Eric Melvin and The Hepatitus Bathtub
“It’s always fun being the token punk band at a metal festival” says Eric Melvin of Nofx ahead of their latest Australian adventure; the inaugural Australian leg of the infamous Download festival. “It’s funny” he continues, “Growing up playing punk rock we were always on the outside, and now here we are, still on the outside, but we love it; Download is so much fun, we played in the UK and then in Madrid, so when they asked us to play Australia we were like, “oh, hell yeah!””
Download Festival, for those just joining us, has dominated the European metal scene since 2003, and is venturing to Australia for the first time, testing the waters, and with any luck, filling the void created by the “unexpected” collapse of Australia’s biggest metal festival Soundwave in 2016.
Nofx currently have 13 studio albums, two live albums, a plethora of singles and EPs, a reality show and, most recently, a tell-all band biography. But not all that much has changed over the years. “I’ve got four kids now” he chuckles. “I haven’t had more than five hours sleep in years, and these days there’s a whole lot more planning when we go on tour.”
The aforementioned biography titled NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories is an eye opening account of what it was really like growing up in the 70s/80s punk scene, each of them dealing with their own demons on the road to becoming one of the most recognisable names in the punk scene today.
Melvin, in his parts of the book, opens up for the first time to his band, and his fans, about suffering abuse during his childhood. “It was really scary you know, but it was also kind of empowering to open up and talk about it. The guys have all been super supportive, and have expressed how proud they are”, referring of course to bandmates NOFX. “They’re my brothers. I have also heard from a lot of fans who have been through something similar, telling me how much they appreciate me for talking about it.”
What was unexpected, was the raw and brutally honest nature that encapsulated the book as a whole, while still managing to be equal parts hilarious and downright disturbing.
Taking advantage of this new found serious side of the original punk rock jokers, I took the opportunity to find out if there is any truth to the legend that 1992 album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean was originally titled White Trash, Two Kikes and a Spic. “There’s some truth in there, I guess”, he admits. “I’m just not sure where. In the early days [during interviews] we’d just make a lot of it up because, you know, sometimes fiction is just more interesting than reality.”
Nofx are touring as part of Download festival Melbourne, with sideshows booked for Brisbane and Sydney only.
Originally published in 2016