Let’s be real... What’s really left to say about NOFX? For over thirty years the reigning kings of punk rock have remained relevant by continuing to push the boundaries of their music, lyrics and good taste in a way that’s as endearing as it is infectious. For that reason it’s remarkably apt that the band’s latest LP First Ditch Effort is also their thirteenth because ominous black clouds hang over this collection of songs that see frontman/bassist Fat Mike exploring self-loathing and mortality in a more raw and honest way than he ever has before. Mike credits much of this to the writing process behind NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub And Other Stories, the band’s New York Times bestselling memoir that forced him to confront his ghosts and revisit his past in ways that weren’t always comfortable.

“This album is more personal than anything I’ve ever done before because once we put everything out there in the book it opened all of these doors are far as what I want to sing about” Fat Mike explains. However this wouldn’t sound like a NOFX album without powerful performances from guitarists Eric Melvin and El Hefe as well as drummer, Smelly. In that spirit this album also marks the first time that Melvin helped write songs and his contributions to “It Ain’t So Lonely At The Bottom” and “I Don’t Like Me Anymore” as well as his signature vocals on the opener “Six Years On Dope” add a visceral impact to these songs that will surprise even the band’s most hardcore fans. “It’s like you don’t expect it, what the fuck?” Mike says of the aforementioned opener. “That song reminds me of the Angry Samoans meeting the Bronx and I don’t think there’s anything that sounds like it.”