Tag Archives: Fat Mike

Punk in Public

NOFX

Ace of Spades, Sacramento – Monday, Dec. 10, 2012

I haven’t witnessed a local venue more packed full of music fanatics than at last Monday’s NOFX concert.

Ace of Spades on R Street hosted an endless sea of punk rock music lovers when NOFX came to town Dec. 10. Other performances were courtesy of Teenage Bottlerocket, who tipped their hats to a Groovy Ghoulies song, and the guys of Elway all the way from Fort Collins, Colo. Many attending the show huddled shoulder to shoulder, corralled into the 21-and-over smoking section, others stood trying to get the busy bartenders’ attentions, but the majority were planting themselves near the stage, finding the perfect spot to watch NOFX’s performance.

When I first found NOFX, I was about 15 years old. I lived in Bakersfield, Calif., and I was immediately drawn to their Neapolitan-colored album, So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes. I’m not sure if it was the fast-paced percussion or the nasally sound of vocalist and bass player Fat Mike that I loved, but as I continued to listen, I appreciated the fact that the guys could actually harmonize.

Flash-forward 12 years, I’m in a different city and my CD resides somewhere in my overstuffed closet in downtown Sacramento. Still, after more than a decade, I have a soft spot for all of NOFX’s music, especially songs like, “Lori Meyers,” with those raunchy female guest vocals, or the epic, 18-minute classic, “The Decline.” Even though neither tune was performed live last Monday, El Hefe, Fat Mike (who isn’t so fat anymore, by the way), Eric Melvin and their longtime drummer, Erik Sandin killed every hit they chose to perform. If I was 15 again, and not able to legally purchase shots of Jameson and pricey beers, I would’ve been found front-row center having my ribs crushed by the safety bar. However, I do like beer. So, my boyfriend and I decided to stand on these cushioned, black seats and sing along while sipping along. Songs like “Stickin’ in My Eye,” “Eat the Meek” and “Dinosaurs Will Die” were of the most memorable of the evening for us and our ribs felt A-OK.

Their latest album, Self Entitled, just released September 2012, has yet to find its way into my heart, and I don’t know if I chalk it up to being a NOFX snob, sticking to all things classic, or if I’ve become a lazy listener. But I still think the boys have their routine down to a T, and that can be heard throughout their 2009 album Coaster, and heavily in their song, “Orphan Year.” During the song, the widely known four-four drum beats pep up the story of a man who’s lost both his parents, a mother to cancer and an absentee father who had dementia. If you, like me, stick to the old albums like Pump Up the Valuum or Punk in Drublic, stop and give Coaster a good listen.

For a band that has performed together for almost 30 years now, and not getting much younger, the men of NOFX still put on a kick-ass show filled with raunchy jokes, stage banter and Hefe still wails on his trumpet, which I know will always be sweet music to my ears.

On to the Next

Chris Shiflett puts his time off from Foo Fighters to Good Use

Over the past decade, the Foo Fighters have risen to become one of the most prominent bands in rock ‘n’ roll, and guitarist Chris Shiflett has been a big part of that. Becoming a full-fledged Foo right before the end of the last millennium, Shiflett already had quite a resume as guitarist for No Use for a Name and also a member of Fat Mike’s punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. In September 2008, Foo frontman Dave Grohl announced that his group would be taking an extended hiatus, a statement that has held true despite the release of a greatest hits comp at the end of 2009. The announcement didn’t seem to rattle Shiflett all that much. He just kept doing what he’s done the better part of his life: create music.

When Submerge spoke with Shiflett, he was just wrapping up recording for a new record he hopes to be finished tracking shortly. In the past, Shiflett has spent his time away from the Foo Fighters fronting another rock band called Jackson United, but the music he’s working on now will appear on a solo effort—well, sort of.

“I’m working on kind of a solo record, though it’s kind of silly to call it a solo record, because I’ve got a lot of other people playing on it,” Shiflett says. “It’s a solo record with a lot of my friends.”

Shiflett has no shortage of talented friends. One such friend is his old NUFAN cohort Tony Sly, with whom Shiflett will be touring the Western United States in February. Shiflett says that a show the two played together last year in Santa Barbara served as an impetus for the tour.

“We both have kids and wives, and we don’t really get to see each other so much anymore,” Shiflett says of reuniting with Sly on stage. “It was so much fun. We did a song together, and afterwards, we were hanging out, and we were like, ‘We should do a tour.’ So we started talking about it, and it just kind of came together. He’s actually got an album coming out in a week or so, I think. He’ll have product; I won’t.”

Shiflett may not have anything to hawk at his upcoming shows, but he will be trying out some of his new material. A departure from what his fans may expect, Shiflett’s solo record will feature “roots-y leanings.”

“It’s got more acoustic bass and keyboards and pedal steel and more instrumentation on it,” he explains. “It’s definitely not as rock ‘n’ roll as the Jackson United stuff, but it’s still me, and it’s still my songs, so I’m sure there’s a common thread there.”

