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NOFX is a pioneering American skate punk band formed during 1983 in California. The band is known as one of the most popular in the skate punk genre and has influenced much of the Warped Tour Californian pop punk scene of the 1990s and early 2000s.

The original lineup included singer/bassist Fat Mike (Mike Burkett), drummer Erik Sandin, and guitarist Eric Melvin. Since 1991 (and after several line-up changes) El Hefe (Aaron Abeyta) has played second guitar and trumpet. The band's sound is diverse, utilizing elements of melodic hardcore, skate punk, ska, and many other music genres. Their lyrics generally satirize issues such as politics, society, various subcultures, racism, the music industry, and religion.

NOFX has released 10 studio full lengths, 15 EPs, and many 7" singles. The group has sold over 6 million records worldwide, and are one of the most successful independent label bands of all time .

Career

NOFX's first recording was a demo from 1983, produced by Germs drummer Don Bolles, which did not sell any copies. They released their self-titled debut EP NOFX on Mystic Records in 1985, which was later re-released in 1992 as part of the Maximum RocknRoll CD. For a year, Erik Sandin left the band and was replaced by Scott Sellers, then Scott Aldahl. Dave Allen was in the band for about four months, until he died in a car accident. In 1986, the band released "So What if We're on Mystic!", Dave Casillas joined the band on second guitar in 1987 and was featured on the EP The P.M.R.C. Can Suck on This!, attacking the PMRC's call for censorship of music. The original cover was an edited S&M photo, but the re-released version was changed to a photo of Eric Melvin.

Dave then left the band and was replaced by Steve Kidwiller (AKA Steve the Caucasian). They recorded Liberal Animation in 1988 (before Dave was replaced by Steve) with Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion. Although the title and some lyrics mocked vegetarianism and animal rights, Fat Mike says that he became a vegetarian, after he wrote the Liberal Animation album. The album was re-released in 1991 on Gurewitz's label Epitaph Records. NOFX had signed to Epitaph by 1989, releasing their second album S&M Airlines. 1990 saw the release of Ribbed. By 1991, there had been a lot of changes to the band lineup. However, the original three members had reunited and Aaron Abeyta (aka El Hefe) joined to round out the group. White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean was released in 1992, which originally had the title White Trash, Two Kikes, and a Spic. The original title was changed because Eric Melvin's grandmother was upset about the racial epithets.

It was not until the 1994 release of Punk in Drublic that the band had a commercial breakthrough, with the album going gold. In the same year, pop punk entered the mainstream with the success of The Offspring's Smash and Green Day's Dookie. Punk in Drublic was followed by 1996's slower Heavy Petting Zoo and 1997's So Long and Thanks For All the Shoes, a return to faster punk, as exemplified by the frenetic opening track, "It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite." In 1999, the band released The Decline, a fiery and cynical social commentary.

In 2003, NOFX released War on Errorism, an album of political songs. It became the start of their anti-George W. Bush campaign, and a rallying point for leftist punks. Fat Mike organized the website Punkvoter.com, compiled two chart-topping Rock Against Bush CDs, and kicked off a Rock Against Bush United States tour. The band has released many EPs (e.g. Fuck the Kids, The Longest Line) on Fat Mike's own label Fat Wreck Chords. In February 2005, they launched the NOFX 7" of the Month Club, a subscription-based service which saw the release of one new EP almost monthly, from February 2005 to March 2006 (a total of 12 releases). The cover art for these EPs were chosen from fan-submitted entries. The first 3000 subscribers to the club received all of their records on colored vinyl. Fat Wreck Chords later released full sets of the EPs.

On March 14, 2006, an EP entitled Never Trust a Hippy was released. The EP was followed on April 18 by the album Wolves in Wolves' Clothing. On September 12, 2006, the video game EA Sports NHL07 was released, featuring Wolves in Wolves' Clothing on its soundtrack produced by Bill Stevenson and Fat Mike.

In January 2007, the band recorded two nights of shows in San Francisco, California for an upcoming live album - entitled They've Actually Gotten Worse Live - that is set for a November 2007 release. The live album is described on the press release as "their sloppiest, drunkest, funnest, best sounding recording ever ... and they even made sure not to play any songs off their 1995 live album I Heard They Suck Live."

On July 10, 2007, NOFX announced a world tour including concerts in Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa) in September 2007.

Relationship with the media

For "quite a few years" they have consented to very few interviews and have only made a few music videos, citing the fact that they don't need any more exposure and that people were exploiting them as reasons for these decisions.. Fat Mike did an interview for Guitar World in 2003, giving his opinions on the pop punk bands rising at the time. Fat Mike was interviewed by Australian radio station Triple J in 2004, and in February 2007 by Triple J hosts Jay and the Doctor, who have performed shows with NOFX as members of the band Frenzal Rhomb. An extensive, nearly 20-page interview was done for a 2003 issue of AMP Magazine. Fat Mike did an interview with the punk magazine Big Cheese, discussing S&M, his wife, pop punk bands and NOFX's music. He was also interviewed in the November 2006 issue of Thrasher Skateboard Magazine. The band also has denied permission to allow their music videos to be played on MTV, VH1, and similar music channels, though they made a live appearance on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2004. The credits on the album Heavy Petting Zoo calls on MTV, along with major labels, to quit harassing them and playing their music.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

EPs

Singles

Splits

Compilations

Videos

See Also

• Idiot Son of an Asshole

References

1. ^ Rhapsody.com - Top Skate Punk Bands
2. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984879-2,00.html
3. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/bio/0,,473754,00.html#bio
4. http://fatwreck.com/band/index/6
5. http://www.nofx.org/oldint/flipside97.html
6. http://www.nofx.org/oldint/flipside97.html
7. http://fatwreck.com/band/index/6
8. http://www.nofxofficialwebsite.com/qa/qa.html
9. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/wilco/articles/story/6416250/wilco_modest_mouse_on_tv

External links

• NOFX Official Website
• NOFX Wiki
• NOFX Online Website
• Warped Tour 2006- NOFX
• NOFX Gigs and tours
• NOFX Polish Website
• NOFX Lyrics
• NOFX year-by-year history
• Flipside Interview - NOFX interview from 1997
• Transform Online interview - interview from 2005
• Official MySpace Page

Template:Link FA

• Musical groups established in 1983
• Epitaph Records artists
• Fat Wreck Chords groups
• Later punk groups
• California musical groups