THE OFFSPRING has fired back at bassist Gregory "Greg K." Kriesel after he sued the remaining bandmembers for allegedly pushing him out of the group without fair compensation.

Kriesel, who hasn't performed with THE OFFSPRING for several months, filed a federal lawsuit in June against two of his former bandmates — vocalist/guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland and guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman — alleging trademark infringement and breach of partnership agreement over the rights to THE OFFSPRING name.

In his lawsuit, Kriesel claims that Holland and Wasserman "devised a scheme, and entered into a conspiracy with each other" last October to "seize the business, business opportunities, and assets" of their 32-year-old partnership agreement "in disregard for and in derogation of the rights, privileges, and authority of Kriesel as an equal, general partner"; "divest Kriesel of his partnership interests and rights, without fair compensation; and "deny Kriesel's continued status as a general partner of the Partnership." Kriesel goes on to say that he was informed by Holland and Wasserman last November that he was "no longer entitled to participate in any activities of the band, including (but not limited to) studio recordings and concert tours."

In response, Holland and Wasserman have filed a cross-complaint, denying basically everything Kriesel has alleged and asking the court to appoint 'three disinterested appraisers to appraise the fair value" of Kriesel's shares of THE OFFSPRING.

According to Forbes, their cross-complain reads: "Setting aside the obvious legal arguments that there could be no such thing as an oral, permanent partnership, or a partnership which required two people to perform in perpetuity, or indeed that anybody could be compelled to perform music publicly with anybody else for a single performance no less for an endless string of performances, Kriesel's arguments have no basis in fact."

In the filing, Holland and Wasserman claim that they asked Kriesel to leave the band on November 1, 2018 and then "attempted to negotiate in good faith" with him to buy his Offspring, Inc. shares and give him his portion of the band's assets, consisting of their trademark and certain royalties. Kriesel eventually terminated the negotiations and sued.

During his absence from touring, Greg was initially replaced by NO DOUBT bassist Tony Kanal. Currently filling in for him is H2O guitarist Todd Morse.

Greg, Dexter and Noodles have appeared on all of THE OFFSPRING's albums so far.

It is not presently clear if Kriesel played bass on the band's upcoming tenth studio LP, which is expected in late 2019 or early 2020.

Thanks: Dying Scene