March's Featured Artist of the Month - NOFX - Page 2

Despite multiple pursuits by major record labels, the band has stayed true to their punk mentality and strayed from signing to any major labels. After helping mold fledgling Epitaph Records into the monolith it is today, the band left Epitaph for NOFX frontman Fat Mike’s label, Fat Wreck Chords.

The band has gone through a myriad of member changes throughout the years. In 1983 the band consisted of Mike Burkett (Fat Mike), Eric Melvin, and drummer Erik Sandin (a.k.a. Erik Ghint/Erik Shun). By 1985, Sandin had quit the band and Scott Sellers had taken his place. Now pay close attention: Sellers then quit the band, was replaced by Scott Aldahl for two weeks, and then Sandin rejoined the band. In 1986, Dave Allen joined the band as a vocalist but regrettably was involved in a fatal car accident later that year. The close of 1986 brought a very meticulous touring schedule for the band which prompted the addition of second guitarist, Dave Casillas. Casillas left the group in ’89 and was replaced by Steve Kidwiller. After appearing on NOFX’s first full-length, and two subsequent albums, Kidwiller left the band in 1991 and Aaron “El Hefe” Abeyta joined the band to create NOFX as we know them today.

While reading through the press bio, given to me by Fat Wreck Chords, I stumbled upon this gem at the close of the letter. It is an email written by frontman Fat Mike in response to his label’s pressing for him to write a biography. I feel it is a great synopsis/supplement to what you have already read. Here it is in its entirety:

Being in NOFX is easy. There’s nothing easier than being an alcoholic in a punk rock band. We didn’t start out being alcoholics, but we’re definitely gonna finish that way. It all started in the winter of 83. We we’re all 16 and had no idea how to play musical instruments. Lucky for us we wanted to play punk, therefore you didn’t need to know how to do anything. So Melvin, Smelly, and I start writing songs and playing shows in Hollywood. After about a year we start touring the US without even a 7" out. All we had was a demo. We played places like CBGB’s, The Mabuhay Gardens, Blondies, and the Anthrax. No one liked us, but that was OK cuz we we’re having a hell of a good time. So we start recording songs, but none of them we’re good, and we kept on touring, but no one liked us. Years go by. The year was 1989 when we wrote our first good song, “S&M Airlines”. Brett from Bad Religion heard it and signed us to Epitaph records. Then we made the S&M Airlines LP. It was weird, we made a good record and people actually started to like us. Before 89, we had never made more than 200 dollars at a show(lucky to make 100). From there on out things got better. 10 records, and about 15 world tours later, we’re still here, and happier now than ever. Now we can afford the best drugs and booze, and we get comped on tons of great golf courses all over the country. We don’t make videos, we don’t do interviews, and we only play shows in warm months, (good golf weather). We even got a gold record a few years ago. Cool. It never even charted once, but it went gold anyway. So there it is. NOFX, a hella happy punk band. Now if we could only get that asshole out of the white house, everything would be great.

Oh yeah. In 91 we got a second guitarist in the band. His name is El Hefe and he was in “ The Bad News Bears” when he was 12. He played Miguel. See ya.

Fat Mike

NOFX will be releasing an EP titled Never Trust A Hippie, in March and a full length titled Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing coming in April. They also will be making a stint with the Van’s Warped Tour this upcoming summer. In the coming month: I will review NOFX’s EP, their concert with the Lawrence Arms, and showcase my interview with Fat Mike. Make sure you check back for all these features, especially the interview.

Article Author: Ryan Seay

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