4 posts tagged “nofx”

So a new NOFX album was released recently, inciting panic and nausea at the prospect of being one of the first to order it online.

Perhaps I should explain...

Whenever NOFX releases a new album, they usually do a limited run on color vinyl.

It's very limited, so you really have to be paying attention. (the color pressing of "They've actually gotten worse live" was just 521 copies!)

So, with the release of "Frisbee" (the CD was called "Coaster") instead of color vinyl they did a pressing of 1500 hand-numbered 7" singles with 2 bonus songs.

Now usually I'm right on top of this stuff, but this time I totally dropped the ball.

For one thing, the pre-order happened about a month before the record came out, so I wasn't checking the site as often as I usually would be.

Anyway, the pre-order started on a Friday and I didn't notice until the next Monday, giving everyone a 3 day head start.

I thought I'd missed it for sure, and nobody knew how limited the single would be, just that it was hand numbered, meaning it would probably be low.

After checking the Fat Wreck wiki message boards and comparing everyone else's order numbers I was sure I missed out.

So I was super happy when my order came and I had 7" #724, right in the middle of the bunch.

How did that happen? I figured if I did manage to get one, it would be number 1498 or 1499, not somewhere in the middle.

Oh well, I wasn't going to complain!

It's funny, I've written a huge article already and haven't once mentioned anything about the music on "Frisbee."

Well, it's pretty good, I really like NOFX so I like it.

The standout tracks for me are "We called it America","The Quitter" and "My Orphan Year".

My favorite is "Eddie, Bruce and Paul" which to the average person might sound like a homosexual love triangle, but is actually about Iron Maiden and their lead singer switchover in the early 80's.

Classic!

My least favorite is easily "Creeping out Sara", I just find it boring and unfunny.

Anyway, a pretty solid release and the bonus 7" is the icing on the cake!

well... not really.

Nofx still has a ton of integrity in my mind, and the recent Kiss-like (squeeze out every last cent) repressing of their albums is beyond their control. (Probably)

I guess it was only a matter of time before their old record labels realized that people REALLY like buying Nofx records, especially colored vinyl ones.

Some of the more rare ones regularly go for hundreds of dollars, so of course anyone who has the rights to a Nofx album has figured out they can pretty much press them again and again on a different color and it will sell like hot cakes.

"Maximum Rock and Roll", One of their old and absolutely horrible (in a funny, entertaining way) albums has been repressed in pretty much every color imaginable, making the people who have to have every variant buy 10 copies of an album they probably won't even listen to more than once. (if that) Before you ask, I have the orange one. I've listened to it once.

Epitaph is re-pressing all their Nofx vinyl too, a few of them coming in two different colors of course, for the extremists.

I guess it's easy to get cynical, but I'm actually glad these are in print again, I don't really care about getting first pressing of most things, I just like to have albums I like on vinyl, so keep 'em comin' fellas!

p.s. the photo is taken from this article.

Man, I have never worked so hard to get into a show before, but it was all worth it.

Tickets for Nofx's show May 9th at the Commodore sold out in less than an hour, so I was pretty sure I wouldn't be getting in.

I work only a block away so I spent most of the day hanging around trying to score tickets and get my record signed. I saw Fat Mike in a car, but it pulled away before I could shove my record and a felt pen at him. oh well.

I met one guy who was sure he was going to get on the guest list so he offered to sell me his tickets at face value, which sounded like a great deal since people online were asking about $100, which is just ridiculous.

His story was that his ex-girlfriend had them and that he could go grab them, but he had no cash to pay her for them. Obviously I wasn't about to hand over money to someone I just met, even though he did offer to let me keep his jacket until he returned. The funny thing about that is, I saw him again only about 30 minutes later, wearing a different jacket. huh? Did he pull the same stunt on someone else?

Anyway, I said I'd go pay his ex for them and he sent me on a wild goose chase looking for a store that didn't exist, so I don't know what the hell was going on there.

Funnily enough, after all this running around, a product rep who was at our shop that day's daughter is the Canadian tour manager for Fat Wreck so he hooked me up with tickets! Buy Lock Stock & Barrel hair products folks!

After returning to work victorious in my quest,(even though my efforts had nothing to do with it, I guess it really is who you know) I gave Craig from the Proclaimers a haircut, so random! He was a really nice guy too, so that's always good. 500 miles is probably one of the top ten catchiest songs ever, but unfortunately I forgot to ask him what "Haver" means, I always wondered that...

Anyway, the show was awesome, they played pretty much everything I wanted to hear, including the 18 minute epic "the Decline", it was crazy.

Afterwards I managed to get 3/4 of the guys to sign my record, everyone but Eric Melvin. I would have liked to have gotten him too, but it was just getting too damn late! Nofx are really nice guys too, Fat Mike even signed a guy's ass with no complaints!

1. Iron Maiden - Everything from 1980-1988 - It's just easier than writing them all out, every album from that era kills!

2. Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction - still a classic, I wore this tape out in Grade 7.

3. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks - is there anyone who doesn't own this?

4. Nirvana - Nevermind - It's hard to listen to this one without all the hype and crap getting in the way, but even so many years later you can see why it was such a big deal. It's just one of the greatest albums ever, but I'm tired of hearing about it.

5. CKY - Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild - I listened to this disc for a year straight, unfortunately, I don't think they'll ever match this one again.

6. The Living End - Roll On - Ditto.

7. Weezer - The Blue Album - Nearly Perfect. Still holds up.

8. KISS - Destroyer - the one KISS album that actually lives up to the hype. How did they do that? Simultaneously their greatest triumph and the impossible standard they would forever be held to.

9. NOFX - White Trash... - This was one of those 'revelation' albums for me, where you realize that everything else that's going on besides this sucks.

10. Van Halen - 1984 - They finally reached their peak, only to lose it all right away when Dave left. It was just never the same after that. They got too sappy.

11.The Smiths - The Queen is Dead - After careful deliberation I decided to move this one out of the Honourable Mentions. It's just too good!

Honourable Mentions:
Green Day - Dookie - yes, we're all sick of this one, but all the songs are good!
Metallica - ...And Justice for all - My first Metallica album, a window into a bigger world.
Priestess - Hello Master - Deadly.
Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill - Some of the lyrics on this one are a little embarrassing now, but I still have this whole disc imprinted on my brain.
Faith No More - The Real Thing - this list will forever be a work in progress...
Pinback - Blue Screen Life - I can't believe I forgot about this one!