At some point in life – whether it's intentional or not – everyone begins to subscribe to British utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill's Greatest Happiness Principle. While it is true that some people find joy in the rigmarole of trivial concerns, eventually the thrill of perpetually fighting an uphill battle fades. When that happens, the pursuit of happiness – or rather, finding the simplest, easiest way to get pleasure out of any endeavor – becomes the paramount concern. No undertaking is immune to that urge; for example, many of the bands that have performed on the Warped Tour stage over the years have left the tour and struck out on their own with an eye to the almighty dollar and to get even better exposure in their own right. NoFX is a little different. While it's true that the San Francisco-based band has done the Warped Tour dance for seven of the tour's fifteen years (singer/bassist “Fat” Mike Burkett has done an additional two with Me First And The Gimme Gimmes), they were already well-established when they first signed on in 1996 and are even more so now. On their own, NoFX has entertained thousands of fans, sold tens of thousands of records and has illustrated several times over that they're capable of making good money on their own – perhaps better than they do on Warped. So why continue to embark upon what has been almost universally touted as one of the most grueling tour itineraries in North America? When asked, Burkett sums it up with two simple words: it's fun.
In talking to him, Burkett implies that he only recently reached the point in his career where he was comfortable with how he, his personal life, the record label he owns – Fat Wreck Chords and his band are functioning and the balance he's struck between those aspects of his life; he speaks easier, he laughs more and generally seems more relaxed than he has since the first time I spoke with him in 2005 – he has found that place and an agreement between his personal and professional life that makes him most happy. Even NoFX' deal to once again take the Warped Tour stage this year has been tailored to fit the band's comfort levels (they have skipped portions of the tour this year and the agreement to go hinged on Bad Religion's signing on as well), but there's no doubting that the concessions made are worth it; NoFX has history on the tour and they are the type of band to live up to the standards they've set on a nightly basis but, most importantly – and “Fat” Mike says this himself – NoFX brings a sense of fun to the tour that everyone – from the fans that come out to the other bands on the bill to the production crew – loves and missed in the band's two-year absence from the tour. Now they're back, now they're playing about half the tour and everyone (NoFX and Burkett included) is happy with that arrangement.
Bill Adams vs. “Fat” Mike Burkett of NoFX
MB: Hello?
BA: Hey Mike, it's Bill Adams calling.
MB: Hi Bill.
BA: How're you doing? Sorry for waking you out of bed earlier.
MB: Oh, it's alright. I was out late with my wife and I'm not used to getting up that early.
BA: Well, it seemed a little off when Mel told me to call at 10 AM Texas time. My first response was, “Really?”
MB: Yeah, I guess she didn't know we weren't doing Texas.
BA: Yeah, I looked at the itinerary afterward and realized you weren't down there. So how is Warped tour going so far this year?
MB: The first week was a lot of fun.
BA: It's going well so far? Have you already got the poker tournament going?
MB: No. Everyone got lazy and didn't bring a table so we have to buy one now.
BA: Oh really? That sucks.
MB: Yeah. The last time I did the tour, there wasn't a decent table so I didn't do it. I have a huge table – fuck, I can get more interesting than this – I was given a huge poker table at some celebrity poker tournament, but they're pretty heavy to bring on tour.
BA: Yeah, I can see that being a pain in the ass to try and lug around. Anyway, so the first week went well, what's NoFX's set looking like? A mixed bag of everything or a bunch of stuff off of Coaster?
MB: Uhm, we know about ninety songs right now, so we switch it up everyday.
BA: That's cool, now, how come you're not doing Texas? Are you only doing a portion of the tour?
MB: We don't like Texas! We don't like playing outside in Texas or Florida or Missouri, so we're skipping those dates.
BA: Why skip Texas?
MB: It's hot and miserable. In fact, we weren't going to play Phoenix either for the same reason but Kevin Lyman [Warped Tour organizer -ed] gave us a heat bonus; he said that if the temperature was over one hundred degrees, he'd give us an extra four grand. It turned out to be 108 so we made some extra dough.
BA: Holy fuck. One hundred and eight degrees? You wouldn't catch me out there.
MB: Yeah – it's pretty rough. But, you know, in Texas and Florida, you've got that plus humidity so that makes it so much worse.
BA: That's why I haven't made it out to Warped Tour in the last few years, I can't abide the heat – even in Toronto. Okay, I'm confused – last we spoke, you were saying that you were only going to do Warped Tour every other year but you did it last year didn't you?
