Photos by MINDY ROSS/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Greg Graffin points his finger at the crowd during
the band’s long set at the Hollywood Palace. Graffen, an alumni of
UCLA, received his Master’s degree in geology.
By Brent Hopkins
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Jay Bentley never runs out of things to talk about. While his
forte may be music, a result of nearly two decades in seminal Los
Angeles punk outfit Bad Religion, he can talk for hours about
almost any subject imaginable, from weekend hobbies to interstellar
physics.
“Let’s talk about those Bruins,” said the
loquacious bassist, speaking by cell phone while commuting through
L.A. traffic. “Let’s talk about the state of the
economy. Let’s talk about the voting registration scenario.
Let’s talk about Korn and Limp Bizkit. Let’s talk about
fishing and golf.”
Punk has rarely been thought of as the most intellectual of
genres, but then again, Bad Religion isn’t cut from the same
cloth as most bands. Indeed, most hardcore groups can’t boast
members who split their time between screaming into the microphone
and working towards a doctorate, as is the case with lead singer
Greg Graffin. Punk’s most learned acolyte earned a
Master’s degree in geology from UCLA and is currently
studying at Cornell. Though his educational accomplishments are the
most striking, the rest of the band are certainly no slouches in
the knowledge department, either. According to Bentley, since day
one, the entire group has worked hard to increase its awareness of
the world.
“They never feel like there’s an end to
education,” he said. “There’s no end to reading
and learning about everything they can. I’ve watched Greg go
through all his educational endeavors, but at the same time,
I’m a high school drop out, and I’m interested in
everything.”
Even as the band snakes its way across North America on its
current tour, Bentley isn’t slacking off in his own studies,
alternating between reading heavyweight thinker Carl Sagan and more
recreational pursuits.
Bentley appreciates Sagan’s ideas, but understands that
his writing is not for everyone.
“Carl Sagan’s got some great ideas,” he said.
“You can go on one side and say “˜Contact’ was a
“˜Fantasy Island’ type book, or you can go on the other
side and say “˜Yeah, this guy’s got a brain in his
head.’ I also just got done reading a book about a guy who
plays poker in Atlantic City called “˜Shut Up and Deal.’
I highly recommend it for anyone who plays.”
 MINDY ROSS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Jay
Bentley plays the bass for Bad Religion, Thursday night,
at the first of three shows in Los Angeles. As an offshoot of the
members’ academic interests, the quintet began the Bad
Religion Research Fund scholarship in 1998 as a means to aid
unrecognized fields of study. The project arose out of a
combination of Graffin’s frustration in securing endowments
for his own academic work and a respect for other artists’
charitable actions. After a brief tour with Pearl Jam in the
mid-Nineties, Bad Religion found itself impressed with PJ-frontman
Eddie Vedder’s generosity with the band’s money.
“We were sitting there after a show one night watching Ed
sign off all this money to the Surfrider foundation and all these
things, and I said to Greg, “˜Wouldn’t it be great to
get to the point where we could be like that?'” Bentley
recalled.
The fund is still in its nascent stages, but Graffin and company
hope it will grow in time.
“We’re at that point now where we can give $5,000 or
$10,000 dollars a year to someone,” Bentley said.
“It’s not a ton of money, and it’s not
groundbreaking, but it’s a start. Hopefully in a few years,
we can do three or five each year instead of one or two.”
Playing the role of educational philanthropist is a bit
different from the way the band began, 20 years ago, as a group of
angry teens from the San Fernando Valley. From that caustic, wild
beginning, Bad Religion has learned to focus its energy more
cohesively, Bentley said.
“We’ve matured to the point of being a little more
sensible with our anger,” he mused. “I don’t
think my level of anger has diminished, but my being able to figure
which specific spot makes me angry has gotten better. When I was
fifteen, I was mad at everybody.”
Anger has certainly been a key concept for the group, with its
biting sociopolitical critiques becoming the signature sound of the
more than a dozen albums it has released since 1982’s
“How Could Hell Be Any Worse?”
From the outset, the members always claimed to run against the
grain of society, gaining themselves a reputation as a truly
independent group of artists.
This reputation took a serious drubbing from fans when the band
switched from ultra-indie Epitaph Records, run by former guitarist
Brett Gurewitz, to industry titan Atlantic in the early Nineties.
Gurewitz later left the band, causing a flurry of rumors and
accusations that Bad Religion had sold out to corporate music.
Though fences have since been mended with Gurewitz, who appeared on
the latest album, “The New America,” controversy
erupted once again after the band toured as an opening act for
mega-corporate blink-182. Bentley admitted that last spring’s
tour was indeed an unusual step for his group, which is generally
considered to be among contemporary punk’s elder
statesmen.
 Greg Graffin pours water on the drum set
of Bobby Schayer during Bad Religion’s performance.
“It was bizarre,” he said. “It’s
something different, something other than what we do … but it was
fun.”
Economics did play a factor in the decision to tour, Bentley
conceded.
“Everybody keeps saying “˜blink should have opened
for you,'” he said. “The reality of it is, we
didn’t sell 7,000,000 records. We don’t sell 20,000
tickets. We couldn’t sell out the Forum on our own, but they
did. In a sense, we opened for them because they’re bigger
than us.”
Bigger in numbers perhaps, but not in spirit. In spite of the
criticisms, Bentley remains positive.
“That doesn’t really bother me,” he said.
“This band has achieved so much more than it ever dreamed
possible, so to sit down and think about things like that makes
everything that we’ve done seem worthless. I don’t
believe in that.”
Now on its own tour, playing largely in the small clubs that
were the band’s home for many years, Bad Religion is moving
on from past attacks and enjoying itself. Plans are underway for a
record to be released next year, though Bentley remains mum about
the specifics.
Wherever the next few years take the members of Bad Religion
should prove to be interesting, but don’t expect them to hold
on too long after the time has come to hang it up. Bentley
doesn’t want to become a rock dinosaur, clinging to long lost
youth long after the golden years have passed; he has no illusions
about the word commonly associated with his group.
“Old. We’re … old,” Bentley said, chuckling.
“I’m happy, because we started this band when I was
fifteen. Now, I’m thirty-five and that’s cool with me,
because the bands that I was watching when I was fifteen were
thirty-three, thirty-five years old, too. I’m looking forward
to the next couple of years and then that’s the end. And
that’s cool.”
MUSIC: Bad Religion plays The Hollywood Palace with Ignite and
Promise Ring tonight, Monday, Nov. 6 and Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20, call 323-462-3000 for more information.