Noodles: But that’s not to say that if you don’t think about it in a live context, it matters too much. When you’re writing a song, do you think a lot about how it will translate to the stage?ĭexter: I think you imagine it in many different contexts – how will this look in a video? How will this feel live? I think when we come up with something that feels very punk – a song like “This Is Not Utopia”, for example – I get really excited thinking, “Oh, the kids are going to go off over this!” So I do apply it to a live context, especially if it’s a punk kind of song.

They’ve spent years asking us to do a studio recording of that piano version, and we finally decided, “Yeah, that is actually a great idea!” It’s also a very dynamic part of the set every night – it really does touch fans. But “Gone Away” was a song that we’d been playing on piano during our live set – we kind of strip it down, and that really purifies the emotional part of that song. Y’know, everything from Smash ’til now seems like it’s all part of the same era to me. Noodles: I don’t really think of “Gone Away” as being that old of a song. Do you think it’s important, as a band that’s been at the forefront of modern punk for so long, to celebrate your past and not just ignore it in favour of the new? I bring it up because the penultimate track on this record is a throwback to “Gone Away” from 1997.

The offspring smash 320