It may sound like a serious downshift—both in sound and scope—from what Shiflett is used to, and it is. But it’s a challenge he seems pretty excited about. He says “it’s a trip” to go out on the road, on his own, to play a bunch of songs that many people may not have heard, but he acknowledges there’s also a certain amount of freedom involved as well.

“I like going out and doing the acoustic shows, because it’s so easy,” Shiflett says. “You just throw your acoustic guitar in your car, and there’s no corralling a bunch of people. It’s just fun. You kind of sink or swim on your own strengths and weaknesses. There’s nowhere to hide, which makes it pretty exciting to do that.”

In addition to playing new material, Shiflett says he will also throw some Jackson United songs and a few covers into the mix. And don’t be surprised if Shiflett and Sly play a song or two together.

How has it been playing music with Tony again? Do you revisit old stuff, or are you looking to do something new together?
It’s funny, because the song we ended up playing together, I just kind of surprised him. I said, “Hey, do you want to do that ‘Moonshiner’ song?” He used to bring an acoustic guitar on tour, so when we’d be on a long drive in a van, he’d play guitar and sing songs. It was a song that he used to sing. It’s an Uncle Tupelo version of some old standard. So I was like, “Do you want to sing that song with me?” and he came up and did it, so that took me right back to being in a van in the middle of nowhere with those guys. Me and Tony have known each other for a long time now, and he’s one of those guys that even if I don’t see him for a couple years, it just takes a few minutes”¦

You’re like fast friends all over again”¦
Yeah, he’s just a good, old friend of mine. We have a lot of love for each other.

Will he make a guest appearance on your own album?
You know that’s not a bad idea [laughs]. We haven’t talked about it, but maybe I’ll corral him into the studio when I have him down here.

You’ve played in bands like No Use for a Name and Foo Fighters, which are both on the louder side of rock music. Is the stuff you’re doing now something you’ve always had a penchant for?
Without a doubt. Of course I love loud rock ‘n’ roll music. That will always be my first love, but ever since I was a little kid, I was listening to Elvis and Johnny Cash and a little later on, I dug back into that older stuff—Willie Nelson and things like that. It’s always something I’ve been into and have had an appreciation for. It’s nice to take a break from screaming loud music and do something a little mellower. That’s the fun thing about doing these acoustic shows. I do some of the Jackson United songs, and they’re sort of a little closer to the way they sounded when I made them up in my bedroom, just sitting there strumming on an acoustic guitar.

Before you said you enjoyed just hopping in the car with your guitar and just going to a gig. Spending about 10 years with the Foo Fighters, and they’re a huge rock band, I’m sure that’s a lot of people and a lot of equipment. Is it refreshing for you to get on the road and do your own thing and not have to worry about all that?
Yeah, it’s just an easy thing. You just jump in your car, and it’s like a road trip with a couple of your friends. Touring with a band is great. Especially with the Foo Fighters, I’m not the one corralling people. We’ve got a guy that we pay to do that.

[Laughs] A corraller?
Yeah, we have a professional corraller [laughs]. It’s not very labor intensive for me, personally, but it’s still like a 50-person, 50-headed monster sort of thing. There is a kind of solitude in just getting out in your car and driving. The first show is in Seattle, so I’ll be driving all the way up to Seattle and then just heading down the coast. It’ll be nice. I’d like to say it’s a return to what it was like when I was younger, but I never really did this when I was younger. When I was driving to a gig in the car, that was like in the ’80s or early ’90s, and it was louder then.

Has this stripped down approach played into going into a more roots-y feel with your music?
Without a doubt. And that’s one of the things that I’ve really tried to do with this record that I’m recording—keep it sparse. When you’re doing a rock record, there’s a lot of doubling of everything, and all of a sudden, you’ve got 18 guitar tracks, and it’s become this unruly beast. I’ve really been trying to pare it down. Playing acoustic, it really makes you commit to parts. You really have to keep it simple—or at least I have to keep it simple, because I can’t go up there and play something really complicated and sing. It boils it down to the root of what the song is. I think it’s good for your songwriting.

Before you said that when you took the songs into the studio, they began changing. How did they change, keeping in mind that you said you were trying to keep them simple? Was there a conflict between the songs growing and your intent to keep them low-key?
For me, until I go in and actually record a song, I don’t commit to things until then. I don’t really work out the vocal melody exactly the way I want it to be until I get into the studio, and then you can’t hide from it. You can sort of hide live, you can fake it a little bit live, but when you get into the studio, you can’t fake it any more. That’s when you have to start making decisions.

You’ve been busy since the Foo Fighters went on hiatus. When the hiatus was announced, was that a welcome thing for you?
For sure. I think everyone was ready to take a break. We’d been pretty strong for a few years in a row without any real time off between records and tours and stuff. I didn’t think—I don’t know if anyone really thought—I sort of didn’t really believe that we’d take a hiatus. We sort of said that before, and then a couple months goes by and things start popping up, but we really have. Right now, there’s no real plan for anything, and I can’t imagine that we’re even going to start working on a new record until later into the year, because Dave’s doing the [Them Crooked] Vultures, and they’re going to be going for a while. It’s going to turn into a big, long break. “¦ It’s always good when we go out and do other things, that way when we go back to doing Foo Fighters, it’s fresh and everyone’s excited to do it. We’ve all got kids and stuff now, and I know for me, this last year being home has been unbelievable—just to be home with my kids. That’s one of the biggest upsides of doing what I do for a living. I don’t have to go to an office every day; I get to watch my kids grow up a lot. It’s been good. It’s been a healthy thing.

