NOFX

***2021 saw the release of NOFX’s highly acclaimed, 14th studio album Single Album. What fans didn’t know then, is Single Album is only one half of what has ultimiately become NOFX’s very first double album; the second half of which is aptly titled Double Album. Reuniting with punk-rock legends BILL STEVENSON and JASON LIVERMORE for producer / engineering / mixing 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 mediocre, either. Double Album reminds both ardent fans and casual listeners that NOFX weren’t born to follow trends. Indeed NOFX have carved their logo into the veneer of punk-rock culture for decades. With nearly 40 years in this circus, you’re going to 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 peccadillos of people in song for maximum velocity and hilarity. There’s “Joanna Constant Teen,” a 78-second tribute to the dominatrix that spent six weeks in Fat Mike’s NYC-based Airbnb during the production run of his musical, Home Street Home. “Alcopollack” is about booking agent David Pollock, who has worked with the band for over 30 years and has lost more than his fair share of clients for his too-brazen honesty. “Fuck Day Six” is a story detailing the time Fat Mike cleaned out (pun sorta intended) in a rehab run by Buddhists. “Is It Too Soon If Time Is Relative” is a hilarious ‘n’ cruel takedown of the acclaimed author/physicist Stephen Hawking. Naturally, Fat Mike has made a career drilling and riveting the word “self” into “self- deprecation,” and he’s sure as hell not going to stop now. With such future classics as “Darby Crashing Your Party,” “Punk Rock Cliche,” and the too-real, too-bittersweet, too- funny tracks “My Favorite Enemy” and “Don’t Count On Me,” he’s still ready to take a cream pie to the face, even if it has broken glass and sharpened nails in it. The determination to continue making compelling music, keeping the bar high for punk and doing the best thing for their punk-rock legacy, makes NOFX simply unstoppable. Double Album is filled with moods, tales and tempos slightly faster than an ice-road trucker backsliding down a hill. What’s their secret? Quite simply, NOFX aren’t half-assing anything. (STREET DATE - 4/21/2023)