{"id":2242658,"date":"2026-01-20T18:51:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T18:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2242658"},"modified":"2026-01-20T18:51:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T18:51:29","slug":"its-gonna-be-a-party-fat-mike-teases-new-documentary-at-nofx-retrospective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/its-gonna-be-a-party-fat-mike-teases-new-documentary-at-nofx-retrospective\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It\u2019s gonna be a party’: Fat Mike teases new documentary at NOFX retrospective"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

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Fat Mike doesn\u2019t do birthdays.<\/p>\n

So it was probably just a coincidence the NOFX retrospective at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas last weekend took place on his birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife is going to spank my a\u2014 really hard 59 times,\u201d Michael Burkett, a.k.a. Fat Mike, said on the roof of the museum as the sun was setting and the lights of Las Vegas were coming on. \u201cThen she\u2019ll do it again with a cane, and then with a paddle. That\u2019s my kind of birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an answer NOFX\u2019s fans have come to expect from the front man known for his scabrous humor and irreverent lyrics. Fat Mike has made a career out of letting it all hang out and not taking himself too seriously, often courting scandal along the way.<\/p>\n

From insulting country music fans in 2018 after the Las Vegas massacre the previous October, to convincing the crowd at SXSW in 2010 that his alter ego Cokie the Clown had peed in the tequila he\u2019d just shared with the audience, Fat Mike has always been a provocateur.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just one side of the performer.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/picture>\n
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Fat Mike outside the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

(Melanie Kaye)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

As the owner of Fat Wreck Chords, the label that put out most of NOFX\u2019s material, as well as albums by scores of other bands, a lack of seriousness was a luxury he couldn\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of responsibility,\u201d he admitted with a sigh of relief now that the band has stopped touring and the label has been sold to Hopeless Records<\/a>. \u201cBut being out of NOFX now is wonderful. I can do so many different things that I\u2019ve been wanting to do for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his ambivalence to birthdays, the museum, which was co-founded by Fat Mike in 2023, pulled out all the stops for a \u201cthis is your life\u201d-style birthday party.<\/p>\n

Two rooms on the 12,000-square-foot museum\u2019s second floor displayed ephemera documenting the accomplishments of a grimy little punk rock band that stayed in the shadows of peers like Offspring, Green Day and Blink-182, but remained completely independent of major label influence \u2014 from its humble beginnings in 1983 to its final show in 2024.<\/p>\n

Photos and fliers lined the walls, road cases were stuffed with memorabilia, and the sound of early demos played on actual tape recorders filled the space. \u201cIt\u2019s the most substantial exhibit we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Vinnie Fiorello, one of the museum\u2019s co-founders.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, down on the main floor, Mike\u2019s former bandmates Aaron \u201cEl Hefe\u201d Abeyta and Eric \u201cSmelly\u201d Sandin led guided tours through the museum, telling stories about their unlikely success as punk rock lifers. Later that afternoon, they gathered in the museum\u2019s event space for a sold-out roundtable discussion.<\/p>\n

The event kicked off with the trailer for the upcoming NOFX documentary titled \u201cForty Years of F\u2014 Up,\u201d directed by James Buddy Day, and in typical NOFX fashion, they uploaded the wrong file. The showing had to be aborted after a few shocking scenes of bandmates bickering and Fat Mike blasting lines of cocaine.<\/p>\n

Talk about a teaser.<\/p>\n

For the discussion, Fat Mike, El Hefe and Smelly were joined by their longtime crew who are like a second family to the band. They shared irreverent stories and raucous laughter. At times, you could almost forget about the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n

Almost.<\/p>\n

Smelly read from a prepared statement addressing the reason why one of the bandmembers, rhythm guitarist Eric Melvin, wasn\u2019t present.<\/p>\n

Just a few hours after the final show of their final tour, Melvin\u2019s lawyers served Fat Mike with papers accusing him of \u201clegal and financial malfeasance.\u201d He broke off contact with the band and directed all communication to go through his counsel.<\/p>\n

