Logic is a Threat

NOFX’s Fat Mike Explains Why We’ve Been Searched and Seized

By Ryan Prado | Photo by Jesse Fischer

Punk rock doesn’t need hooks. It doesn’t need structure, and it certainly doesn’t require the crystalline stroke of some acclaimed, egomaniacal producer. All you need is passion for something. This isn’t news (and it’s not all that elite of an ethos, despite what most punkers will tell you). Yet, as time goes by it seems as if the only band to really remember this and put it into action is NOFX. They’re the type of band that almost has to appear on your radar when you’re at the pinnacle of both idealism and indifference, composing songs with equal parts repulsive analogies and heady cynicism. Even after the 2004 election—an election that had NOFX leader and Fat Wreck Chords founder Fat Mike rallying the youth vote to record highs in a united front against George W. Bush—the group’s main focus seems to be as vitriolic as ever. Still, for every two rallying cries against corruption exists one song about beer bongs or amputee prostitutes. It’s the truth: Contrast is crucial.

Fat Mike was tired…really tired when Synthesis spoke with him (a rare treat indeed. The band almost never does interviews). After all, it was “9:30 in the fucking morning, dude.” And he hadn’t had his coffee yet. Eloquence, however, doesn’t seem to obey the unwritten laws of the AM conversation, as Mike elaborated his views, even at this absurd hour, on Christians, Republicans, NOFX’s new EP, Never Trust a Hippy, and a lot of other stuff we didn’t have room for.

How important do you think it is that everyone really pays attention to the politics in your music, considering that punk rock has that dichotomy of being both activist and apathetic at the same time?
That is a problem. The youth vote was up more than any other group of voters in the 2004 election. So, even though punkers are apathetic, we did get a lot of people out there. It’s important to be political nowadays because our country is falling apart, as well as the rest of the world. But I guess that’s normal. I mean, things were pretty fucked when Reagan was in office too, and things were fucked when Clinton was in office, only now [things are] a little worse.

So, in what ways do you prepare songs so that your message doesn’t get fizzled by the music? Do you feel like there’s a method for getting messages across?
Well, I didn’t start doing this, playing in a punk band, to get a message out. I started a punk band to get drunk and laid, and that’s still the reason I’m in a punk band. I just think you could be out there singing about some girl you met in high school, like all these pop-punk bands, or you could sing about something a little more important. I mean, you’re up there wasting people’s time, you might as well sing something that makes them think. Unlike Propagandhi, I didn’t start this for the message.

Is the new EP a foreshadowing of what’s to come on Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing, or is it more of a separate entity?
I guess it’s kind of the same. I mean, shit, it’s a NOFX record, they all sound the same. I really like the EP because I love the cover. [The cover features a picture of Jesus Christ flashing a peace sign and holding a bottle of wine, with the EP’s title underneath – Ed.]

Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.
Well, it’s just reactionary. I am just so sick of religious people. I’m sick of how the church doesn’t have to pay taxes. I’m sick of how every fucking country thinks God’s on their side—and every fucking rapper and football team. I just don’t understand how…if you wanna have faith in something, that’s one thing, but these people run their whole lives based on something they were told when they were children, and it drives me crazy. And more and more, I feel the enemy isn’t Republicans as much as it is Christians…and Muslims and almost every other religion. Not so much Jews or Buddhists. Jews are a big problem, too, but at least Jews are educated. That sounds fucked [laughs].

Then what is your take on the massive revolution of Christian-punk bands? Do you consider Christian-punk to be a paradoxical term?
Sure. Apparently the Warped Tour had a prayer group every night last year, not sponsored by the Warped Tour, but [there are] these ridiculous bands who are Christian and wanna fuck chicks and drink beer and do drugs, but have their prayer groups every night. Fucking emo bands. We’re on the Warped Tour this year, and if there is a prayer group, we are gonna destroy it. It really makes me sick to my stomach to have a big punk rock tour with a prayer group on it.

Do you know if there are any Christian bands on the tour this year?
I’m sure there will be some, but I’m serious, we will break up their meetings every night, so they better have them on someone’s bus. There’s not going to be any people worshiping God on the Warped Tour.

Do they have a lot of weird group meetings like that on the tour?
We have a weird alcoholic, drug-user group meeting every night. But we’re not gonna stop, we’re just gonna revel in it [laughs].

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Record Label Fat Wreck Chords Released March 2006

Tracks Seeing Double at the Triple Rock The Marxist Brothers Golden Boys You're Wrong Everything in Moderation (Especially Moderation) I'm Going to Hell For This One