NOFX

Cokie the Clown

(Fat Wreck Chords)

Cokie the Clown is fast, loud and thoroughly uncompromising. It's five tracks long and clocks in under 20 minutes. If you guessed that this is the latest EP release from NOFX, then by golly, you win a prize. OK, maybe not, but still.

Yeah, before you go saying it yourself, Cokie the Clown delivers exactly what NOFX has been known for – short songs that pack a hooky punch but also tend to have substance. On this EP the band cleverly touch on the pros and cons of drug use with expected theatrical flair (“Cokie the Clown”), and also spend time (sort of) educating the masses on the use of alcohol (“Fermented and Flailing,” “Codependence Day”). Yeah, that’s pretty much what you were expecting, right? Well, what you might not have been expecting is the album's closer, “My Orphan Year.” The acoustic offering finds Fat Mike heart-on-sleeve emoting through song about both of his parents’ deaths and what it took for him to see it through. The song is about as heartfelt and painfully endearing as they come, something that doesn’t really sound right in the same sentence as NOFX.

Even though the album's best track (“My Orphan Year”) is taken from 2008’s Coaster, the acoustic makeover gives it that much more merit and makes the band that much more vulnerable, even if only for a few fleeting minutes. But hey, with NOFX that’s something we could all probably get used to.