BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - November 2016

noFX
the agony of victory and going to work wasted
SARAH MAC
Hailing from Los Angeles, California,
NOFX are legends of their own genre.
Back in 1983, Fat Mike (Burkett), lead
vocalist and bassist, along with guitarist
Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin
(or Smelly, as he’s lovingly adorned)
banded together to form NOFX. After
a few tours and many failed attempts at
a fourth member and second guitarist,
Aaron Abeyta, or El Hefe as he’s been
dubbed, joined the band in 1991. The
four have remained together since and
wreaked havoc in every country and city
allowing them entry.
Throughout their 33-year
career, NOFX have released 13 fulllength
studio albums, four full-length
compilation albums, one split fulllength
record, two live albums, two
DVDs, and a plethora of EPs, singles and
7-inches.
In 2016 NOFX had two major
releases; their first book, The Hepatitis
Bathtub and Other Stories, which
debuted back in April, and in October
their 13th full-length album First Ditch
Effort dropped. Both the book and
the album gave fans a glimpse into the
band’s personal life, the history, the
antics, and the heartbreak.
Their list of accomplishments is
miles long, but NOFX isn’t slowing down.
So we chatted with Fat Mike to reflect on
this past year and the tour ahead.
“Well you know, First Ditch Effort
was the longest we’ve ever taken
between albums, it’s been four years
since our last. We didn’t want to rush
it and I wanted to do an album where I
could just relax and take my time. Since
I usually just write what I’m feeling,
the book opened up a lot of doors for
me and made me feel comfortable
talking about my deepest thoughts and
secrets,” he says.
“It turned out the way I wanted it
to, though. There were six songs that
didn’t end up going on First Ditch. They
were more ‘fun’ punk rock songs and
the album felt like it was supposed to
be more sad and somber. But the LP
version is a lot different, there’s at least
five songs on there that are different.
And check out the lyrics for ‘Generation
Z’ on the lyrics sheet cause they’re a lot
darker than what’s recorded.”
Although Burkett’s dark depiction
is accurate, NOFX always manages to
lighten the mood. Songs like “Six Years
on Dope” and “Sid and Nancy” are a
familiar style known to earlier NOFX
tunes. On the other hand, “I’m So
UlceRaTe
ERIN JARDINE
PHOTO BY JOE LEONARD
Sorry Tony (Sly)” will require a tissue
box for sure.
“The LP version of ‘Tony Sly’ is
much sadder.” He casually adds.
On a lighter note, their book The
Hepatitis Bathtub became a New York
Times bestseller – not bad for a punk
band, right?
“That’s why we did the book tour
and signings every day. You know, you
have to sell nine or ten thousand to make
the bestseller list, and on the book tour we
only sold maybe 1,500 books in a week,”
he recalls.
a steadfast hold on creation and identity
Few bands have carved such a solid
musical trajectory for themselves as
Ulcerate. A three piece, with drums, guitar,
and bass, their recorded sounds definitely
sound like a lot more than that. “Channelsplitting
and looping [are] only utilised live
so that we can pull off the sheer amount
of counterpoint material, and deliver a truly
huge sound,” explains drummer Jamie
Saint Marat. A stand out element on
the record is the formidable drumming
of Saint Marat who formed the band in
2000 with guitarist Michael Hoggard.
16 years is a long time for any
band to be hammering away, during
that time there has been a large
flux of music creation. “Metal to
me is continually splintering into
a thousand different directions.
We just write the death metal we’d
like to hear. We started the band as
teenagers and have always tread the
path of staying true to ourselves and
not paying a lot of attention to any
“So we were pleasantly surprised
that we did make the list, but we would’ve
been really bummed if we didn’t. We knew
it was a good book, but we didn’t know how
well it would sell,” Mike explains.
“But that’s what is nice about books,
it’s like putting out a good record in the
‘90s, it’s going to sell for 20 years. You put
out a record these days, you only have a
few months and then it becomes part
of Spotify or Pandora. But a book, even
though they’re on the Internet, people still
like to buy them.”
Let’s get to the tour though. For
those keeping tabs on NOFX, you
know that Fat Mike just finished a
round of detox; many wonder if the
detoxing will have any effect on the
stellar debauchery NOFX have worked
so hard to perfect. So we asked him
and he’d like to clear things up…
“I had 85 days where I was
totally clean, but now I’m drinking
before shows again. I’m just not
taking painkillers anymore. I
did a whole tour in Europe sober,
it was fine but it’s just not as fun.
So I decided I would start drinking
before shows and see how it goes.
And shows were more fun again.
So I’m gonna stick with that for a
while,” he laughs.
“You see, the thing is I play
better when I’m sober. But I had to
ask, what’s more important? How
much fun I have or how well I play?”
We all know the answer to that question…
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”
NOFX plays at the Commodore Ballroom
in Vancouver on November 4 and 5.
circulating trends,” says Saint Marat. This is
a strong value to have, and it shows in their
product. Ulcerate records all of their own
music, but have had, “other people mix
demos and pre-production to get a feel
for how things might sound with outside
influence, but so far we haven’t opted for
that route with album mixes.” Every other
aspect of the recording process is dictated
by the members of the band.
“We use a lot of counterpoint and
melodic interplay which will add to the wall
of sound approach. When broken down into
individual pieces there’s a lot of repeating
motifs,” comments Saint Marat on the
musical structure. “[Hoggard] uses a loop
station combined with signal splitting to
deliver a lot of the counterpoint and overlay
material. Our bass tone is also extremely
prominent in our live mix, and will often take
up the slack in absence of a second guitarist.”
It is clearly a method for success,
New Zealand is rural for metal, and their
unquestionable identity that is adamant in
their music carried their releases overseas.
With multiple North American tours, the
live performance packs on the heavy that
the records promise.
Ulcerate plays at the Astoria Hastings on
November 6.
November 2016 THE SKINNY
13