Dexter Holland

This article is about Bryan Holland, best known as Dexter Holland in the band The Offspring. For the American songwriter and record producer, see Brian Holland.

Dexter Holland
Dexter Holland performing with The Offspring in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Bryan Keith Holland
Also known as	Dexter Holland
Born	(1965-12-29) December 29, 1965 Garden Grove, California United States
Genres	Punk rock, skate punk, pop punk, ska punk, alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, singer, songwriter
Instruments	guitar, vocals, drums, piano, keyboards, percussion, bass
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Nitro, Epitaph, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Columbia
Associated acts	The Offspring

Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965 in Garden Grove, California) is the singer, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the California punk rock band The Offspring.

Musical career

After Holland met friend and 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).

Personal life

Holland was the class valedictorian at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California, and was a Ph.D. candidate in Molecular Biology at 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. In 2013, Holland and 3 others published a paper regarding microRNA in HIV genomes.

He has a daughter, Alexa Holland, who goes by the stage name Lex Land and is a singer-songwriter.

Holland is also a licensed Airline Transport Pilot and, as of April 2009, is a Certified Flight Instructor who has made a solo trip around the world in ten days.

He 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.

Holland has his own brand of hot sauce, Gringo Bandito.

Holland is also an "avid" collector of stamps from The Isle of Man.

Musical equipment

All of Holland's Ibanez RG body guitars are made out of mahogany and fitted with DiMarzio Super Distortion bridge pickups. During their latest recordings, Holland used a vintage Gibson.

Discography

The Offspring

Holland appears on all nine of The Offspring's albums. For a more comprehensive list, see The Offspring discography.

Guest appearances

• The Vandals – Hitler Bad, Vandals Good (1998) (co-wrote "Too Much Drama")
• AFI – Black Sails in the Sunset (1999) ("Clove Smoke Catharsis" and "The Prayer Position")
• The Aquabats – The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death! (1999) (co-wrote "Amino Man!" and does backing vocals on that song))
• The Vandals – Look What I Almost Stepped In... (2000) (co-wrote "Jackass" and does backing vocals on that song)
• Dwarves – The Dwarves Must Die (2004) ("Salt Lake City" and "Massacre")
• Ron Emory – Walk That Walk (2010) (backing vocals on "I'm Not Alone")
• Dwarves – The Dwarves Are Born Again (2011) ("Looking Out for Number One" and "Happy Birthday Suicide")

External links

• Dexter Holland's Opus at the Internet WayBackMachine
• Dexter Holland Live at Rock Am Ring 2008 - Hammerhead by Offspring
• Dexter Holland at the Internet Movie Database