Jeff316
09-15-2009, 03:13 AM
Frederiksen: For us it's all about friendship. Last night at the show [Rancid had played the night before in New York City], we gave a shout out to the Offspring because they are getting a lot of shit right now for signing with a major label. [The Offspring recently left Epitaph for Columbia Records.] If you have all the money in the world but you don't have your credibility or your friends you ain't shit. The Offspring are our friends. Matt and Tim used to see them in 1987 when there were only six other people there. Then, when they got big, they took us on tour with them and gave us support and love.
Armstrong: If someone does that for us, we will be his brother forever.
Frederiksen: The most important thing here is friendship. Record companies, I don't know if they're your friends...
Ramone: They ain't your friends.
Frederiksen: I've seen bands who think that record companies are their best friends and then when they don't sell the 1.5 million records they were supposed to sell, they are yesterday's newspaper. It doesn't matter to the Offspring if we sell a million records, they just want to be our homeboys. Reading all the negative shit about the Offspring in the press, we just want them to know we love them no matter what's going on.
Armstrong: I would hate to see the Offspring be destroyed because of some backlash from the media. I would hate it if songs that Dexter [Holland, Offspring singer/guitarist] has inside of him never got heard because of what some magazine says abou t him. That would be a tragedy. I don't get this one-hit wonder stuff about the Offspring. They have so many hits. l always thought they had hits, even in '87.
Frederiksen: That negative backlash has happened to every great band. It happened to the Ramones. They said you couldn't play, that you guys were a bunch of half-wits And here you are, the most influential band of the last 25 years. You guys saved the world from disco!
Ramone: Not bad for a bunch of half-wits, huh?
Frederiksen: Fucking yeah! Nobody ever built a statue to a critic, and nobody will ever think about building a statue to a rock critic.. There are a lot of irresponsible journalists out there. The same people who are bagging the Offspring now for n ot being punk were probably into Guns N' Roses when they were big. Joey, you know that a lot of kids don't think it's so street-level to be on a major label. What do you think about it?
Ramone: : I think it's true that an indie label gives you the freedom to follow your vision. The first label we were on, Sire, was an indie. It wasn't until later [when Warner Bros. bought Sire] that things changed. Focus [Dutch art-rock band] broke the label, but the Ramones gave Sire its direction. Seymour Stein signed us, and he was a real visionary. Stein was willing to take chances when nobody else was. After us he signed Talking Heads, the Dead Boys and Richard Hell. I don't think it's right to shoot somebody down because of the label they're on. The Offspring already proved themselves; I don't think there's anything wrong with them moving on.
Frederiksen: Sire sounds like Epitaph, and you were the Offspring of the '70s.
Armstrong: If someone does that for us, we will be his brother forever.
Frederiksen: The most important thing here is friendship. Record companies, I don't know if they're your friends...
Ramone: They ain't your friends.
Frederiksen: I've seen bands who think that record companies are their best friends and then when they don't sell the 1.5 million records they were supposed to sell, they are yesterday's newspaper. It doesn't matter to the Offspring if we sell a million records, they just want to be our homeboys. Reading all the negative shit about the Offspring in the press, we just want them to know we love them no matter what's going on.
Armstrong: I would hate to see the Offspring be destroyed because of some backlash from the media. I would hate it if songs that Dexter [Holland, Offspring singer/guitarist] has inside of him never got heard because of what some magazine says abou t him. That would be a tragedy. I don't get this one-hit wonder stuff about the Offspring. They have so many hits. l always thought they had hits, even in '87.
Frederiksen: That negative backlash has happened to every great band. It happened to the Ramones. They said you couldn't play, that you guys were a bunch of half-wits And here you are, the most influential band of the last 25 years. You guys saved the world from disco!
Ramone: Not bad for a bunch of half-wits, huh?
Frederiksen: Fucking yeah! Nobody ever built a statue to a critic, and nobody will ever think about building a statue to a rock critic.. There are a lot of irresponsible journalists out there. The same people who are bagging the Offspring now for n ot being punk were probably into Guns N' Roses when they were big. Joey, you know that a lot of kids don't think it's so street-level to be on a major label. What do you think about it?
Ramone: : I think it's true that an indie label gives you the freedom to follow your vision. The first label we were on, Sire, was an indie. It wasn't until later [when Warner Bros. bought Sire] that things changed. Focus [Dutch art-rock band] broke the label, but the Ramones gave Sire its direction. Seymour Stein signed us, and he was a real visionary. Stein was willing to take chances when nobody else was. After us he signed Talking Heads, the Dead Boys and Richard Hell. I don't think it's right to shoot somebody down because of the label they're on. The Offspring already proved themselves; I don't think there's anything wrong with them moving on.
Frederiksen: Sire sounds like Epitaph, and you were the Offspring of the '70s.