OR Visit BAD RELIGION's Official site HERE |
To start off, 'Bad Religion' have been one of the most influential and powerful punk bands for over 21 years. Since their first, self-titled EP released in 1980 on the (back then) small label, Epitaph Records, they have seen quite a few lineup changes and released many landmark records. In 1994, BR moved over to major label, Epic, and released a well-received album called 'Stranger Than Fiction', BR guitarist & songwriter (and owner of Epitaph) Brett Gurewitz played on this album but left the band shortly after. The BR community were in shock, they had lost one their best ever guitarists and now that BR were on a major label, it was uncertain what might happen next. There was one thing that made this uncertainty worth while, the joining of Brian Baker on guitar. Brett was said to have left due to Greg Graffin (vocals & songwriter) opting to leave Epitaph for Epic, the other side of the story is that Brett left as he runs a very busy label and couldn't possibly play in BR and run Epitaph. BR confronted Brian who'd been part of the Washington punk scene for years and he was very pleased to join. His first show with BR was in Germany during a punk festival, he was introduced by Greg G as "the new guitarist" and the BR fans enjoyed his slick playing right from then on. In 1995, they released a compilation CD titled 'All Ages', which was a "best off..." selection from their Epitaph albums, so all the tracks were taken from albums before Brian had joined. However it also featured 2 previously unreleased live tracks of the BR classics, "Do What You Want" and "Fuck Armageddon... This is Hell!" from early 1995, so Brian was credited for those. His first full-length album came with 1996's 'The Gray Race', which, despite the 'major' feel labelled to it, was a very good album, furthermore, Brian had loads of songwriting credits on there. In 1997, they released a raw live CD they entitled 'Tested', which has been hailed as much as hammered, however let me tell you that its a classic piece of BR history and aside from that, it's a great album. 1998's 'No Substance' came as a disppointment to some fans but it still has some great tracks on it, Brian also wrote on this album. 'The New America' was the album from 2000 which also saw Greg G writing all the songs and guest guitar work from Brett Gurewitz, this was BR's most mainstream and mellow album to date. A year later, their drummer of 9 years, Bobby Schayer, left due to permanent injuries and Brett rejoined, whats more, Br moved back to Epitaph! With the buzzing guitar trio of Greg Hetson, Brett and Brian, plus thumping percussion from new drummer, Brooks Wackerman, they released one of their most popular albums since 'The Gray Race', Epitaph's 'The Process of Belief' (2002). |
Brian's BR album credits |
ALL AGES (1995) Epitaph Records THE GRAY RACE (1996) Epic Records TESTED (LIVE) (1997) Epic Records NO SUBSTANCE (1998) Epic Records THE NEW AMERICA (2000) Epic Records THE PROCESS OF BELIEF (2002) Epitaph Records PUNK ROCK SONGS (2002) Epic Records |
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Click the banner below to visit my Bad Religion webpage, titled GREG's RELIGION, currently in the top 5 in 'The Best Bad Religion Links'. It features the band history, a comprehensive band member section, mp3s, discoraphy, many photos, a band spoof, and much more... |
OR Visit BAD RELIGION's Official site HERE |
