Noodles' Road Journals: Noodles Road Journal 5 January 24, 2006 Orange County, CA Dexter asked me to write something for the website about three months ago. I don’t write that much any more and I’ve started to miss it. So I thought I’d give it a try. We’ve been off the road for three months now, but I still have fond memories of last year’s tours. The Warped Tour was a highlight for me. I’ve wanted to be on that tour since it first started, and it didn’t disappoint. I got to really like some of the “newer” bands like My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold and Fall Out Boy. These bands have plenty of punk rock energy, but take their music in a lot of different directions. I like that. It’s good to mix things up. Of course, there were plenty of “older” punk bands, most of which we’re friends with. Bands like Strung Out, Dropkick Murphys, MXPX, and No Use For A Name. Strung Out’s last record is their best yet, so it was great to hear songs off that every night. In New Jersey I got to play mandolin with Dropkick on “Black Velvet Band.” Now I can add “mandolin player” to my ever-burgeoning resume. The Transplants were there too, and it was fun hanging out with them. Lars from Rancid came out to hang out with Tim for a while, and we all hung out together, flying around in Dexter’s jet. Those guys are hilarious. Lars never shuts up and is usually pretty funny. Tim can be quiet, but when he did say something, we were all in stitches. Noodles Road Journal 4 February 5, 2004 Orange County, CA ("Skull of a German," The Jesus Lizard) My how the time flies. We were in Aspen last week where we played a free show in the middle of an intersection downtown. The crowd was incredible. It was 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but that didn't stop the folks from showing up and having a good time. The temperature did make it very difficult for us to keep our guitars in tune, but we managed. I had a great time playing, because the audience was so great. We didn't know what to expect, but we didn't expect that many people to come out after dark and join us on such a cold night and then just go completely nuts. ("Hocus Pocus," The Vandals) Earlier that day I went snowboarding where they were hosting the Winter X-Games. There was nobody on the mountain except for spectators watching the games. I had all the runs almost to myself and never once had to wait in line for a chair. I only boarded for about two-and-a-half hours, but was able to make about eight runs in that time. I didn't want to overdo it because it was my first time boarding in two years and we had a show to do later, but I had a great time and only fell once. That happened on my last run, about a hundred yards from the bottom. That figures! ("Sam Hall," Johnny Cash) The next day I went boarding with Atom and our friend Trevor. The snow was great and it was a little warmer than the day before. It was also the middle of Gay Ski Week in Aspen. Atom and I got a picture of us standing above a banner inviting everyone to celebrate Gay Ski Week with some cold and colorful Coors Light. I'll try to get that photo posted here somewhere. It turns out that Atom is a pretty good snowboarder. Not only is he a better musician, nicer guy, and better looking than me, now he's also threatening me in the board-riding arena. It's a good thing for him that he doesn't surf or he just might not last in this band. He's just too damn good. ("Pussy Galore," The Roots) We've been all over the world since my last journal entry, and there are a few days that stand out in my memory. We played a small show on a boat docked on the side of the Thames in London. I was hoping we could cruise down river toward the Palace and play there, but I don't think that the boat's motors worked, so we had to stay put. Fun show though. That was back in November and I think that it was Atom's first full show with us. We followed that show up with a couple of other club shows in Berlin and Paris. We were able to get rid of the barricade at the Paris show and had a steady stream of fans joining us on stage before diving off. Oxygene was there of course. That show was super fun. We did a show really similar to that one at the Opera House in Toronto about a month later. No barricade, super fun. I'm stoked that we're still able to do shows like that from time to time. ("Year One," X) Right before we went to Aspen, we were in London to play on The Top of the Pops. We played live on Friday night, but sound-checked on Thursday. Brittney was there that night taping her performance for the following week. We got to see her dancing around and lip-syncing, but didn't get to talk to her. Incubus were also sound-checking that night and we did get to talk to them for little while. I love their new single and am dying to hear the rest of their record. We also got to watch Pink's performance on Friday. I think she's great. She's got a great voice and she isn't afraid to break the rules. She's not your typical pop diva. ("Laser