We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.Bryan “Dexter” Holland was an Orange Country teenager in 1984 when he was inspired to start a punk band after watching a riot break out at a Social Distortion show.
He soon recruited guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman from the band Clowns Of Death for the band they’d eventually call the Offspring.Over the following decades, Holland and Wasserman remained the only consistent members of the Offspring as they sold over 40 million records, becoming one of the most successful punk bands of all time.
After breaking through with 1994’s “Come Out And Play,” many more rock radio and MTV hits followed, including “Self Esteem,” “Hit That,” and “Why Don’t You Get A Job?” Holland was a doctoral student at the University of Southern California when the Offspring’s albums started selling.After pivoting to rock stardom for a few years, Holland returned to his studies, receiving a Ph.D in molecular biology in 2017.
Along the way he also became a licensed pilot who completed a 10-day flight around the globe in 2004, and launched the hot sauce brand Gringo Bandito the same year.“I’d like to get to the place where I sort of work on projects,” Holland says of his scientific pursuits, although it seems like he’s got the bandwidth to do just about anything in any profession.
“I don’t think I have time for another career, necessarily.” With the Offspring’s 11th album SUPERCHARGED out this week, I recently spoke to Holland, 58, and Wasserman, 61, on Zoom.We discussed the band’s difficult-to-pronounce original name, Erlenmeyer flasks, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and the famous actress who got her start in an Offspring video.
SUPERCHARGED (2024) Dexter, you primarily play guitar onstage, but it appears that on more recent albu...