麻豆传媒映画may be seeing a lot more of legendary L.A. punk rock band NOFX. After comments/jokes the band made on stage last month in Las Vegas, NOFX has, according to the band members, 鈥渆ffectively been banned鈥� in their own country. But is that level of consequence deserved?
If you didn鈥檛 hear about the incident, this is what happened:
At the annual Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival in Vegas, NOFX guitarist Eric Melvin said into a microphone on stage in front of thousands of fans, 鈥淚 guess you only get shot in Vegas if you鈥檙e in a country band.鈥� NOFX bassist 鈥淔at鈥� Mike Burkett responded by saying, 鈥淵ou know, I mean, that sucked, but at least they were country fans and not punk rock fans.鈥�
The Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017 left an unimaginable 58 people dead and 851 people injured. In what seems like a never-ending string of mass shootings in the U.S., the Vegas massacre was America鈥檚 worst-ever. Twenty-three-year-old Jordan McIldoon from Maple Ridge was among those tragically killed. Twenty-one-year-old Sheldon Mack from Victoria was shot and survived.
Reaction to NOFX鈥檚 onstage comments was swift and damning.
Their beer sponsor severed ties, and NOFX was kicked off their own Camp Punk In Drublic Festival. NOFX issued what appeared to be a sincere apology, but it didn鈥檛 do any good. Last week, NOFX wrote on Instagram that, against their wishes, all of their shows in the U.S. had been cancelled, and they鈥檒l only be playing in Europe, Mexico and Canada for the foreseeable future.
NOFX has a long history with Vancouver, which I鈥檓 weirdly entwined with. In the early 1990s, I was a young show promoter, foolishly willing to put on a gig for just about any grunge, garage or punk band touring through town. Many times it would be the band鈥檚 first-ever show in Vancouver, and NOFX was one of those bands. I remember thinking they had the worst band name ever, and I didn鈥檛 really like their music, but they came highly recommended from Bad Religion, another band whose first 麻豆传媒映画concert I booked.
NOFX鈥檚 麻豆传媒映画debut was Friday April 5, 1991, at the Cruel Elephant, at 1176 Granville St. About 40 people showed up to the 200 capacity club. I paid NOFX $200. After that 麻豆传媒映画gig, NOFX struck up a long professional relationship with Cruel Elephant club owner Paul Moes, and NOFX scooped half of his production staff to work in sound and management.
Over the course of NOFX鈥檚 35-year-career, the ethnically diverse band (as illustrated in the title of their 1992 album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean) made a name for themselves by essentially never having a filter, whether it be in their lyrics, album titles, artwork, onstage banter, or within the pages their New York Times-bestselling biography NOFX: the Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories, by Jeff Alulis, who did a deep dive into the often very damaged backstory of each member. The book鈥檚 opening line is a quote from Fat Mike: 鈥淭he first time I drank piss was on a fire escape overlooking downtown Los Angeles.鈥�
Despite the band鈥檚 taste or lack thereof, they鈥檝e never been signed to a major label, and yet have sold more than eight million records worldwide, making them one of the most successful independent bands of all time. Fat Mike has proven himself an excellent businessperson as owner of the Fat Wreck Chords label, which has withstood the ebbs and flows of the ever-changing music industry for decades. He鈥檚 politically motivated, having founded punkvoter.com, actively encouraging often-apathetic American punks to register to vote. He鈥檚 also a proud cross-dresser, wearing dresses and slips everywhere, including on stage, essentially telling his fans, and the world, to wear whatever clothes you want, as long as it feels good.
Former Cruel Elephant club owner Paul Moes now works in the film industry, and heard about the recent Vegas incident. 鈥淎 punk rocker known for saying stupid shit just said something stupid and people get offended? Punk rock was always meant to offend, that was the point. I read about them getting banned and I was shocked.鈥�
Yep, stupid shit. Artists like NOFX performing at major downtown music festivals may look cavalier and relaxed, but you can imagine that playing outdoors in Las Vegas so soon after the October attack could be particularly nerve wracking.
Could it be possible NOFX were scared shitless and tried to break tension, albeit disastrously? Is it possible to translate their callous remarks as a political statement on U.S. gun control, in keeping with the band鈥檚 left wing politics? Or is there simply no justification for a string of onstage dialogue delivered that badly?
Vancouver鈥檚 Charles Demers is an author, comedian, playwright, actor and, in his youth, a NOFX fan. Whenever I find myself crafting material to present in front of a live audience, I often run it by Charlie, because, unlike NOFX, he has a very good filter. I asked him what he thought of the NOFX story.
鈥淣OFX absolutely made a tasteless joke 鈥� but it was also a joke meant for an audience that understood that tastelessness as part of an ironic-nihilistic punk sensibility,鈥� Demers explained to me.
鈥淧roperly situated, it becomes gallows humour, albeit in poor form, about living in a chaotic and desperately violent country. But social media has flattened our performances 鈥� no one is ever just speaking to 鈥榯heir鈥� crowd anymore. No context can be taken for granted 鈥� and, what鈥檚 worse, no proportionality attends to the response or consequences.鈥�
In other words, in this era of viral outrage, the danger is that the punishment may eclipse the crime (or, in this case, the mistake in judgment). Because of a very bad joke, NOFX has 鈥� at present 鈥� lost a large piece of their livelihood in their own country.
The Las Vegas massacre was an unspeakable tragedy that NOFX chose to speak about. In the band鈥檚 own words, 鈥淲e made a mistake, we apologized, and we gotta suffer the consequences. Maybe it ain鈥檛 fair, but whoever said life was fair. #whendidpunkrockbecomesosafe.鈥�
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