Fat Mike means it. After this tour, you'll never see NOFX again

28:01Fat Mike: The end of NOFX

Fat Mike says he'd usually "have to get loaded" to play a concert with his band NOFX. But at a recent show, the punk rock frontman went on stage completely sober. 

About 45 minutes into his two-hour set, he realized why he drank before playing: he was bored and used alcohol to entertain himself. 

"I've been playing for 40 years," he tells Q guest host Talia Schlanger. "I don't want to be bored in front of all these amazing fans. I want to be having a better time than they're having."

Fat Mike concluded that his choice to disband NOFX, which will officially break up after its final tour this year, was the right one. They're performing this weekend in Toronto, with stops later this month in Montreal and Moncton, wrapping up with three shows in their hometown of Los Angeles this October.

NOFX is one of the most prolific and longest-lasting punk bands of all time. Fat Mike put the band together in 1983 in Los Angeles. The three original members, which also includes guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin, have remained in the band since that time, with lead guitarist and trumpeter El Hefe joining in 1991.

They've produced more than 40 albums, EPs, live records and compilations, and have sold more than seven million albums. To put that in perspective, NOFX has been together longer and put out more albums than The Clash, Operation Ivy and the Sex Pistols combined.

During the COVID lockdown, Fat Mike realized that he didn't miss touring at all. He hadn't been enjoying himself for many years, but knew that his bandmates counted on the band for their incomes. 

He came up with the idea of a farewell tour to cushion the blow. The band would work with a promoter to play in parking lots and campgrounds, so they could receive money from sales of tickets, drinks and merchandise. If they worked with a ticketing platform, they wouldn't be able to get a cut of all these revenue streams. 

"I told the band, 'Hey, you guys, if we do this, it's going to be really lucrative," Fat Mike says. "And the crowds are really big, so we're finally making good money…. We're actually making enough money to where we'll be set for a while."

Fat Mike says that 8,000 people came out for NOFX's first night of their farewell tour in Edmonton, and 5,000 people for the second one. Before, the band would usually only garner a crowd of 2,000 people. 

"We've never had crowds this big before," he says. "They really appreciate us now more than they ever have."

NOFX is already preparing to go out with a bang. When they end their 40-city tour in Los Angeles, they'll play a new song that's never been performed and will never be recorded. 

Fat Mike wouldn't give Schlanger much detail about it, but says it's called We Did It Our Way. "It's going to be a real tearjerker," he says. "I'm seriously getting teary-eyed right now. I don't know how I'm going to get through the last show."

But Fat Mike can't wait for his life post-NOFX. While he didn't say much about his future plans, he disclosed that this project will be the "most important thing" he'll ever do, and it won't be in music or in entertainment.

Looking back over 40 years of NOFX, he has no regrets. 

"What I'm so proud of is the NOFX body of work as a whole," he says. "What I love about it, is that it's over. This is what we did."

The full interview with Fat Mike is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Fat Mike produced by Mitch Pollock.