.Dexter Holland of the Offspring Discusses Survival in the Internet Age

Are you able to reach new, younger audiences?
For sure. I’m really noticing a lot of young kids at the shows. It’s not like our crowd is the same crowd that was there 10 years ago. There’s a lot of fresh faces. People gravitate towards different things. A lot of people are only going to watch you on YouTube, for instance, or look at their Twitter. They’re not going to watch TV for example, or listen to regular radio.
With MTV and the radio, you were instantly able to reach millions of people and sell millions of albums. Do you think it’s still possible for bands to reach that same kind of audience that you were able to reach in this current model?
I think what you’re implying, and you’re right, is there is very little of that nowadays. You still have your occasional Lady Gaga, or whatever, come along. They are few and far between. The Internet destroyed the music business as it was. On the positive side, it’s given everyone a chance. You can be a kid in your bedroom and make your own record. It’s given everyone a voice, which is great, but also on the other hand it’s given everyone a very small voice. It’s harder to get noticed. I can’t complain. We’ve been very fortunate that we had a lot of success and we’re still able to go out and play shows. If this is just the way it is from now on, then so be it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAlZyajmcIM&feature=relmfu
How have your fans reacted to, what seems a pretty noticeable, move away from punk rock on the last few records?
Whenever you step outside of the zone that you’re used to, you wonder, “Oh I wonder if we’re going to blow it with the audience.” But you never know. When we did “Pretty Fly (for a White guy)” I thought there was a good chance that it would get panned. It ended up being a big song for us. On the last record we did a full-on ballad. I think the audience is fine with that. It’s because of everything that’s going on with the Internet. People are more open to different kinds of styles. When we first started doing festivals in Europe, I couldn’t believe the kind of bands they would put on the same festival. You could have Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sonic Youth together at the same festival. You would never see that in the U.S. It was always metal day or pop day. You’re starting to see a lot more diversity with festivals like Coachella. I think it’s the same thing with people’s acceptance of different kinds of music, at least for our band.
The Offspring play the San Jose Civic on Tuesday Oct. 2 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $39.50.