If you know anything about punk rock music, the band NOFX should at least be in your top 10 or 20 favorite punk bands. This doesn’t go for everyone, but most punk rockers love NOFX because of their hardcore attitude and fast paced punk. However they have a different sound compared to a lot of punk bands because of front man Fat Mike’s charisma. For someone wanting to start out a good collection of punk rock albums, you must pick up some NOFX albums because they are legends of punk rock. NOFX was once considered punk rock royalty to the underground punk scene. They have made their band last for 15 years.
The best way to describe NOFX in my own words is a bratty political punk sound that has fun lyrics, that you can party to and have a great time jamming out. The band over the course of 15 years has not really changed their sound that is a speedy, hooky sound that has been the same formula. The early sound of NOFX was just fun and hilarious songs, but later in their career the lyrics became more political and strong enough to put them on top. The lead singer named Fat Mike is one of the best front men you could ever want for your punk rock band. He is a very charismatic, while being controversial and full of hilarious sarcasm.
NOFX – Background and The Beginning of NOFX
NOFX was formed in the city of Berkley, CA, in the early 80’s, but then eventually they all relocated to Los Angeles. The original NOFX band only consisted of three members in their early years. There was only Fat Mike, Mike Burkett, and Eric Melvin. NOFX has a very unique sound and many people would classify them as some ska, rock, hardcore, punk rock, pop-punk, and others.
They got their band’s name from this old Boston hardcore band named Negative FX and they had just previously split up. So then Mike and Eric decided that the name “No FX” was a cool and unique name for their band. In the beginning Eric Melvin decided to start a band with one of his friends in 1983. They picked up Fat Mike or Mike Burkett, after getting him to leave his old band named False Alarm. Soon after the band started practicing and trying to get going, Eric Melvin’s friend decided to quit the band. Fat Mike knew a drummer named “Smelly” or Erik Sandin, he had met skateboarding in Hollywood. Erik was in a band at the time called Caustic Cause and he just meant for NOFX to be a side project in his career. They also came across a guitarist named Dillon that would soon quit after practicing with the band. He supposedly quit because the rest of the band played the first show without him there.
NOFX – Why NOFX is Underground!
During their career, NOFX made a point to stay out of all mainstream media. This was against everything NOFX stood for and they wanted to keep themselves as a underground punk band. They would rather have people never hear of them, rather than selling out and becoming commercialized. To keep their underground reputation they would not partake in interviews and didn’t make very many music videos. NOFX will absolutely not give any permission to any mainstream channels to broadcast any of their music, such as MTV or VH1. They promote their band through different underground punk connections, like promoting themselves through other underground punk bands. NOFX has always made a point to never sell out and exploit their movies.
NOFX has usually always had political lyrics that show their view on our world. They became very popular with the “War on Errorism” album that was aimed at the anti George Bush following. They were saying he was the worst president ever before everyone else thought that, until about 7 years later. Fat Mike of NOFX has always been quite politically active in his career, by being involved in many various political projects throughout the years. NOFX was aimed at informing the younger generation to be heard and to become political. Educating youth on why they need to vote and become involved, to younger people that would probably never vote because they feel let down by the system. NOFX has always been a political band by putting politics in a manner youth can understand.
NOFX – Early Days and Different Band Members
After NOFX started playing more and more shows, they soon recorded their first demo with the help of a drummer named Don Bolles, who was in the band called The Germs. The funny story about them recording their demo with Don Bolles, was that he agreed to record a demo with NOFX if they put a full tank of gas in his car. NOFX mostly played in California at many garage parties and college keg parties. Most of the time the guys would play for no money or beer, then either sleep at the house where the party was or sleep in their tour car. Then in 1985, Erik Sandin (“Smelly”) would quit the band because he was planning on moving to Santa Barbra. NOFX would then replace Smelly with Scott Sellers. Then in 1986, Dave Allen would join NOFX as their second guitarist and a vocalist. However, only 2 months after joining up with NOFX, Dave Allen tragically died in a car accident. This tragedy would put NOFX on hold for a while. Soon after Fat Mike started going to college in San Francisco, while Eric Melvin started attending a city college in Santa Barbra. During this transition Scott Sellers would quit NOFX and Eric Melvin would later convince Erik Sandin to rejoin the band as the drummer. Then they made another addition to the band by bringing on Dave Casillas to play guitar. This would put NOFX back to having 4 members again. After they had a stable 4 piece band, they started touring all over America and then even touring in Europe.