MB: No, we didn't do it last year. We took the last two years off.
BA: Okay, I thought you did it last year.
MB: No, last year was a terrible bill.
BA: Was it? The more I think about it, I suppose it was….
MB: Yeah we held out. Us and Bad Religion, we're funny – we like playing together a lot – and so we kind of hold out.
BA: You only sign on if you know the other one will too?
MB: Well, we both told Kevin that we'd do it for this much money and if the other band is doing it so he gets stuck paying for two old punk bands that pretty much have the same draw, but we like playing together.
BA: Yeah, but it makes for a really good show too and you guys are still working the main stage; I know last year they had an Old School stage and all, but it's not like you're dragging that that nostalgia circuit or anything in spite of the fact that you're one of the longest standing bands on Warped. How many years have you done it now anyway?
MB: Uhm, NoFX has done eight years I think, and I've done it ten times because I did a couple of years with MeFirst and The Gimme Gimmes.
BA: And you're still doing the whole tour this year? Or only about half?
MB: We're doing about half of it, but the main reason is because I have a four-year-old daughter so I don't like being away from her for more than two weeks in a row which means I can't do a two-month tour without coming home for a few breaks.
BA: So family has entered into the equation?
MB: Yeah. The last time we did the Warped Tour, my daughter was one and a half so it didn't mean that much because she didn't understand when I was gone that much anyway. It's weird though because, when I'm on the road, I'm a drunk and I don't want to be that kind of father; I don't want to be the father that throws his kid in the air and doesn't catch her by accident. When I'm home, I'm generally sober; I want to be a good dad, so we don't do any tours that are longer than two and a half weeks.
BA: Oh yeah – I think that's what you were telling me the last time we spoke. You'll do two or two and a half weeks and then come home for a bit because you're a drug-addicted drunk on the road, and then you go out for two and a half weeks and repeat the process over again.
MB: Right – it works for me.
BA: Sure – if it works, it works, right? Do you find that being a parent has changed things pretty dramatically in your life? Like, you do think twice about some of the things you used to do?
MB: No, not really. I've always been a responsible drug user I think. But you never know right? That's why I wrote “Whoops! I OD'd” – because you never know. It's the same thing with any kind of adventurer or risk-taker; I've known more people that died riding bicycles in San Francisco than I have people that died on drugs. There are a lot of risks you take in your life, but they're all calculated.
BA: Yeah – and eventually there is that line that gets drawn: “This is who I am as a Dad” and “This is who I am at work.” I can understand that.
MB: Yeah – you know, I saw this photo of Jack Nicholson coming out of the 2005 Emmys with a bunch of coke around his nose. He's 63 and he's banging eighteen-year-olds and banging fifty-year-olds and doing blow? He's living the dream! [chuckling] He's Jack Nicholson and people are fine with that – they almost expect it. People look at Hollywood and just assume that's how it is, but the truth is that everyone goes for it.
BA: Yeah, but in Nicholson's case, it's almost viewed as permissible. Few people I've ever read about had a more fucked up home life than he did.
MB: Did he?
BA: Yeah. I read in some biography that he found out at one point when he was young that the woman he thought was his mother was actually his grandmother and the woman he thought was his sister was his mom or some crazy shit.
MB: Yeah, that's probably why he's never been married too.
BA: I can only assume so.
MB: But he's having a good time, his whole life and there's no reason he shouldn't. The way I see it, if you're lucky enough to be in a business where you're not only allowed to party, you're encouraged, why the hell not.
BA: Yeah – people have asked me about that before too. People ask me if it's hard and everything and I always tell them it isn't as long as you look at it from the right standpoint. It's still a business; yeah, all this stuff is offered to you, but it's still a business.
MB: Naw, it's not hard at all. What some people find hard is to turn it on and off. I don't seem to have a problem with it, but I always feel bad for some bands. Like, I don't feel bad for Rise Against per se, but after they come offstage after doing a show, all the dudes get a pizza and maybe catch a movie and that's their big night. They're going to be forty-five talking to their kids and, when their kids say, “Daddy, tell me what rock n' roll is like,” what are they going to say. “Alright, well nothing much happened?” [laughing] Bands like that have no good stories; like all the crazy stuff we do – and we do some pretty crazy shit – people can't believe and they're always so surprised and it makes for a good story, but you don't do it unless you're under the influence of either some alcohol or drug where you don't make the right decision [laughing] but it turns out to be one of the best nights of your life. That's where a lot of those nights and stories come from: a series of bad decisions.
