After nearly 40 years of touring, The Offspring are making their debut in Israel next week, at Tel Aviv’s Expo Center on July 10.
The American rockers are consistently named among the greatest of the second generation of punk rock bands, alongside Green Day and blink-182.
The band formed in California in 1984, originally under the name Manic Subsidal, in a garage in Cyprus with Dexter Holland on lead vocals and guitar, and Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman on lead and rhythm guitars, and back vocals.
The Offspring reached critical acclaim with their 1994 studio album, Smash, which to this day remains the highest-selling independent album of all time.
Hits include “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” “Self-Esteem,” “Come Out and Play,” “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid,” and more.
However, it was their 1998 album and its huge atypical novelty hit “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” that brought the band to a mainstream audience. With its ingratiating catchphrase, “give it to me baby,” it was successful internationally, reaching number one in 10 countries, and even produced an homage years later when it was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic in “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi.”
The Offspring: Punk rock legends for 40 years and counting
The band’s current lineup consists of founders Holland and Noodles, along with bassist Todd Morse and drummer Brandon Pertzborn.
“What we love about punk has never changed,” said Noodles in an interview broadcast on YouTube.
“The fact that it connected in this way was beyond what we could have ever imagined,” added Holland, who’s somewhat of a Renaissance man. He has Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and once considered ditching his music career to become a university professor. In addition, he’s a licensed pilot and the founder of Gringo Bandito, a famous hot sauce company.
Despite the options, he’s still rocking out with The Offspring and shows no signs of slowing down. The show in Tel Aviv is sandwiched between an appearance at the Festival Cruilla in Barcelona and Super Bock Super Rock 2023 in Sesimbera, Portugal with The 1975, Wu-Tang Clan and Franz Ferdinand.
In August, the band heads back to the United States to tour for the rest of the summer with support from Simple Plan and Sum 41 in a punk-pop extravaganza, dubbed “Let the Bad Times Roll Tour,” named after their 2021 comeback album of the same name (in reference to the COVID pandemic).
The bad times will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the good times that will unfold in Tel Aviv next week when The Offspring make their much-overdue Israel debut.
David Brinn contributed to this report.
