The summer heat has finally kicked in for Southern California. On this unusually hot Saturday night, the Orange Show Fairgrounds are beginning to look like a punk rock Woodstock as Bad Religion fans sprawl out on the grassy lawn around the fountains outside Citrus Hall. Before Bad Religion take the stage, the front barricades surge from the weight of the crowd and plastic water bottles and other various objects are hurled overhead.The spacious, general admission venue will soon turn into a roaring, sweltering sweathouse with several mosh pits spinning out of control both in front and around the stage. The scene is almost reminiscent of the punk shows in the hey day of the late '70s and early '80s but a few things have changed. Namely, the members of Bad Religion are all older and wiser and some, like singer Greg Graffin, have completed college and started families. It's a far cry from the band that started in 1980 when Graffin and Jay Bentley were feisty teenagers living in the suburban wasteland known as California's San Fernando Valley. They formed Bad Religion based on what was basically the inspiration for all of punk rock -- boredom, frustration and rebellion against everything that was considered the "norm."
Since then, the band has put out 11 albums and made a name for themselves as one of the most enduring and influential bands to come out of the American punk brigade. Through their long career, the band has gone through a few lineup changes. The current band consists of Graffin (vocals), Jay Bentley (bass), Greg Hetson (guitars) and Bobby Schayer (drums). The biggest and most recent change was the departure of Brett Gurewitz, who left the band to devote himself full-time to Epitaph records, the label that was originally a tool to put out Bad Religion records and later exploded with the success of Offspring and Rancid. Gurewitz was replaced by Brian Baker who is no stranger to punk himself. Having been a part of the original wave of American hard-core punk with the legendary band Minor Threat, Baker later played with Dag Nasty and did a brief stint with the abrasive LA hard rock band Junkyard. Two years ago Baker was asked to join Bad Religion, packed his bags, sold his car and vacated the Hollywood bar scene and moved to Washington DC. to begin his new career.
