Let’s face it: There’s not much of a blossoming music scene in Cullowhee, much to the dismay of myself and many others. Often, one has to go quite a ways out of the valley to see a “real” band perform.
There are a number of venue options for the willing music fan, including Asheville, 45 minutes from here, Knoxville, 2 hours and 45 minutes from here, Charlotte, 3 hours from here, Atlanta, 3 hours from here, and the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, 5 hours from here.
On Oct. 26, some “real” music is coming to The Masquerade in Atlanta in the form of NOFX. NOFX is a punk band from California who have made their reputation on blistering riffs and social commentary in the form of hilarious lyrics.
NOFX has continued to thrive as a band because of their devoted fan base. Their records never sell a million copies, they refuse interviews to major publications, they refuse to have their songs played on radio, and they refuse to have anything to do with the arch-enemy of independent music, MTV.
Yet even still they have prospered because their strong convictions and catchy songs have endeared them to the punk community.
NOFX, featuring singer/bassist Fat Mike (owner of Fat Wreck Chords), guitarist/singer/trumpet player El Hefe, drummer Erik Sandin and guitarist Eric Melvin, has released eight studio albums, including the classic “Punk in Drublic,” a live album, and countless EP’s. Their last studio album, “Pump up the Valium,” was released in the summer of 2000 and shows that their music has only gotten harder, faster, and funnier since their beginning.
Their most ambitious release, “The Decline,” was released in 2000 as well. “The Decline” is an EP that consists of one 18-minute track speaking on the subject of politics, welfare, prison conditions and other socially relevant topics. It is their most activist and politically charged release to date.
The band’s live show is equally as charged as their albums. Blistering sets of crowd favorites like the lesbian love song, “Liza and Louise” and the anti-corporate-radio anthem, “Please Play This Song on the Radio,” along with extreme crowd interaction and witty banter make NOFX one of the best live shows around.
Tickets are currently on sale for $20 to their show on Oct. 26, and are available through The Masquerade’s website, http://www.masq.com/, as are directions to the venue.
One should not go expecting Green Day or Blink-182. These guys are the real thing, not an MTV photocopy of what Carson Daly thinks punk should be.
One should, however, go expecting to see one of the best shows they’ll ever have the chance to see.
Other upcoming events include the art-metal stylings of Tool, in Charlotte on Oct. 6, and the funky music of Incubus, in Raleigh on Sept. 25. Tickets for both shows are currently on sale through Ticketmaster.
More locally, Weekend Excursion will be playing the Music Zone on Saturday night.
