Check out Greg K's backswing!
Time to relax? Not for Greg K. After touring for over 12 months all over the world, Greg K is busying himself with all kinds of stuff. Well....maybe not.
In between watching Sportscenter on ESPN and making goofy faces at his new son Michael, Greg K busies himself by hitting the green. Greg doesn't claim to be a Tiger Woods, but with a bit more playing he has the potential to win the local Del Taco golfing championship. A dream shared by many. I had time to tee off with Greg K and ask him questions about what the band is up to and how the last tour went, and of course....questions about golf.
We began our round at 9:45am. We were almost late because the announcer had a hard time pronouncing Greg's last name and we didn't know we were on the tee. How hard is it to say "K"? Of course, golfing is done in foursomes and we were joined by Jimmy, a retired guy who owns a few beauty shops, and by Tom, also retired from doing sales and marketing for a high-tech company. Basically, Greg and I were golfing with some old farts. Needless to say, these old dudes kicked my sorry butt all over the place and gave Greg K a run for his money.
After my first tee shot, I should have known what kind of day it was going to be. Greg K crushed his opening drive about 250 yards, while mine took a nosedive straight into some mud. After hitting my ball out of the mud, I had the pleasure of falling on my ass directly into the mud. Greg was very amused. I was left with mud on my face and clothes with 18 holes of golf to play. I guess I should have wore golfing shoes.
Web Dude: So how many shows did you guys end up playing on the last tour?
Greg K: I wanna say 150.
WD: Wow...that's a lot of shows.
Greg K: Yeah...we would do shows in spurts, like 10 shows in two weeks. And with travel time in between all of the places we toured, it was like having a show every other day.
WD: So where was your favorite show?
Greg K: Ummm..Probably the Irvine Meadow's shows.
WD: Those 2 sold out ones?
Greg K: Yeah....It's always a big deal for a band to play Irvine Meadows in front of the hometown crowd.
Greg K hits his ball into the rough behind some trees. He decides to pull out a wood and ends up hitting an awesome shot under the trees.
WD: Wow. That was nice. A gutsy call with a fairway wood.
Greg K: I was gonna' say I gotta go under the tree and over the other one.
WD: So what's your advice for in the rough with trees surrounding you?
Greg K: Pull out the 3 wood. Go for the green. I have trouble laying up. I figure if you have a chance, punch it through. I mean you're out here to have fun anyways, might as well go for it.
WD: Did you ever take lessons?
Greg K: Yeah...I did like once...I watch the golf channel.
WD: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Greg K: But it screws me up because every guy has a different theory.
WD: For the sake of the interview do you have any specialty shots or secret weapons?
Greg K: No, my advice is to just rip it.
At this point I hit my best shot of the day, an easy nine iron about 10 feet from the hole. Greg hits a good sand wedge shot, maybe 30 feet or so from the hole.
Greg K: What are you laying?
WD: Wait...that was my fourth one I think.
Greg K: I'm laying 3.
WD: Does laying 3 mean you are on the green in 3?
Greg K: Yeah.
WD: OK, so I am laying 4.
Ha ha ha ha. Golf lingo is funny. At this time our little interview takes another direction. The two old dudes we are golfing with ask us what we did for a living. I was quick to point out that Greg K was a rock star.
Jimmy: I used to be in a band. I was the drummer. We would get so damn drunk every time we played. That was the only record we ever made.
Tom: So do you have a favorite foreign country where you perform in where the fans are more receptive?
Greg K: Australia does really good for us. It's a good place to tour, too. 'Cus the place is so nice.
Tom: When you go to these countries do you play 3 or 4 nights?
Greg K: Umm...Australia, we usually go for 2 weeks. Europe, we usually go to for a month at a time and go all over Europe. But places like Australia, South America, and Japan we usually go for about 2 weeks.
Tom: You have a manager that sets it all up?
Greg K: Yeah, we have a tour manager and a booking agent that set it all up.
Tom: Girls are always chasin' ya in every city I bet, huh?
Greg K: Not really. We've never had that problem.
Tom: How old are most of the fans?
Greg K: Our core audience is like 15 and 16.
Jimmy: Well shit...that sounds better than golf!
Greg K: I actually brought my clubs to Australia last time.
Web Dude: They've got good golf out there?
