The Offspring: ‘We're The Best Band We've Ever Been Right Now’

The Offspring’s musical output over the years has been so diverse that it can be hard to really pinpoint what defines them as a band, but when asked what he believes is at the core of their music, frontman Dexter Holland says, “It's all about the melody”.

Sitting alongside his partner in crime, guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, in a hotel room overlooking Sydney, the pair often bounce ideas off each other and end up asking each other questions frequently as they unpack their latest album, Supercharged, and forthcoming 2025 Aussie tour.

Noodles is quick to stress that Holland’s “voice is really unique,” too.

“I don't hear a lot of bands that sound like us,” he adds. “There are other bands that we came up with, and you hear a lot of bands that sound like them, but I don't hear that with us.”

Hollands smiles and quips: “There's so many bands that sound like NOFX.”

Noodles: “That's exactly what I was thinking of.”

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The Offspring’s reach extends far beyond even their comprehension, with 1998’s The Kids Aren't Alright hitting one billion streams this past November, following 2008’s You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid hitting the milestone earlier this year. They were also recently joined on-stage at BottleRock Napa Valley in California by Ed Sheeran for a performance of Million Miles Away. The English star proudly sports the band’s logo as a tattoo as well.

“That was really inspiring and made me very proud that he held us in that much esteem, right?” Holland shares, looking over at Noodles.

“When you're finding your way in the world, and you fall in love with a certain kind of music or certain artists, those artists will stick with you for the rest of your life,” Noodles says.

“And that's the kind of music and scene that you really always live, even though you can, later in life, like other kinds of music and other artists and stuff, but they didn't help you define who you are. The way the Sex Pistols did for me, or The Ramones or The Dickies. All these old punk bands really kind of showed me who I am and helped me navigate my way through the world.”

But when you mention the title of “punk rock royalty” that they’ve ascended to, they’re quick to dismiss the honour.

“I think you saw us chuckle a little bit because it's just funny to us. We're like, ‘Oh, we're regular blokes here,’” Holland says.

“I don't buy the punk rock royalty thing,” Noodles adds. “Punk rock royalty is Joe Strummer, Joey Ramone, Jello Biafra, those guys; those are Mount Olympus of punk rock. So, I don't really take that on. It's flattering to hear all those things, ‘legend’ and stuff. I don't know. It's flattering.”

The Offspring Want To Shake ‘Punk’ Label

The current punk rock and pop punk revival isn’t something The Offspring expected. In fact, when the Las Vegas festival When We Were Young was first announced, Holland admits thinking that it seemed like “a terrible idea”. The festival has ended up being so successful that The Offspring will perform at the event for a second time in 2025, following their first appearance in 2023.

“It wasn't that long ago there were no guitars on the radio whatsoever, right?” Holland recalls. “And that's when When We Were Young was announced, and it was all Warped Tour bands from 2005… ‘This seems like a terrible idea; this is going to go nowhere…’ And then all of a sudden, it clicked and it was off to the races again. Punk rock was back, at least pop punk.”

In recent years, the event has boasted the likes of Green Day, blink-182, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and more, and Noodles says that many bands who appeared on the line-up from the late ‘90s and early 2000s feel “fresh and new today”.

“It doesn't seem like a nostalgia thing,” he says. “These bands are still making new music as well. They're still all at it. I think the youthful energy and spirit of punk rock and punk music really kind of keeps it fresh, keeps it sounding fresh.”

“The word ‘nostalgia’ always makes me feel a little weird,” Holland admits, “because it's another way of saying ‘old’, or you're just reliving something that was good a long time ago. I don't feel like that at all. I feel like making records and great music is really important to us.”

The band’s tenth album, Supercharged, dropped back in October, and it definitely lives up to its name. It feels like it brings together those undefinable best parts of the band while also feeling fresh.

“We do care a lot, and we work really hard to sound as good as we can. We've been at it for a while. I guess that helps,” Holland says.

“I like that we've worked with [producer Bob Rock] for more than a few records. We know each other. He knows how to make us sound as good as we can, and you kind of keep on refining when you have the same team working together for a few records.”

After Days Go By was released in 2012, Holland decided to go back and finish his PhD in molecular biology, which was put on hold when the band found success in the ‘90s. As a result, it was nine years before its follow-up, Let The Bad Times Roll, was released in 2021.

