“Dear Friends / I’m about to become so f-cking boring,” Todd Morse sings at the start of “Everything Good (Is Bad For Me),” the new song from the H20 founding member and current bassist for The Offspring. The punk rock confessional, re-released via Manic Kat records, sees Todd struggling with the “temptation” to fall back into old habits after committing to “trying to live.” Todd later addresses those same friends, asking, “what are we going to do when the party ends? / Tell me because / I’m trying to live.”
“After years of partying, ‘Everything Fun’ is about figuring out how to still have a great time without doing things that you know are bad for your health and mindset,” Todd shares with HollywoodLife. The song is an energetic punk bop for those who have gone through similar circumstances (or a way for those “friends” to understand what people like Todd are going through.) With caffeinated production and charming lyrics, the song is a burst of joy despite its dour realization.
Helping to launch H20 in the early 1990s with brother Toby Morse, Todd became a fixture in the New York hardcore scene playing with the group and bands Juliette and the Licks and Operation M.D. He remained a full-time member of the group until 2015. Todd joined The Offspring as their bassist in 2019. That same year, he released Late Bloomer, his debut solo album. Taking inspiration from the bands that inspired him to get into music in the first place – The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty – the album was a love letter to his past while a bold direction for his future.
“I finally felt that I had grown enough as a songwriter, and I should put more of my focus into that,” Todd told The Hollywood Digest in 2019. “Because most of my influences are some of the most legendary musicians of all time, I held my writing to a very high standard when deciding if a song was great or just okay. I also had spent a number of years performing covers, and that was like going to songwriting college. Turns out. The Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and many others spent the early parts of their careers playing covers, and I was pretty inspired when I learning that.”
Expect more fun from Todd; new music from his would definitely be a good thing.