The sales numbers on The Offspring's latest disc "Ixnay on the Hombre" are down to between 10 to 20 percent of its previous effort, disastrous for most bands. While this may sound like a disaster, it's actually quite a success.
This "paltry" 10 percent still leaves the California punkers with more than 1 million albums sold in the United States and double that in the world, numbers most bands would give anything to rise to, much less drop to after taking popular music by surprise and by storm."The last one (album) was something of a phenomenon," said bassist Greg K. (Kriesel) in an interview with the Deseret News. "We like the way it (the new album) turned out. The feedback is really good and the songs go over well."
The phenomenon he is speaking of is 1994's "Smash," the CD that took the band from the California punk scene to the top of the music industry faster than most would have believed possible. With three hit singles and more than 10 million units sold on the appropriately titled album, the band never expected the new disc to perform at those same standards in today's fickle market. It hasn't.
Salt Lake City can make its own small claim to helping The Offspring gain some measure of their success. When the foursome was last in Utah for two days - playing a pair of shows at the state fairgrounds - they chose the location to film the music video for the third of the smash trio of singles, "Gotta Get Away."
Most of the reason was simple timing, but the band appreciated the look and feel of the arena as well.
"As long as we were there, we figured, `why not?' The venue was really good, it looked good so we said, `Why don't we just do it here?' "
Utah also has another connection to the group in the form of booking agent Stormy Shepherd who graduated from Brighton High and worked her way into the music industry and into The Offpring business camp.
"She called us up," Greg K. said. "At the time we were booking our own shows or having a couple of friends do it, but they weren't really serious. She asked if she could give it a try. It worked out and has been great ever since."
Things have changed drastically for the band since those days of obscurity. The quartet never planned to be rock stars or really do anything more than just play their punk-based music. "It was just something that was fun for us to do. We thought maybe it would go somewhere, but it wasn't a goal. It was more like a side," he said.
That "side" brought the group to Utah way back in 1989 on their first tour, opening for a list of five bands, playing in a club that seats maybe 200 people. In those days it wasn't uncommon for the group to show up in a city unsure if they had a show to play at or a place to stay.
Greg K. remembers the days when the band would ask the audience - often in the middle of a set - if anybody knew a place the band could stay for the night. Local promoters or club owners often came to the rescue, saving the group from sleeping in a tour van or truck or in cheap motels.
Now, The Offspring tour is carefully planned. The hotels and concert halls are booked, and everybody has their own bed, none of them in old vans.
"The other ones (prior concert tours) were more like an adventure," he said. "A lot of shows would be canceled back then. Now it's a schedule."
Somewhere between sleeping in a van and the 10 million albums, The Offspring was slapped with the label of sell-outs.
The group then left its minor independent record label and signed with one of the big boys (Columbia) in a well-publicized controversy.
"The thing that bothers me most is we didn't want to get into a big media war with them. We really just wanted to get on with it," Greg K. said.
They will get on with it for Utahns Wednesday when they bring the act to the The Canyons arena. (Tickets available through Smith'sTix.)