No Use for a Name (sometimes abbreviated NUFAN or No Use) was an American

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 from

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

, formed in 1986 by Chris Dodge (guitar), Steve Papoutsis (bass) and Rory Koff (drums). The band's sound evolved considerably through its career, starting off as a Bay Area-influenced punk band, moving on to a much heavier metallic-tinted sound to finally taking on a much lighter brand of

melodic punk Melodic hardcore is a broadly defined subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melody in its guitar work. The style often includes guitar harmonies, riffs using octave chords, as well as broken chords. Additionally, lyrics tend toward ...

as the years passed. Following

Tony Sly Anthony James Sly (November 4, 1970 – July 31, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the front man of the punk rock band No Use for a Name. In his later years he also gained attention for his acoustic mu ...

's death on July 31, 2012, the remaining members chose to disband the group out of respect for him.

History

No Use For a Name was formed in 1986 by longtime friends Dodge, Papoutsis and Koff. The early rehearsals of the band had taken place at the Koff family house in Sunnyvale, where they also came up with the name for the band. During this era, the band was fronted by Papoutsis' friend John Meyer. Initially a four piece, it later expanded to a six piece, adding as a co-vocalist Ramon Gras and a second guitarist Doug Judd. The band experienced many line up changes during this period. In 1987, Dodge left to play in another Bay Area punk band, Stikky, while in summer that year, both Meyer and Judd left the band with Tony Sly replacing Judd on guitar. This line-up first appeared on

Maximum RocknRoll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

's 1987 ''Turn it Around'' compilation, with the song "Gang Way". In 1988, Gras fell out with the rest of the band and left before an important show at Gilman and a live appearance on the KFJC radio show. In a tight spot, the band asked the former guitarist Dodge, who before the formation of No Use had sung in other local bands, to rejoin as vocalist, which he agreed. This line-up of the band recorded two EPs; ''No Use For a Name'' on Woodpecker Records and ''Let 'em Out'' on Slap A Ham Records. In 1989, Dodge left again which allowed Sly to take over vocals and songwriting. NUFAN's first album, ''Incognito'', was released in 1990 by New Red Archives. It was the only album by the band recorded as a trio. In 1991, Dodge rejoined on second guitar and they released their second album, '' Don't Miss the Train'', in 1992 before signing up with

Fat Mike Michael John Burkett (born January 16, 1967), known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He was the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the cofounder and bassist of the punk rock supergroup cov ...

's label

Fat Wreck Chords Fat Wreck Chords (pronounced "Fat Records") is an independent record label based in San Francisco focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett (better known as Fat Mike) and his wife at the time, Erin Burkett in 1990. ...

in 1993. In late 1992, Dodge left the line-up, and was replaced by the guitarist Robin Pfefer, who took over on lead guitar so that Sly could step down to rhythm and concentrate on singing. No Use for a Name also released their first record on Fat Wreck Chords that year, '' The Daily Grind (EP)'', which turned out to be highly successful. Ed Gregor replaced Pfefer on lead guitar soon after the release of ''The Daily Grind''. In 1995, after the release of '' Leche Con Carne'', their third full-length album,

Chris Shiflett Christopher Aubrey Shiflett ( ; born May 6, 1971) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, which he joined in 1999 following the release of the band's third album '' There Is Nothing Left to Lose'' (1999 ...

and

Matt Riddle Matthew Fredrick Riddle (born January 14, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he is the reigning MLW World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. He ...

joined the band to play guitar and bass guitar, replacing Gregor and Papoutsis respectively. With the punk music breakthrough in 1994, No Use for a Name received a larger audience after releasing this album, thanks to their video for the song "Soulmate" which was played on the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

show ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the Alternative rock, alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After it ...

''. This was the first video from Fat Wreck Chords to appear on MTV. In 1997, after the success of '' Making Friends'', the band toured the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, and Japan. After releasing '' More Betterness!'', Shiflett left the band in 1999 to join the successful

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

, being replaced by Dave Nassie. Two years later, the band released a live album, '' Live in a Dive: No Use for a Name'' on Fat Wreck Chords and, in 2002, No Use for a Name released its sixth studio album, ''

Hard Rock Bottom ''Hard Rock Bottom'' is the sixth studio album by punk rock band No Use for a Name, released on June 16, 2002. The band recorded the album with producer Ryan Greene, in January 2002. Song number nine, "This Is a Rebel Song", features Karina De ...

''. The band released its eighth full-length studio album, '' Keep Them Confused'', on June 14, 2005. It takes a more political position than earlier releases. A greatest hits collection, '' 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, Nassie left the band to join the

Bleeding Through Bleeding Through is an American metalcore band from Orange County, California, formed in 1999. Influenced largely by hardcore punk and Swedish melodic death metal, the band was established by lead vocalist Brandan Schieppati as a personal projec ...

. In August 2009, the band announced that Nassie had been replaced by

Chris Rest Chris Rest is an American guitarist best known for his work with the punk bands No Use for a Name, Rich Kids on LSD, and Lagwagon. He is Rich Kids on LSD's only constant member, having participated in every album and tour. Career Rest was a f ...

