Fat Mike talks about NOFX and his later-life interest in drugs and bondage — avclub.com

Generally speaking, people don’t get wilder as they get older. The ones who spend their teens and 20s partying discover that recovery takes longer and hangovers hit harder the deeper they get into their 30s. That’s also when the responsibilities of adulthood really take hold, making it feel irresponsible to, say, maintain a steady cocaine habit. But “Fat Mike” Burkett, leader of seminal punk band NOFX and founder of indie punk label Fat Wreck Chords, is not like most people. When Burkett started NOFX in 1983, no one would have imagined that such a supremely sloppy, juvenile punk band would become one of the genre’s most enduring and successful groups. By the mid-’90s, NOFX had become one of the biggest punk bands in the world—all without mainstream radio play or the backing of a major label—and Fat Wreck had become a tastemaker, selling millions of records in the process. All of this made Fat Mike wealthy—and a little bored. He and his bandmates were never known as teetotalers, but Burkett took it up a notch, dabbling in drugs at an age when most people slow down or stop. After his marriage ended in 2010, he also became more outspoken about his BDSM lifestyle: This year, he scored a silent fetish film, Rubber Bordello, directed by and starring his girlfriend, Soma Snakeoil. All of these themes turn up on Self-Entitled, NOFX’s 12th studio album and first since 2009’s Coaster. Produced by Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Rise Against, The Lemonheads), it’s the rawest album the band has ever released, though Burkett—always honest—doesn’t necessarily think it’s his best. Just before NOFX started a tour on December 4, he talked with The A.V. Club about the album, reconfiguring Fat Wreck Chords, and getting strapped to a palm tree and beaten while high on DMT.

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