Punk trio Codefendants rage against algorithm-driven social media alienation with a little help from Sublime’s Jakob Nowell in the video for “Lonely Life,” which SPIN premieres below. The track will be found on the group’s upcoming album, LIFERS, which is due April 3.
Codefendants features NOFX’s Fat Mike in tandem with Get Dead’s Sam King and Julio “Ceschi” Ramos. The group recently re-teamed with L.A. rap veteran the D.O.C. for the song “Rivals,” following their 2023 single “Fast Ones.”
“For me, these lyrics are about the alienation many of us feel in modern society, even as we’re more connected than ever through social media,” says Ramos. “There’s a sense of entrapment in a world where we’re constantly bombarded by noise — advertisements, countless celebrities, the beautiful, the grotesque. It’s a world where we’re almost forced to co-star in a performance, where even the political elite are bad actors in an exaggerated, seemingly never-ending spectacle. The louder, brighter and more ever-present that spectacle becomes, the more our very existence is commodified—and the more we lose ourselves, and our humanity, in the process.”
Adds Nowell, “I know Fat Mike but I hadn’t met the other Codefendants guys yet. I went in watching my back. I came out knowing who had it.” Having recently wound down NOFX after a 40-plus-year run, Fat Mike says “Lonely Life” is his “favorite song on the album because it was one of the most beautiful collaborations between all members. This song is a fuckin’ roller coaster ride with no seat belt or safety bars!”
Codefendants will continue the fun with Sublime when they open for the group on April 18 at Red Rocks outside Denver and will also play the June 27 and July 18 installments of Sublime’s Me Gusta festival in Portland, Or., and Harriman, Ut. Click here for full tour dates.