Lagwagon Lagwagon is an American punk rock band originally from Goleta, California, just outside Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. They formed in 1989, went on hiatus in 2000, and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the ba ...

's guitarist and founding member of

Rich Kids on LSD Rich Kids on LSD (RKL) is a Californian hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Montecito, California, a suburb of Santa Barbara. They were associated with the "Nardcore" scene of West Coast hardcore that evolved out of nearby Oxnard. Their mus ...

. In December 2010, Koff told the band that he would need time off from touring to go full time with his snowplow business and he was eventually replaced by a new full-time drummer, Boz Rivera (of King City, Rich Kids on LSD, and

The Mad Caddies The Mad Caddies (or the Caddies) is an American ska punk band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released seven full-length albums, one live album, and two EPs. The Mad Caddies sound has influences from broad ranging ge ...

Sly's death

Tony Sly died in his sleep on July 31, 2012. Riddle, Rest and Rivera played a tribute performance to Sly at the Envol & Macadam Festival in

Québec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a population of 839,311. It is the twelfth -lar ...

on September 8, 2012, along with the former No Use for a Name members Nassie and Koff. This was intended to be the band's final performance, with Riddle commenting, "This is the last No Use for a Name show ever. No one wants to do this without Tony." The band's final show before Sly's death had also been in Quebec, at the D-Tox Rockfest in Montebello on June 15, 2012, but they reunited twice more as No Use and Friends, for the Fat Wreck Chords 25th anniversary show in August 2015 and for Groezrock 2016 in Belgium.

Band members

Final lineup

– guitars (1987–2012), lead vocals (1989–2012); died 2012 *

– guitars (2009–2012) *

– bass (1995–2012) *Boz Rivera – drums (2011–2012)

Former members

*Ramon Gras – lead vocals (1986–1988) *John Meyer – lead vocals (1986–1987) *Doug Judd – guitars (1986–1987) *Chris Dodge – guitars (1986–1987, 1991–1992), lead vocals (1988–1989) *Steve Papoutsis – bass (1986–1995) *Rory Koff – drums (1986–2011) *Rob Upson – guitars (1989-1990) *Robin Pfefer – guitars (1993) *Ed Gregor – guitars (1993–1995) *

– guitars (1995–1999) * Dave Nassie – guitars (1999–2009)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:830 height:auto barincrement:22 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:60 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1986 till:07/31/2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:mm/dd/yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1986 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1986 Colors = id:lvocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitars id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_Album LineData = at:11/16/1990 color:black layer:back at:10/23/1992 color:black layer:back at:02/15/1995 color:black layer:back at:08/19/1997 color:black layer:back at:10/05/1999 color:black layer:back at:06/16/2002 color:black layer:back at:06/14/2005 color:black layer:back at:04/04/2008 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Gras text:"Ramon Gras" bar:Meyer text:"John Meyer" bar:Judd text:"Doug Judd" bar:Tony text:"Tony Sly" bar:Dodge text:"Chris Dodge" bar:Pfefer text:"Robin Pfefer" bar:Gregor text:"Ed Gregor" bar:Shiflett text:"Chris Shiflett" bar:Nassie text:"Dave Nassie" bar:Rest text:"Chris Rest" bar:Papoutsis text:"Steve Papoutsis" bar:Riddle text:"Matt Riddle" bar:Koff text:"Rory Koff" bar:Rivera text:"Boz Rivera" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Gras from:start till:07/01/1988 color:lvocals bar:Meyer from:start till:07/01/1987 color:lvocals bar:Tony from:07/01/1987 till:12/31/1992 color:guitar bar:Tony from:09/01/1989 till:end color:lvocals bar:Tony from:09/01/1989 till:end color:guitar width:3 bar:Judd from:start till:07/01/1987 color:guitar bar:Dodge from:start till:07/01/1987 color:guitar bar:Dodge from:07/01/1988 till:09/01/1989 color:lvocals bar:Dodge from:07/01/1991 till:12/21/1992 color:guitar bar:Pfefer from:01/04/1993 till:10/01/1993 color:guitar bar:Gregor from:10/01/1993 till:10/01/1995 color:guitar bar:Shiflett from:10/01/1995 till:12/01/1999 color:guitar bar:Nassie from:12/01/1999 till:06/25/2009 color:guitar bar:Rest from:06/28/2009 till:end color:guitar bar:Papoutsis from:start till:10/01/1995 color:bass bar:Riddle from:10/01/1995 till:end color:bass bar:Koff from:start till:12/18/2010 color:drums bar:Rivera from:12/22/2010 till:end color:drums

Discography

;Studio albums *''Incognito'' (1990) *'' Don't Miss the Train'' (1992) *'' ¡Leche con Carne!'' (1995) *'' Making Friends'' (1997) *'' More Betterness!'' (1999) *''

'' (2002) *'' Keep Them Confused'' (2005) *'' The Feel Good Record of the Year'' (2008)

References

External links

Official website
(archived) * {{Authority control 1986 establishments in California 2012 disestablishments in California Fat Wreck Chords artists Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from San Jose, California Pop punk groups from California Punk rock groups from California Skate punk groups Melodic hardcore musical groups from California