NOFX must be hands down the most successful independent band of all time. After being together for some 35 years they have released 13 albums, the latest one First Ditch Effort was put out in late 2016. They are regular visitors to our shores and are currently down under with us nice Australian’s as part of our very first ever Download Festival. We caught up with guitarist Eric Melvin and talked about all the things important to us Aussies such as family, music festivals and beer.
SCENEzine
Firstly congrats on becoming a dad again last year. Has life changed much for you since the new additions to the family?
Eric Melvin
Yea these babies are my 3rd and 4th, so I have been a dad for 8 years now so basically, I don’t have any free time anymore to do anything and if I want to do something it has to be late at night after the kids go to bed. I didn’t really realise before, like I thought my life was full and I had lots of stuff to do and my life was busy but now I don’t do any of those things anymore. Now I do all this stuff and I somehow feel fulfilled, ya know what I mean.
Music is still important to me, playing guitar is still my favourite thing to do and to make music and I’m constantly recording my own music on my laptop and I don’t see why I would ever stop doing that. Anything I do outside of that is about my family and it feels good like my life is really full, like the difference between low-fat milk and full cream (laughs).
SCENEzine
It’s not long until you’re playing shows in Australia again. Are you excited to play the first ever Download in Australia?
Eric Melvin
Yeah totally. We love the Download Festivals and the organisers behind them, we played the UK one many years ago like way back and it was called something else and we did the one in Paris, and one last year in Madrid and it’s huge. Those festivals are so much fun, some of the bands are big and some of the bands are actually people we know that we don’t get to see very often on a bill like this, so it’s cool like that and we get to hang out and get to see people you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s fun to be part of the first Australian one I hope you guys enjoy it.
SCENEzine
Are there any other bands at Download you wanna watch?
Eric Melvin
I haven’t had a chance to see the whole line up but I really am into the Prophets of Rage, we crossed paths with Rage Against the Machine many years ago and I have been a fan of Public Enemy since I first got into punk rock. I remember in the early in the early 80’s I was listening to punk and my sister was listening to Public Enemy and I remember not being really a fan of that style of music but they sounded like they almost fit the music I liked and over time I realised the ideology behind the group were similar to punk with left-wing political views, being on the fringe of society and as a group they weren’t out trying to make all the money and buy giant mansions and stuff it was more about the music.
SCENEzine
You’ve been here quite a few times do you have a favourite Australian memory?
Eric Melvin
It’s pretty hard to remember exactly what year it was but I remember in our earlier days when we were just kind of just travelling around it just felt different we were playing smaller venues and it seemed more personal you could get along with the people in the crowd. We always seemed like we had something to do after the shows on our days off, there would be people inviting us over for a BBQ and it was a lot easier to hang out then. Don’t get me wrong, when we started to play the bigger venues that was fun too, like when we toured with Bad Religion and we got to play the Hordern and Riverstage that was great and fuck you guys know how to party.
SCENEzine
NOFX recently teamed up with a craft beer company in the States and released a brew called Punk in Drublic, any plans to team up with an Australian brewer?
Eric Melvin
Yeah, there is a brewery in San Diego who I think are the world’s largest independent brewery and they are NOFX fans, they have a bunch of people in their higher offices who are punk fans, punk rock people and they were into the idea. Over the years a couple of people have made beers like Punk In Drublic but haven’t worked with us they just went and did their own, so when Stone Brewing asked if we were interested, we said of course we are, we had a meeting with them that went really well we did a beer festival with them and we had a follow up meeting with them after to see how it went and they said it was so well received, that the beer disappeared quicker than they could track it and they are gearing to make three times as much for the festival this year.
They also have a Brewery in Berlin and intend to make some there and we are actually going to play the brewery in Berlin this summer to celebrate how well it’s all gone and they are just cool people, super friendly and really into it and just want to do something cool that no one else has done and do it well. And they aren’t so much talking about profits they are just wanting to do it cause no one else really is doing it although I saw Pennywise are now doing a beer too.
