I felt NOFX of Snuff All Day (night)
by: James Humberstone

Fourteen years of playing live shows tells you a few things about a band. First, you know they must be good, and they must have a big following. Second, they love what they're doing. Lastly, they just won't give up. Although their roots in Berkeley California, NOFX has many homes away. Over the years they have hit Salt Lake several times, but January 23, 1998 has to have exceeded them all. With a great lineup of Long Beach's All Day followed by British boys Snuff (formerly Guns'n'Wankers who were formerly Snuff again), NOFX had the tone set for them.
At a very early 6pm, All Day took the stage up at Salt Lake's Club Bricks. For a very cozy and well sold out show, the boys out of Southern California had no problem rearing up the crowd for the rest of the night. With the intensity of their friends from Sublime (Long Beach Dub Allstars-who were also in attendance, not to mention Louie Dog and Toby), and the clout and dominance of Bad Religion, the group energetically gave out a taste of their young blood to all, who (please excuse the expression), drank it right up! Their powerful chord progressions and in your face vocals unforgivingly sent their messages to the crowd, whether they understood the words or not. Along with the heritage of the LBC kind of automatically comes a prestige and distinction not common with most groups, and All Day had no problems showing it.
Before long, Snuff was up and playing, after a very short five song set by Long Beach All Day. Snuff, out of the UK, has sort of a double following, first for their earlier work, as the infamous Guns'N'Wankers, then from their work in Snuff. Duncan, the drummer and lead singer, was amazing to watch. Anyone who knows how hard it is to play drums and sing at the same time can empathize with Duncan's talents, and anyone who has seen them live, realizes how talented he really is. With his sidekicks Loz, the guitarist, and Lee, the bassist, with Dave the trombone player coming on occasionally, they unloaded their frenzy and fetish on all in attendance, playing their newest few songs like "Whatever happened to the Likely Lads" and "arsehole" to stuff off their first full length, called, get ready: "snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn'tthrowawobblerchachachachachachachachachachachayou'regoinghomeinacosmicambience". With their "good times" feeling and adrenaline filled sing-a-longs, the crowd was riled up and ready to go.
At last it was time for NOFX to take the spotlight, and kids were ready for some good loud fun. They started their set with "Kids from the k-hole," a fast paced classic NOFX sounding song and followed that with about five more from the newest album, So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes. Their set was 26 songs long and every one of them was glutted and overflowing with strength and intensity. They had a little something for everyone, playing jazzy blues songs with trumpet solos and then following it up with super charged California power pop anti-Mtv numbers. As funny as it sounds to you who aren't familiar with them, you'd get a kick out of watching El Jefe busting out a trumpet solo then playing the intense speed riffs from "Stickin in my Eye." Fat Mike was sick from his usual hangover, but from his energy and stage antics with Eric and El Jefe, no one could tell. To put it short, I went to the show expecting a decent show, but what I got was some yummy eye candy along with an incredible performance.


Thanx to James Humberstone for this review.
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