THE OFFSPRING Frontman On Upcoming Album: 'It's Always About Trying To Make The Song As Good As It Can Be'

In a new appearance on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, THE OFFSPRING singer Bryan "Dexter" Holland was asked about the musical direction of the band's recently completed eleventh studio album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think it's a David Bowie quote, who said, 'You've gotta make it the same, but different.' It's funny, 'cause it's true. 'Cause if you sound too much like your other record, they go, 'Oh, it just sounds like this record.' And if you change too much, it throws people. And, of course, you've gotta ultimately satisfy your own creativity, what you wanna do. And luckily, I think that we've really expanded the circle of what we can do. We did 'Gone Away' on 'Ixnay [On The Hombre]' and we've done piano stuff and all that, but I think you have to balance that desire to grow with — you don't wanna necessarily be too grown up, if that makes sense. You don't wanna all of a sudden go, 'I'm gonna make a record like U2.' That doesn't necessarily work the best for who you are as a band. We're trying to keep that all in mind."

He continued: "When people ask me, 'What does your new record sound like?', I'll just say 'Ignition', 'cause people go, 'Oh, cool. I love that record.' So, it's not like that. It's a mixture. I think punk is the core of what we've always been, so there's always some of that on a record. And then we usually throw in a couple of oddball songs, but it's always about trying to make the song as good as it can be."

THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman previously discussed the progress of the recording sessions for the band's follow-up to 2021's "Let The Bad Times Roll" album three months ago in an interview with Colombia's Radioacktiva. At the time, he said: "It's not like we go in and work for a whole bunch of months with [longtime producer] Bob [Rock] and then don't see each other for a couple years. We get together every couple of months and go in the studio and work for a week to two weeks. That's just how we like to work. And it's always fun hanging out with Bob. He's just a great guy. And we just talk about music, talk about ideas, what makes a song great — that sort of thing."

Bob Rock previously helmed three THE OFFSPRING LPs, including "Let The Bad Times Roll".

Last October, Noodles was asked by Rock Sound if there was anything he and his THE OFFSPRING bandmates learned from the making "Let The Bad Times Roll" that they wanted to "lean more into" this time around. Noodles said: "What we learned is when we are not able to go out and play live, we really miss it. And we learned to make the most of our time in the studio and just have fun. It was a really, really creative time for us, actually. Right at the end of making 'Let The Bad Times Roll', ideas were just coming, and we've just been having a good time in the studio since then — and on the road too. It's so good to be back playing live music again."

In September 2023, Noodles was asked by "The Jesea Lee Show" if the new OFFSPRING material follows an "old-school" vein or if it represents "a new era of OFFSPRING". He said: "It's a little bit of both — all that. The last song we did definitely sounds like an old-school — sounds kind of like 'Come Out Swinging'. Definitely some old-school stuff and then some rocking stuff and then some kind of poppy punk stuff too, for sure."

In August 2023, Holland told The Orange County Register about the overall musical and lyrical direction of the new THE OFFSPRING material: "Sometimes you just start writing songs and you don't realize how an album is coming together until it's almost there. Like on 'Americana'. 'Americana' was one of the last songs I wrote because I didn't realize until then all the other songs like 'Why Don't You Get A Job?' and 'Pretty Fly', they were describing American society. I didn't really realize that's what the album was about until I got almost done and thought well, I'll call it 'Americana' because that's like 'Americana' means American culture. This was my vision of what I thought American culture was doing in the late '90s. We're kind of still in that phase with the songs, but we've always liked the energy of punk music and the rebelliousness. What I'm focusing right now on is just melody. I want the songs to be really good."

"Let The Bad Times Roll" was a huge global success, hitting career-high chart debuts with seven Top 5 and ten Top 10 international debuts and nine Top 10 debuts in the U.S. The album peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. chart and hit No. 1 on the Alternative Albums chart in the U.S.

THE OFFSPRING first achieved worldwide success in the 1990s with the release of their album "Smash", which sold over 11 million copies. Following "Smash", they continued to release hit after hit, popularizing rock at a mainstream level.

Throughout THE OFFSPRING's career, they've sold over a staggering 40 million albums, and toured arenas, and built a global fan base. "Let The Bad Times Roll" marked the band's tenth studio album and third album produced by Rock.

Originally formed under the name MANIC SUBSIDAL, THE OFFSPRING's lineup consists of Holland, Wasserman and bassist Todd Morse.