Dexter Holland - Musical Career

Musical Career

After Holland met friend and fellow cross-country teammate Greg Kriesel, they started a local punk band called Manic Subsidal in 1984, where he played the drums. It formed after the duo failed to get into a Social Distortion concert in 1984. After James Lilja was hired as their drummer Holland switched to both vocals and guitars. They never released any albums, but some demos have existed online. After some line-up changes, Manic Subsidal changed their name to The Offspring in 1986. After recording a demo in 1988, The Offspring signed a deal with a small-time label, Nemesis Records, for whom they recorded their first full length album, The Offspring, in March 1989. This album would eventually be re-issued on November 21, 1995 by Holland's own record label, Nitro Records.

In 1991, The Offspring signed with Epitaph Records (home of Bad Religion, L7, NOFX, Pennywise and other similar bands). Their first release on the label was Ignition, which was released in 1992. Their last album for that label was 1994's Smash, which still holds the world record for most sales of an album on an independent label. The band then signed with Columbia Records in 1996 (although Dexter claims that Brett Gurewitz, owner of Epitaph and guitarist for Bad Religion, sold the contract to Columbia) for whom they released their next six albums, Ixnay on the Hombre (1997), Americana (1998), Conspiracy of One (2000), Splinter (2003), Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008), and their most recent, Days Go By (2012).