Surgery," The Jerky Boys/ "Little Demon," Screamin' Jay Hawkins) I've also been talking with Fat Mike from NOFX lately about getting involved with a project he's been working on called Punk Voter www.punkvoter.com. I honestly believe that the Bush administration has not been good for America, and that this year's presidential election is the most important since the Vietnam era. Punkvoter.com is a good place to find out about just a few of the things that this administration has done that haven't been covered much in the mainstream media, as well as a critical viewpoint that has been nonexistent in the media, until maybe recently. A lot of people from the punk scene have been getting involved with Mike and punkvoter, hoping to ensure a brighter future for our country. If it sounds like it might interest you, check it out. ("Six Shooter," Queens of the Stone Age) We leave for Europe in a couple of weeks for our first proper headlining tour since Splinter came out. I'm really looking forward to playing our full set every night. The whole year of touring is beginning to take shape so look for us coming to your part of the world soon. I'll also be trying to update my journal with more regularity, keeping the entries shorter and more readable. We'll see how that works out. Until next time... Here are some good records: The Buzzcocks; Singles Going Steady. Buy it. Toy Dolls; Dig That Groove Baby. Buy it. Rolling Stones; Beggar's Banquet. Burn it (they have enough money). Dropkick Murphys; Blackout. Buy it. Various; Punk Goes Pop. Burn it. The Darkness; Permission to Land. Burn it. I'm not sure if I love this record, or hate it, but some of it is damn funny. Do they know how funny they are? Noodles Road Journal 3 November 1, 2003 Orange County, CA Hey, Folks. Dexter's been ragging on me for not keeping up with my journal entries, and I have been pretty bad lately, so here I go with a new entry. I've got my Ipod playing my "Surf" playlist, a strange mix of songs that remind me of surfing that are in some ways inconceivable to anyone but me ("Song.com", The Damned, from Grave Disorder). Coffee will do for now, until I switch to beer, and of course I have my smokes, so let's get to it. ("I Hate Surfing in H.B.", D.I.) The record, Splinter, is in the can and we are all stoked on it. I don't really know what to say about this record, except that I really love it. Our latest records are always my favorites, and this one is no different, but in ways that I find difficult to explain. I guess that this record just seems really solid to me. I'm not at all worried about how people will perceive this record. Usually this period of time, when our record is finished but the public hasn't heard it yet, is a very stressful time. I don't feel the same kind of stress this time around. It's not like, "What if nobody likes it?" Part of me just doesn't care if nobody likes it because I know that it's a great record, but a bigger part of me simply tells me that our fans are going to love this record. I honestly can't imagine that people who like the kind of music I like aren't going to love this record too. I really think it's that good. (Whoa. My playlist just went from John Williams playing Bach's "Bouree" to Pennywise's "No Reason Why.") There are a lot of different sounding songs on Splinter, which add a lot of flavor yet retain whatever it is that people like about Offspring songs. There are plenty of fast, melodic songs, and some that are a bit slower. There's a ska/reggae song, a little bit of electronica, and some acoustic guitars as well. Dexter wrote some amazing harmonies into a couple of the songs that sound incredible when juxtaposed with the grinding guitar, bass, and drums. Very powerful. I'm a sucker for harmonies. There's also this weird 1930's sounding song that kind of stands out. That song is all about being in prison and is darkly comical. Is any of this stuff up on the net yet? I mean besides "Da Hui?" I can't wait for this record to be heard. ("Cruise Control," AFI, into "El Nino" by Slava Grigoryan, into The Vandals covering "Hocus Pocus".) Without getting too crazy, we also mixed up the guitar sounds to fit each individual song better. Instead of just turning up to 11 and playing that way on everything, we tried out different amps and guitars, and mixed them in with our normal sound. Even Greg K switched his basses and amps around for different songs. And Josh's drumming certainly has added power and dynamics to this record that make it unique. Josh is one of the world's best drummers, and it really shows on this record. We are lucky that he is a friend of ours, and just as lucky that he was able to do this record with us. Josh is currently on tour with his band, A Perfect Circle. Their new record is great and their shows are even better. Check 'em out. ("Surf City" covered by The Ramones, into "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones.) The other world's-greatest-drummer is a guy named Atom. We just started rehearsing