Long past are the days when NOFX first enthralled preteens uninitiated to the wonders of punk and music their parents didn’t like, when, at age 13, Punk in Drublic replaced Let It Be and white kids shouted “Don’t call me white” while struggling to find guitar tabs on the nascent web. History hasn’t exactly treated NOFX too nicely though, so it makes the timing of a covers album of 80s hardcore… questionable.
Nonetheless, after two years of waiting, said album — a thus-far untitled 7-inch — is finally slated for release August 2 from Fat Wreck Chords. Little information has been released about the nine-track EP, aside from the album artwork and a quote from Mike Burkett circa 2009, printed in Ground Control. Of the bands covered, he said:
They’re all from the US and that’s all kind of what we grew up on. […M]ostly they’re bands that no one ever heard of and most of their records never made it to CD. It’s pretty obscure — a couple of the bigger bands would be The Necros and Social Unrest and Stretch Marks. We’re just going to put it out and we’re not going to put any information on it; no credits, no song titles, no nothing — just a blank disc — so if you don’t know who it is, you won’t know who it is.
To remind listeners that NOFX did in fact exist during the glory era of those oh-so-obscure bands they’re covering, a second EP is forthcoming (possibly this summer), featuring some purportedly godawful recordings from 1984. The quote du jour, re: NOFX, is Fat Mike’s promise that “it’s pretty fucking terrible” — and you know, if that’s what it takes for NOFX to get back in my good graces, I’m all for it.
• NOFX: http://www.nofx.org
• Fat Wreck Chords: http://www.fatwreck.com
