Loveable West Coast punk troubadours NOFX and English folk-punk poet Frank Turner aren’t the most unlikely of bedfellows, but even so, a Frank Turner / NOFX split covers record must have turned some heads when it was announced.

West Coast vs. Wessex sees NOFX cover five of Turner’s tracks, before the Englishman takes on the same number of songs from his American friends, packaged and labelled as “ten rounds of medio-core.”

If it all sounds like a bit of fun, that’s because it is. If you’re a fan of either artist, this is a record that is going to make you smile. A lot. But musically it also works wonderfully well for two key reasons: firstly, despite the vastness of both performers back catalogues, the song choices are (almost) all bang on. And secondly, each cover is purposely taken as far away from its original incarnation as possible, fully reworked into the style of the outfit performing the cover.

As a result, we get a delightful ska cover of Turner’s bitter diatribe Thatcher F***ed The Kids, told through Fat Mike’s LA accent. We get a charming stripped back folk version of NOFX’s Bob. And a raucous retelling of Turner’s Ballad Of Me And My Friends, with the song’s key refrain – “We’re definitely going to hell, but we’ll all have the best stories to tell” – sounding perfect in Fat Mike’s screaming, gravelly voice. It was almost like that line was written for him.

These are the highlights and they all sound superb, but the whole album is a deeply enjoyable affair, with Falling In Love being the only track that arguably doesn’t quite land, though it still deserves credit for being completely reworked by Turner into a darker, brooding track.

As mash-ups between California punks and Eton-educated folks singers go, it doesn’t get much better than this.

West Coast vs. Wessex track list:

1. Substitute (NOFX)

2. Worse Things Happen At Sea (NOFX)

3. Thatcher F***ed The Kids (NOFX)

4. Ballad Of Me And My Friends (NOFX)

5. Glory Hallelujah (NOFX)

6. Scavenger Type (Frank Turner)

7. Bob (Frank Turner)

8. Eat The Meek (Frank Turner)

9. Perfect Government (Frank Turner)

10. Falling In Love (Frank Turner)

 folk       punk 

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.