Covering Their Bases She Likes Todd as NOFX

Cover bands. Say what you will about them, but unlike their more successful and famous counterparts, they’ll always play the hits and won’t be snobby assholes about it. In Covering Their Bases, The A.V. Club asks a cover band to weigh in on a contentious issue regarding the reason for their existence. In this special edition, The A.V. Club caught up with a few of the bands participating in one of the city’s greatest fright night traditions: the Halloween homage. Join these unholy undead, if ye dare, as they rock out as some of music’s greatest—and weirdest—acts all over town this weekend.

Today, She Likes Todd’s singer-bassist Rob Sulzmann on why NOFX is such a big influence on him. And, oh yeah, drinking piss. The band plays Saturday at The Mutiny.

The A.V. Club: Have you covered bands before?

Rob Sulzmann: No, we don’t play covers at all, but we thought this would be a cool thing since NOFX has been such a huge influence in our music.

AVC: Do you have a favorite song?

RS: They have too many good songs. Right now I’m digging “Whoops I OD’d” and “Dinosaurs Will Die.” They’re both good tunes, and Fat Mike writes solid lyrics that I can relate to pretty well. Learning to play them is cool too, because Fat Mike plays with a pick and I don’t, so it’s helping me learn to get better at bass.

AVC: What’s the set going to be like?

RS: We’re definitely going to dress up. I’ve been practicing being Fat Mike, working on his stage presence. We’ve got a list of about 20 songs; we’ve learned about 15 of them. I think we have a 40-minute set, and some of the songs are only a minute long, so we’re going to try to get through all of them.

AVC: Which songs? Any particular album or era?

RS: We’re keeping the list of songs under wraps until the show, but I can tell you we’re trying to hit one or two songs from as many albums as we can. We lean more towards the newer stuff, but we’ve got some of the older songs in the set too. And we’re not playing “Linoleum,” because I’ve heard every punk band under the sun cover that song.

AVC: Have you ever met them?

RS: Yeah, we met them last year hanging out backstage at Riot Fest when we both played. They’re cool guys, kind of weird, but I guess that’s part of the act.

AVC: How are you practicing to be Fat Mike?

RS: Watching some of their show, Backstage Passport, should help me with some Fat Mike mannerisms. Also, he always has a cup holder on his mic stand, and that cup always has a bendy straw in it. I’ve got to get that together. A little bit of costume shopping, but I’ll be able to piece the costume together from most of my own clothes.

AVC: Are the other members doing anything?

RS: The other guys are dressing up, too. It’s harder for our drummer to pull it off, but our guitar players have some tricks up their sleeves. I’m not sure about the details on their costumes though. We even got together a keyboard player special for this show because they have one for their live shows.

AVC: Did you hear about Fat Mike’s SXSW antics this year? You’re not planning on drinking your own urine or anything, are you?           

RS: Yes, I’ve heard of the SXSW prank. I’m not going to go that far. I’ll probably just walk out with a tray full of shots for everyone. I think that should be enough to get a rise out of the crowd. But pretty much I’m just trying to play the part as I’ve seen over the years, so I’ve got to get some stage banter down really fast. He’s the best at that.