Chris Shiflett interview

Chris Shiflett and Tony Sly will play The Boardwalk in Orangevale on Feb. 9.

One More Time With Feeling

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Go into the Vault on Their Latest Release

During the 2004 presidential election cycle, Fat Wreck Chords head/NOFX frontman Fat Mike transformed from party punk icon to counter culture luminary. Rarely interviewed in years prior, Mike was almost ubiquitous in print and on television, firing shots at the Bush administration and trying to rally young Americans—especially punk fans—to vote. Though the result of that election may not have been what Fat Mike and his legion of punk voters would have wanted, his efforts did at the very least get a portion of the population that is often seen but rarely heard a voice in the political process.

Fast forward four years later, and the U.S. is once again gearing up for another presidential quagmire. However, this time around, Fat Mike’s voice, at least publicly, is notably absent. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t kept himself busy. On July 8, Fat Mike and his cohorts in Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (who also include Joey Cape and Dave Raun of Lagwagon, Jake Jackson (aka Chris Shiflett) of the Foo Fighters and Spike Slawson of the Swingin’ Utters) released their seventh full-length album Have Another Ball. Comprised of material from the original Me First recording sessions, the album sees the band covering hits by Simon and Garfunkel, Barry Manilow and Billy Joel. From his car—while fiddling with his new Bluetooth headset—Fat Mike answered a few of our questions regarding the new album.

Where are you headed?
I’m just getting out of NOFX practice.

How did that go?
Pretty good, thanks. We’re demoing right now.

I was reading up on Have Another Ball, and I saw that this is older material from the first recording session. What made you release it now? Why hold on to it for so long?
Well, a lot of it has been on 7 inches. We didn’t use all the B-sides for our seven-inches, we just used these songs because these were the first ones we recorded. And I don’t know, we’ve always tried to recapture that sound of the first record, because it sounds so cool and bad. We thought it’d be cool to release it now, because it has that sound from 10 years ago that you can’t really recreate right now. Plus, I think a lot of the songs are better than the first album.

You cover one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs on there, “The Boxer.” What kept these songs off the original record?
We did two songs by every artist. But that’s the thing; we picked the songs we liked the best at the time, but looking back, “I Am a Rock” is not as good as “The Boxer.” And “You’ve Got a Friend” isn’t as good as “Fire and Rain.” A lot of the songs were better on the seven inches, and we felt they should be put out digitally at some point. Unless you’re a seven-inch collector, most people haven’t heard these songs before.

This is the 10-year anniversary of the band—actually 11 now—did you ever think it would last this long?
Actually, we thought we’d be in this band forever, but when we first started, we weren’t even putting out CDs. We were just putting out 7-inches. The whole idea to be in a local band where we could play bars nearby and not have to tour and not have to worry about being good, or writing songs, because, you know, we don’t do any of that. Since we play covers, we don’t have to spend a lot of time with this band. That’s what we were looking for. This is just a band where you can hang out with your bros. So we accomplished that, but then we started putting out some CDs, and it turned out to be pretty big. We thought we’d be doing this band, and we still think we’ll be doing this band for another 10 or 20 years, long after our other bands call it quits. There’s no reason to not play in a cover band. It’s something you can do for your whole life.

I know people who are in bands, and they usually look down on cover bands because they’re not playing their own music. What’s your take on cover bands?
I don’t like cover bands. There are a couple of tribute bands that I’ve seen that I’ve liked. Yeah, cover bands are a bunch of fucking piss heads. They don’t enjoy what they’re doing, because most cover bands have their weekly gigs, or they play every night in Vegas, or whatever. I once saw a Sex Pistols tribute band that was pretty fucking good. They were called the Scottish Sex Pistols. They were way better than the Sex Pistols.

I saw a Sex Pistols tribute band dressed in drag called the Trans Sex Pistols; they played Sex Pistols songs while dressed in drag, and they were better than the original also.
Oh yeah. The Sex Pistols are terrible. The way Johnny Rotten sings now is fucking horrible. They would be fired if they were hired as a Sex Pistols cover band.

You said earlier that you all were hoping to do this after your other bands were retired. Do you ever envision Me First and the Gimme Gimmes getting a regular gig down in Vegas?
Sure, why not? Actually, if they open CBGBs down in Vegas like they said they were going to, we would have to be the house band.

How do you approach playing these covers as opposed to when you’re playing your own material? Are these songs you really like?
These are songs we really like, but it’s a weird thing. You don’t really get the same satisfaction by playing cover songs, that’s for sure. It’s fun to do. It’s another reason to go out and get wasted.

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