Rare 1986 Offspring demos surface online

The Offspring's European fansite (http://theoffspring.eu/) has posted three demos from their recording sessions in 1986. The demos feature the band's original lineup, which consisted of Dexter Holland on vocals, Noodles on guitar, Greg K on bass and James Lilja on drums. The songs were part of the hard-to-find-42-song compilation tape "Subject To Blackout", which also featured Excel, No Fraud, SDT, A Number Of Things, Manimal, Youthquake, Desecration, TSA, Conflicting Interests, US Distress, Attitude Adjustment, The Uprising, COTC and A Child's Trust In God.

You can download the demos for "Halloweeen", "Call It Religion" and "Fire And Ice" here. The demos were remastered by the fansite's founder who is known as ANDiTKO. On why the songs are remastered, ANDiTKO writes, "The remastered version has less noise, better EQ and louder volume without clipping. The quality is slightly better. I could not do much things to make it sound like a studio recording simply because I dont have a good source of the channels. I had to work with single mixdowns ripped from an old cassete from the year 1986..."

Not long after the demos were released, Lija left The Offspring in 1987 and was replaced by Ron Welty, completing the band's most successful lineup that would last for 16 years. With Welty in the band, The Offspring would record a number of successful records, including their 1994 multi-platinum album "Smash", which spawned their signature songs "Come Out And Play" and "Self Esteem" and sold 14 million copies worldwide, setting a record for most albums sold on an independent label. Welty left The Offspring in early 2003 for personal reasons and was replaced by Atom Willard before being replaced four years later by current drummer Pete Parada.

The Offspring are currently in the studio recording the follow-up to 2008's "Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace" for a tentative late 2011/early 2012 release. It is being produced by Bob Rock, who has previously worked with Metallica, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, The Cult, Our Lady Peace, among others. The band will be touring Europe by the time the new album arrives.