But as effortless as that was, The D.O.C. has a bigger challenge awaiting him just around the corner. On Saturday (April 22), The D.O.C. will rap for a crowd for the first time in more than three decades as part of the Punk In Drublic Festival in Austin, Texas.
“I haven’t been on stage rapping in front of a crowd of people of any consequence in more than 30 years,” he says. “So I'm about to do that for the first time. Well, wait a minute. I did get on the stage with Mike a couple of years ago, but I'm talking about rapping, where I'm rapping words and people are listening and probably knowing some of the words and will probably be saying the words. I haven’t done that in 30 years.”
The D.O.C. is referring to a moment in December 2021 when Fat Mike brought him onstage during a show in Dallas. Full of adrenaline, he ended up singing along to NOFX’s 1995 single “Kill All The White Man” as the crowd cheered him on. Although The D.O.C. calls it “the best night of my fucking life,” it will likely pale in comparison to what he’ll experience on April 22 in Austin.
As King explains, “We just did it live two nights in a row in Los Angeles, and we have this instrumental break where Zeta does some instrumental stuff where The D.O.C. is supposed to be, and the crowd is already just spitting his verse over the beat. It’s fucking crazy. People were feeling the show, and they’re going to lose their shit when he shows up.”
The thread tying Fat Mike, The D.O.C., Ramos and King goes well beyond music—and is as punk rock as it gets. Their spirit of rebellion is alive and well, accented by more than just the bright blue hue of Fat Mike’s hair. In one way or another and within a variety of music genres, they all flipped a collective bird to the establishment.
“That’s why we fuck with D.O.C. so hard,” King says. “He wants to get in and do music that's gonna make him express what he wants to talk about. Like, ‘What do wanna talk about?’ That all this shit is fucked up. This is an antiquated system. Fuck these people and fuck this shit. He’s got the same fucking appetite to destroy this shit that we do.”
This Is Crime Wave is currently available on all streaming platforms. Don’t be surprised to see more collaborations from the Codefendants and The D.O.C. in the near future. In the meantime, those in Austin can catch The D.O.C. alongside NOFX, Circle Jerks, Subhumans, Pennywise and more on April 22 and 23. Find more information about the Punk In Drublic Festival here.