with him this week, and I can already tell that we are going to playing our most powerful shows ever. Atom hits with such power and intensity, while remaining rock-steady with his timing and groove, that I am chomping at the bit to get out there and start playing these songs live. He's a super cool guy. He's got a really bad sense of humor, just like me, but in a way that even Greg K appreciates. He seems to have a great work ethic without being intense about it. We've hung out with him a lot while doing some photo shoots and rehearsing, and he already seems like one of us. He's really easy to get along with sober, now we need to take him out for drinks. ("Revelation (Mother Earth)" by Ozzy, into "Funland at the Beach" by DK, into The Ventures version of "Hawaii Five-o.") The rehearsals have been going really well. We are kind of taking them more seriously than we ever have before. We are learning to play every song off this record live even if there is a slim chance that we'll ever play them in concert. I hope we get to play each of them at least a few times, but we don't want to be one of those bands that only plays our new stuff regardless of what the fans want to hear. There has to be some give and take. Plus we love our older stuff too. I think that we've stepped things up a little bit with this record and we want to make sure that we really nail them live. I'm looking forward to maybe reworking some of the older songs for the live set too. ("Bankshot," OpIv, then "Monster Island," The Dickies) My finger is like at 98% and still getting stronger all the time. In some ways I think that breaking it has been good for my playing because it has made me look at the way my whole hand works. I have a whole new exercise routine for my hand that both strengthens and loosens. My playing still needs some work (Greg K says it always has, and, though I hate to agree with him, there's a lot of truth in that), but I'm almost where I was before the break. I mostly need to recover my stamina. My finger still gets plum tuckered out after a while, but I'm able to play longer and longer each day. ("Surfing The Intercourse Bars," The Dwarves; "The Tide Is High," Blondie.) Last Saturday Higgins and I got together in the demo studio to record a Hawaiian version of "Kids" for the CD-extra part of Splinter. I'm kind of surprised by how it came out. It sounds like something from a David Lynch soundtrack. I was hoping for something a little more upbeat. It's really slow and sort of bleak. I played it on the ukulele and then added some slack-key slide guitar to it. That's all there is on it. Chris and I were both hung over when we recorded it, and I think that comes through in the song. Chris has an eighties cover band called Good Kitty that played the night before. They're really good and super fun to watch. You can check them out at goodkittymusic.com. ("Summertime Blues" The Who; "Crystal Planet," Joe Satriani.) After recording the song we went to Dexter's bar in his garage to do an interview with a magazine that has a column titled "Drinks With." And so it began again, though I must admit that it was one of the funnest interviews I've ever had to do. Webdude showed up with some lobsters that he got from the salty seas of San Diego. A few of our buddies were hanging out. We played some of the old drinking games that we used to play at Greg's mom's house "back in the day." We did a few shots and it was all really fun, until I started an argument about Arnold Schwarzenegger. I can become quite righteously indignant when talking politics, especially if I've been drinking. It's never pretty. (Those of you who frequent the BBS can attest to this) Let's just say that I cleared out Dexter's bar in a matter of a few short minutes. All in all, it was a pretty lost weekend. ("Danny's Song," The Ramones; "Decent and Clean," The Dicks.) The surf here in SoCal has been pretty decent lately. I got a new board that is the fastest thing I've ever ridden. It's one of those new epoxy boards, an Al Merrick shape, and it rips. It's a little bigger than my main board, and supposedly indestructible, so it'll make a good travelling board. It'll definitely be going to Australia with me, maybe everywhere else, too. A few months ago I went surfing with Jack from TSOL. He is totally nuts. Summer hadn't quite kicked in yet and the water was still in the low 60's. He paddled out in a striped Speedo and a bright green rash-guard. We were surfing next to the pier, which gets pretty crowded with some of the better local surfers. It can be very competitive and difficult to get waves to your self. There was Jack, right at first peak, all 6'5"/240 lbs of him, dressed like the biggest kook this side of the shallow end of Mandalay Bay's wave pool, shouting everybody off his waves. Truly punk rock! I only wish that he had won his bid for Governor of California. ("Endless Column," Blue Man Group; "Surf Bat," 45 Grave.) Now that the records done and we are getting ready for the tour, we've begun subjecting ourselves to interrogations...er, interviews. Here's my top ten list of questions I'll learn to hate in the coming days/weeks/months/year, some of them old, some new: 1. How is this record different from your previous records? 