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That production, Marx concedes, "seems like it was created by people who don't do drugs."
"I was with NOFX in Germany a couple years ago and we had way too much coke," continues Burkett. "And we were leaving the country, so we pulled over the bus and found some kids in the park and said, 'Hey guys, here's an eightball.' You don't throw it out! You give it to somebody."
This may be where Home Street Home will give even the most free-thinking, sex-positive Bay Area liberals pause. One of the most fun songs in the whole shebang is a ragtime tune called "High Achievers," which asks the question: Where would art, literature, and science be if creators throughout history hadn't experimented with weed, cocaine, and LSD? Sample lyric: "Steve Jobs and Bill Gates took acid and changed technology/The Beatles' trips led to Lucy, Rita, and Eleanor Rigby...When the smartest people are doin' drugs it makes the world a better place to be."
"We weren't trying to make it in favor of drugs," Burkett insists. "It's just something that [these characters] do throughout the musical because that's their life, and it's not a big deal. Look, most of the people I know do drugs. If you see people doing drugs in any movie, there are always serious consequences. Someone has to die. There are a few negative consequences in [our musical]...but let's be real: Where would music be without drugs?"
Conveniently, Burkett says, he and Soma did a lot of the writing of the musical "in bars and on cocaine, some Adderall too. It is nice to write a musical that has drugs in it when you're drunk and on drugs."
One recent upset in this cavalier attitude: The death of Tony Sly, a close friend of Fat Mike's and the lead singer of No Use For a Name. Sly died in 2012 from a combination of alcohol, Xanax, and painkillers. It was less than two years after he recorded guest vocals for Home Street Home's album.
"When my parents died, I was sad, but when Tony died, that was heartbreaking," Burkett says, illustrating the "make your own family" theme the musical so deeply espouses. Sly's death also made him more cautious about mixing drugs: Though "High Achievers" actually began as a fun song about the benefits of "drug salad," it changed after the death of his friend.
As for Burkett, he maintains that he's strict about compartmentalizing his substance abuse: On the road, he parties nearly nonstop ("if I'm having fun onstage, people are going to have fun at the show") but dries out when he's home so he can be active with his kids. At the time of our second meeting, he was coming off 12 days sober.
He's ready for a beer now — plus it's 7 p.m., and time to clear out of the practice space — so Burkett and Marx lead the way out to the street during the last slice of early-evening light, the former wheeling his band sticker-covered bike until we land at a sushi joint to finish talking. On the way, Burkett gives $20 ("He always gives twenties," Marx says) to a homeless man, who in turn asks what the musician's T-shirt says. "Drug dependent," Fat Mike replies merrily.
Palatable to mainstream audiences or not, Home Street Home's values are consistent — and its creators stand proudly by them. Some audiences may see themselves reflected in these characters; others, not so much. The real question is: How many people will actually go see it?
According to Burkett, Marx, Soma, it doesn't really matter. They don't give a shit about how the musical fares commercially, or where it lands after its run in S.F., both Burkett and Marx explain, as our sake and beer arrive at the bar.
"This isn't Spiderman," Burkett says. "We weren't thinking about what would make money.
"It's a socio-political statement," he continues, with a level of earnestness that would likely catch casual NOFX fans by surprise. "I wanted to write something that sticks around for a long time, something that touches people."
Sure, there are dick jokes, drug jokes, and an ever-present strain of exhibitionism in the musical; when Burkett's in the room, a filthy pun and a smirk are never far behind. But whether it's through fatherhood, the process of working on one production for 15 years, or stretching himself to create with people from completely different worlds, a more three-dimensional Fat Mike Burkett has emerged with Home Street Home. There are undeniable flashes of what happens when a class clown starts to do the most shocking thing yet: grow up.
Of course, he wouldn't be Fat Mike without a touch of wise-assery. "It's like the difference between Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore," he offers. "They're both critics, but Michael Moore says things in a more entertaining way.
"And, you know, Michael Moore sells a lot more books."
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