NOFX

About

Photo by: @susanmossphotography L-R: Erik Sandin, Eric Melvin, Fat Mike, El Hefe Fat Mike has never done things by halves until now. As NOFX wind up their time on this planet after 40 years, the seminal punk band—completed by Eric Melvin, Erik 'Smelly' Sandin, and Aaron' El Hefe' Abeyta—have decided the time is right to do exactly that. Well, kind of. After 2021's Single Album and 2022's Double Album , NOFX's latest release is called Half Album . Because that's precisely what it is. "These songs were all recorded at the same time," the frontman explains. "It just takes me a while to finish shit. So, this is me tying up loose ends, which is very good for the soul." If the phrase "tying up loose ends" sounds somewhat like Mike doesn't care, he does. A lot because these aren't just leftover songs or an afterthought. Put those two records and this EP—sorry, this half album—together, and you get what Mike considers an actual double album. And a good one at that. "I don't think there are any good double albums," he says. " The White Album is a great album, but it's not a great double album. There are a lot of shit songs on there. I don't think there's any shit songs on this—I wrote it to make a great double album." He put a lot of thought and effort into it, too. For example, the last song on Half Album is called "The Last Drag." A counterpart to Single Album's opener "The Big Drag," it took Mike five years to finish, and not only brings the whole 25-song double album full circle ("They're great bookends," he proclaims) but also reveals the profound depth of his songwriting—something that people often overlook. "The Last Drag" song not only sees Mike sing from the point of view of one of his exes, but it incorporates a simultaneously humorous and depressing homage to Lesley Gore's classic 1963 hit "It's My Party." It might not sound like it would work on paper, but it really does, mixing humor and pathos to devastating effect. "My ex went to Vegas to detox while we were d