NOFX and Frank Turner Collaborate for “West Coast vs. Wessex”

NOFX and Frank Turner: West Coast vs. WessexNOFX and Frank Turner have teamed up to release a new split LP called West Coast vs. Wessex, which sees the two camps covering five of each other’s songs. The matchup may seem unlikely, but the project was born out of the friendship between Turner and NOFX bassist/vocalist Fat Mike. Each agreed to the covers album, then didn’t discuss which songs they would be rendering in their own fashion.

“Well, we both agree [that] when you do cover songs, you got to make them different. You got to try to make it better or make it yours. And we take it very seriously,” Fat Mike told AltPress. Turner added, “Like Mike was saying, there’s no point in doing a straight cover song. You might as well just listen to the original. So with that in mind, we didn’t really discuss the philosophy of this very much till it was just like, ‘Do you want to do it?’ And I think we both understood that we would come at it in a serious way. And try and do something worthwhile.”

This led to unique re-imaginings of each musician’s art. Take the opening track, which sees Fat Mike and company giving Turner’s “Substitute” a ska flair:

Likewise, Turner and his band return the favor with NOFX’s “Eat the Meek.” Check out Tarrant Anderson’s grinding bass tone:

West Coast vs. Wessex is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).

West Coast vs. Wessex Track List:

  1. Substitute
  2. Worse Things Happen at Sea
  3. Thatcher Fucked the Kids
  4. Ballad of Me and My Friends
  5. Glory Hallelujah
  6. Scavenger Type
  7. Bob
  8. Eat the Meek
  9. Perfect Government
  10. Falling in Love

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