NOFX
Los Angeles, California8 reviews across 5 releases
NOFX was a Los Angeles punk band formed in 1983 around Fat Mike, Eric Melvin, and Erik Sandin. Its basic language was fast melodic punk: compact songs, tightly matched guitars, singable melodies, and jokes that could turn vulgar or absurd without warning. The records also treated speed as a compositional choice rather than a limit. In 2000, Pump Up the Valuum varied the usual short-form attack with songs that took time to finish, while dropping the ska passages heard elsewhere in the band's career. Their subjects ranged from the music industry's exploitation to the misery of Monday work. By 2003, The War on Errorism pushed the political side forward, targeting George W. Bush and diluted punk culture with a sharper, more sustained force. Humor remained part of the method, including songs built around deliberately ridiculous premises.
Erik Sandin briefly left in 1985, then returned the following year; Aaron Abeyta, known as El Hefe, joined in 1991 on lead guitar and trumpet. Fat Mike also founded Fat Wreck Chords, the label associated with much of NOFX's later work, while the band moved between Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records. In 2023, NOFX announced that it would end after a final tour rather than continue indefinitely. The last three shows took place in San Pedro, California, from October 4 through October 6, 2024, with the closing performance ending a 41-year run. After the final shows, Fat Mike continued his work with Codefendants. In 2025, Eric Melvin's lawyers served Fat Mike with papers alleging financial malfeasance.
