In a recent chat on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, The Offspring’s lead singer, Bryan ‘Dexter’ Holland, shared that the band aimed to make an album inspired by U2’s approach. When discussing the direction of their eleventh studio album, he said:
“I think it’s a David Bowie quote that goes, ‘You’ve gotta make it the same, but different.’ It’s funny because it’s true. If your new record sounds too much like your old one, people say, ‘Oh, it just sounds like the last record.’ But if you change too much, it confuses people. And of course, you have to satisfy your own creativity and what you want to do. Luckily, we’ve really expanded the range of what we can do.”
Dexter then brought up U2, saying:
“We did ‘Gone Away’ on ‘Ixnay [On The Hombre]’ and we’ve done piano stuff and other things, but you have to balance the desire to grow with not wanting to become too grown-up, if that makes sense. You don’t suddenly want to say, ‘I’m gonna make a record like U2.’ That doesn’t necessarily work for who you are as a band. We’re trying to keep that in mind.”
The New Album Is Done
The band released their latest album, ‘Let The Bad Times Roll,’ in 2021. Their upcoming album will be their first new original music since then.
A few weeks ago, guitarist Noodles confirmed that the album is finished, but they haven’t named it yet. He explained during an interview with Atlanta’s 99X radio station:
“It’s done. It’s mastered. All the guys were on the bus, and we just listened to the masters of the new record. It’s just done.”
When asked about how long it took to record the new album, Noodles replied:
“It’s kind of how we work these days. We don’t lock ourselves in the studio for six months straight. We do it in pieces — a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there.”
You can listen to the interview below.
