We will see them in Athens this summer with FAITH NO MORE and UNKLE (very good in their new *) at this year's Ejekt festival. BAD RELIGION come back, several years after the previous appearance in our country and with a new live album in their luggage.
Because then, of their appearance in a truly long-awaited festival, and their 30 years (quite a few,ha...?) in the CENTRAL scene of Punk, I had the opportunity to discuss with Jay Bentley for all the above and several more... From the picture he has of the U.S. today, the U.S. of Barack Obama (listen to what he says about the former president ...) that he clearly supported pre-election to the ... 'inside stories' (?) of BAD RELIGION. You know what 'taste' this interview left me...? That they like to come ... And that counts more than anything ...
Let's go see what Jay Bentley told us:
DA: Hi Jay. First of all tell us the news about your new live album.
JB: We recorded it on stage during the 'House of Blues' run that we do basically every couple of years.We play 2o shows in Southern California. We were talking about live streaming of video and what we can do to make this kind of cool. And we thought, let's just record it and put it out on the Internet for free. Cause it seemed like the right thing to do if we're going to have a 30 year anniversary short of celebration. What we should do is kinda make a document of what it is that we're doing right now, and put it out there and then we'll have a studio album following that up in September.
DA: What can we expect here in Athens in a month? I mean you know we love Bad Religion for many years now...
JB: Well hopefully we'll... you know by the time we get there we'll have an idea of how long we're going to play and what kind of set we can put together cause part of the 30 year celebration has been playing a lot of songs from most of the albums if not all of them. But obviously there's time constriction and when you're on a festival, and you've got an hour, it's hard to shove 30 songs into an hour unless every song is 2 minutes long and you don't stop. So, I think what we're trying to do is give everybody a little bit of everything and see how that works because it's, you know, part of what we are and what we do and certainly part of our history.
DA: Jay what is punk rock to you nowadays really? You know I'm talking about the music of course, but I'm talking about the ethos if you wish, you know.
JB: I think that it's a manner of , you know, from the moment you wake up, it's just not, you're not thinking about how to play within the rules, you're thinking about the rules that you don't like and thinking about ways you'd like to see things possibly change for the better and thinking outside the 'status quo'. You know, to me it's not a strive for ambition, for power, money, success, it's the antithesis of the 'American dream'. So, I think it's sort of, kind of, finding your way in a world where people want you to think one way, and all you have to do is just say why and the minute you ask why, you're in the ballpark.
DA: As a supporter of Barrack Obama, do you really see a chance in the USA, is there a better future maybe? Give us a picture.
JB: Well, there hasn't been any super magic change, yet. You know, maybe the attitude is a little better. From my perspective, it feels a little better than being in a war state, even though we are still at war. It felt to me like the previous administration was a war machine, where they really wanted to continue on and build this up. I get the feeling that I don't feel as much as an aggressive nation right now. I'm certainly not happy about how things are going, but I don't feel like we're a bully anymore. Having a well spoken, well educated president, who is basically a spokesman for a country, that can do wanders of just making you feel like little things like in at least not the entire world thinks we're a bunch of dummies.
DA: After so many years, can you tell you a secret about the Bad Religion?An Inside story, if you wish, for the fans here.
JB: An Inside story of Bad Religion? (laughs) I'm not sure if there isn't one that... You know we kinda talk about everything so...(Laughs)You know there really isn't, there are no secrets, we try not to be too secretive of a band, I think that .... One of the things that I can tell you, that happens quite frequently is that, when we would play a show and leave the venue, people standing around would ask us when the band was coming out (Laughs). Cause, I don't think that we really have the image of a band, we just kinda come walking out with backpacks and say "What's up? When's the band coming out? Oh, I don't know, like 10 minutes..."(Laughs)
DA: Any comment for the Greek fans, here?
JB: I can't wait to get there. You know, the best part about this one is that we have a, because it's the first show in a string of shows, we get a few extra days to fly and kinda see the city and maybe get out. And I'm really excited to get out and see some art and some museums, because obviously there's so much to offer there, so much history, that I'm sure it would take more than two days for a person to see all of it, so...
DA: OK Jay. Thank you very much for your time. See you in Athens soon.
