NOFX

GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2022 ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ‘๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐’ + ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฌ
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ‘๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐’ + ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐: ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง | ๐๐จ๐ฃ๐ข๐ซ๐ | ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐ง | ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ | ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐…… ๐๐๐!๐ | ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ | ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ | ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฒ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฌ | ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฒ | ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐๐ง | ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ‘๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐’ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ | ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ | ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐จ๐ค | ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ | ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ข๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ | ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ | ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐ซ | ๐๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ
Nearly 40 years in, what else is there to say aboutย NOFX?
And aside from the occasional negative headline, how can one of the pioneers of SoCal punk — a style hardly known for experimentation — surprise anyone these days?
The answers lie on Single Album (Fat Wreck Chords, Feb. 26),ย NOFX’sย 14th full-length studio album.
There’s the nearly six-minute post-hardcore opener (“The Big Drag”). The meta sendoff for the band’s best-known song (“Linewleum”). The reggaeinflected song about a mass shooting (“Fish in a Gun Barrel”). Even a piano ballad (“Your Last Resort”).
It is, as frontman and bassist Fat Mike repeatedly describes, “a dark album.” That wasn’t the original intent. By early 2020,ย NOFXย — which includes guitarist El Hefe, guitarist Eric Melvin, and drummer Smelly — had written and recorded enough songs for a planned double album to be released that fall. Like so much about 2020, those plans changed.
“When you write a double album, you write differently,” Mike says. “I was writing really different songs, and some fun songs, but you have to make a double album interesting enough to listen to the whole way. I wanted to make a perfect double album, and I didn’t accomplish that. So I decided to just make a single album, hence the title.”
Recorded at Motor Studios in San Francisco with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore (Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Teenage Bottlerocket), Single Album pares down the roughly 23 songsย NOFXย tracked. “I just kept adding songs,” Mike says. “I was maybe a little out of my mind.” How so? “I was pretty high on drugs that year,” he adds. While fans may wonder what else is new, Single Album casts the frontman’s habits in a surprisingly harsh light. While “Grieve Soto” eulogizes beloved Adolescents founder Steve Soto, it takes a meta turn when Eric Melvin warns Mike to be “cautious, more respectful, less obnoxious.” “Birmingham” has what people in recovery call “a moment of clarity,” when he realized he was an addict.
“That was a clarity moment in my life when I was by myself, and the sun’s coming up, and I’m scraping cocaine off the floor, like, ‘Eww, gross. I shouldn’t be doing this,'” Mike says. “So what did I do? I ordered more.” After being hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer — a terrifying experience that caused him to vomit blood — Mike entered rehab in fall 2020. He promptly wrote another new album while there and has been sober since.
Unsurprisingly, Single Album represents his most personal work to date. Heartbreak permeates “I Love You More Than I Hate Me” and “Your Last Resort.” “Fuck Euphemism” dives into Mike’s sexuality for a “pronoun bar fight.” “Doors and Fours” is a grim look into the early ’80s LA punk scene, when dozens of people — many of them Mike’s friends — overdosed on a prescription drug combo. “The Big Drag” is a personal vow to make the most of life, even when it undeniably sucks. “It’s one of my favoriteย NOFXย songs ever. I don’t get sick of listening to that song,” Mike says of “The Big Drag.” “No measure is the same length. Every time a new chord change happens, there’s a different rhythm to the guitar. The bass never stays on one note. You’re not sure when the chords are going to change because they always change at a different point.”
In other words, it’s unpredictable — just likeย NOFX. Turns out there is a lot to say about them, even after all this time.