Next Friday, Dec 2, iconic punk rock band NOFX release their new album Double Album via Fat Wreck Chords.
The band will also be in Australia on album release day as one of the headline acts on Good Things Festival.
Reuniting with punk-rock legends Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore for producer/engineering duties, it’s not hyperbolic to say NOFX are making their best music now. But that’s not to imply everything else they’ve done was crap, either. But Double Album reminds both ardent fans and casual listeners that NOFX weren’t born to follow trends. Indeed, NOFX—Fat Mike, guitarists Eric Melvin and El Hefe, and drummer “Smelly” Eric Sandin—have carved their logo into the veneer of punk-rock culture for decades. With nearly 40 years in this circus, you’ll meet people and do/see/conspire to get all the wildest shit done. Remember how one of the stipulations of the NOFX book Hepatitis Bathtub was that none of the band members could see what the other ones were writing about them? Well, this time, Mike got permission to blow up the foibles and peccadilloes of people in song for maximum velocity and hilarity.
At this point in your career, why do a double album?
“I wish I knew,” the fat one offers, almost confounded why anyone would ever ask him that question in the first place. “OK. I mean, we have a lot of records. I’m not sure how many, let’s call it 15 with 10 more EPs and 65 7″s. I wanted to do a double album cuz there are no good ones out there. Pink Floyd’s The Wall is about it. Quadrophenia is OK, I guess, if you’re a Who fan. Definitely not [The Beatles’] White Album. I don’t think anybody else has made good double albums. Certainly not Husker Du, Minutemen, or Smashing Pumpkins.
“I really like Single Album a lot, but the songs on Double Album aren’t quite up to scratch. All these songs were recorded at the same time, except this one was finished two years later. I think it’s a very enjoyable album, and maybe our funniest. I think it is what a lot of our fans will want to hear and it’s a great side three and four for a double album. I accomplished my goal of making a solid double-album, but it just took a lot longer than I expected.”