BA: Absolutely! And I listen to NoFX songs – there are a couple on Coaster like “I AM An Alcoholic” and a couple of other ones – and there's no chance that those songs could have existed were you not fucked up.
MB: That's true, but the interesting thing about “I AM An Alcoholic” in particular is that I didn't try drugs until I was thirty-two years old. I did graduate college and I did start a business and I did make m first million before I ever tried drugs. That's not a common thing – I don't think – and when people ask me what kind of influence I'm going to be on my daughter, I tell them that I'm going to tell her to do it exactly how daddy did it: make something of your life and don't ruin your brain and THEN, after you've done that, it's time to party [laughing].
BA: Absolutely! If you're going to fuck yourself up, do it after you've already got enough money to be able to take care of yourself.
MB: That's right.
BA: Now if only someone had told me that when I was a kid [both laughing]. I might not have been a seventeen-year-old junkie.
MB: [laughing] My mom told me that when I was a kid too. My whole life growing up – because all of my friends were smoking pot and taking Quaaludes and stuff in, like, sixth grade – she said, “You're too smart for this. Don't ruin your brain by doing drugs like all these other kids.” That sort of stuck with me.
BA: It's good advice. Wait until you're already starting to slip to ruin it. Okay, so, you said you've got ninety songs pretty much in reserve and I'm assuming you pretty much pick your set lists by the day?
MB: Yeah, we do tend to put in the same five or six and then we change the rest around. In the case of Coaster, we change a song off of Coaster every day but we have one song that's cemented into the set and it's called “Arming The Proletariat With Potato Guns” and it's locked in because it's pretty much my favorite.
BA: And that one's unreleased too – isn't it?
MB: It's on a seven-inch.
BA: Oh is it? I know you guys have always done a few songs in your sets that have never seen wide release if they've been released at all.
MB: Yeah, we have another song called, “I'm A Huge Fan Of Bad Religion” [both laughing] and that one's in the set list almost every day too.
BA: Nice! I've never actually heard that song. I've never been there when you've played it.
MB: Yeah, we just started doing it. People have been asking us why we're playing these songs they've never heard before and the answer is this: we like to do what we want so F-off.
BA: Well, yeah, but it's also a bit of a keepsake for the crowd too – the people that were at that particular show can say they were there when you play song X and of course you've never heard it before because you weren't at that show too.
MB: Yeah – and a few of our more popular songs have never actually been recorded. Like “Idiot Son Of An Asshole” – we've never recorded that song.
BA: Yeah – and it's been around for a while. I remember when you were dedicating that one to George W. Bush on Warped.
MB: Yeah.
BA: Oh – I was going to ask you, last time we spoke, you were talking about putting out a release of old punk rock cover songs….
MB: Yeah it's a ten-inch and it's in the can, but it's sitting around and hasn't been released yet. We also have five songs off Coaster that didn't make the record and I think they're really good, I just don't like records that are over thirty minutes long. Those will come out toward the end of this year – just as an EP.
BA: Right around Christmas time! Put some NoFX under the tree.
MB: Yeah.
BA: So, after Warped Tour, has anything been booked for NoFX? Or is Warped as far ahead as you're looking at the moment?
MB: Well, us and Bad Religion are going to Australia and we're going to do South America probably pretty soon.
BA: That's cool. It's been about – what – eight years since last you played South America?
MB: Not that long. It was in the TV show, so about three years ago. We have a general rule about not playing cities more than once every three years. It kind of gets messed up with Warped Tour because sometimes we do cities more than that on the Warped Tour.
BA: I was going to say – last we spoke, I think you were playing in Toronto and I know there's a Toronto date on Warped.
MB: Right. If you look at club shows though, they happen once in a given city every three or four years. Playing the festival doesn't really count because, when you think about it, people aren't coming to see us on the Warped Tour, they're coming to see the Warped Tour.
BA: Sure. They're coming to see a half a dozen different bands and NoFX might be included in that list, bad Religion might be included in that list, but there's another four or five bands on that list too.
MB: Yeah, there's no one coming to see NoFX that would skip Bad Religion – people that want to see one want to see both [chuckling]. It's almost impossible to find someone that likes one band but doesn't like the other.
