Offspring Adds 5 December Dates In Pacific Northwest And Canada

Power-chord punkers the Offspring plan to cruise back into North America for five December shows after they return from a November tour of Brazil.

New shows include Canadian dates in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, and U.S. dates in Seattle and Portland. Tickets for the Canadian and Seattle shows go on sale on Oct. 30, and tickets for the Portland show at Roseland hit the outlets on Nov. 6. Web surfers can score early tickets for the Seattle show through the Offspring's website.

The Vandals and Jughead's Revenge will open.

Fans can also catch the Offspring on the MTV Europe Awards, broadcast from Dublin on Nov. 11. The band will play ''The Kid's Aren't Alright'' from their album ''Americana'' (Columbia) and compete for the Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album awards. Viewers can vote by phone or through the Net.

Though the band was criticized for leaving their original label Epitaph in 1997, recent entries in guitarist Kevin ''Noodles'' Wasserman's road journal indicate the band still has a trash 'em/thrash 'em spirit. The band recently played two shows in Tokyo in a hall where Wasserman said they usually hold Sumo wrestling matches.

''On the first night,'' he wrote, ''we got into a little trouble when [vocalist] Dexter [Holland] hosed down some stuff he wasn't supposed to with the water cannon. They told us we weren't allowed to use it the second night. We did it anyway and it all worked out. Nothing got wrecked, no one got hurt, and the owner of the hall didn't try to have us arrested. We appreciated that. Both those shows went really well and the audience went nuts the whole time.''

Vocalist Holland also pulled a hotel room escapade before a show in Nagoya. He borrowed the room of the band's stage soundman, charging an $80 bottle of Jack Daniels to the room and rearranging the furniture. According to Wasserman, ''The walls were graffitied, and trash was strewn throughout. Porn was ordered and left on the TV and the mattress was left up against the entry way. Dexter replaced the sanitary ring back on the toilet only after depositing a nice little present in it. Finally, Dexter put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and came down to the show.''

This reporter doubts that the hotel cleaning service will vote for the band on the MTV awards.