2. This record sounds just like your previous records. Was this done on purpose? 3. This record is completely different from your previous records. Was this done on purpose? 4. What is the meaning of Splinter? /Why not "Chinese Democracy"? 5. What does "Da Hui" (always horribly mispronounced) mean? 6. How did you get the name "Noodles"? 7. What is the state of punk rock in 2003? 8. You've sold millions of records, traveled the world, and made lots of money, how can you still be "punk"? 9. You guys aren't kids anymore, how long can you continue to do this? 10. What is your message to our readers/listeners/viewers/fans? Granted, we are begging for some of these questions, and we don't fault anyone but ourselves for them. Other questions are just journalistic standards, annoying only in light of the fact that we've been asked them thousands of times. I'd really like to explain how I feel about some of these questions, and interviews in general, but I have to be really careful here because I know that some journalist will read this before interviewing us. I don't want to randomly insult anybody. After trying out my own hand as a journalist for a little over a year now as music editor for my own small magazine, I know what it's like to be on both sides of the table. It's not that easy to ask only interesting questions. Most of the journalists we've dealt with have been extremely cool. Many of them ask questions that are interesting and/or insightful. We do however get the odd journalist who is uninformed, over-informed, or ill informed. We'll get the occasional interviewer who would rather listen to his own voice, who likes talking so much that he gives us no chance to answer at all (usually radio guys). A mixed blessing is the poor food critic who gets stuck with us while the guy at the "lifestyles" section is on vacation or too hung-over to work the phone. It can be a lot of fun messing with these people. I had this exact experience when we were doing the press assault for CO1. It went something like this: ( "F-Stop Blues," Jack Johnson; "Wouldn't It Be Nice," Pennywise.) FC: Hi. Who is this? Me: Hey. This is Noodles from the Offspring. FC: Oh yeah. Well listen, I wasn't supposed to do this interview, but our music guy's out. I don't know anything about you guys, so why don't we start at the beginning. How did you guys meet? Now I've already said that this is a mixed blessing. The mixed part is that I've already spoken way too much about how we met and where we've come from. The blessing part is that I've just been given a blank slate. Imagine the possibilities. I might now have been born on the wrong side of 8-mile, where I was raised by a single Momma, and started winning rap-offs at the age of four ("one small child, one large mic"). My full-blooded Cherokee parents taught me how to live off the land while hiding out in swamps, surviving on beaver meat and making guitar strings from the stomach lining of crocodiles. Hell, I can be the collegiate who left school a scant year short of receiving my Ph.D., and Dexter can be the retired custodian. I can have a great deal of fun with poor FC if I want to. But you have to really want to be a dick if you are going to fuck with somebody like this. I don't always enjoy being a dick. ("Classical Gas," Mason Williams; "Radio," the NOFX version.) Well, since I'm already of on a rant-and-ramble I might as well answer these questions. I don't know if I should give them serious consideration, or just make up answers. I guess we'll find out. Please keep in mind that these are my answers, and that Dexter or Greg would probably answer then differently. Here goes: 1. This record is different in many ways. First off, we've never spent so much time on a record before. Dexter really tucked himself away during the writing process, trying to make every song be all it could be. This trend continued once we were all in the studio with the songs. We spent more time experimenting with everything from tempo to guitar sound to how to attack each song vocally and instrumentally. I also think that this record offers more variety than anything we've done previously. There are at least four songs on which we've stretched ourselves stylistically. These songs definitely have the Offspring signature, but we've taken that to new areas. 2. There is a certain kind of music that we all love, and that tied us together as a band in the first place. You are always gonna find songs on our records that represent that. The fast, melodic, heavy drum/bass/guitar-driven music that inspires us is always going to be the staple of any Offspring record. 