthdate~
December 29th, 1966
Age~ 32
Ocupation~
lead vocals and guitar for "The Offspring" - owns Nitro Records
Maritual status~
Married ( to Kristine Luna)
Education~
Has his BS in biological sciences (microbiology) ~
studied at
USC
He lives in~Huntington
Beach Orange County, CA
"Dexter" was
born Bryan Holland in Orange County California
on December
29th, 1966.He lived with his parents and
siblings.He
was the third of four children.He attended Pacifica
High School
in Garden Grove, California.He was really into
sports and
was on the cross country team.Valdictorian of his
class,(which
is how he got the name "Dexter")Bryan went ontoUSC and studied microbiology,which
he now has a PHD in.(He
also has a
pilots licence)Bryan became interested in punk in his
senior year
when his brother gave him a Rodney on the ROQ
compilation
album.Bryan and one of his cross country team mate
Greg Krisel
formed a band in 1984 called "Manic Subsidal" after
not being
able to get into a Social Distortion gig.