JB: Great, thank you.
Because then, of their appearance in a truly long-awaited festival, and their 30 years (quite a few,ha...?) in the CENTRAL scene of Punk, I had the opportunity to discuss with Jay Bentley for all the above and several more... From the picture he has of the U.S. today, the U.S. of Barack Obama (listen to what he says about the former president ...) that he clearly supported pre-election to the ... 'inside stories' (?) of BAD RELIGION. You know what 'taste' this interview left me...? That they like to come ... And that counts more than anything ...
Let's go see what Jay Bentley told us:
DA: Hi Jay. First of all tell us the news about your new live album.
JB: We recorded it on stage during the 'House of Blues' run that we do basically every couple of years.We play 2o shows in Southern California. We were talking about live streaming of video and what we can do to make this kind of cool. And we thought, let's just record it and put it out on the Internet for free. Cause it seemed like the right thing to do if we're going to have a 30 year anniversary short of celebration. What we should do is kinda make a document of what it is that we're doing right now, and put it out there and then we'll have a studio album following that up in September.
DA: What can we expect here in Athens in a month? I mean you know we love Bad Religion for many years now... JB: Well hopefully we'll... you know by the time we get there we'll have an idea of how long we're going to play and what kind of set we can put together cause part of the 30 year celebration has been playing a lot of songs from most of the albums if not all of them. But obviously there's time constriction and when you're on a festival, and you've got an hour, it's hard to shove 30 songs into an hour unless every song is 2 minutes long and you don't stop. So, I think what we're trying to do is give everybody a little bit of everything and see how that works because it's, you know, part of what we are and what we do and certainly part of our history.
DA: Jay what is punk rock to you nowadays really? You know I'm talking about the music of course, but I'm talking about the ethos if you wish, you know.
JB: I think that it's a manner of , you know, from the moment you wake up, it's just not, you're not thinking about how to play within the rules, you're thinking about the rules that you don't like and thinking about ways you'd like to see things possibly change for the better and thinking outside the 'status quo'. You know, to me it's not a strive for ambition, for power, money, success, it's the antithesis of the 'American dream'. So, I think it's sort of, kind of, finding your way in a world where people want you to think one way, and all you have to do is just say why and the minute you ask why, you're in the ballpark.
DA: As a supporter of Barrack Obama, do you really see a chance in the USA, is there a better future maybe? Give us a picture.
JB: Well, there hasn't been any super magic change, yet. You know, maybe the attitude is a little better. From my perspective, it feels a little better than being in a war state, even though we are still at war. It felt to me like the previous administration was a war machine, where they really wanted to continue on and build this up. I get the feeling that I don't feel as much as an aggressive nation right now. I'm certainly not happy about how things are going, but I don't feel like we're a bully anymore. Having a well spoken, well educated president, who is basically a spokesman for a country, that can do wanders of just making you feel like little things like in at least not the entire world thinks we're a bunch of dummies.
DA: After so many years, can you tell you a secret about the Bad Religion?An Inside story, if you wish, for the fans here.
JB: An Inside story of Bad Religion? (laughs) I'm not sure if there isn't one that... You know we kinda talk about everything so...(Laughs)You know there really isn't, there are no secrets, we try not to be too secretive of a band, I think that .... One of the things that I can tell you, that happens quite frequently is that, when we would play a show and leave the venue, people standing around would ask us when the band was coming out (Laughs). Cause, I don't think that we really have the image of a band, we just kinda come walking out with backpacks and say "What's up? When's the band coming out? Oh, I don't know, like 10 minutes..."(Laughs)
DA: Any comment for the Greek fans, here?
JB: I can't wait to get there. You know, the best part about this one is that we have a, because it's the first show in a string of shows, we get a few extra days to fly and kinda see the city and maybe get out. And I'm really excited to get out and see some art and some museums, because obviously there's so much to offer there, so much history, that I'm sure it would take more than two days for a person to see all of it, so...
DA: OK Jay. Thank you very much for your time. See you in Athens soon.
JB: Great, thank you.
You can download the new live album of Bad Religion here . Indeed, within this are performances of the new songs from the album that we expect in September.