About NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. Bassist/lead vocalist Fat Mike, rhythm guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every release by the band, although Sandin departed briefly in 1985, only to rejoin the following year. El Hefe joined the band in 1991 to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the best-known iteration of the lineup.
NOFX's mainstream success coincided with increased interest in punk rock during the 1990s; unlike many of their contemporaries, however, they have never been signed to a major label. NOFX has released fifteen studio albums, sixteen extended plays and a number of 7" singles. The band rose to popularity with their fifth studio album Punk in Drublic , which is their only release to receive gold certification by the RIAA. Their final studio album, Double Album, was released on December 2, 2022. The group has sold over eight million records worldwide, making them one of the most successful independent bands ever. In 2008, NOFX broadcast their own show on Fuse TV entitled NOFX: Backstage Passport.
In 1983, guitarist Eric Melvin met bassist/vocalist Mike Burkett and started the band under the name NO-FX, after a Boston hardcore punk band called Negative FX. At this time, they were joined by drummer Erik "Smelly" Sandin. NOFX's first recording was a demo from 1984, entitled Thalidomide Child, produced by Germs drummer Don Bolles, which did not sell many copies, and Fat Mike once claimed that no copies existed. The demo would be re-released in 2012. The group released its self-titled debut extended play NOFX on Mystic Records in 1985; it was later re-released in 1992 as part of the Maximum Rocknroll CD.
The band's line-up underwent numerous changes prior to 1991. For a year, Erik "Smelly" Sandin left the band and was replaced by Scott Sellers, and later by Scott Aldahl. Dave Allen was in the band for about four months, until he died in a car accident. In 1986, the band released the extended play So What If We're on Mystic!. Dave Casillas joined the band on second guitar in 1987 and was featured on the extended play The P.M.R.C. Can Suck on This, attacking the PMRC's campaign for music censorship. The original cover was an edited S&M photo; the cover for the re-released version was changed to a photo of Eric Melvin. Prior to the release of Liberal Animation, a compilation of 14 early NOFX songs was released on Mystic Records. The album was self-titled, and featured the songs from the NOFX and So What If We're on Mystic! extended plays, and only around 1,000 copies were pressed. The album's cover was a redesigned version of the cover from the NOFX extended play.
NOFX recorded their debut studio album Liberal Animation in 1988 with Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion. Although the title and some of the album's lyrics mocked vegetarianism and animal rights, Fat Mike says that he became a vegetarian after writing the Liberal Animation album. The album was re-released in 1991 on Gurewitz's label Epitaph Records. Casillas left the band shortly after the recording of Liberal Animation and was replaced by Steve Kidwiler. The band released its second studio album, S&M Airlines, through Epitaph in 1989.
In 1991, NOFX released its third studio album, Ribbed. Shortly after the album was released, Steve Kidwiler left the band, and Aaron Abeyta joined the group. With Abeyta, the band recorded the extended play The Longest Line, followed by the studio album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean, released in May and November 1992 respectively. Also in 1992, NOFX's former label Mystic Records released Maximum Rocknroll, which compiles early singles and demo songs and is a reissue of their 1989 long-out-of-print compilation tape E Is for Everything. Despite being referred to as an "official" release, Fat Mike has been quoted as saying that he did not know that the album existed until he saw a copy of it "in a store."
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