Best known as the frontman of
NOFX,
Fat Mike is a snarky -- albeit very funny and talented -- punk rock musician. Born
Mike Burkett in 1967, the Southern Californian began his musical career in high school with the band False Alarm. In 1983, he formed
NOFX with
Eric Melvin and Erik Sandin. Relentless and D.I.Y. in the strictest sense,
NOFX became an international sensation, ultimately leading to
Mike starting the privately run Fat Wreck Chords label. The band and label thrived, with no signs of stopping, well into the second decade of the 2000s. On top of performing and recording in
NOFX,
Mike also played bass in the all-star punk cover group
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and made headlines appearing on-stage and provoking audiences in character as Cokie the Clown, a downtrodden clown with severe issues -- the least of which being his drug dependency problem. As well as juggling his multiple projects, in 2012 he scored the ragtime soundtrack to Rubber Bordello, a pornographic period piece set in the early 1900s. ~ Jason Lymangrover