NOFX, The Persistent Punks

Though it may come as a shock to some of the band’s fans, especially the younger ones who only recently discovered them, NOFX has been proudly serving the punk rock community for 31 years. Founded in Los Angeles by bassist/vocalist Mike “Fat Mike” Burkett and guitarist Eric Melvin in 1983, and soon after accompanied by drummer Erik “Smelly” Sandin, the band has been blasting out its distinctive brand of humor filled pop punk rock ever since. With only one major change to the band’s line-up, in the form of the addition of Aaron “El Hefe” Abeyta as a second guitarist in 1991, the band has done something few other punk bands ever have; kept the same line-up for nearly 25 years. In addition to enjoying a huge surge in popularity in the ‘90s alongside peers like Green Day and The Offspring, NOFX also set itself apart from many of its contemporaries by refusing to sign to a major record label or have its music videos aired on MTV. This steadfast adherence to DIY attitude and ethos has made the band one of the most successful groups of independent musicians in the history of rock music. To this day, the band continues to independently release its material through Fat Mike’s own label, Fat Wreck Chords, and boasts a level of worldwide popularity that few mainstream pop acts ever reach. Recently, CULTURE was able to catch up with Fat Mike and El Hefe and hear all about NOFX’s current activities as well as their thoughts on recent cannabis legalization initiatives.

NOFX has been around for a little over 30 years and you, El Hefe, have been playing with them for just shy of 25 of them. Is it surreal to think about how long the band has been going strong?

Aaron “El Hefe” Abeyta: Yeah! It’s pretty amazing to me that we’ve lasted this long. I mean, I feel fortunate to have had a career this long in music. So, yeah, it’s kind of cool. (laughs)

Is it sort of overwhelming when you thing about the volume of music you all have created over the years? Like when that boxed set came out last year, and you felt how heavy it was, was it sort of stunning?

Abeyta: Well, I’ll tell you, when you feel the weight of them is when you’re actually making a set list of every song to practice for the tour, and you really see it right in front of your face, and you’re like, “Oh my lord, there’s like 80 songs on this list!” (laughs) It’s like, we have to remember all of those, and then Mike has to remember all of the lyrics to all of those songs. Sometimes we’ll play the same city two shows in a row, maybe two or three nights at some place, and we’ll advertise that every night is going to be a different set. And we actually have enough songs to do that! It’s kind of crazy!

A lot of your peers have broken up or fallen apart over the years. What do you think has kept you guys together for so long?

Abeyta: Oh man, I’m not sure. I mean, since I joined the band in ’91, I’ve seen so many bands, and been friends with so many bands, over the years at, like, Warped Tour and Europe; I’ve seen them come and go. I see bands come in, they’re one hit wonders, and then they go. I don’t know, I guess we might have some kind of chemistry together, all of us, and our stage show is kind of, like, anything goes.

Similarly, many folks that you all used to play with ended up signing to major labels, veering into the pop world, and having their sound and style suffer because of that. What do you think made you guys stay away from that world, stay independent and keep making punk rock?

Abeyta: I think that we were already successful being D.I.Y., we were all happy, and we were making enough money to live comfortably, not like superstar level, but comfortable. The thought did cross our minds at one point, a lot of our peers from other bands were crossing over and going on MTV, and we thought about like, “Are we missing the boat here? Should we be doing this too?” And then we thought, “No! We could lose all of our audience. Everything we’ve built up to this point we’re actually taking a risk of losing it all. We’re happy now, so why mess with it? Things are working for us, so why take that jump?” And MTV back in the day, they were bugging us for a video, they were saying, “Hey! We really want to play you guys!’ Then we actually put on one of our albums during that time, “MTV stop bugging us!” (laughs)

You mention that you all rehearse a ton of songs, and that Mike helps plan out everything about an hour before the show and that he likes to put in a lot of obscure songs too. Is it nice to be kept on your toes, having to play older or lesser known songs?

Abeyta: Oh definitely! Before the tour they put a list together, usually Mike will e-mail it saying, “Hey, what do you guys want to play? What if we do this? What if we do that?” And I say to myself, “Oh man! I haven’t played that song in seven years! Let’s pull it up and re-learn it!” But a lot of times before we go on we’ll all be backstage, Mike writes up a set list, and our drummer, Smelly, he’s involved too, and then they’ll say, “Hey, let’s do something different tonight. Let’s try this, let’s try that.” It’s very in the moment.

