NOFX - Cokie The Clown E.P. Review

Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 12.24.2009

Made up of out-takes from Coaster, their album from earlier this year, Cokie The Clown is NOFX’s newest release. Is it just the filler, or did the album miss out on something with these tracks? Click the link to find out.

I’ve recently began to get into NOFX, through Coaster, Punk In Drublic and The Greatest Songs Ever Written. I’ve since listened to the rest of their back catalogue, and I was intrigued to get a chance to listen to these out-takes from the Coaster sessions. This E.P. was an Honorable Mention in A Lesson In...My Top 10 Albums of 2009, but this will be the first time I’ve listened to it properly in a while, so my opinion could change.

Between that album and Wrecktrospective (a compilation from Fat Wreck Chords), there’s been a lot of material from NOFX in 2009. Does the new release feel like just another E.P. to kill time in-between albums, or is there actually something of substance here? Well, continue reading and you’ll see...



NOFX – Cokie The Clown E.P.

1. Cokie The Clown (2:27)
2. Straight Outta Massachusetts (1:17)
3. Fermented And Flailing (2:40)
4. Codependence Day (1:29)
5. My Orphan Year (acoustic) (2:58)

A short section of “Send In The Clowns” gives way to a heavy, power-chord driven intro to lead us into the title track. It’s a story of a clown that clearly isn’t happy in his line of work, with lines like “I’m Cokie The Clown/I will trip you down”. Cokie The Clown is, basically, a drug addict clown who uses the flower that squirts...erm...flour to send cocaine up audience members’ noses. It’s a very, very dark song, but that’s not to say it’s bad at all. It’s an interesting way to kick off the E.P., as we get off to a less-than-joyful start, but a nonetheless great one.

“Straight Outta Massachusetts”, on the other hand, is a bit more up-beat, with some simple beats, and is typically power-chord driven. A slight guitar solo is a welcome surprise, giving the impression that the track is a bit more than just pop-punk. There are much better songs out there, and it’s understandable why this track didn’t make the cut for Coaster. It’s catchy and fun, but there’s not a lot to it.

Similarly, the next song doesn’t do much to make this E.P. stand out about other releases this year (both by NOFX and other pop-punk bands). It wasn’t a bad song by any means, but it was just...there. When it feels like filler on a 5-track E.P., that’s definitely not a good thing for “Fermented And Flailing” or Cokie The Clown as a whole.

At least “Codepedence Day” is a breath of fresh air, with a bass-led introduction before some nice guitar work (nice, not great) gives the impression of something a little bit different. The one thing I will say about the E.P. at this point is that every song does seem different in a way. Whereas “Cokie The Clown” was quite slow and dark, this is very fast-paced, seemingly written for the circle pit. Part of me wishes it was longer than it was, but then maybe it would’ve begun to drag.

What follows saves the E.P. and nearly brought me to tears. I know some of my friends read this, and maybe I’ll get ribbed for admitting that on a well-read website, but I’ll hold up my hands and admit it. “My Orphan Year (acoustic)” is, obviously, an acoustic version of a track that made it onto Coaster.

The final album version is just your typical angry punk song, but when you hear it stripped down, it’s...well, like I said, it was almost enough to make me cry. It didn’t quite manage it, but I was moved and stunned to silence listening to it. Lines like “And so he died without his son/I heard about it drunk after a show” really get to you, and the simple guitar picking compliments it perfectly.

It’s a huge departure from the norm with NOFX, and I can understand why this version wasn’t on Coaster. That said, it’s a shame, because this is possibly the best song they’ve ever written. It’s bitter, emotional, raw, and they hold nothing back. I’d start to go into the subject of the song, but this will say more than I could hope to...



It’s a sombre note to end this review on, but it’s the same note the E.P. ends on, so it’s fitting. When I first heard this, I thought it was fantastic, hence it being an Honorable Mention for my Top 10 Albums of the Year. As I got half way through it writing this review, I was considering giving it a 6, calling is a run-of-the-mill out-takes release with a couple of high points, and leaving it at that.

However, after listening to it again in full, it feels like Cokie The Clown takes you on a journey. It sounds pretentious, but we do come full circle from the dark moods of the title track to the moving last song. Now that I’ve finished listening to it, I want to listen to it again right away, which is a great achievement for a 5-track made up of “filler”.

The 411: It has its low points, both in terms of mood and the quality of the songs, but none of the 5 songs here are bad at all. The first and last track are by far the stand-outs, but it’s all worth a listen. By the end of the E.P., the middle track being “filler” really isn’t as much of an issue as it first seemed. For the acoustic version of “My Orphan Year” alone, this gets a high recommendation from me.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]