Greg K: Yeah.
Jimmy: Yeah, you ought to take your clubs wherever you go.
Tom: You'd play a lot of interesting courses.
WD: Wait, you went to Ireland to do the MTV Music Awards, right? Did you get to golf there?
Greg K: Yeah, there was a golf course where we stayed.
WD: Where was that?
Greg K: Aahh...some castle.
WD: Ha ha ha ha.
Tom: Some castle....ha ha ha ha.
Jimmy: That's all that's over there is them castles.
Tom: Yeah, like a Motel 6, right? You seen one you seen 'em all. Ha ha ha ha.
Jimmy: They even have trees over there? Shit, when you see 'em on TV it looks like they don't have a tree in the whole damn country.
Greg K: Actually, they have trees.
Jimmy: I would wanna' do Brazil. Isn't that where the girls don't wear tops on the beaches, or wait, in Australia they don't either! In some places they don't wear tops, right? The girls?
Greg K: Yeah, some of them they don't.
At this point I feel like 'ol Jimmy is taking our interview in the wrong direction.
WD: So when is the next album going to be out?
Greg K: I dunno.
WD: Well, you guys are doing some recording next week, right? With Butch Vig?
Greg K: Yeah, we're doing a couple of soundtracks. One for a Jim Carrey movie and one for some wrestling movie. So after that, hopefully we'll go to the studio around June and shoot for being out (with a new album) October, November.
WD: How come you guys decided to use Butch Vig as a producer?
Greg K: Umm...we just talked to him at a couple of shows we played. He was really interested in working with us.
WD: What other bands has he done? He did the Pumpkins and Nevermind (Nirvana), right?
Greg K: Yeah.
WD: What else? Besides the Garbage stuff (Butch's daytime job is the drummer of Garbage).
Greg K: He's done L7...and I'm not too sure about other big stuff that he's done. He's been working with Garbage mostly lately.
WD: So the songs are both going to be cover songs?
Greg K: Yeah....one is going to be TotalImmortal by A.F.I. and the other one is going to be Bloodstains.
WD: Bloodstains. Who is that by?
Greg K: Agent Orange.
WD: Oh...OK. Old school punk rock.
At this point my golf game has sunk into oblivion. My tee shots are going shorter than my puts. And every water hazard or tree seems to be a magnet to my ball. Greg K is seriously kicking my ass.
Tom: So what is this interview for?
WD: For the band's website.
Tom: So everyone has access to this website?
WD: Oh yeah.... Offspring.com. Real easy.
Tom: When you gonna' have all this on there?
WD: Ah...probably Friday. We are trying to put up a lot more stuff on the website.
Tom: Alright, well then I'll have to have a house party on Saturday!
WD: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Tom: Offspring.com...it's not illegitimate.com..it's Offspring.com. (His joke is lost on us.)
WD: That's right.
WD: So does anybody else in the band golf?
Greg K: Well, Ron has a golf course across from his river house and Dexter is taking lessons.
WD: Oh yeah, I saw Dexter's new clubs. Is Ron any good?
Greg K: No.
WD: Could I beat Ron?
Greg K: Uhhh...judging by today it would be close.
WD: Damn it!
Greg K: I think you'd get Dexter, though.
WD: Ha ha ha ha.
WD: Weren't you guys in some magazine about golf that I saw called "Shwing"?
Greg K: Yeah.
WD: What was that all about?
Greg K: It's a magazine that Adrian from No Doubt and Joe Escalante from the Vandals started.
WD: It's about golf?
Greg K: Yeah...it's like golf for alternative people.
A real fox runs out onto the course and seems to be looking a bit lost.
Greg K: I was reading the PGA rulebook and it says that you can only remove your ball from a hole if the hole was created by a burrowing animal. Like a squirrel.
WD: So wait, holes created by dogs or foxes you have to hit out of?
Greg K: Yeah, either that or you take a penalty.
WD: What about that stick you just lifted off the top of your golf ball?
Greg K: Yeah, well if it is something dead, it is OK.
We approach our final tee. Greg K. has been victorious. I ask Greg for any professional insight or wisdom that he may be able to give as to help hackers like me and other potential golfers.
WD: So do you have any words of advice for all the fans and golfers out there?
Greg K: Keep Swingin'.