What are some of your favorite songs that you wish got played more often?

Abeyta: In Europe, my favorite song to play is “Insulted By Germans.” (laughs) That one’s a rockin’ song and it’s got a cool message. Um… I like the fast stuff so we usually play the songs that I like, like “Church And Skate.” “Sold Out” is an old one I like that sometimes gets overlooked.

You guys get to play all over the world and all across America, so I’m sure you get to see a great deal of the growing cannabis legalization movement, how do you both feel about that?

Abeyta: I think that’s cool, you know, our economy is in crisis so, hey government, you’re getting a cut! Sell away! (laughs)

Burkett: I think that it’s nice that more and more states are passing laws; it’s great for the country. Why can’t we be like most European countries that have decriminalized drugs?

So you feel like decriminalization across the board is the best way to go for everything?

Mike “Fat Mike” Burkett: Absolutely! It’s absolutely the way to go! If you’re over 21, you should be able to have a personal amount of any kind of drug you want. That’s just how it should be.

Do you feel like the movement, at least for medical cannabis, is at least a step in the right direction?

Burkett: Yes, that’s what is good about it; it’s a step in the right direction. By passing all of these medical marijuana laws it puts us closer to decriminalization of all drugs, which is where this country needs to be.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read in an interview that you may have once been arrested for trying to buy cannabis in Berkeley, Hefe?

Abeyta: That is correct, and that is going to be coming out in the NOFX book. We’re actually in the process of doing a NOFX book and my whole story is going to be in that book. That was actually in People’s Park in Berkeley.

Is it weird to you that something you were once arrested and threatened with incarceration for is so close to being legalized?

Abeyta: Yeah! It’s kind of cool that it’s being made legal now, but back then it was such a trip. I mean, I lived in Humboldt County for years, and they would have festivals in Humboldt, on the grass in Redwood Park. And there would be cops patrolling through, and it was, like, the Humboldt Hemp Fest I think it was called. It was just during the time I’d first gotten up there, the early ‘90s, and everybody was smoking pot freely on the grass, there were cops everywhere, and it’s my first introduction to this and I’m just like, “What the fuck! No way!” And I’m just watching hippie girls walking around selling pot muffins and all this shit, kids are sitting on the grass smoking weed, and the cops just walk up and hand them a ticket, and the kids are like, “Cool, man! Peace! Have a good day!” And the cops just say, “Have a good day!” And it was just some kind of $10 or $15 fine and everybody was cool with it. Everybody said, “Cool! I’ll pay 10 bucks just to sit here and smoke weed on the grass!” (laughs) And the cops were cool with them, they were cool with the cops; I was just like, “Wow! This is a weird town!” (laughs)

Back when you used to indulge, did it feel like a relief when you were playing in countries, like Amsterdam, where cannabis is legal?

Abeyta: Yeah, my first time in Amsterdam was really weird because I still felt paranoid and I had to get used it. I mean, my whole crew smokes pot, so we’d go to the coffee shops. It was weird, the first time, getting used to that it was ok; you could walk down the street and it’s alright. You don’t have to worry anymore about the police or authorities cracking down on you.

Are you happy to see California, more or less, leading the charge on the whole medical cannabis issue?

Abeyta: Yeah! And I’m glad Colorado and Washington are doing their thing too!

Is it your hope that by being out in the open with this stuff, that you’re sort of breaking down the taboos and letting people who listen to your music know that this stuff is, more or less, normal?

Burkett: Well, it is! That’s what I am trying to say! The randomness of the U.S. government to say, “Yeah, alcohol is okay,” when nothing else is makes no sense at all.

It seems like punk is going through something of a renaissance where a lot of punk rock bands are gaining more mainstream acceptance and many scenes all over the place seem to be exploding with new acts. What do you think is causing this resurgence?

Abeyta: You know, I’m not sure. I’ve always been into all kinds of music, I studied music in college, so I enjoy watching music evolve and I’m into new sounds. So I think maybe just times are changing, the music industry has changed a lot, and musical styles are changing, dub step and electronic music are really popular now. So I think it’s just that the times are changing, you know? It’s a new generation.