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INDUSTRY REPORT # 48
Never Let ‘em Break You: A Visit with
CODEFENDENTS
October 16th, 2025 by Kevin Gomez
Since launching their debut album “This is Crime Wave” in 2023, Codefendants have been building up a strong and loyal following. Singing about real-life experiences with hard luck, criminal activity, and the often uglier side of life, fans have been able to connect to the many powerful themes in their music.
Based out of Las Vegas, the band was partially founded by NOFX lead singer Fat Mike, although really more the creative team of Get Dead’s Sam King and punk rock, hip-hop folk singer, Ceschi Ramos. Fans have been anxiously awaiting new music, and the band has even debuted a few songs on tour recently. I caught up with King and Ramos backstage before their recent set at Punk in the Park.
After NOFX famously disbanded last year after 41 years together, the band announced they would be releasing two compilation albums, the first of which, “A-H,” will be released in December.
Each song begins with a different letter of the alphabet. On September 22nd, NOFX announced one of the final songs on the second album, “I-Z,” will feature Codefendants on co-lead vocals. The song is called “What Are We Doing This For” and was released September 26th.
Ramos told me that song actually got its first start as Codefendants were working on their first album. “Fat Mike brought this song to us and it was really fast lyrics, so he wanted to see if we could all do it together,” he explained.
When I last spoke to the boys back in May before Punk Rock Bowling, they told me they were about 90% done with the new album. King gave me an update and said they are pretty much finished and hope to have it out by April of next year. “It’s called ‘Lifers,’” he told me, “and it’s a lot of stuff we hadn’t worked out from the first album, and some new songs.”
Ramos explained that this album got its start at the end of 2022 when all three members moved to Vegas. “That’s where this album really came from. It’s really documenting that era,” he told me, which means it is picking up right where “This Is Crimewave” left off.
On their current tour – and at their Punk in the Park set – the band has been playing three songs that will be off of the upcoming album. “Right Wrong Man” was released in May and was the first of their songs to feature Fat Mike on co-lead vocals. The other two unreleased songs are “The Fix” (a surprisingly “upbeat” track featuring a demented keyboard) and “Lonely Life” (highlighted by rapid-fire vocals from Ramos before a hard rock chorus from King).
For the die-hard fans anxious to pick up any Codefendants merch, the boys promised me that both singles would be getting proper 7” single releases. They’ve already filmed a video for “The Fix” and are wrapping that up shortly. “We’re meeting a director today for the ‘Lonely Life’ video,” Ramos said. Filming will take place in Los Angeles soon.
King confessed that he’s been a bit too loose with the song demos as he was kicked off of the group’s Dropbox for sharing the new songs with too many friends. “I didn’t realize they could see how many people I shared it with,” he confessed, which got a huge laugh from all of us. I told him I was just offended that it never made its way to me.
As I was speaking with King and Ramos I brought up how just 24 hours prior they were in Minnesota playing the Darkness Day festival along with Strung Out, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, and others. Ramos told me they got back into California at midnight. King had nothing but high praise for the festival saying “Surly Brewing Co. was one of the best breweries I’ve ever been to in my life. They have this amazing mix of bands… and for some reason, us.”
For their Latin American fans, the boys will be playing in Costa Rica in November. When I asked if they had ever visited King recalled that he lived there for nearly a year and was actually a surf instructor.
Ramos said that following their show in Costa Rica they will immediately fly to Canada for a short run of shows. “We announced these two shows and then everyone else in Canada was bugging us to play more, so we added a couple more.”
For my money nothing beats a small, intimate club show from Codefendants, so I asked them what they enjoy about playing at a larger festival like Punk in the Park. “Hanging out with Monty from DFL,” King noted, right as the DFL bassist joined our discussion. Ramos agreed and added, “The family element of seeing all these people we’ve known over the years. Also, a lot of our biggest fans come out to these things.”
Speaking of large festivals, Codefendants played to a much different crowd in LA when they played Rhyme Fest this summer featuring Raekwon, Ghostface, DJ Quik and Xzibit. “Being hip-hop heads, it was crazy to be playing at a festival with that many legends,” Ramos confessed. “By the end of that set, I was like, ‘Damn. We did it, we won this crowd over.’”
Other than the new album and the upcoming singles, what else do Codefendants have on the horizon? Working in the studio. A never-ending hustle and grind that seems to have worked for them thus far. King told me they invited Efrem Schulz, whose two bands Death by Stereo and Manic Hispanics were also playing Punk in the Park, to Las Vegas to rent a studio for an upcoming weekend and just create some music together to see what comes about.
“Whatever happens, the punk community and the hip-hop community, festivals like this and Rhyme Fest is where we come out of,” Ramos chimed in. “Make no mistake, these guys will never forget their roots or where they came from.”
King and Ramos assured me they have so many planned releases and collaborations that will be released as part of their collective production, “This Is Crimewave.” As King put it, “Good work ain’t cheap, and cheap work ain’t good.”
And even in the week since I spoke with them, the boys managed to release a new track on streaming. Well, not necessarily a brand new track; it’s a remix of the NOFX song they collaborated on, “What Are We Doing This For,” but their own spin on it that they are calling the CODEF version. Both versions are currently available to stream everywhere.
Tickets for their upcoming shows in Canada and Costa Rica are on sale now.
TO FOLLOW
SID 251017 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
