The Offspring Tickets

Short Biography

THE OFFSPRING
VECTOR ARENA - FEBRUARY 27TH

Huge news for rock and punk fans!

THE OFFSPRING are coming back to NZ to do what they do best - playing killer live shows with planet-sized hooks and choruses from across nine albums of nailed on anthemic rock riffage.

Strap in, hold on tight, THE OFFSPRING have the goods and they deliver...night after night...

THE OFFSPRING have always had a huge following in NZ and their off the hook Big Day Out appearances and 1999's headlining show at North Shore Events Centre mainlined straight into the hearts of the tens of thousands who saw them:

"When no-nonsense rock'n'roll connects with the right audience, pure magic results" (NZ Herald live review 1999)

It's a long overdue return to New Zealand for the band before they head over to Soundwave as co-headliners. With an absolute swarm of hits across their twenty plus year career this show is set to ignite expectations and blow brains.

One things for sure - On February 27th Vector Arena will be bouncing.

The Offspring, alongside the likes of Green Day and Rancid, are one of the most enduring and consistently vital bands of a Californian scene that popularized USA punk rock through the sheer infectiousness of their songs. The undeniable tunes and unstoppable live shows connected with the mainstream and The Offspring became one of the most commercially successful bands of their kind, selling over 36 million albums.

Notably the band's third album Smash remains the highest selling album of all time on an independent label. Fifteen years later, in what is huge testament to The Offspring's continued ability to move with the times, the single You're Gonna Go Far, Kid proved to be one of their most successful ever. And this from a band with some of the most successful radio songs ever!

Amongst the bands best-known hits are rock anthems Pretty Fly For A White Guy, Come Out And Play (Keep 'Em Separated), Self Esteem, and The Kids Aren't Alright. There's more...all the way from 1994 to 2012...Gotta Get Away, All I Want, Gone Away, I Choose, Why Don't You Get A Job, Original Prankster, Want You Bad, Hit That and Hammerhead.

Where would you find the current Offspring single Turning Into You? Exactly the same place as the others of course - sitting firmly on The Rock FM's A rotate list! And the Smash album? Usually around their Top 10 greatest albums of all time!!


It's been business as usual for The Offspring across three decades now and playing live has always been the ace up their sleeve, it's what they love the most.

"We share a love of this music that we got into at such a young age," declares Noodles.
"It meant the same thing or a very similar thing to all of us back then as it does now. We love recording. We love hanging out backstage. We love giving each other shit and taking the piss out of each other. We love playing."

It's no surprise Dexter feels the same. "We still do it because it's what we love. We feel inspired to make the best music we can and try to make the world a bit better in the process. When the audience sings back to you, there's nothing like it."

It's going to be a big night...a very big night.
Maybe book the next day off work!

THE OFFSPRING are
DEXTER HOLLAND (VOCALS, GUITAR)
NOODLES (GUITAR)
GREG K (BASS)
PETE PARADA (DRUMS)

In-depth Biography
The Offspring's metal-inflected punk became a popular sensation in 1994, selling over four million albums on an independent record label. While the group's credentials and approach follow the indie rock tradition of the '80s, sonically they sound more like an edgy, hard-driving heavy metal band, with their precise, pulsing power chords and Dexter Holland's flat vocals.

Featuring Holland, guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel, and drummer Ron Welty, the Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their second album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the across-the-board success of 1994's Smash. The Nirvana sound-alike "Come Out and Play," the first single from the album, became an MTV hit in the summer of 1994, which paved the way to radio success. The band was played on both alternative and album rock stations, confirming their broad-based appeal. "Self Esteem," the second single, followed the same soft verse/loud chorus formula and stayed on the charts nearly twice as long as "Come Out and Play." The group got offers from major labels, yet they chose to stay with Epitaph. While they were able to play arenas in the U.S., their success didn't translate in foreign countries. Nevertheless, the band's popularity continued to grow in America, as "Gotta Get Away" became another radio/MTV hit in the beginning of 1995. The Offspring recorded a version of the Damned's "Smash It Up" for the Batman Forever soundtrack in the summer of that year; it kept the band on the charts as they worked on their third album.

Following a prolonged bidding war and much soul-searching, the Offspring decided to leave Epitaph Records in 1996 for Columbia Records. The move was particularly controversial within the punk community, and many artists on the Epitaph roster, including Pennywise and owner Brett Gurewitz, criticized the band. After much delay, the Offspring finally released their Columbia debut, Ixnay on the Hombre, in February of 1997. Expectation for the record was high and it did receive good reviews, but Ixnay on the Hombre failed to become a crossover hit on the level of Smash, and the group also lost a significant portion of their hardcore punk audience due to the album's major-label status. Americana followed in 1998, scoring the hit "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)." In mid-2000, the Offspring made controversial headlines with their decision to offer Conspiracy of One free of charge via the Internet prior to the initial November release date. Sony Music did not adhere to such a move and threatened a lawsuit; therefore, the band nixed plans to release the album in such a manner. Individual singles, however, were made available on the band's official website and other music-related sites such as MTV Online. Offspring returned in 2003 with Splinter. The album was released through Columbia, proving the band's flouting of the record biz hadn't soured the major labels. It also featured the single "Hit That", which returned to the smarmy, pop-refererntial feel of "Pretty Fly". Offspring toured the world in support of Splinter, and in the process they hit nearly every continent at least once. They returned in June 2005 with a greatest hits set; in addition to their major hits, it included the new track "Can't Repeat." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide