20 Jul |
Interview: Jay Bentley – “Bad Religion” |
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Here is a interesting interview taken from the Epiphone website with Jay Bentley from Bad Religion.
You can find the orignal here: http://www.epiphone.com/news.asp?NewsID=1578
In a time when much of American radio was dominated by highly produced, cookie-cutter, pop artists, four young musicians in Southern California were drawing their inspiration from underground cult bands like The Ramones, The Clash and the Sex Pistols. But in 1980, members of the newly formed Bad Religion had no way of knowing that their raw energy would lead to the revival of the entire “punk rock” scene. 14 albums later, the band continues to create great music, tour extensively and inspire generations of musicians.
Epiphone’s Don Mitchell recently caught up with founding member and bassist Jay Bentley just as the band was wrapping up rehearsals for the 2009 Vans Warped Tour.
Read the rest of the interview here: http://www.epiphone.com/news.asp?NewsID=1578
Read more...08 Jul |
Interview with Propagandhi |
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As they are getting ready for the busiest touring period in their long career, Canadian punk veterans Propagandhi break the drought with Supporting Caste, their first album in four years. Truepunk speaks with drummer Jordy Samolesky about playing Italian squats and standing up for the little people.
You can read the original here: http://www.truepunk.com/interviews/interview-with-propagandhi/
Read more...Formed in 1986 by Samolesky and guitarist Chris Hannah, Propagandhi’s penchant for taking extended breaks has kept them off the live scene but has ironically given the band a longevity few acts dream of.
“We actually had a few periods where we’d take as much as two years off, either we’d stop touring to start writing a new album or something like that,” says Samolesky from Winnepeg of the band’s two decade tenure. “So we haven’t played ourselves out to the point where we’re completely sick of our material.
“More recently we added a new guitar player Beav (David ‘Space Beaver’ Guillas) to the band and kind of spent a good couple of seasons working him into the new stuff and writing new material. So we haven’t been too active on the road really.”
All that is about to change as Propagandhi, now a quartet, embark on a very busy 2009 to promote their newly released fifth album Supporting Caste, issued by their own imprint G7 Welcoming Committee, after four albums on Californian indie punk label Fat.
“I wouldn’t say it’s straight ahead in terms of our early stuff like our How To Clean… album, it’s definitely not like that,” offers Samolesky. “But I wouldn’t say it’s prog-rock or metal or anything like that. I think we have a lot of elements of our earlier stuff but it’s layered a little more effectively now.”
Recorded at the increasingly popular The Blasting Room studios in Colorado with engineer Jason Livermore and drummer-cum-producer Bill Stevenson, formerly of Black Flag, Descendents and ALL, the album addresses themes close to the band members’ socially aware hearts.
“I guess one take on it could be – and it’s certainly open to interpretation – it’s kind of like we’re all this supporting caste for the powers that be who are the top of the caste in the caste system,” says Samolesky of the record’s title. “But it’s more of a global thing, it’s not really based on the Indian caste system.
“I think we have to realise what our different roles are in this sort of supporting caste system whether you’re at the bottom and you’re the most marginalized and powerless or completely exploited to death or if you’re in a relatively more privileged caste where you have the ability to do something to change things …
“We’re all written into this ongoing story and the history’s always written by the victors, the people at the top of the heap. But it’s all based on a false sense of reality.”
Supporting Caste may also be regarded as a continuum of the band’s long-held championing of grassroots, non-profit and community-minded initiatives that have seen them perform at atypical rock venues over the years for a variety of causes.
“We’re all more inspired by the independent side of music and if there are counter-cultural elements then I think we’re into some of those,” says Samolesky. “I think just being able to see different examples of independent and anti-authoritarian culture around the world has been really interesting. One thing comes to mind is playing in some of the squat scenes in Italy and until a number of years ago, in Germany as well, that was really inspiring.
“Some of the places we played were absolutely incredible and examples of forms of participatory democracy with people living an independent lifestyle in a really successful and interesting way. We’ve played factories and an armoury I believe it was from the 17th century.”
06 Jul |
Greg Graffin – Bad Religion Interview |
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In a new interview with the Scene Newspaper, Bad Religion frontman and UCLA professor Greg Graffin talks a little about the non-musical parts of life, focusing on the importance of authority in politics and science, some of his favorite books and even the effects of subsidies on the agricultural sector.
You can find the interview here.
Read more...During the school year, Greg Graffin is a mild-mannered professor at UCLA, where he teaches biology.
But once class goes into recess, Graffin dons his other hat as the co-lyricist and lead singer of near-legendary punk band Bad Religion. Having toured for more than 25 years, Bad Religion has a staying power one does not often find in the ephemeral music scene littered with one hit wonders and pop tarts. They also have a message…
