SXSW 2010 Artist Spotlight: Cokie The Clown

The onstage alter-ego of Fat Mike of NOFX (and the title of NOFX's most recent EP), the set from Cokie the Clown, set in the middle of the Fat Wreck Chords showcase, was one of the wild cards for the week. Leading up to SXSW, a representative from Fat Wreck Chords told me that even she didn't know what he had planned, so it was with much interest and a little trepidation that I was crammed in an outdoor tent on a 30-degree night, and hoping for something amazing.

Prior to the showcase, we saw Fat Mike sitting in our hotel bar, already in full clown makeup, so it may have been colder in Texas than it was back home in Detroit, but I wasn't going to miss what could be a once-in-a-lifetime a performance by the clown himself, regardless of what it would entail.

When it all happened, though, it was nothing anyone could have anticipated, and something that will never be repeated.

The stage was set up for something that looked like a nightclub performance, as much as a stage in a tent in a parking lot could look, anyway. A chair was placed between a small but well-stocked bar and a television set, and then Mike, or Cokie, took the stage with a bottle of tequila in hand. He proceeded to pour the entire bottle into a tray of shot glasses, did two of them, and passed the remainder to the crowd in the front of the stage, to much cheering.

He picked up his guitar and asked for quiet.

And then proceeded to relate the most disturbing events of his life. These were stories about witnessing a rape, a roommate's suicide, the deaths of his parents and some explicitly scatological events. This man who has made a career out of taking very little seriously often appeared to struggle with some of the events he described, but delivered them with urgency, like it was important to him to get them out.

The stories were sometimes graphic, often heart rending, and quite often entirely depressing, and they were delivered with a heartfelt, painful candor. It was unnerving, uncomfortable and powerful, and relating them in any detail would demean the moment, as these were frankly delivered and meant to be told out once.

The stories were interspersed with acoustic songs, some from Cokie the Clown, as well as some older NOFX material and some brand new songs, one about "drinking pee," and one that related his mother's death in uncomfortable detail.

He also juggled fruit. You know, it's a clown thing.

"Uncomfortable" really describes the tone of the entire set, and much of the crowd stood there somewhat wide-eyed and slack-jawed, trying to process what they were witnessing exactly. It was like seeing a very painful therapy set taking place in front of a few hundred drunken psychiatrists who weren't sure what the treatment for a situation like this calls for. A few tried the heckling route, quite possibly out of nervousness, but those few were quickly shot down by Cokie.

Cokie then wrapped up his set with "Dig," from 1994's Punk in Drublic album, and bid the crowd goodnight in no uncertain terms, then pressed play on the television, to leave the crowd with a video he'd made.

The camera that had been shooting the entire set was then plugged in, and rewound to a point before the performance began. The video started backstage, just before the set, and showed Cokie picking a tequila bottle and urinating in. The camera continued to roll as he took the stage, poured shots and passed them out. The people in front of the stage then witnessed the footage of them taking those shots from Cokie, downing them and cheering.

In a performance where each of his stories left many in the crowd feeling like they'd been punched in the stomach, it was one last way for the infamous clown to leave a few of the showgoers feeling a little queasier than the rest.

Here are the photos of the performance.

Photo © Nicole Lucas