Nofx | STOKE EXTINGUISHER | CD

Personnel: El Hefe, Eric Melvin (vocals, guitar); Fat Mike (vocals, keyboards); Erik Sandin (drums); Spike Slawson (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Jason Livermore.
Recording information: Hurley Studios, Costa Mesa, CA; Motor Studios, San Francisco, CA.
As NOFX careen into their 30th year as a punk rock institution, to say that they know what they're all about is a bit of an understatement. This is a band so self-assured that any opinion or personal revelation, no matter how weird or dark, feels like a regular day at the office, a tradition that holds up on the Stoke Extinguisher maxi-single. Featuring a new single, the titular "Stoke Extinguisher," along with "The Shortest Pier" from the compilation The Songs of Tony Sly: A Tribute, this feels like the NOFX we all know and love: driving, snotty, and angst-ridden. Along with these two new cuts, the single also collects B-sides from the 7" releases of the singles from 2012's Self Entitled. The big highlight here is "Wore Out the Soles of My Party Boots," which finds Fat Mike not so much lamenting becoming an old punk as much as laying out the realities of it and letting us know that it doesn't bother him all that much. Mixing these kinds of personal revelations with songs about the similarities between cops and dominatrixes is what has made NOFX such an enduring band. They've made a good career out of mixing the tongue-in-cheek with the truth, and Stoke Extinguisher is another in a long line of solid releases from a band that's made drifting between not caring at all and caring too much into an art form. ~ Gregory Heaney

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop
• Released: 11/25/2013