NOFX "HALF ALBUM" ON APRIL 19 VIA FAT WRECK
THE SINGLE "I'm a Rat" with video can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1JTcjWODNQ
Hold on to your old Mickey Mouse ears, because NOFX is preparing to make 2024 an unforgettable year!
The track comes from the upcoming album "Half Album", which will be released on April 19.
Fat Mike comments on the work: "Was it worth it? Was it worth spending five years finishing the five songs on my double album project that I thought were the worst of the whole bunch? Was it a good idea to spend so much time developing the weakest of the lot? Was it a miscalculation when I wrote a song about the extent of my arrogance? I think the answers to all these rhetorical questions could be found by listening to "Half Album"… - but I seriously doubt it."
Fat Mike has never done things halfway - until now. As NOFX concludes their time as an active band on this planet after 40 years, the groundbreaking punk formation - completed by Eric Melvin, Erik 'Smelly' Sandin, and Aaron 'El Hefe' Abeyta - has decided that the time is ripe to do just that. Well, sort of at least. Following "Single Album" from 2021 and "Double Album" from 2022, the upcoming NOFX release is titled "Half Album".
Because that’s exactly what it is. The fifth side of their epic double album. "These songs were all recorded at the same time," explains the frontman. "I just need a while to finish something. So this is about tying up loose ends. Which, by the way, is very good for the soul."
If the phrasing "Finishing unfinished business" sounds a bit like the songs were somewhat irrelevant to Mike, that’s not true. Because these are not just leftover songs or the upcoming album a last-minute idea.
Taking the two albums and this EP - pardon, this half album - together, you ultimately get what Mike considers a real double album. And a good one at that. "I don’t think there are good double albums," he says. "The White Album is a great album, but it’s not a great double album. There are a lot of shitty songs on it. I don’t think there are any shitty songs on this album - I wrote them to make a great double album."
He has also put a lot of thought into it and made a lot of effort. The last song on "Half Album" is called "The Last Drag". For the counterpart to the opener "The Big Drag" from the "Single Album", Mike took five years to finish it. It not only closes the loop of the entire 25-song double album ("They are great bookends," he declares), but also reveals the depth of his songwriting - something that people often overlook. In the song "The Last Drag", Mike not only sings from the perspective of one of his exes, but also includes a simultaneously humorous and depressing homage to Lesley Gore's classic hit "It's My Party" from 1963. On paper, that might not sound like it, but it actually works, as the mix of humor and pathos has a devastating effect. "My ex went to rehab in Vegas while we were performing [Mike's musical] 'Home Street Home'," he explains. "It was supposed to be for 10 days, and it was during the AVN Awards, and she had just had a two-and-a-half-week party with all her friends without her fiancé. So when you read the lyrics, there are a lot of harsh words in there, but it was really not easy to write from her perspective. That’s why it took me five years. And the shitty part is that no one will understand what I’m singing about. They will think it’s me. Only she and I will know, and that will drive her crazy. Mike knows this because it drives him crazy anyway. "The worst part is that it didn’t even help," he continues. "It’s just reliving bad memories. Thinking about writing lyrics about it and going through them over and over again - that’s not healthy. Just not healthy."
If that’s the depressing note on which "Half Album" ends, what precedes it is somewhat less bleak. The opener "Fake-A-Wish Foundation" is the second NOFX song after "My Bro Cancervive Cancer“ (found on "Single Album") about a guy named Brett who pretended to have brain cancer to hang out with bands and get free merch. It’s a beautiful, upbeat ballad that may sound sad but contains a truly comedic and biting lyric. Then there’s "I’m A Rat" - written by Mike but first recorded by the Japanese punk band Hi-Standard and also included on last year’s album "Fat Mike Gets Strung Out".
It is one of 14 NOFX songs so far that have only been recorded by other bands worldwide and not by NOFX themselves. Notably, it also contains 54 chords that do not repeat in sequence. All three versions show what the world basically knows but probably needs to be said again. Mike definitely does this with this release. "I want to be recognized as a great songwriter," he admits, "which I’m not. But I will be in a few years. Punk rock songwriters are not known as songwriters. Take Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion - if you’re not a punk rocker, he gets little to no recognition. Tim Armstrong might get some because he writes for so many different people. Like, for Pink! or some film soundtracks, but he’s still not necessarily known as a songwriter. My thing is to think about things that haven’t been done yet. I think about things that the world is missing. And why. And will it work?”
