It’s been just over a year since NOFX released their most recent album, but now, punk fans are over the moon with the news that the band’s celebrated frontman has teamed up with one of punk’s greatest drummers for a new album.
Back in 2009, NOFX released an EP titled Cokie The Clown, a project that was recorded during the same time as their well-received album Coaster. The band’s bassist and vocalist Michael ‘Fat Mike’ Burkett decided to take this EP on tour, adopting the persona of the titular Cokie The Clown, and performing a number of acoustic shows around the US.
In fact, this tour was met with controversy when he performed in Austin, Texas for the South By Southwest festival. The performance included retellings of graphic stories from his life, and involved giving the audience shots of tequila, which Fat Mike revealed to the audience to actually be his own urine. Though it was later admitted to be a hoax, the rocker was banned from the venue, and since then, the Cokie The Clown persona has fallen by the wayside… until now.
Taking to Instagram earlier today, Fat Mike shared an image of himself in a recording studio with Blink-182’s drummer Travis Barker. “So fucking stoked that Travis Barker is playing on the Cokie The Clown album,” he stated. “He was the one drummer that I’ve really wanted to collaborate with,” he concluded, before sharing a quick apology to NOFX’s drummer Erik “Smelly” Sandin.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether or not the rest of NOFX will be making an appearance on the upcoming record or if it will be a Fat Mike solo project. The previous EP had been a full band effort, though the supporting shows were predominantly solo shows, so it’s a little vague as to what fans should expect in terms of the studio project and the live shows that will inevitably follow.
Nevertheless, with a punk legend like Travis Barker on the record, you can be sure that this is going to be one album you won’t want to miss.
NOFX are set to hit up our shores again this March as they make their way to Australia for the inaugural edition of Download Festival Australia, in addition to a couple of sideshows. While the chances of Travis Barker making the trip to Australia are pretty slim, we can only hope that we might be lucky enough to catch a sneak preview of the new album if the band are feeling generous.
Check out NOFX’s ‘Cokie The Clown’:
NOFX 2018 Australian Tour
(With Hot Water Music, Bad Cop/Bad Cop and Dad Religion)
Thursday, March 22nd, 2018
Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets: Select Touring
Friday, March 23rd, 2018
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW
Tickets: Select Touring
Also appearing at Download Festival Australia 2018
Saturday, March 24th, 2018
Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, NSW
Tickets: Download Festival
