Longtime drummer had left

On March 16, 2003, it was announced that longtime drummer Ron Welty had left the group in 2003 to play in Steady Ground , a band in which he played drums and co-produced (they broke up in 2007). It was later revealed that Welty was fired on January 3, 2003 by Holland and Noodles “without any prior notice” before recording their seventh album. That same year, the band released their seventh album, Splinter . The Offspring recruited Josh Freese to record the drums for Splinter and later announced that former Rocket from the Crypt drummer Adam “Atom” Willard would be the replacement for Welty. The first single, “Hit That”, had moderate success on MTV. “Hit That” used a variety of electronic samples, different from what the Offspring has done in the past.