You’re a guy with many interests, and most notably, you have a PhD in molecular biology. Can you explain that work, and how you ended up doing this amid also being in a rock band?
I mean, sure, I’ll try to make it a quick summary. We were doing the band right out of high school and we didn’t really expect it to go anywhere, so we all had our other plans, and I went to USC and I was pre-med. I actually didn’t get into medical school; I wasn’t completely focused in college, I think I was trying secretly to sabotage my college career so I’d make it in the band. But I had the chance to stay at USC and get a master’s in molecular biology, which I thought might improve my chances. So I got the master’s, I still didn’t get into medical school, so they told me, “Maybe just finish up and get a doctorate.” Being a grad student is so flexible, I could disappear for a couple days [for the band] and it was fine.
I was “ABD,” or “all but dissertation,” working on it slowly when the band took off. At that point I realized I couldn’t really juggle both. I took a break, and they were nice enough to give me a leave of absence and never follow up on it! So, 20 years later, I went back and some of the same professors were still there, and I felt like I had a chance to finish it that I might not have in another five years.
I was always interested in viruses – kind of funny now that we’re in the middle of a viral pandemic — I thought it was fascinating the way they work. So my research was largely computational. Human cells have micro-RNA that was just discovered in the last 15 years, sort of like on-off switches for genes. The next thing is to determine if they exist in viruses, and it looks like some do and some don’t and with HIV it’s kind of a maybe – so I was investigating that. There are some real parallels with coronavirus, how the molecular interactions work. I’d like [that research] to continue on a project level; I don’t think I have time for another career, but I think there’s a way to author some papers here and there. Maybe after the punk rock record!
Do you feel like it’s ultimately helped the longevity of the Offspring that the Offspring has never been your entire life?
I think so. I mean, people ask what’s the secret of having a long-running band, and I think it’s knowing how to take breaks – just getting away from each other. When you tour, you’re together nonstop, and as much as I love the guys, you need to have your own thing. There’s so much cool stuff out there — I want to do it all.