3. We like experimenting with our music. That's what helps keep it interesting for us and, hopefully, for our fans. It can be a challenge to take our sound and try to apply it to a different style of playing, a different style of music. Sometimes it may not work out, but when it does, it can be a lot of fun. We're never going to stray too far from the kind of music we started playing in the very beginning, but we do like to try to expand our creative horizons. ("Suzy is a Surf Rocker," the Crowd; "Celebrated Summer," Husker Du.) 4. After an exhaustive marketing study we've discovered that our fans only want Offspring records with one-word titles. Our first record was self-titled. The "The" doesn't count as a word so it was really just Offspring, which is one word. Then came Ignition. Next was Smash. By now our fans knew what to expect from us, but we got cocky and titled our next record Ixnay On The Hombre. What does that even mean? We hadn't quite realized that what we had just done was to break a sacred trust that we shared with our fans. We got back on track with Americana, but once again we let our success get to our heads, following up with the outrageous betrayal entitled Conspiracy of One. Once again our fans rebelled at this disgrace. I want to assure our fans that we have been duly humbled, and we are back amongst the righteous, where we belong, back to our one-word roots. Thus we give you Splinter, one simple, humble word. As far as "Chinese Democracy" goes, it turns out that somebody was already going to use that. Good thing for us, too many words. 5. The Hui, or "Da Hui," are a group of Hawaiian locals who have a reputation for kicking the asses of disrespectful mainland haoles (white boys). The Hawaiian word Hui translates roughly to mean "Brotherhood". Many canoeing and surfing clubs have used the word Hui in their name. In the 1970's the Hui O He'e Nalu (brotherhood of wave riders) was formed with the desire to protect the Hawaiian culture, environment, and surf breaks from the influx of disrespectful tourists. 6. If you've ever seen John Waters' Pink Flamingos, you may remember the character of Baby Noodles, who was going to be sold on the black market to pay for heroin that would then be sold to school children. I played the part of Baby Noodles in the movie and the name just stuck. Obviously my days as a child actor are not something I'm proud of, and I really don't like talking about all that. 7. When I first started going to punk shows the male-to-female ratio was about five-to one. At that time all the "hot chicks," the ones that looked like cheerleaders or whatever, were all hanging out at the metal clubs. When I went to last summer's Warped Tour it was packed with cheerleader types and really hot punker chicks. A couple of weeks later I went to an Iron Maiden concert where the male-to-female ratio was about ten-to-one, and the hottest chick I saw turned out to be the guy who played guitar for Dio. So you tell me. What is the state of punk rock today? 8. The term "Punk" means something different to everybody. To one person it may mean something very political. To another it may mean simply dressing up in funny clothes. It might mean drinking tons of beer and getting really fucked up, or it could mean living a straight-edge life. To me punk is something that you strive for but never quite attain. It is very personal and should mean something different to everybody. If you are living by somebody else's rules, then you are missing it. We played punk rock in punk clubs with other punk bands for ten years before we ever saw a dime for doing it. Punk rock helped me define who I am and who I want to be, and I've lived with that for twenty-plus years now. Punk rock means something very important to me, but I feel no need whatsoever to compare what it means to me with someone else's version of it. 9. That's it. I quit! 10. Don't forget to wear sunscreen. ("Do the Evolution," Pearl Jam; "Yackety Axe," Chet Atkins.) I don't know if all that clears anything up really. All this typing has probably gotten us nowhere, but it was fun while it lasted. My next entry will probably come from the road somewhere. We leave in about a week for more press and a few shows. I'm really excited to get moving again. I know I'll miss my family and home, but I can't wait to start playing shows. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other. Here's some of what I've been listening to lately: Human Clay, Creed The Essential Barbra Streisand, Barbra Streisand Inside Job, Don Henley All Meat No Filler: The Best of the Fat Boys, The Fat Boys Marvin the Album, Frente! Noodles Road Journal 2 July 27, 2003 Orange County, CA I'm typing this with only one good hand because I broke the little finger on my left hand at the knuckle. I can't play guitar right now, I can't surf, and I should probably stay off the skateboard for a little while, but I figured that I'd better do something constructive. That's why I'm writing this. I've just made a fresh pot of coffee, opened a new pack of smokes, set my ipod to shuffle the "Metal Shop" playlist (lame Vixen song right now), and I'm all set to