Coaster (album)

Coaster (released on vinyl as Frisbee[2]) is the eleventh studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on April 28, 2009 through Fat Wreck Chords.

Coaster
Studio album by NOFX
Released	April 28, 2009
Recorded	November 2008 – February 2009 at Motor Studios, San Francisco, CA
Genre	Punk rock, ska punk
Length	32:48
Label	Fat Wreck Chords
Producer	Bill Stevenson
NOFX chronology
The Myspace Transmissions, Vol. 11 (2009) Coaster (2009) Cokie the Clown (2009)
Frisbee
Vinyl cover.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk.net	(85%) link
Allmusic	link
AngryMusic	link
Bombshellzine.com	link
DecoyMusic.com	link
Rock Sound	[1]
Robert Christgau	link

Writing and production

The band went on east coast US tour in October 2008[3] with support from Dillinger Four.[4] Following this, writing and recording sessions for Coaster took place from November 2008[5] to February 2009.[2] The band worked with Bill Stevenson, who produced Wolves in Wolves' Clothing (2006) and Self Entitled (2012).

Release

On February 24, 2009, Coaster was announced for release in April.[6] On March 3, the album's track listing was revealed.[7] On March 28, "The Quitter" was released for free download.[8] Coaster was made available for streaming on April 23,[9] before being released on April 28 through Fat Wreck Chords.[6] The album was the first new Fat Wreck Chords release priced under $10 in the US under the label's new promise that all CDs from the label would cost under $10, with many priced less than $8.[10] Regarding the label's new pricing model, NOFX lead singer and Fat Wreck Chords owner Fat Mike stated the following:

This is not a sale. This is how much this CD costs.... We make less profit, but bands hopefully will sell more CDs to more people, which is why we started doing this in the first place.

Some of those who preordered the album through the Fat Wreck Chords website also received a limited edition, hand-numbered CD with two bonus tracks. The album was simultaneously released on vinyl under the title Frisbee with alternative artwork.[2] As with the CD release, vinyl preorders came with a bonus 7-inch single with the same two bonus tracks. The vinyl release also came with a free MP3 download of the album. The vinyl release features an alternative intro to the opening track "We Called it America". The song "Creeping Out Sara" is about meeting Sara Quin of indie band Tegan and Sara. The vinyl edition of the album has an alternate version called 'Creeping Out Tegan' which has alternate lyrics and is about a meeting with Sara's identical twin sister and bandmate Tegan Quin. The vinyl release also features an alternate trumpet solo and organ intro on the track 'Best God in Show.'

Between late June and late August 2009, the band performed on the Warped Tour.[11] In September and October, the band went on a tour of Australia with Bad Religion.[12] A few songs not included on the album that were written and recorded during the Coaster sessions were released on the Cokie the Clown EP in November. In April 2011, the band appeared at Groezrock.[13]

Artwork

The covers of both Coaster and Frisbee are in a style reminiscent of graphic design from the 1970s. The lyric booklet included with Coaster also includes photos of the band members from that time period.

The cover art of Coaster shows a compact disc being used as an alcoholic drink coaster with the disc art side facing down (data side facing up). The rear cover shows various older NOFX albums also being used as coasters with the disc art facing up. The disc art itself declares "Absorbing Alcohol Since 1983" (the year the band formed).

The alternate Frisbee artwork depicts guitarist Eric Melvin catching a vinyl record as he would a frisbee. The rear cover shows a dog in mid air preparing to catch the vinyl frisbee record.

Chart positions

Chart	Peak Position
Billboard 200	36
Rock Albums	9
Independent Albums	4
Digital Albums	36
Alternative Albums	7
Tastemakers	6

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fat Mike.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"We Called It America" (Opens with an Alec Baldwin (CD) or Jack Lemmon (Vinyl) quote from the film Glengarry Glen Ross)	2:07
2.	"The Quitter"	1:52
3.	"First Call"	2:33
4.	"My Orphan Year"	2:59
5.	"Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)"	2:54
6.	"Creeping Out Sara" (Appears as "Creeping Out Tegan" on Frisbee)	2:45
7.	"Eddie, Bruce and Paul"	3:53
8.	"Best God in Show"	3:29
9.	"Suits and Ladders" (vocals F. Mike & E. Melvin)	2:25
10.	"The Agony of Victory" (Side note in album booklet reads "Note: This is not a NOFX song. This is a song that we covered from a yet to be released soundtrack album. Stay tuned for more details..." In 2015, it was revealed to be a song from the musical Home Street Home, written by Fat Mike, Jeff Marx, and Goddess Soma.[14])	2:07
11.	"I Am an Alcoholic"	2:36
12.	"One Million Coasters"	3:08
Total length:		32:48

Bonus CD or 7" tracks (pre-order bonus with Coaster or Frisbee respectively)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"I've Become a Cliché"	3:13
2.	"The Quitter" (Demo)	1:46
Total length:		4:59

Personnel

• Fat Mike – vocals, bass, keyboard on tracks 5 and 6
• Eric Melvin – guitar, vocals
• El Hefe – guitar, vocals, trombone on track 8
• Erik Sandin – drums

Additional musicians

• Aaron Novik – bass clarinet on track 12
• Jason Freese – keyboard on track 8
• Karina Denike, Spike Slawson – backing vocals on "lots of things"

Production

• Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore, Fat Mike - producers
• Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore, Jamie McMann — engineers
• Andrew Berlin, Felipe Patino — additional engineers

Artwork

• Ryan Harlin — graphic design
• Lisa Eriksson — additional layout

References

1. Robertson, Oli (June 2009). "NOFX – Coaster." Rock Sound (123): 86.
2. "NOFX promise Coaster." Punknews.org. February 24, 2009.
3. "NOFX plan East Coast tour this October". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. May 7, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
4. "Dillinger Four to support NOFX on east coast tour". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. June 12, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
5. "Bill Stevenson working on new NOFX record." Punknews.org. November 21, 2008.
6. "NOFX announce next album, Coaster". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. February 24, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
7. "NOFX reveal tracklisting for Coaster". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. March 3, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
8. "NOFX's "The Quitter" MP3 posted". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. March 28, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
9. "NOFX Streaming Coaster On Myspace". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 23, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
10. "Fat Wreck Chords cuts CD prices to under $10 in the US." Punknews.org. April 29, 2009.
11. Paul, Aubin (March 26, 2009). "Warped Tour 2009". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
12. "Bad Religion / NOFX heading down under". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 16, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
13. Paul, Aubin (December 20, 2010). "Groezrock adds Civ, Snapcase, The Black Pacific, Dear Landlord, Hatebreed, Senses Fail". Punknews.org. Aubin Paul. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
14. http://homestreethomeonstage.com/info/

External links

• Coaster at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)