SCENEzine
So no plans to team up in Australia with VB or anyone else?
Eric Melvin
I imagine VB is a pretty big corporation maybe even owned by a bigger corporation but we have talked about getting it here or team up with a smaller craft brewery to make our Punk in Drublic recipe and we have people who are working on that.
SCENEzine
Since we are talking beer have you guys heard of a Shoey?
Eric Melvin
No, tell me more about it
SCENEzine
Well basically a shoe gets thrown on stage from the crowd and the audience calls for someone in the band to drink beer from it.
Eric Melvin
That sounds gnarly, yeah, I would do it, I have eaten and drank strange things in my life. I have never heard of that though and we have been coming here a long time.
SCENEzine
It’s something that has really popped up in the last few years. Don’t be surprised if you get asked to do it.
Eric Melvin
We had an album in the 90’s called So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes, named so because of all the shoes that would get thrown on stage and that was way back in the 90’s I really wonder who was the first one to pour a beer in one and drink from it. I just can’t imagine who thinks to do that and then have people go, wow that is the coolest thing (laughs)
SCENEzine
Looking beyond Australia are you stoked to be playing the 20th anniversary of Punk Rock Bowling?
Eric Melvin
Oh yeah, we have been friends with the BYO Records people the Stern brothers forever, since before they started. I think I went every year for the first 8 years and then I went every other year and we have played quite a few of them and it is so much fun.
SCENEzine
We are actually heading over for Punk Rock Bowling. Can you tell us a little bit about what to expect?
Eric Melvin
Awe man you are going to have so much fun, ever since they moved it to downtown Vegas almost ten years ago it just made so much more sense because you can just walk, you’re not on the strip. Vegas is actually quite big but when your downtown you can walk everywhere and there are tonnes of little bars that put on bands and it is the greatest thing. I am so happy for them that they have this thing that has been working for a long time, it’s amazing. The festival was even moved to a really busy weekend for Las Vegas and they still draw in the people on what is already a big weekend, that’s just really great for the BYO people.
SCENEzine
NOFX have been together for 35 years not only that but you have such a loyal fan base that you never needed a major label is that a surreal feeling?
Eric Melvin
Yeah, in the 90s when The Offspring hit big then Greenday, there was a lot of talk about being on a big music label and we actually had some meetings in which they told us what they could do for us and it seemed like the things they could do for us weren’t things we really wanted like putting our music in major films and we were like I guess there is money in that but we felt that we were doing alright and they couldn’t really help with the things that are important to us like the touring. They seemed to be good at wanting to spend our money for us and it just seemed like the answer was obvious to not go that route.
Fat Records gave us an amazing deal, it was more like an equal partnership with most labels they a percentage of the profits to the band but Fat Records made us an equal partner feeling more like a band member, so we got all equal shares of the profits and that just seemed like a cooler way of doing it so bless Mike for making that deal. We also watched a lot of bands get really popular then they seemed to die out really quick and we didn’t want to go that way. We liked the steady pace we were going with and I am still proud of that decision.
SCENEzine
Lastly, it might be too soon but there’s news circulating of a new Cookie the Clown album, is there any update at all?
Eric Melvin
Mike has been working on it on and off for a while. One of the things about this project is, Mike is free to make it any way he wants it doesn’t even have to have a drummer on some songs, can be any style anything he wants and a lot of the tracks are still in their rough stage. But I have heard a lot of them and I am really proud of how it’s turned out. Mike needs this, he needs more creative outlet’s. The guy is so creative he never stops, he can’t, and I am so happy for him to have this and I am so proud of him for doing it. There is some really emotional vulnerable stuff in it and like I said there is no restrictions on the music at all and there is really some great stuff in it. I wonder though when he will know when it’s done, that’s like a big thing with creative pursuits how do you know when you’re done? So I hope he will be able to get that done soon.
Interview – Chad