If anyone can change this perception of punk rock musicians, it’s Fat Mike. That’s exactly why he wrote "The Humblest Man In The World". Because who else would or could write a hard-hitting punk rock song that targets himself, not just because he wants to be recognized, but also because he knows he should be and will be? "I’m calling myself out," he admits, "because I’m not the humblest person in the world. And even saying that is the most arrogant thing you can say. I believe that with a little humility, I could be a better me. One of my big personal flaws is my arrogance. I see it, and everyone else sees it, so I thought I’d just lay it on the table with this song."
Next comes the track "The Queen Is Dead". Listeners with eagle ears will recognize it as a song that first appeared on "You're Welcome", the Cokie The Clown album from 2019. This is a revamped, punky version of the original, but no less powerful or moving as a tribute to its subject. Why the song is included here again - well, it’s further proof of the versatility of Fat Mike's songwriting. Ultimately, it all comes down to the desire to be seen as a great songwriter. "I like to play songs in different genres," he says, "and a good song can be played in any genre. I just like to show that."
Although he has many other projects in the pipeline, "Half Album" is not the last record that NOFX will release. However, it is the beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning of the future) of NOFX as we know them. It is also proof that Fat Mike doesn’t do things halfway, despite the title. It may be called "Half Album", but it is part of a much larger legacy and an even greater whole.
THE SINGLE "I'm a Rat" with video can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1JTcjWODNQ
Hold on to your old Mickey Mouse ears, because NOFX is preparing to make 2024 an unforgettable year!
The track comes from the upcoming album "Half Album", which will be released on April 19.
Fat Mike comments on the work: "Was it worth it? Was it worth spending five years finishing the five songs on my double album project that I thought were the worst of the whole bunch? Was it a good idea to spend so much time developing the weakest of the lot? Was it a miscalculation when I wrote a song about the extent of my arrogance? I think the answers to all these rhetorical questions could be found by listening to "Half Album"… - but I seriously doubt it."
Fat Mike has never done things halfway - until now. As NOFX concludes their time as an active band on this planet after 40 years, the groundbreaking punk formation - completed by Eric Melvin, Erik 'Smelly' Sandin, and Aaron 'El Hefe' Abeyta - has decided that the time is ripe to do just that. Well, sort of at least. Following "Single Album" from 2021 and "Double Album" from 2022, the upcoming NOFX release is titled "Half Album".
Because that’s exactly what it is. The fifth side of their epic double album. "These songs were all recorded at the same time," explains the frontman. "I just need a while to finish something. So this is about tying up loose ends. Which, by the way, is very good for the soul."
If the phrasing "Finishing unfinished business" sounds a bit like the songs were somewhat irrelevant to Mike, that’s not true. Because these are not just leftover songs or the upcoming album a last-minute idea.
Taking the two albums and this EP - pardon, this half album - together, you ultimately get what Mike considers a real double album. And a good one at that. "I don’t think there are good double albums," he says. "The White Album is a great album, but it’s not a great double album. There are a lot of shitty songs on it. I don’t think there are any shitty songs on this album - I wrote them to make a great double album."
