This article is about Bryan Holland, best known as Dexter Holland in the band The Offspring. For the African American songwriter and record producer, see
Brian Holland.
Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965[1] in Garden Grove, California) is the singer and rhythm guitarist for the Californian punk rock band The Offspring, who are known for singles such as "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem", "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" and "Why Don't You Get a Job?". He is also the owner of the independent record label Nitro Records.
Biography
Career with The Offspring
After failing to get into a Social Distortion show in 1984, he decided to form a band with friend and fellow cross-country teammate Greg Kriesel. That band, "Manic Subsidal," would eventually become The Offspring. After recording a demo in 1988,[2] The Offspring signed a deal with a small-time label, Nemesis Records, for whom they recorded their first full length album, entitled The Offspring, in March 1989.[2] 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). The band's first album on Epitaph 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 Indie 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 have released their next five albums, Ixnay on the Hombre (1997), Americana (1998), Conspiracy of One (2000), Splinter (2003) and Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008). The Offspring is currently planning a ninth studio album, which is due for release in 2010.[3]
Dexter often communicates with fans of The Offspring by way of the band's internet journal.
Holland was recently ranked 73rd in the March 2007 Edition of Kerrang! 100 Stars Who Rock Your World List.
Personal life
Holland was the class valedictorian at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California and was a Ph.D. candidate[4] in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California; however, he abandoned his Ph.D. in favor of focusing on The Offspring. He has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Molecular Biology, both from the University of Southern California.[5]
Dexter's interests include surfing, snowboarding and aviation. According to an interview he gave Adam Carolla, he owns an old Soviet fighter.
Holland married hairstylist Kristine Luna, who co-wrote the Offspring song "Session", on August 12, 1995.[6]
He has one daughter, Alexa Holland.
Holland is also a licensed Airline Transport Pilot and has made a solo trip around the world in ten days.[7]
He also participated in the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon; his charity of choice was the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that handles legal cases where post-conviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence.[8]
Holland has his own brand of hot sauce, Gringo Bandito. According to the Arts & Music section of the Los Angeles Times, the Hot Sauce is bottled in a Newport Beach facility that distributes 300 gallons a month.[9] Holland says that Albertsons has started carrying his hot sauce, which he reports is "huge for us".[10]
Feud with Axl Rose
In what seemed to be an unusual move, Dexter openly implied his dislike for Guns N' Roses lead vocalist Axl Rose in a 2003 interview regarding The Offspring's new album. On April Fools' Day 2003, The Offspring jokingly announced the album's title as Chinese Democrazy (You Snooze You Lose) (now known as Splinter), Holland stated: "You snooze, you lose. Axl Rose ripped off my braids, so I ripped off his album title"[11], referring to his wearing of long braids during and prior to The Offspring's "Smash" tour in 1994 and 1995.[12]
The Offspring thought that the name would be hysterical, since the Guns n' Roses album Chinese Democracy had at that time been in the works for about eight years and still did not have a release date.[13] However, Rose was apparently not as amused when he was informed that The Offspring were throwing around this idea and subsequently requested his lawyers to issue a "cease and desist" notice to The Offspring.[14]
While it was proclaimed that The Offspring were on pretty solid legal ground despite having openly admitted to taking the title,[15] the band decided to use Splinter instead of Chinese Democrazy. Holland explained that when the decision to title the album Chinese Democrazy was announced, production was essentially brought to a halt.[16] Holland later explained that naming the album Chinese Democrazy was just a joke (the announcement was made on April 1st) and that it wouldn’t have had anything to do with the record (Splinter). Holland stated that musically and lyrically Splinter more adequately described the flow and direction of the album.[17] Considering the large amount of publicity given to Dexter Holland and The Offspring when it was announced that the band would use Chinese Democrazy as the album's title, it is likely that this was all simply a well-crafted publicity stunt at the expense of Rose.[18]
Musical equipment
All of Holland's Ibanez RG bodies are made out of mahogany and fitted with DiMarzio Super Distortion bridge pickups.[19][20] During their latest recordings, Holland used a vintage Gibson.[21]
Notes and References
- ^ Some sources claim that Dexter Holland was born in 1966. According to Family Tree Legends, there was a "Bryan K Holland" born on December 29, 1965 in Los Angeles County. [1]
- ^ a b The Offspring at NIPP, obtained November 10, 2007.
- ^ Graff, Gary (2009-06-19). "Offspring Plotting 'Rise And Fall' Follow-Up". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/offspring-plotting-rise-and-fall-follow-1003985997.story. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ Dexter Holland's Opus by Jonathan Slowik, Daily Trojan, April 12, 2004
- ^ Daily Trojan Note
- ^ IMDb.com
- ^ perfectpeople.net
- ^ http://www.athlinks.com/myresults.aspx?rid=5846712 athlinks.com
- ^ "The Offspring Hot Sauce!". Idiomag.com. 2009-01-29. http://www.idiomag.com/peek/61752/the_offspring. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ Why don't you get a job? by Geoff Boucher, LA Times, June 15, 2008
- ^ http://offspring.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Offspring.woa/wa/history
- ^ No Source (Implied) http://www.jakesoffspring.com/site/band/pimpezine.htm
- ^ http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/guns-n-roses-get-democrazy-at-the-offspring/
- ^ http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/guns-n-roses-get-democrazy-at-the-offspring/
- ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Search&searchtext=The+offspring+legal&x=0&y=0
- ^ http://rockdirt.com/the-offsprings-publicity-ploy-ends/7562/
- ^ http://rockdirt.com/dexter-holland-explains-chinese-democracy-gag/8540/
- ^ http://www.aversion.com/bands/interviews.cfm?interview=224
- ^ http://www.bebo.com/Blog.jsp?MemberId=2076034809
- ^ http://offspring.ru.ru/members/dex_e.html
- ^ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/offsprings_noodles_i_dont_care_to_argue_how_punk_i_am.html
External links
