Noodles | |
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Noodles performing live with The Offspring at the Mucuripe Club in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil with his signature Ibanez guitar, the NDM2, on November 15, 2008. His t-shirt is of Happy Noodle Boy.
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Background information | |
Birth name | Kevin John Wasserman |
Born | February 4, 1963 |
Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Genres |
Punk rock Skate punk Alternative rock |
Occupation(s) | Guitarist, musician |
Instruments | Guitar, bass backing vocals |
Years active | 1982–present |
Labels |
Nitro Records Epitaph Records Sony BMG Music Entertainment Columbia Records Black Label Records |
Associated acts | Clowns of Death, Manic Subsidal, The Offspring |
Website | www.offspring.com |
Notable instruments | |
Custom Ibanez Talmans, NDM1s, NDM2s, NDM3s and NDM4s |
Kevin John Wasserman (born February 4, 1963), best known by his stage name Noodles, is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for The Offspring.
Kevin John "Noodles" Wasserman was born in Los Angeles, California. Before joining The Offspring, Noodles played in a local band called Clowns of Death. He was allegedly in The Offspring because he was the only person old enough to provide alcohol for the rest of the members. At one of the band's earlier shows, he was stabbed in the shoulder by a skinhead.
During the band's early days, Noodles worked as a janitor at Earl Warren Elementary School in Garden Grove. Before Smash was released, he had been planning to quit before the end of the school year, but the surprising success of "Come Out and Play" forced him to reconsider.
On their DVD release Huck It (2000), as part of a mock interview, Noodles claims to like the "finer things in life", such as red wine, classical music, cigarettes, and poetry. He occasionally goes snowmobiling and snowboarding.
Noodles generally plays Ibanez guitars, and he has three signature models, each of which is a Talman. One is the NDM1 (NDM1 means that it is the first model in the 'Noodles Model series', which is named after him), which has a duct tape finish. Another is the NDM2, which has The Offspring's logo with glasses. His third signature guitar, the NDM3, has P90 pickups. His latest signature guitar is the NDM4. It also has P90 pickups and has a sunburst effect on it. He prefers DiMarzio Tone Zone pickups.
In the early days of The Offspring, he played a wider range of guitars, including Fender Telecasters, Ibanez Talmans and Gibson Les Pauls. He also owns other guitar models, such as Paul Reed Smith guitars, a and other Fender models, Jackson guitars, and Gibson guitars. In an interview on The Offspring's Complete Music Video Collection, Noodles said that he gave his Stratocaster to one of the actors that appeared on the video for their 1994 single "Self Esteem".