Bad Religion

Preeminent punk band Bad Religion, formed in Los Angeles in 1979, will release their new album True North on January 22nd on Epitaph Records. In a world still brimming with rampant anti intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band's signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever. On their newest record, the storied band deliberately revisits and refines the powerful and melodic Southern California sound they helped to define.

"We went back to our original mission statement of short concise bursts of melody and thought," co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz explains. "The intent was to record stripped down punk songs without sacrificing any conceptual density."

The band's lineup has changed several times over its lifespan, with lead vocalist Greg Graffin being the only consistent member; the current lineup, however, features three out of four of the band's original members (Graffin, Brett Gurewitz and Jay Bentley). Bad Religion has released 15 studio albums, two live albums, three compilation albums, two EPs, and two DVDs (which were both recorded live). They gained a cult following with many of their early albums, but did not experience major worldwide commercial success until the 1994 release of their eighth studio album Stranger Than Fiction, which spawned their biggest hits "Infected" and a re-recorded version of "21st Century (Digital Boy)", and was certified gold in both the United States and Canada. In total Bad Religion has sold at least over 5 million albums worldwide.

The first single off their latest album, True North is a propulsive anthem succinctly called "F**k You." As the band's singer and co-songwriter Greg Graffin explains, "If any band should have a song with that title it should be us. It just sounds like a perfect Bad Religion song." Produced by the band and Joe Barresi, True North celebrates the stirring power of cogent punk in the face of pain and adversity. The result is one of the band's most emotionally accessible albums to date. While some tracks such as "Robin Hood In Reverse," "Land of Endless Greed" and "Dharma And The Bomb" ardently address pressing world issues, others like "Hello Cruel World" veer into a far more expressive terrain. The album's title song "True North" utilizes a wall of guitars and charged beat to explore issues of alienation and loss informed by Graffin's recent life experiences.

"I think we both really responded to the challenge of writing short and fast songs on this record," Gurewitz adds. "The constraints set us free. Like moves in a game of chess, there are really as many variations as there are stars in the galaxy."

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