BA: I never thought of it that way, but that's very true. How are you finding the mix this year? I interviewed Kevin Lyman not long ago and he was the one that told me that how it all goes has changed quite a bit from how the tour started and I think you guys and Bad Religion are the only two bands that have sort of maintained through all of the changes that have happened to the tour. How are you finding it feels now versus the way it felt five years ago? Or ten years ago?
MB: It's weird because it's not that different. The thing that's really nice is that, this year, a lot of people have come up to me and said, “This tour is so much more fun with you guys and with Bad Religion on it.” We sort of connect all the dots between the people that work on the Warped Tour – all the production people – and a lot of the bands. We're kind of inviting and we just make stuff happen; like even Underoath who I hate what they stand for and I hate the fact that they're Christians, I'll still hang out and have a beer with them. The whole point of us doing the Warped Tour is for fun; we don't do it for any other reason except for hanging out with different people – with bands you don't get to hang out with normally.
BA: I can understand that. I mean, why would you do a giant tour that, by all accounts, is a really gruelling tour if it wasn't fun?
MB: Yeah – it's just for hanging out backstage with your friends and most of these younger bands are more interested in their careers; they're not interested in the good times, so we have this inflatable pool that we bring on tour and it takes six hours to fill [both laughing] but, if you start at eight in the morning, by two when it's getting really hot you've got a pool party. We do a lot of things like that that no one else does just to make it fun. We're kind of a catalyst in that way. We're really the only band that changes our set too.
BA: Oh really?!
MB: Well, Bad Religion will throw in a couple of songs here and there, but they also do it because I make them – they're my favorite band – and I badger them to play different songs but a lot of that happens for the people that are on Warped Tour. It's not so much for the kids because the kids are only coming to one show so they don't know the difference but, for the people that are on the tour and watching, I can't play the same set.
BA: Well, it would probably get boring for them, it would probably get boring for you.
MB: It has a little to do with getting boring, but really, it's just easier. And 'easy' isn't much fun. If you do the same set every day, you're unlikely to make any mistakes and that's no fun either.
BA: I can understand that. I mean, where's the fun if there isn't the possibility of utter failure?
MB: Oh yeah. It was funny because the one show I've played sober this year was Phoenix and I just could not play right at all because it's so foreign to me [laughing].
BA: That's a really bad combination of being really hot and sober!
MB: Yeah – it's a matter of feeling totally awkward and aware of everything going on around me. It needs to be a struggle; when you're wasted, your muscles just sort of take over and it just feels natural. But when you're sober… I don't know how you think about things all the time.
BA: Well, and realistically too, if it's not a struggle, what've you achieved?
MB: That's totally true. You're not pulling anything off. There have been a couple of times when I'll say, “We're playing this song today” and the other guys will say, “Oh man! We've only played that, like, five times!” Well, yeah, I know, but I'll want to do it anyway because it's fun if we can actually make it through that song.
BA: I can see that. Like, you said yourself that you've got ninety songs at your disposal for a set. You've got the time, you can do whatever you want but, even so, there have to be those moments when you say, “Okay, let's do something really fuckin' stupid today.”
MB: Yeah – like I remember one year in Dallas, it was really fun – well. it wasn't fun, it was getting rained out. The whole show got canceled but there were three thousand kids waiting to see a show and Kevin asked us to get on stage and play a few songs. He said, “Get up and play five songs.” So we got up and got going and as we went, we were told we had time for one more so we played “Decline” and it took twenty minutes. [both laughing really hard] Kevin's standing on the side of the stage shaking his head saying, “You motherfuckers,” but it was perfect.
BA: Yeah! And that's the thing too, it'll be memorable.
MB: Yeah – and all the kids are stoked, and Kevin's pissed…
BA: …And a grand time was had by all.
MB: Yeah. You always have to throw a curve ball – you know? I have to get going pretty soon though.
BA: That's totally cool, I just wanted to say thank you for throwing this together and making time as quickly as you did and I won't take up any more of your time. Thanks again Mike.
Artist:
NoFX online
NoFX myspace
Review:
Ground Control's Coaster review
Download:
“The Quitter” from Coaster
“Creeping Out Sarah” from Coaster
Album:
NoFX' Coaster is out now and available here on Amazon .
Tour:
NoFX' upcoming tour dates with Warped Tour and beyond.
Tour:
NoFX' Coaster is out now and available here on Amazon .
