Atlantic Canada Hardcore & Punk: NFA

NFA (AKA Not From Athens AKA Not Funny Anymore) were a punk band from Hampton, NB that were around in the 1990's. They were one of the premiere bands of the time and really kicked off the scene in and around Hampton. Andrew from the band answered some questions about the band in Feb 2025...and here it is. Enjoy!

band pic!

1. Who was in NFA and how did the band come together?

Classic Trio lineup Jason Ogden (Guitar and vocals) Craig Moore (Drums) and myself (Bass and backing vocals). Later extra guitar Scott Thibodeau followed by Brett Whittaker who transitioned with Jason & I into Hospital Grade with new Drummer Mike McAloon.

There was an earlier incarnation Not From Athens (Athens, Georgia being a hotbed of music much like Seattle later was) That had several lineups I was in and out for a while.

It was more of a Jangly REM type thing with a little Butthole Surfers on the side. When that band ended I regrouped with Jason and we had met Craig at a show my band at the time White Minority had played and found a new drummer. Decided to keep the initials NFA but it now stood for Not Funny Anymore. Our tastes had evolved into weird math pop punk madness.

live as Not From Athens

2. So from what I can tell Hampton, NB had a fairly big scene in the early 90's, and NFA was a big part of that. Was NFA the first big band from the area, or were there band before that.

Yeah for a town of about 5k population to have 5 to 8 bands on the go it was a disproportionate number of bands. Two bands started in my neighborhood that began in my basement using some of our gear to get started. The Scapegoats were the first bigger band from Hampton starting a few years before us in the mid 80s and definitely had a huge influence on us and the scene locally in general. The Scapegoats evolved out of a Band called The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. Members of which formed other bands as time went on.

And I can't forget Lizard. The Hampton band that moved to Montreal and gave us all the get up and go to tour and strive for bigger things than just local shows. It was a pretty tight knit scene that couldn't be contained. I did a fanzine and had a staff party at my place and ended up forming Date Rape that night followed shortly by our sister band the Moaning Lisa's. I taught Jen how to play Bass and provided the Drums, Bass and Amp for their first jams.

Flier from a Fredericton show

3. Was the Hampton scene separate from the Saint John scene, and if why why do you think that was.

Yeah , Saint John was always more metal than punk so that separated us musically, but we played the same shows and same venues and got along quite well. It became the same scene during the boom years just before Nirvana & Green Day broke open the new age of alternative/grunge. Punk and grunge were the norm everywhere with metal taking a back seat for the decade.

from Saint John in 2000.

4. You had quite a few releases. Many cassettes and a 7". How did those come about and what was the recording process like. I have noticed that a lot of bands from the area had pretty good recordings for the time.

We got whatever gear we could assemble to record with at first. From ghetto blasters with 2 built in microphones to 4 channel Radio Shack mixers that ran off a 9 volt battery and even P.A. mixers until we got wind of a guy named Rob with a home studio. The glory years began then as far as recording went. A digital 8 track with a a 24 channel console really let us capture a lot closer to what we wanted to sound like. He ended up recording quite a few other bands after we started working there as it did sound pretty great. We tried to record the 7" EP Playing Hell With Your Faith at Rick White's place but were not happy with the results and went back to Rob's Wavelength Studios.

5. Did you tour much at all? I do know you played Halifax, but did you ever make it out of the Maritimes?

We played PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec & Ontario in Canada. In the USA we played Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island & New York. Mostly traveling by ourselves but we did a tour with CATCH 23 from Fredericton in one car together (a K-Car station wagon with a sheet metal box welded on the roof.)

The aforementioned K-Car with the welded on metal box!

Also did a few Maritime tours in support of bigger bands like GOB and CUB after booking Saint John shows for them and forming relationships with them. They'd come back the next year and have us play Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton & Halifax with them. And we actually ended up doing a cover of a CUB song that ended up on their CD Betti-Cola. We were doing demo's of some new songs and Jason thought it would be fun to do a CUB cover so we learned one and recorded it the same day. We played a few shows with them and stayed in contact with them and Jason just sent them a copy and they liked it & asked if they could include it on the "Collection of 7" singles" AKA Betti-Cola.

Touring in the US before the internet and 911 was lots of phone calls to set up. Sneaking in without work visas was as easy as telling the boarder guards we were just heading down to a friend's camp outside Bangor, Maine to play at a party. Crowds were a mixed bag of 10 to 100 at all ages shows put on by kids and bar gigs where they didn't pay unless people showed up. Sleeping in the van and overnight drives were common. Staying with the promoter was a godsend from time to time. We did one short tour where we played Fredericton then Oldtown, Maine then drove straight from Maine all the way to Halifax overnight. Hard on the mind and body. Always well received as I recall down south from small crowds to bigger ones. We thought we were playing a club called The Garage one time in NY State but it turned out to be the Garage in this kids house with like 60 kids and a couple local bands all jazzed for a touring band all the way from Canada!

6. NFA eventually morphed into Hospital Grade - what the reason for that?

Yeah as time went on we became a little more serious lyrically and musically and Craig was graduating from UNB so he was leaving to start his professional life and wouldn't have had time for the band so we recorded what became the first Hospital Grade album as NFA, found Mike McAloon to replace Craig on drums and figured it was a good time to rebrand. An indy label owner had become aware of us and flew up from Boston to see the band and signed us to release the album Written Axe To Trigger as Hospital Grade and the transition was complete. Later Brett left & was replaced with Adam Keirstead and Mike McAloon passed away after a car accident and was replaced by his sometime fill in Sean Boyer.

7. What everyone in the band up to now?

Well Scott, Brett & Craig are just living life, haven't been active in the music scene for a long time. Jason started a Solo project called Pennyblacks before the demise of Hospital Grade that morphed into a band since the mid 2000s and he plays in Papal Visit. I took a few years off from active playing, formed Punk band KILLDEVILS for a few years, took some more time off after that went down in flames. Currently playing Bass in Thrash Metal band Beyond Eternal and Metal/Punk/Stoner Rock band Stone MadeiN.