Erik "Smelly" Sandin (born July 29, 1966), is an American musician, best known as the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

NOFX NOFX () was an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. Bassist/lead vocalist Fat Mike, rhythm guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin were original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every ...

, and former member of

band Caustic Cause. He was a founding member of

when they formed in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, in 1983, and has been with the band for a majority of their run until their retirement in 2024. Sandin's primary drumming style has consistently fallen within the characteristics of skate punk rock, indicating an energetic, fast paced way of playing. Outside of NOFX, Sandin has been running his own surfboard shaping business, Pickle Stix, since 2020.

History

Born and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, Erik Sandin grew up engrossed in surf and skate culture, which would later influence his decision to open a surfboard shaping business. In 1981, at fifteen years old, Sandin took up learning drums because a local punk rock band needed a drummer. From this decision, two years later, Sandin and his two friends, Erik Melvin and Michael John Burkett, would form the punk rock band that is now known as NOFX. Two years after forming

, Sandin moved to Santa Barbara, leaving the band. In just one year without Sandin, the band had already gone through two drummers (Scott Sellers and Scott Aldahl), and in 1986, the band talked Sandin into rejoining NOFX. Sandin has been NOFX's permanent drummer since his return in 1986, and played drums on every NOFX full-length album and EP released. The band Dogpiss featured a song about him called "Erik Sandin's Stand In" on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation album '' Short Music for Short People''.

Drugs and Rehabilitation

Spun on by an insecure childhood, Sandin turned to drug use early in his life. Around 1985-1986, Sandin began primarily using

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

, resulting in ceased communication with his family. Six months before he would start sobriety, Sandin was arrested and served jail time. The other members of NOFX did not address the matter until Sandin's drug use began affecting the band and their workflow. Before the recording of the 1992 album '' White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean'', NOFX frontman Fat Mike gave Sandin an ultimatum. He had to quit heroin or be replaced. After realizing that NOFX was the most important thing in his life and with assistance of

Brett Gurewitz Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician and record producer, best known as the co-founder and guitarist of the Punk rock, punk band Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records ...

and Lynn Strait, Sandin entered rehab at The Ranch in Desert Hot Springs, California for treatment of heroin addiction. Sandin has not used the drug since. As it can be seen in the video series Backstage Passport, he conducts a more sober and "clean" life than his bandmates, often going back to the hotel after a show instead of hanging out and partying with the rest of the band.

Pickle Stix

In early 2020, unsure of whether or not

would tour again due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Sandin turned his hobby of shaping surfboards into an actual business. Sandin launched Pickle Stix and began crafting and shipping custom surfboards out of his garage in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. During this period, Sandin was crafting between twenty and forty boards a day, likening the process to his approach to creating music on his instrument. Sandin began shaping surfboards in 2008, which spurred out of a desire to contribute to surfing's art form, similar to his desire to contribute to music's art form. The second board he ever shaped was finished with a shade of green reminiscent of a pickle. Sandin's friend, Curly, began calling it his pickle stick, hence the title Sandin would eventually decide upon for the business. Before the establishment of Pickle Stix, Sandin claims to have shaped a couple hundred boards in his free time for the purpose of riding some himself, selling on craigslist, and gifting to friends.

Drums

Style and Technique

Sandin's drumming style is rooted in skate punk rock, characterized by fast and energetic 16th note rhythms in both the hands and feet. Arguably most notable is his double kick technique using just a single kick pedal. An aspect of his kick technique has to do with the type of shoes he uses, for he prefers to use clean shoes with some grip, so as to not let his foot slide around the kick pedal.

Equipment

Since 1992, Sandin has frequented the Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple Kit as his drum kit of choice, in which he prefers a 22" x 18" kick drum, 14" x 6"

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

, 12" rack tom, and 16" floor tom. Regarding snare drums, Sandin specifically frequents the AMS1460 and RRS1455. Sandin has also been known to play Yamaha's Stage Custom Birch drum kit.

Aliases

*Erik Ghint (Arrogant) - '' White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean'' *Erik Shun (Erection) - '' S&M Airlines'' *Groggy Nodbeggar - '' Ribbed'' *Chris Telmeth (Crystal meth) *Herb Reath Stinks (Her breath stinks) - ''

Punk in Drublic ''Punk in Drublic'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on July 19, 1994, through Epitaph Records. The title is a spoonerism of "Drunk in Public". ''Punk in Drublic'' is NOFX's most successful albu ...

'' *Seymour Butts (See more butts) - '' The Longest Line'' EP *Smelly - '' So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes'', '' The War on Errorism'', '' Coaster''

Albums with NOFX

*1988 '' Liberal Animation'' *1989 '' S&M Airlines'' *1991 '' Ribbed'' *1992 '' The Longest Line'' *1992 '' Maximum Rocknroll'' *1992 '' White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean'' *1994 ''

'' *1995 '' I Heard They Suck Live!!'' *1996 '' Heavy Petting Zoo'' *1997 '' So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes'' *1999 '' The Decline'' *2000 '' Pump Up the Valuum'' *2002 '' 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records'' *2003 '' The War on Errorism'' *2006 '' Wolves in Wolves' Clothing'' *2007 '' They've Actually Gotten Worse Live!'' *2009 '' Coaster'' *2009 '' Cokie the Clown'' *2011 ''

'' *2012 '' Self Entitled'' *2016 '' First Ditch Effort'' *2021 '' Single Album'' *2022 '' Double Album''

References

NOFX members 1966 births Living people American punk rock drummers American male drummers American rock drummers 20th-century American drummers {{US-rock-drummer-stub