NOFX – Albums Released By NOFX – Discography
The first music label that NOFX was signed under was Mystic Records since 1985. After a few years of frequently getting scammed by Doug Moody, which was the owner of Mystic Records, NOFX soon decided they were going to leave this label. They then created their own record label, Collosal Wassail Records. This would give NOFX much more freedom to make the kind of music that they wanted to, while be able to make a living off their music without being ripped off. This would later probably been a good decision on their part to break off the normal cliché music labels and do it all on their own. In 1987, they released “The PMRC Can Suck On This” 7″, which was under their own record label. During the next they released their first LP, called “Liberal Animation.” This also came along with a 7″ that was split with a band called Drowning Roses. This 7″ bonus disc was included with the “Liberal Animation” LP and it was called “Collosal Wassail.” These first few releases were messy and not very good in other words. NOFX in the 80’s released a handful of EPs with their label and Mystic Records, then later finding a place at Epitaph for a while.
In 1989, Dave Casillas decided to leave NOFX and now they would sign on Steve Kidwiller to be second guitarist. They recorded “S&M; Airlines” shortly after guitarist Steve Kidwiller was added to the band. After the release of this, they began to tour all over Canada and the U.S. They would soon go back to Europe and they were frustrated for playing for little money. They recorded “S&M; Airlines” under Epitaph Records and were the second band to join the label, just below Bad Religion. Next NOFX released “Ribbed” in 1991 while still with Epitaph. After this was released in 1991, Fat Mike was in San Francisco beginning to create his new record label, “Fat Wreck Chords.” More problems start coming within the band and Steve Kidwiller decided to leave NOFX, because he wasn’t sure the band was heading in a good direction. He didn’t want to work with NOFX because it was said that the members were heavy drinkers and a member was on heroin. The band has never come out and said which member was addicted to heroin, but most fans say it was Smelly or Erik Sandin. This theory came from reports of him going to a rehab facility but then he luckily never drank or done any drugs since then. So with Erik Sandin out of the band, NOFX would sign El Hefe or Aaron Abeyta to take Sandin’s place in the band. He was a guitarist that originally came from the Mark Curry Band, also known as Crystal Sphere. Soon after he joined NOFX they came out with the album entitled “White Trash, Two Heebs, And a Bean” which was released in 1992. The original title was actually called “White Trash, Two Kikes, And a Spic,” but Eric Melvin’s grandma was very upset with the title and NOFX changed it.
Then in 1994, NOFX released the album “Punk in Drublic” which launched the band to a well known status in the Punk world. This album was their breakthrough album that developed into a huge following and the album went gold. It’s pretty awesome for a band to go gold and never have any music videos or radio airplay for the album. Right around this time era, most punk fans would say that punk music was entering the mainstream. Bands like Offspring and Green Day started becoming commercialized and very popular with everyone. NOFX is such an awesome band to see live because they have such a fun show and all of the fans are dedicated NOFX followers. I think they are so much better live than on the studio releases. Being a veteran band they know how to get the crowd to feel like their apart of the show.
Then in 1996 “Heavy Petting Zoo” was released and it really wasn’t there most popular album with NOFX fans. The band seemed to experiment with some different sounds or melodies in songs and fans didn’t really want the music any different. The next album was “So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes” which was a much faster paced album, which in turn was greatly accepted by the punk fans of NOFX. It was rumored to be NOFX’s last album which made many fans disappointed, but this wasn’t true.
Starting the new millennium and nearly 2 decades under their belt, NOFX released “Pump Up the Valuum” in 2000. This was a popular album for the fans, but most people thought the album lacked just a little something. That would be the end of their albums with Epitaph Records. Then in 2003, they released “War on Errorism,” which was a great album. This album would be their anti-George Bush campaign that reached out to a broader audience for them. This would lead to Fat Mike organizing a website called Punkvoter.com. Since 2000, NOFX has released a handful of EPs on Fat Wreck Chords, which was Fat Mike’s record label. They ran contest online a few years ago that let fans submit pictures for their EP covers. Then in 2006, NOFX released “Wolves in Wolves Clothing” which is my favorite NOFX album. The songs contain great lyrics, along with fast songs to make it a great album. NOFX is such a great band and have been taking it easy the last few years. They might be working on something in the near future. I can see them jamming out new albums for more than 3 decades. They are definitely pioneers and a great part of punk music whether you like them or not.
