NOFX

If there’s been one constant in NOFX’s twenty-five year career, it’s been their quest to innovate, whether that means writing the world’s most prolific punk song (“The Decline”), playing shows in some of the most dangerous locales in the world (as evidenced in their Fuse TV series Backstage Passport) or tackling subject matter that will make you laugh, cry and critically think—often within the confines of the same song. Continually bucking convention and invariably doing things their own way, NOFX are once again defying the norm. Recently, when the band recorded their latest full-length, Coaster, they ended up with five too many songs to fit on the album. Instead of embracing the traditional approach of releasing the extra songs as a teaser in order to promote their then upcoming full-length, NOFX opted to save five of the best songs from the session and release them months later as an ep titled Cokie the Clown. Cokie the Clown is sort of the crème brulee to the filet mignon that is Coaster; an irre–sistibly tempting and equally satisfying final course. The songs on Cokie are everything that loyal fans have come to expect and crave, with fast riffs, catchy melodies, and thought provoking lyrics. And, to further increase the collectability of Cokie the Clown, NOFX de–cided to do a vinyl version of the songs by way of two separate 7”s, the first sharing the same name as the cd and the second titled My Orphan Year (vinyl nerds, steady yourselves!). It pretty much goes without saying that this ep will be gobbled up by the thousands of adoring NOFX fans.

When you consider what Mike has been through since the band released Wolves In Wolves’ Clothing in 2006, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of NOFX’s lyrical content is bleak—a fact that’s evidenced on the band’s most personal song to date, “My Orphan Year,” which is about the passing of both of his parents in 2006. “Once I had a kid I realized that you have to give your child a lot of attention if you want to be a parent, so when my dad asked me to come see him on his death bed I just said no, where were you when I was a kid” he explains when asked about the song’s content. “Alternately, I was with my mom for the whole month that she died 24 hours a day,” he continues, adding that many people have cried the first time they’ve heard the track. “I know a lot of people who have had similar experiences, so it’s really amazing to be able to evoke that kind of emotion from people.”

While the world may not be a perfect place, NOFX have always made the best of it, which is evidenced in their successful TV series that aired last year on Fuse TV. “Backstage Passport wasn’t like ‘Let’s do a TV show,’ it was like, ‘Let’s show people how much fun we have on tour because we don’t know any other band that does,’” Mike explains. “It isn’t showing four guys just bitching about how hard it is to be on the road and how they miss their family, but about how much fun we’re having in crazy situations,” he continues. “We tour with a lot of bands and it always seems like we’re having the best time of our lives, no matter what goes wrong or right at the gigs.”

After famously refusing to make videos and give interviews for a majority of their career, both Backstage Passport, Coaster and Cokie The Clown are insightful glimpses into the inner workings of one of punk’s most iconic and guarded bands—and whether you’re new to NOFX or have followed their rise to unlikely cult superstardom over the past two decades, these releases also show that punk’s most irresponsible band can actually mature, sort of. “I wrote a song about my parents dying and then I cry in Israel on TV,” Mike summarizes when asked to condense the past few years into one sentence. “I think this year you definitely get to see the inside of NOFX instead of the goofy exterior,” Mike acknowledges,“and people seem to enjoy it”