“I agree it was a long gap, and it was weird,” Holland says. “I don't really know how it happened. It wasn't like we didn't go in the studio.

“We still toured quite a bit. That's the thing, too, when you're touring, we tour whatever it is, six months out of the year or something like that, so it's really difficult to fit in studio time when you're gone so much. So, before you know it, ‘Oh, shit, it's been two years. We haven't recorded that much.’

“I think that there were some songs that we were just stuck on. We'd work on it for a couple of weeks, the same song, and then come back a little bit later and work on it again.”

Noodles reveals that they “hit a creative period” after they finished Let The Bad Times Roll.

“Things were just kind of coming quick, and we just kind of wanted to keep that rolling, so we just kind of jumped into [Supercharged],” he says. “I think coming out of that time, coming out of the pandemic and the shutdown and everything, this record's a little bit more hopeful. It's a little more fun.”

The pandemic allowed The Offspring to really work on their live shows.

“I think we've always felt like we could be better and better,” Noodles admits. “I still think we could be better and better at what we do, and I think we're the best band we've ever been right now.

“But during the pandemic, we did look at what we're playing and we would look at our right hands, our strums, and make sure we're locked in. We’d go, ‘Wait, that's how you're doing that?’ And we just tightened that all up. We went through every song. Backing vocals - ‘Who's doing what there?’ And make sure we're harmonising; we're not doubling the same thing.

“It really helped us step up our game, but it also kept us sane during the pandemic, too, getting together as we couldn't go out and play live. So, we got together and just played.”

Holland adds, “I thought you were going to say ‘painful’, but you said ‘helpful’ and ‘kept us sane.’”

Noodles: “No, it was great. You really kind of kept me sane. We'd do that, and then there was this outdoor bar that we could go to around the corner. So, we'd come in, we'd work for four or five hours and then go to the bar.”

When asked if their 2025 Australian tour features the best version of The Offspring fans are going to see to date, Holland and Noodles and quick to say “hands down” and “without a doubt” respectively.

“We've got a really good group of guys and everyone's really good at what they do and really into it, and it's really fun to be a part of,” Holland says.

They’ll be bringing their friends Simple Plan along for the ride, who are “some of the coolest guys you could ever want to hang out with”, according to Noodles.

“We always bring Canadian bands with us. Last time, it was Sum 41. We’re actually really, really close friends with them. I was texting with Tom [Thacker from Sum 41] earlier today. This time, it's Simple Plan, and the relationship personally is about the same. We love those guys.”

Holland adds: “We kind of just crossed paths over the last 15 years or whatever, but it was really just in the last couple of years we started actually doing some tours and getting to know them better. They're really cool.”

Noodles: “The first time they hit my radar, my daughter said, ‘Oh, you're playing with Simple Plan at Warped Tour. And she says, ‘Simple Plan is great. They're my favourite band.’ They were one of her favourite bands back then.”

Holland: “You're supposed to say, ‘You, Dad. [The Offspring], Dad.’”

Reminiscing on some of their earliest visits to Australia, Noodles attributes “surf and skate videos” for helping them cultivate a fanbase Down Under.

Holland elaborates: “I think it's just really cool how this stuff kind of works together. Before the video games, it was snowboard videos and skate videos and stuff like that, and there just kind of seems to be this marriage of this kind of music and other kinds of entertainment, and somehow what we do complements some of those things, which is cool.”

It’s an element of the genre and fandom that makes it more accessible to fans.

“That's how it was when we were growing up - even if you weren't musical, you could write for a fanzine, or go to the scene and just take photographs,” Noodles says.

“The audience was on stage as much as the bands were back then. You can't do that anymore. There are too many lawsuits. But it was really, everyone... we're all in this together. There was that kind of spirit in punk rock, and I love that we're still trying to figure out ways, now that we're doing it on a bigger scale, how can we keep the audience incorporated.”

Holland signs off by emphasising that Australia’s “a special place, for sure”.

“Last time we were here a couple of years ago, it was the biggest shows we ever headlined [in Australia], which is amazing. I’m looking forward to coming back, and it's going to be even bigger, which is going to be great.”