try to remember what we've been up to for the last few months. Well, here goes. (Ipod just switched to Hendrix. Now we're talking.) We've been able to get Jim from Pennywise and Jack from TSOL to come in and sing some backups on our new record. Those guys are always so cool and eager to help us out. Their voices definitely add a lot to the mix. It's always funny joking around with those guys about who f**ked up a take, or who nailed it. When we are tracking, Dexter, Higgins, and I are in the same room with those guys. Jim's dry wit, alongside Jack's insanity, always allows for some laughs. (Iron Maiden on the ipod now. Nice.) Speaking of Pennywise, I got to see them last week at the Warped Tour's stop in Long Beach. They were great. The crowd was f**king nuts. I took my daughter and one of her friends to the show. I was going to see if I could get them safely to the sound booth at the front of the house, but no way! They had one of the biggest crowds of the day. It was certainly the most dangerous. So I took the girls to one side where we could still see pretty well, and where I hoped they would be safe. Rancid and Rufio were two other bands that stood out that day. I'm really looking forward to Rancid's new record. (The Cult now. "Love Removal Machine." Reminds me of the hilarious way we used to cover this song. Both Dexter and Higgins can really nail Ian's Vocals) My kid is no longer into all that boy/girl band type of stuff. Her new favorite band is Simple Plan, whose very energetic antics we got to see from backstage at the Warped show. She also got all their signatures, though most of the pictures she and her friend took with the band were ruined when the camera didn't rewind all the way. I also met the band and they were really cool guys. Chuck told me that they were fans of Ignition and that it helped inspire them to form their own band. That was nice to hear. I wasn't surprised to hear that they were from Canada after I found out how nice they were. ("Live Wire" by The Crue) We also got to watch Sum 41 from backstage. They too are super nice Canadian boys and they put on an awesome show. They are all really good players and they're energy level is always way up there. My daughter and I both love this band, but for different reasons. She really admires their song-craft and musical acumen, whereas I just think they're so totally cute and awesome. I always enjoy the Warped Tour shows. I would love to be part of that tour some year. (AC/DC; "Dirty Deeds." Godhead!) Dexter had a 4th of July party and it was there that I broke my finger. It was really a stupid accident. He has this old school, down-hill sort of skateboard that looked kind of fun. Not so much, as it turns out. I didn't even make it all the way down his driveway before I hit a crack in the pavement and was sent rolling out into the street. If I wasn't so worried about spilling beer in my right hand, I might not have broken the other one, but we all have our priorities. And I didn't spill one precious drop. After about three hours in the emergency room, getting X-rayed and waiting around, we got back to the party for a last beer and a shot with the boys. The party, while I was there, was really fun. Dexter had Phil Shane do his one-man-legend act in the backyard. If you've never seen Phil, you have to check him out. He rules the lounge! (OMFG! The current song on my playlist is Motley Crue's version of "Anarchy in the UK." I don't want to be critical, but this f**king version blows. They should've stuck to "Live Wire") Okay, better song now. "Up in the Sky" by Joe Satriani. Greg K did a cool thing about a month ago. He flew out to Florida to play in a charity golf tournament that was put together by Bill Murray and his brothers. He took Steve (Masi, our production mgr./guitar tech) with him and they both said they had a great time. Steve said it was all about partying for three days with a little golf thrown in. Dexter was back in Atlanta at the time, so he flew in for one of the night's parties. Turns out they all hung out with the drummer and the tour manager of Creed. (no Creed in my ipod, but somehow The Fastbacks have worked their way into my Metal playlist. Cool song though.) Steve said it took him a couple of days to recover from all the fun. Greg, as usual, said very little. (Quiet Riot; "Mama Weer All Crazee Now." This song epitomizes everything I hated about the eighties, yet I can't help smiling. It sucks, but it is funny.) I know that there is a ton of stuff that I'm forgetting, and I've left out a bunch of the stuff that I think you guys would find boring, so I guess that's it for now. I'm kinda getting over all the Metal shit I've been listening to while I've been typing (stupid Cinderella song right now. Uugh). Here's my list of what I have been listening to lately (besides Metal): The Pogues; Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. NOFX; The War On Errorism. One of the best records of the year. Get this one or die a lonely poseur. Be