Since the release of "Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace," The Offspring have been keeping a low profile as far as touring was concerned and have instead been busy promoting the album through a steady stream of successful singles. With their fourth single "Half-Truism" already receiving airplay, the band has embarked on a two-month tour of North America to continue supporting the nearly year old album.
Singer
Dexter Holland sat down with
Rolling Stone to talk about the tour and the band’s plans for the future. You can read the interview below:
Have you thought about the next record?
A little bit. [Producer] Bob Rock was really great to work with and he pushed us in the right way, so we’ve had conversations about working again. I think he’s into it.
Are you gonna wait another four years to release it like last time?
No, that wasn’t intentional. I like being a band. I honestly think we can get something out next year… I’ll call it right now. New record in oh-’10.
Do you have any germs or ideas for it?
On this tour we’re seeing the response to all the work we did a year ago. We’re playing one of our older songs, just me on a piano — “Gone Away.” It’s gone over really well. I don’t know what it means yet, but that all gels together when you’re thinking about the next record.
Why did you guys adopt a traditional “arena show” move like a piano?
You’d play 20 songs in an hour and you’d just be wrecked. It was kind of just like bam-bam-bam-bam. Like just getting on a treadmill and sprinting for like an hour. We’re trying to figure out how to make it a show. Pacing… imagine that!
When did you come up with the name for the tour?
One of the songs on our record is “Stuff Is Messed Up,” but it’s “Shit Is Fucked Up.” That was our take on the state of the world a year ago. I thought the song wouldn’t even be relevant in a year and a half, but it turns out things actually got worse. This tour should have been called “Shit Is Really Fucked Up.”
Do you have any back up plans?
I started making hot sauce. I really do it for fun. If I was gonna pick something to sell, I should have picked something that sells for more than two dollars. I’ve got it in supermarkets in Southern California. It’s a recipe that I made myself. It took a couple years because I don’t really cook, I just kind of mess around. From going to a stove to actually making it, you have to go to a commercial kitchen. They have a big kettle that holds about 150 gallons. You squirt out a bottle at a time and it takes us a whole day to make a batch, about 2,000 bottles. Do-it-yourself. I feel like a new band walking around with my demo tape. “Here’s my hot sauce, tell me if you like it.”… When the CD business all went to hell, I had an office [for Nitro Records] and I felt really bad. I said, “Well, you guys can stay here and help with all the Nitro stuff, but we’re gonna be making hot sauce” [Laughs] You can’t download hot sauce.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.