He has also put a lot of thought into it and made a lot of effort. The last song on "Half Album" is called "The Last Drag". For the counterpart to the opener "The Big Drag" from the "Single Album", Mike took five years to finish it. It not only closes the loop of the entire 25-song double album ("They are great bookends," he declares), but also reveals the depth of his songwriting - something that people often overlook. In the song "The Last Drag", Mike not only sings from the perspective of one of his exes, but also includes a simultaneously humorous and depressing homage to Lesley Gore's classic hit "It's My Party" from 1963. On paper, that might not sound like it, but it actually works, as the mix of humor and pathos has a devastating effect. "My ex went to rehab in Vegas while we were performing [Mike's musical] 'Home Street Home'," he explains. "It was supposed to be for 10 days, and it was during the AVN Awards, and she had just had a two-and-a-half-week party with all her friends without her fiancé. So when you read the lyrics, there are a lot of harsh words in there, but it was really not easy to write from her perspective. That’s why it took me five years. And the shitty part is that no one will understand what I’m singing about. They will think it’s me. Only she and I will know, and that will drive her crazy. Mike knows this because it drives him crazy anyway. "The worst part is that it didn’t even help," he continues. "It’s just reliving bad memories. Thinking about writing lyrics about it and going through them over and over again - that’s not healthy. Just not healthy."
If that’s the depressing note on which "Half Album" ends, what precedes it is somewhat less bleak. The opener "Fake-A-Wish Foundation" is the second NOFX song after "My Bro Cancervive Cancer“ (found on "Single Album") about a guy named Brett who pretended to have brain cancer to hang out with bands and get free merch. It’s a beautiful, upbeat ballad that may sound sad but contains a truly comedic and biting lyric. Then there’s "I’m A Rat" - written by Mike but first recorded by the Japanese punk band Hi-Standard and also included on last year’s album "Fat Mike Gets Strung Out".
It is one of 14 NOFX songs so far that have only been recorded by other bands worldwide and not by NOFX themselves. Notably, it also contains 54 chords that do not repeat in sequence. All three versions show what the world basically knows but probably needs to be said again. Mike definitely does this with this release. "I want to be recognized as a great songwriter," he admits, "which I’m not. But I will be in a few years. Punk rock songwriters are not known as songwriters. Take Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion - if you’re not a punk rocker, he gets little to no recognition. Tim Armstrong might get some because he writes for so many different people. Like, for Pink! or some film soundtracks, but he’s still not necessarily known as a songwriter. My thing is to think about things that haven’t been done yet. I think about things that the world is missing. And why. And will it work?”
If anyone can change this perception of punk rock musicians, it’s Fat Mike. That’s exactly why he wrote "The Humblest Man In The World". Because who else would or could write a hard-hitting punk rock song that targets himself, not just because he wants to be recognized, but also because he knows he should be and will be? "I’m calling myself out," he admits, "because I’m not the humblest person in the world. And even saying that is the most arrogant thing you can say. I believe that with a little humility, I could be a better me. One of my big personal flaws is my arrogance. I see it, and everyone else sees it, so I thought I’d just lay it on the table with this song."
Next comes the track "The Queen Is Dead". Listeners with eagle ears will recognize it as a song that first appeared on "You're Welcome", the Cokie The Clown album from 2019. This is a revamped, punky version of the original, but no less powerful or moving as a tribute to its subject. Why the song is included here again - well, it’s further proof of the versatility of Fat Mike's songwriting. Ultimately, it all comes down to the desire to be seen as a great songwriter. "I like to play songs in different genres," he says, "and a good song can be played in any genre. I just like to show that."
Although he has many other projects in the pipeline, "Half Album" is not the last record that NOFX will release. However, it is the beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning of the future) of NOFX as we know them. It is also proof that Fat Mike doesn’t do things halfway, despite the title. It may be called "Half Album", but it is part of a much larger legacy and an even greater whole.
NOFX
FINAL TOUR:
May 18, 2024 Eindhoven (NL) @ Ketelhuisplein (Sold Out!)
May 19, 2024 Eindhoven (NL) @ Ketelhuisplein (Remaining Tickets!)
May 23, 2024 Hamburg @ Docks (Sold Out!)
May 25, 2024 Hannover @ Faust Open Air (Remaining Tickets!)
May 26, 2024 Cologne @ Tanzbrunnen
June 1, 2024 Saarbrücken @ Open Air am E-Werk
June 4, 2024 Vienna (AT) @ Arena Open Air
June 5, 2024 Vienna (AT) @ Arena Open Air
June 7, 2024 Augsburg @ Gaswerk Open Air
June 8, 2024 Berlin @ Zitadelle Spandau
June 9, 2024 Berlin @ Zitadelle Spandau
