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  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Fat Mike, of the punk band NOFX, riles up the crowd at the House of Blues Monday night with the last song from "Pump Up the Valuum."

By Sara Bamossy

Daily Bruin Contributor

NOFX is punk rock personified.

NOFX played at the House of Blues Monday in support of its new album, “Pump Up the Valuum,” along with opening acts Furious IV and the Mad Caddies. NOFX band members Erik Sandin (drums), Eric Melvin (guitar), Fat Mike (bass, vocals) and El Hefe (guitar) put on an amazing performance.

NOFX is a band that loves to play punk music and has a good time doing it. This is what makes it so enjoyable to see live and what draws many loyal fans to its sold-out shows at venues across America. The band plays the music that it wants to play without conforming to the corporate aspect of the music industry. To put it simply, the band puts on one of the best live shows in punk rock.

“Everything they did was so good and done really well. Everyone knows that all four are talented musicians, but they really proved it tonight,” said Ben Bert, an undeclared first-year UCLA student at the show.

  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Fat Mike, owner and founder of Fat Wreck Chords, gets intimate with the microphone during NOFX's hour-and-a-half set last Monday. Although punk rock music is often stereotyped for being violent, the overall mood at the show was friendly. This stems from the music NOFX plays. The band’s lyrics have never been about espousing gratuitous violence – its songs are mainly political or just plain amusing. On the surface the lyrics may seem to be politically incorrect, but they serve as a clever social commentary – the band does not shy away from any topic.

The band attracted two very different kinds of fans to the House of Blues.

There were hard-core fans at the show because they wanted to hear the music and then there were people who were there just to be punk.

This distinction between the fans is found at many other punk rock shows and illustrates a deep point of contention within the crowd. Some of the people at the show were loyal NOFX fans and were there solely to see the band play. Others were there simply because of what punk rock represents – rebellion. Some fans tried to engage in head walking, or trying to stand on other people’s heads while crowd surfing.

The age of the fans present at the House of Blues ranged from early teens to late 30s, displaying the impact the band’s music has on a different ages. Not very many punk bands can boast such a broad fan base.

In the hour and 20 minutes that NOFX was on stage, the band performed at least one song from each of its 13 albums. The band integrated both old and new songs into the performance, including the anthems “Bob” and “The Brews” and some of its characteristic short songs such as “Six Pack Girls” and “Murder the Government.”

The band also played several songs off its new album “Pump Up the Valuum,” including “A Theme from a NOFX Album” and “What’s the Matter with Parents These Days.” However, the band did not openly promote its new album during the performance, unlike opening band Furious IV, which showered the crowd with a barrage of free T-shirts and spit.

The highlight of the show was when the band performed “Theme from a NOFX Album” as their last song. The song, which can be classified as a polka, featured a long accordion solo by Melvin. This was a testament to the amazing musical ability of the band. There are not many other punk rock bands out there that can successfully integrate accordion music into songs, let alone those that have a band member talented enough to play one.

Other highlights included El Hefe’s impersonations of cartoon characters during “He’s More Punk than Me,” and his deep vocals during the performance of “Straight Edge.”

Not only was the performance awesome, the House of Blues was also an excellent venue. The intimacy of the club allowed fans to get within several feet of the bands, which is what makes the band’s shows so appealing.

“We play at small clubs for you,” Fat Mike said.

The band also keeps ticket prices fairly low. The show was only $12, although the band could have easily charged much more. NOFX has always been about the fans and it knows that many of them could not afford a more expensive show.

The Mad Caddies, a seven-piece Santa Barbara-based ska band, also gave an energetic and entertaining performance. It was accented by the lead singer’s comical antics while on stage – he whistled, skanked and made dirty jokes.

The other opening band, the Furious IV, however, was not as exciting. The lead singer didn’t really sing and instead yelled mostly unintelligible lyrics.

Though the show started slow with the Furious IV, the excellent live performance by NOFX embodies all that is punk rock.