After the roundtable, Fat Mike went out on the museum\u2019s rooftop, feeling sad and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

The acrimony that bedeviled so many bands that NOFX avoided for 40 years had finally caught up with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never had a f\u2014 argument, ever,\u201d Fat Mike explained. \u201cThings got a little sketchy during COVID, because people got desperate and we couldn\u2019t play. But before that, we were all best friends. It was so beautiful. It wasn\u2019t like other bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not being like other bands was the secret to NOFX\u2019s success. While other bands chased record deals, NOFX stayed indie. When the kind of skate punk that NOFX helped pioneer went mainstream, Fat Mike didn\u2019t tone down his act to appeal to a wider audience. He was willing to wager that, if they stayed true to their fans, their fans would stay true to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were kids \u2026 we made ourselves targets. By the cops, by the jocks, by everybody. Why did we do that? Why did we make ourselves targets? I don\u2019t really know why. It felt good, and it was like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to live like you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That determination to live on one\u2019s own terms, no matter how gnarly or weird other people thought you were, is what fueled Fat Mike and NOFX, and judging from the trailer<\/u><\/a>, that hasn\u2019t changed. That\u2019s what Fat Mike means when he says, \u201cNOFX is a completely authentic band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"NOFX <\/picture>\n
\n

NOFX drummer Erik \u201cSmelly\u201d Sandin, left, and Aaron \u201cEl Hefe\u201d Abeyta in the Punk Rock Museum.<\/p>\n

(Melanie Kaye)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

When members of NOFX were interviewed for the documentary, they were upset. Despite a wildly successful final tour, not everyone wanted the band to end and they spoke candidly about their feelings. Even though they were hard to watch, Fat Mike decided to include those scenes in the documentary.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want to shy away from material that made him uncomfortable, including footage from a gory near-death experience he had after contracting a bacterial infection in his ulcer. \u201cI\u2019m on the floor and there\u2019s blood and puke everywhere,\u201d Fat Mike said, setting the scene. At that moment, he asked his wife to film him. \u201cI think I\u2019m dying, and I want my last words to be on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more shocking than the documentary\u2019s content, is the way it will be distributed. You won\u2019t be able to watch it on a streamer, download it off the internet or purchase a physical copy. The only way you can see it will be by getting off the couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to go see the movie,\u201d Fat Mike explained. \u201cWe\u2019re playing it at over 100 theaters around the world once a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by midnight screenings of his favorite movie, \u201cRocky Horror Picture Show,\u201d Fat Mike went to Cisco Adler, whose father Lou Adler co-produced the camp classic that made Tim Curry a legend, to devise a bold plan for showing the documentary. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Landmark Theater are on board to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want our fans to have a place to go,\u201d Fat Mike said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reasonable DIY strategy that feels completely radical. NOFX in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

The documentary includes new songs performed by El Hefe, Fat Mike and Smelly, and they\u2019re creating merchandise for the screenings like popcorn buckets, chocolate bars and NOFX 2-D glasses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a party,\u201d Fat Mike promises. Would you expect anything less?<\/p>\n

\u201cForty Years of F\u2014 Up\u201d will premiere in Austin during South by Southwest on March 15 <\/i>and<\/i> 16 and at the Nuart Theater on March 19 before opening worldwide on April 10. <\/i><\/p>\n

Jim Ruland is the author of \u201cCorporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records\u201d and is a columnist for Razorcake Fanzine, America\u2019s only nonprofit independent music magazine.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fat Mike doesn\u2019t do birthdays. So it was probably just a coincidence the NOFX retrospective at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas last weekend took place on his birthday. \u201cMy wife is going to spank my a\u2014 really hard 59 times,\u201d Michael Burkett, a.k.a. Fat Mike, said on the roof of the museum as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2242659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2242658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Its-gonna-be-a-party-Fat-Mike-teases-new-documentary.com2Fd92Fc52Fd2658743443c8042ab985d18.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2242658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2242660,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242658\/revisions\/2242660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2242658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2242658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2242658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}