Representative Albums: "All the Best Songs," "Keep Them Confused," "Daily Grind"
Representative Songs: "Thorn in My Side," "A Postcard Would Be Nice," "Exit"
Biography
Hardcore punks No Use for a Name formed in Sunnyvale, CA, in 1987, originally comprising singer/guitarist Tony Sly, guitarist Chris Dodge, bassist Steve Papoutsis, and drummer Rory Koff. Making their recorded debut later that year with "Turn It Around" -- their contribution to a double 7" released by Maximum Rock'n'Roll magazine -- NUFAN next resurfaced in 1989 with the single "Let 'Em Out," followed a year later by their full-length debut, Incognito. After 1991's Don't Miss the Train, the group signed with Fat Wreck Chords for 1993's The Daily Grind; lineup changes regularly plagued No Use for a Name, and by the middle of the decade only Sly and Koff remained from the original roster. After 1994's Leche con Carne, the band kept a relatively low profile before resurfacing three years later with Making Friends, recorded with new guitarist Chris Shiflett and bassist Matt Riddle. Shortly after completing 1999's More Betterness!, Shiflett exited NUFAN to join the Foo Fighters; he was replaced by former Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Dave Nassie. The NRA Years followed in 2000, and the following tour was promoted with a live album a few months later. The band stepped back into the studio at the end of 2001 and reappeared the next year with Hard Rock Bottom. Sly issued a split acoustic album, aptly titled Acoustic, with Lagwagon's Joey Cape in 2004 before Keep Them Confused followed for NUFAN in 2005. The band's ninth studio release, The Feel Good Record of the Year, was recorded at the Blasting Room studio with producer Bill Stevenson and released in April 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Chris Shiflett
Doug Judd
Steve Papoutsis
Ed Gregor
Robin Pfefer
Chris Dodge
Ramon Gras
John Meyers
Dave Nassie
No Use for a Name (sometimes abbreviated NUFAN) is a punk rockband from San Jose, California, United States[1] formed in 1987[1] by Chris Dodge (guitar), Steve Papoutsis (bass), Rory Koff (drums), and Tony Sly (vocals). The band's sound has evolved considerably through its career, taking on a much lighter brand of melodic punk as the years passed.
The original line-up of four added Ramon Gras as a second vocalist and Doug Judd as a second guitarist. The band was first featured on Maximum RocknRoll's 1987 Turn it Around compilation, with the song "Gang Way." A year later the band's self-titled debut EP was released on Woodpecker Records. Their second EP, Let 'em Out, was released a year later through Slap A Ham Records. Chris Dodge, Doug Judd, and John Meyers left the band after the release of "Let 'em Out". Soon after, Tony Sly entered the band.
NUFAN's debut album, Incognito, was released in 1990 through New Red Archives. Chris Dodge rejoined on second guitar, and they released their second album Don't Miss the Train in 1992 before signing up with Fat Mike's label Fat Wreck Chords in 1993. During this year Chris Dodge left the line-up, and was replaced with guitarist Robin Pfefer, who took over on lead guitar so Sly could concentrate on singing and stick to rhythm. No Use for a Name also released its first record on Fat this year, The Daily Grind, which turned out to be a highly successful album.
Ed Gregor replaced Robin Pfefer on lead guitar soon after the release of The Daily Grind. In 1995, after the release of Leche Con Carne, their fourth full-length, Chris Shiflett and Matt Riddle joined the band to play guitar and bass, replacing Ed Gregor and Steve Papoutsis respectively. With the punk music breakthrough in 1994, No Use for a Name received a larger audience after releasing this album, compliments of their video for the song "Soulmate" which was played on the MTV show 120 Minutes. This was the first video on Fat Wreck Chords to ever be aired on MTV. In 1997, after the success of Making Friends, the band went on a worldwide tour through the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, and Japan.
After releasing More Betterness!, Chris Shiflett left the band in 1999 to join the successful Foo Fighters, being replaced by Dave Nassie. Two years later, the band contributed to Fat Wreck Chords with the release of their live album, Live in a Dive: No Use for a Name and during the following year in 2002 No Use for a Name released its seventh studio album Hard Rock Bottom.
The band released their 8th full-length studio album titled Keep Them Confused June 14, 2005. It takes a more political position than earlier releases.
A greatest hits collection titled All the Best Songs was released on July 10 2007.
A new fourteen song full-length studio album entitled The Feel Good Record of the Year was released on April 1 2008. In 2009, when promoting the album in Europe, Dave Nassie left the band to join the ranks of Bleeding Through.[2] In August 2009 the band announced, that they replaced Nassie with Lagwagon's guitarist, Chris Rest.[3]
