Notorious punk legends NOFX are heading to Australia for Good Things Festival and after nearly 40 years at the helm, frontman Fat Mike still doesn't like being told what to do.
"I just found out we have to do – well, we don't have to do sh.t – but we're supposed to play the 'Punk In Drublic' album in its entirety," Fat Mike says."We've done it before, ugh how boring, Jesus. So, the chances we do it in its entirety is one in a million but there is a chance."
It's not that Mike doesn't think it's a great album, it's just that he's not interested in rehashing previous glories.
"That used to be our best record in the '90s, but it's not anymore and people want to hear new songs. It sounds weird, but they really do," he says.
"NOFX are not a nostalgic act; we're not The Dickies or The Damned. Our last record got reviewed better than any record we've ever had, yet we actually hear people say 'play new songs', which is weird."
Mike is focussed on the present and the future of the band. In 2022, he is clean, sober and in the midst of a creative boom.
In February, NOFX dropped their 14th album 'Single Album', which was originally a double album before COVID hit and Mike was forced to face his demons. "I was so surprised by the response because it's a really dark album," he says.
"It's our best-reviewed album ever, except for 'Decline', which isn't a real album, but we got ten out of ten stars – we've never seen that before."
The seminal bad boys of SoCal punk, NOFX have always played it fast and loose, both on and off the stage. While Mike may have changed some of his partying ways, he says the band haven't lost their edge for live performance.
"We're old, we speak to each other," he reports. "We're doing pretty well onstage; we sound pretty good. We just did a European tour."
Meanwhile, Mike keeps himself busy writing for NOFX and his new projects. "I worked so hard over COVID," Mike proclaims.
"I've got a cool pad and a studio, and at the moment I have four new NOFX records in the can; I have 70 NOFX songs and I'm doing some new sh.t.
"This 1 song has 54 chords in a row, and no one notices. I'm trying to do new things, like the Codefendants, the new band I'm in with the people from NWA and The D.O.C."
As for the future of NOFX, over the next few years NOFX fans both old and new can expect a steady release of albums from Mike's batch of new material. "'Single Album' disc two, because 'Single Album' is originally double album," Mike says of what's coming next.
"That will be out this year. We have a new album coming out of all new songs in 2023 and 2024 and 2025, because that's what I did during COVID was write songs."
Good Things Festival 2022 Tour Dates
Fri 2 Dec - Flemington Racecourse (Melbourne)Sat 3 Dec - Centennial Park (Sydney)
Sun 4 Dec - Brisbane Showgrounds
Good Things Festival 2022 Line-up
Bring Me The HorizonDeftones
NOFX (performing 'Punk In Drublic' in full + all your favourites)
TISM (exclusive: first shows in 19 years)
The Amity Affliction
Gojira
One OK Rock
3OH!3
Blood Command
Chasing Ghosts
Cosmic Psychos
Electric Callboy
Fever 333
Jinjer
JXDN
Kisschasy (performing 'United Paper People' in full)
Lacuna Coil
Millencolin
Nova Twins
Polaris
RedHook
Regurgitator
Sabaton
Sleeping With Sirens
Soulfly
The Story So Far
Thornhill
