College Tribune | 1st April 2009
MUSIC
Random facts about NOFX !"The band got their name from an 80's band called ‘Negative FX' !"In the Simpsons Episode Bart Vs. Lisa Vs. The Third Grade, Fat Mike and El Hefe’s name appear on the wall of lost children !"At Warped Tour ‘98 in Houston, Texas NOFX thought their preformance was under par, so they threw $5,000 in $1 bills back into the audience !"NOFX has released 10 studio full lengths, 15 EPs, and many 7” singles. The group has independently sold over 6 million records worldwide
Veteran punk rockers NOFX made time amidst preparations for their forthcom ing album release to talk to Jim Scully about the secret to their longevity “The highlight was definitely playing places no one’s played before, and just really not knowing and not caring what was going to happen”. Anyone who has seen some of the footage will understand these sentiments exactly. Watching the series, it is almost like watching the band being thrown back in time to their early days of touring, and given their attitude today, it shows that not much has changed since then. “We’re doing it so long we don’t really care that much. When things go badly or we don’t get paid or cops show up, it’s like ‘whatever!’ Give us our booze and take us to a punk club after the show and whatever.” He exclaims. “Roll with the punches”. With their eleventh studio album, Coaster, due out on April 28th, the band are set to return to the road. On the latest installment fans can
expect typical NOFX with a slight twist, “This one has more of an old school sound, more like an old LA record from 1981. It’s still a NOFX record; just we used cleaner guitars and older amps – not too weird”. First up for the band as they hit the road again is Japan, “I think Japan is my favourite country to play, it’s really fun to be in a country where the culture is completely different, but playing in Asia is always fun cause everything is weird and creepy.” From there Fat Mike and the gang make their way to Europe where they play a sold out date in Belfast and a quickly selling date in Dublin’s Olympia theatre. Given the length of time that has passed since the band last touched down on the island, they’re sure to have a different experience this time around. NOFX play the Olympia on
N O F X
5
A sideways look at... Corporate Sponsorship Granted, the average music lover has become accustomed to commercial heavyweights using the music business to promote their gaudy wares, particularly in the area of festivals – Heineken sponsoring Oxegen, Virgin touting the V Festival, Budweiser bringing you BudRising etc... However, that won’t prevent the ructions that are bound to reverberate as a result of the announcement made by EMI last week. The news that the industry powerhouse intends to open up its catalogue of artists to what effectively represents product placement in musical form has attracted a fairly muted reaction as yet. Nevertheless, the idea of universally well-respected artists such as Duran Duran or The Kooks essentially acting as corporate shills is sure to garner an outraged response from even their most ardent admirers. EMI posit the view that, with the continued – some would say unstoppable – success of the downloads market eating into record companies’ profits, the move was inevitable. The press release declared that “in these times of extreme financial insecurity, it is inarguably apparent that we must resolve to be more competitive”,
before elaborating, “to this end, arranging for our contracted artists to include global brands within their lyrics could potentially prove to be of significant benefit.” With The Times reporting that the average teenager now has in the region of 800 illegally-copied tracks on their portable music players, it does seem like drastic measures were required. Sharkey concurs, “I was one of those people who went around the back of the bike shed with songs I had taped off the radio the night before. But this totally dwarfs that, and anything we expected.” Industry experts even contend that the move may have come too late to stem the flow of capital exiting the coffers of the conglomerates. At the forefront was a peculiarly maritime verdict delivered by Professor Nautilus of the University of London’s Department of Music at Royal Holloway. “Loose lips sunk the ship, that ship has sailed and the rats are deserting what amounts to a sinking ship at this stage”, he observed cryptically.
ROLF PILAO
from Monday 6th April Monday 6th April:
Thursday 9th April:
Maximo Park, Academy, €25, doors at 5.30pm
Jason Mraz, Academy, €30, doors at 7pm
Tuesday 7th April:
Dark Room Notes, Academy 2, €12, doors at 8pm
The Parks, Bravado & Harrows, Eamonn Doran’s, price tbc, doors at 8pm
Eskimo Joe, Whelan’s, €16, doors at 8pm
Wednesday 8th April:
Sunday 12th April:
Bell X1, Vicar Street, €35, doors at 8.30pm
Matt Halpin Quartet, JJ Smyth’s, €10, doors at 8.30pm
Saturday 11th April:
Monday 13th April:
Go:Audio, Academy, €16, doors at 1.30pm
Gran Casino, Whelan’s, €10, doors at 8pm
Seb’s Pick
Kevin Barry & the Matinee Idylls, the Sugar Club on the 5th April