THE OFFSPRING singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland and guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman spoke to Rock Sound about the band’s upcoming tenth studio album, “Let The Bad Times Roll”, which will arrive on April 16 via Concord Records. The follow-up to 2012’s “Days Go By” was produced by Bob Rock, who also worked on the band’s last two LPs.
Speaking about the inspiration for the “Let The Bad Times Roll” album title, Dexter said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, the phrase sums up the world over the last few years. And while it looks like, hopefully, better times are on the horizon, the bad times are rolling still, I think.”
Noodles added: “It’s not just [that] we’ve been handed this shit show that we don’t really have any control over, we might as well make the most of it, on top of that we have world leaders that don’t seem to wanna change anything for the better. They’re rolling the bad times.”
Continued Dexter: “This is fucking no joke. The world’s in a bad place right now. And I felt like the leaders are not really trying to make it better — not the way they should; not the way they would have a generation ago. I think this idea of working together with people on the opposite side of the political spectrum has just gone out the window.”
Said Noodles: “Democracy has been taking a hit. The idea that we can get all together and through shared ideas and shared concern for each other, we can get through this. People are just, like, ‘Oh, no. Fuck you. We won this election, and you go fuck yourself. We’re in power. We don’t wanna hear from you.’ You can’t have a civilized society that way.”
Dexter stated: “That’s heavy. That’s a serious message that we wanted to get across. At the same time, jeez, you can only hammer so long before you’re just the bummer at the party. So I think the flipside of the same statement, ‘Let the bad times roll,’ is almost kind of, like, ‘We’re here. We’ve gotta roll with the punches a little bit.’ And the chorus of that song kind of sums it up, makes it a little bit lighter. So it kind of felt like this is what the tone of the record should be; this is the underlying message of the whole thing.”
Holland, Wasserman, drummer Pete Parada and new bassist Todd Morse wrote and recorded “Let The Bad Times Roll” in the last few years at various locations, including the band’s studio in Huntington Beach, California.
In December, THE OFFSPRING released the official music video for its Rock-produced cover version of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, a rock song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 seasonal compilation album “A Christmas Gift For You” from Phil Spector.
Last April, THE OFFSPRING jumped on the “Tiger King” bandwagon by recording a cover version of THE CLINTON JOHNSON BAND‘s “Here Kitty Kitty”, a song made popular by Joe Schreibvogel — better known as Joe Exotic, the “Tiger King” — through the Netflix docuseries.
Two years ago, bassist Gregory “Greg K.” Kriesel, who hasn’t performed with THE OFFSPRING since 2018, filed a federal lawsuit against Noodles and Dexter alleging trademark infringement and breach of partnership agreement over the rights to THE OFFSPRING name. In response, Holland and Wasserman filed a cross-complaint, denying basically everything Kriesel alleged and asking the court to appoint “three disinterested appraisers to appraise the fair value” of Kriesel‘s shares of THE OFFSPRING.
THE OFFSPRING has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, won countless awards, and has toured consistently, playing more than 500 shows in the last decade alone. Their music has had a lasting impact across film, television, and video games.
