In a recent conversation with Marcelo Vieira, Noodles explained why the Offspring turned down Metallica’s tour offer.
“Yeah, I don’t remember who all we turned down, but I mean, nothing against Metallica,” the guitarist said. “We love those guys. Those guys are a great band. And you know, we’ve got to meet them over the years and do shows with them since.”
He continued, “What we wanted to do is, rather than going out and opening up for a big arena band, we didn’t feel like we were a professional band. We didn’t think we were good enough to go out and do that.”
The Offspring ran into Metallica later on. In the fall of 2012, The Offspring toured with Neon Trees and Dead Sara. In 2013, they co-headlined Australia’s Soundwave festival with Metallica and Linkin Park.
The two bands also worked with the same producer, Bob Rock on different albums. In a 2023 interview with Guitar World, Noodles shared that Rock brought one of Metallica’s guitars to the studio, which they used on some tracks during the making of their 2008 album, ‘Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace.’
He recalled, “Bob brought one of James Hetfield’s Explorers. I remember messing around with that for a while, which was different from what we usually used. I don’t remember what songs we used it on – it’s a heavy metal guitar, so it was certainly a different sound. So, that meant we didn’t use it a lot; we added it here and there.”
“It sounded just like Hetfield’s rhythm stuff and was a bit heavier than what we were used to playing. I think I might have done a solo or two with it, but I can’t remember what tracks. We didn’t use it extensively, but it is fun and heavy. We had to be mindful of using it because an Explorer with EMG pickups is not very Offspring-sounding,” the musician added.
The Offspring’s latest album, ‘Supercharged’ was released on October 11, 2024. The band’s first show in 2025 will be in Los Angeles on January 11.
