Pop Music Reviews : Offspring Energizes Whisky Crowd

Orange County’s hard-core-punk offshoot Offspring isn’t just a garage band anymore, as Thursday’s suffocatingly packed show at the Whisky revealed. The sold-out date follows major attention for the band by alternative station KROQ.

Offspring, which came out of O.C.’s “surf-rat” scene, takes chances with traditional hard-core by adding long-haired rock riffs, pure power chords, bubblegummy kid-pop, a little funk and real singing rather than machine-gunning of the lyrics.

The Whisky was scorching hot Thursday as the band played its first show since releasing its third album earlier this year. As Offspring launched into a fiery kick-off number, the room broke into a massive slam pit that consumed most of the lower floor. Singer Dexter Holland’s charismatic voice went from bratty Circle Jerk-ish sneers to the pop sweetness of Cheap Trick. His lyrics of suburban frustration were backed by the anthemic shouts from his three band-mates.

The music went from booming hard-core to fast pop and sometimes even a tinge of ‘60s garage-rock here and there. The band kept the energy level consistently high, and held the songs together in tight and neat blasts.

Offspring’s fun teen-age rock is charismatic enough to cross over beyond a hard-core crowd, but never compromising enough to alienate its base of Angst -hungry fans. It’s a balance that could take it far.