sure to check out the CD extras. Anti-Flag; Die For The Government. Strike Anywhere; Change Is A Sound. Rise Against; Revolutions Per Minute. The Deadbeats; The Calapation Collection. This is Oxygene's band and, despite that fact, I really like this record. It's pretty weird, but in ways that are really good and pretty interesting. These guys are like a real band now. The playing here is really good, the songs flow really well, and the production is really good too, especially since these guys had to pay for it all themselves. Dropkick Murphys; Blackout. Noodles Road Journal 1 April 02, 2003 Orange County, CA "Da Hui" Video Continued Day two of "Da Hui" video was a beautiful day on the North Shore. There was less wind, more sun, big waves, and a bunch of sea turtles playing in the water. I caught a couple of decent waves, but the second day of shooting in Hawaii was mostly about Dexter's surfing. The waves were still pretty big and Dexter is still kind of learning how to surf, so he had to really work hard at getting his shots. What Dexter lacks in surfing skill, he more than made up for in tenacity. He was out in the water all fucking day and even tried towing into a couple of waves. I did a lot more paddling that day while we tried to get shots of Dex and I on the same wave, but he was the one who really had to work for it. He finally got all the shots we needed for the video just before sundown. While Dexter was filming the last of his parts in the water, I was interviewing Brandon Cruz who is now singing for the Dead Kennedys. I did this interview for the third issue of my magazine, Spare Change (www.sparechangemag.com). I am a huge fan of the DKs, and of Jello Biafra who is no longer working with DH, Klaus, and Ray. Before talking with Brandon I was completely skeptical about any form of DKs without Biafra. I was also interested in hearing from him how things have been going for the band, and his feelings on filling Biafra's spot on stage. He admits that, for many, he has become the most hated man in punk, but he is also very humble about singing the songs that he has loved for so many years himself. He has taken a lot of shit to be able to pass on some of the most important songs ever written to a new generation of fans. I really liked what Brandon had to say about the band, three of who are original members, and have decided to withhold judgement until I see them for myself. We were out of the water on day three while we shot all the land-based footage. We shot all this stuff on the access path to Pipeline. We got to hang out all day at Gerry Lopez's old house overlooking Pipeline, Backdoor, and Off-The-Wall. The waves were great and I got to watch some of the best surfing I've ever seen first-hand. There were a bunch of pros out in the line-up, both guys and girls, and I even got to see Jay Adams (check out Dogtown and Z Boys) pull in at Backdoor. We finished shooting right as the sky unloaded on us and it began to rain for the next two days. Everything just went our way for the shoot. We got all the waves and the weather that we needed. It was just perfect. Most of all I want to thank all the Hui guys for helping us out and showing us the true spirit of Aloha. These guys can be pretty intimidating, but they made us feel so welcome that I didn't want to leave. I've always loved the Islands, been in awe of them, and had the utmost respect for their beauty and their people. This trip only served to strengthen all my feelings. On the morning of our last day there, I stepped outside to have a cigarette and a cup of coffee. I was watching a couple of guys surf the point in front of the hotel when farther out on the horizon I saw some huge form rise up out of the water. It was a humpback whale in full breach, coming almost all the way out of the water in slow motion, straight up into the air, before rolling over on its side, and crashing back into the ocean with an explosion of whitewater. I knew right then that it was going to be a good day. The NAMM Show In January I went to the NAMM show (National Association of Music Merchants) in Anaheim to sign autographs and promote my signature model guitar. My signature model is basically the same Ibanez I've been using for years. It has the Talman body shape, hum/sing/hum pickup configuration and a hand-wrapped duct tape finish. I'm really stoked with it. It plays well, sounds great, and, because they are hand-wrapped, each one will have its own unique character. The guitar is in production right now and should be in stores in the next month or two. I don't usually do autograph signings outside of our own meet-and-greets backstage, because it seems like the kind of thing "Rawkstars" do, but it wasn't really like that. I did the signing with Mike Mushok of Staind who is super cool and not at all like one would expect a rock star to be. Our autograph line may not have been as big as Korn's, but we signed a lot of autographs and took a lot of photos, and the fans really seemed to be into it. After