The Offspring is an American pop punk band formed in Garden Grove, California in 1984.[1] The band originally comprised vocalist Doug Thompson, guitarist Dexter Holland, bassist Greg K. and drummer Jim Benton, although Thompson and Benton left early on.[2] After Holland took over vocal duties and James Lilja joined on drums, the group briefly added Marcus Parrish as a second guitarist,[3] before Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman replaced him in 1985.[2] After performing on the band's debut single "I'll Be Waiting" and co-writing the song "Beheaded",[4] Lilja left the band in 1987 to be replaced by Ron Welty.[5] In 1994, Chris "X-13" Higgins joined as a touring guitarist, keyboardist and percussionist.[6][7]
After the band released numerous platinum-selling albums throughout the 1990s, Welty left The Offspring in 2003 to form Steady Ground, claiming that he wanted to "focus on [his] own thing".[8] Prolific drummer Josh Freese filled in for the recording of Splinter,[9] before Atom Willard was brought in as Welty's full-time replacement.[10] Higgins stopped performing with The Offspring in 2005 in order to focus on spending time with his family, with former H2O guitarist Todd Morse replacing him a few years later.[11] In 2007, Willard left the band after a four-year tenure and was replaced by Pete Parada;[12] as he did on Splinter, Josh Freese recorded drums for 2008's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.[13]
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