the signing, Webdude and I walked around, drank a couple of beers, and drooled over all the new equipment. I love checking out all the guitars, amps, and effects. There are always some new products that are just way too over the top to be useful to most musicians, or some that are just gimmicky and lame, but some of the new electronics are mind blowing. Some of the new digital stuff, the recording and processing equipment, is pretty amazing. I can see how you can use this stuff to come up with some really creative music, but you can also destroy what are already pretty good songs if you're not careful. Sometimes an old, beat-up acoustic guitar is all you need. I hung out with Mike again in early February when we went to the Viper Room to see a band called Metal Shop. Staind were working at the same studio we were and a few of us decided to go out and celebrate my birthday at the show. Metal Shop Rule! They cover all the cheesy hits of the hair-metal era, replete with drum and guitar solos, all the while satirizing their whole scene. It's fucking brilliant and completely hilarious. And these guys can play! They don't take the stage until after midnight so it was my actual birthday and I got pretty sauced. Earlier that day I had finished all my guitar parts on the songs we've done so far, so I had all the more reason to celebrate. The following Saturday night my wife threw me a surprise birthday party. I had a bunch of my friends and family there. It was a really great time, but I stayed up and drank too much. The next day I was so hung over that I paddled out on a longboard in my trunks and no wetsuit. The water was about 57 degrees, but I could hardly feel it. I was hung over for three days. Not Good! The Record By now you've all heard the news that Ron is no longer a member of The Offspring. This was a very depressing situation for all of us, but we are all in agreement that this is for the best. Ron is very excited about his new project, Steady Ground. I don't know much about their music, but I do know that they have two of the best guitarists I've ever heard, our friends George and Doug. Ron is like a brother to us, and we wish the best for him and his band. Things have kinda slowed down for us in the studio. We were off to a great start, and laid down a bunch of tracks fairly quickly. Dexter flew to Atlanta to do vocals only to catch a cold that took a toll on his voice, so we lost about a week there. Dexter is also a perfectionist and has made a couple of changes to the way he sang a couple of songs. He has also been working on a couple of new songs which we will be recording this Thursday in LA. Of the first ten songs, more than half are completely finished, mixing included. The two new songs, of course, and a couple of others still need vocals which we may have to do in Atlanta. We got off to such a quick start, that we thought we'd be finished by now, but we are actually spending just about the same amount of time in the studio as we have on all our records. Josh Freese is playing with us on all the new material for this record. Josh is an okay drummer (you may have heard of him) and a longtime friend of ours. We are super thankful that he was able to help us out on what was pretty short notice. His playing sounds awesome and I know you're gonna love these songs. We don't have a (real) title for the record yet, but have been kicking around some ideas. The two new songs still don't have lyrics, so one of them, in keeping with tradition, will probably suggest the whole record's title. We have no tour schedule yet, and won't even be thinking about that until we deliver this record to our label (I'm guessing three weeks from now). Any tour dates will be posted as soon as we confirm the dates. We will be going everywhere we've been before, and even to some places we haven't, so don't e-mail me asking me when we'll be there. Just trust me, we will be there. We are not sure who will be touring with us as a drummer, but we understand that he'll have pretty big shoes to fill, and will select him accordingly. I am really stoked with the songs and sounds on this record. We've all worked really hard on it, especially Dexter, and we look forward to releasing it so we can take these songs on the road. We've experimented with a number of new amps, and old and new guitars, on this record, some of which we may take out on the road with us. That means some expensive new rigs, but if they sound as good live as they do in the studio it will be worth it. I'll try to get all the new tech info up on our site for all you nerdy tech heads. Stay tuned. Later, Noodles What I'm listening to these days: Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, and Plastic Surgery Disasters AFI - Sing the Sorrow The Clash - The Clash, and London Calling The Dickies - The Incredible Shrinking Dickies Operation Ivy - Operation Ivy Rage Against the Machine - The Battle for Los Angeles TSOL - TSOL Iron Maiden - Killers The Smothers Brothers - Sibling Revelry