Bad Religion – It’s What the World Needs
After 24 years, punk stalwarts Bad Religion finds that the country is led by a war mongering bible thumper. Guess what? They have a new record.

By Larry Boytano

“It’s brutal and can break people into pieces, but that’s why I love it. It’s very entertaining to see a grown man break down and cry in the middle of a field”

As a religiously and politically charged punk band, Bad Religion has a lot to say right now. Sure, they’ve said similar things before. But they’ve never had such a large well of material to draw from.
“After 9/11, people kept coming up to us saying, ‘man you guys gotta write about this.’ But that’s what Bad Religion has always written about,” bassist Jay Bentley says from Vancouver, where he’s resting before hitting the road for the third time as a Warped Tour headliner.
“We write songs about the trauma that drives people to the point where they have to grab sticks and hit the streets,” he concludes, a bit exasperated that fans didn’t already know this.
Yes, Bad Religion’s songs were always religiously and politically driven. So it’s only natural that their latest release, The Empire Strikes First, is a blistering commentary on faith and the Bush administration.
To Bentley and the rest of the band, it doesn’t matter that Bad Religion is nearing its silver anniversary. Nor does it matter that throughout its twenty-four-year career the average age of their fan base hasn’t moved much beyond teenagers. As far as they’re concerned, with a guy like George Bush in office, Bad Religion has enough material to keep going for at least another generation.
“Just like the rest of America, right now we’re asking ourselves if George Bush is the one we want representing us,” Bentley says about the political thinking among the band. “When he says stuff like, ‘if you’re Christian you have to vote for me because I’m doing God’s work,’ well that’s a little scary,” he says scornfully.
Bentley goes on to say that what’s even scarier is, “going from a president you could laugh about with his big cigar and a cum-stained dress, to having a president who brought us to a war like we have never seen.”
And so brings us to The Empire Strikes First, Bad Religion’s 13th release and their first disc since 2002’s, The Process of Belief. Lead singer and co-foundering member Greg Graffin earned a PHD in evolutionary biology while writing Empire, but the new disc is fueled with just as much heart as head smarts.
As usual, Graffin matched wits with co-writer, guitarist and founder of Epitaph Records, Brett Gurewitz to compose a scorching blast of mainstream norms. Tunes such as, Let Them Eat War, Atheist Peace, and God’s Love. All add to the typical Bad Religion sonic assault that’s layered with the relentless guitars of Greg Hetson and Brian Baker. The low end is driven home by Bentley and new, 26-year-old drummer Brooks Wackerman.

Even though Bad Religion tunes carry strong views, Bentley says there’s rarely infighting over song content.
“We have over 200 songs, but only about five have been censored,” he says proudly. He went on to explain that a problem with a song usually occurs because of lyrical interpretation.
When asked about the music making process, Bentley says that Graffin and Gurewitz usually bring the music and lyrics to the table, and then the band weighs the song.
“We get along and talk about all things openly, but after 20 years everything has pretty much already been said between us,” Bentley says about the group’s higher debates.
“Politically, we’re all pretty much in the same boat. On religion, Greg’s an atheist. Me, I believe in a higher sense of being, but ya know it’s not Santa Clause, it’s more of a karma thing. But overall we discuss things, agree on a lot of things, but also debate quite often.”
Another thing that’s also debated, but outside of the band’s circle, is if these guys are too old to relevant punk rockers. The crowds speak for themselves. Besides Wackerman, the rest of the guys in the band are pushing 40, but that doesn’t mean anything to them. Not even on such a youth orientated gig as the Warped Tour, which is known to have more carnival qualities than rock star amenities.

“I love it,” Bentley says enthusiastically about the rough traveling show.
“Oh, it’s brutal and can break people into pieces, but that’s why I love it. It’s very entertaining to see a grown man break down and cry in the middle of a field,” he says laughing.
“It’s disgusting, dirty, and hot. But it’s the experience of being so hot and dirty, and trying to outrun rain or a tornado while putting on a show that builds camaraderie among the tour. I love it,” he says one more time, a little masochistically.
This is the Warped Tour’s tenth anniversary. Joining Bad Religion are NOFX, Atmosphere, Yellowcard, Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, the Vandals, Thursday, Tiger Army, Bouncing Souls, A New Found Glory, Gutter Mouth and much, much, more.

Warped Tour
July 31, 11:00 a.m.
Pompano Beach Amphitheatre
1806 NE 6th St
954/946.2402
$29.75

A.K.A. Brings the ‘Bomp’
to the Local Punk Scene

Jamming with L7, spinning crazy love cycles and drinking beers like water in MIA

By Natalia Real

“It’s really hard to get noticed nowadays. I think, as women, it’s really hard—you have to play three times harder and better than the guys—you totally do—you have to fuckin’ totally be out there.”

If familiar with the music scene in South Fla., you are aware that female musicians here are pitifully scant. When I came across
A.K.A. some months back at Churchill’s Pub in Miami, I couldn’t believe it—a trio of gifted pop-punk goddesses bringin’ it
raw in a no ma’am’s land! I’d been dangerously close to giving up on my search. And at 3 a.m., with dim lights
and sporadic swirls of smoke decorated the air among the beer-swigging 20-somethings, A.K.A. admitted they were a little
tired. Regardless, they took command of the black rubber-floored stage, thanked their loyal fans (one even displays a homemade white A.K.A. tank top with black lettering) for sticking around and proceeded to rock us. “Can I get a beer?” 22-year-old lead singer/guitarist Lori Garrote sweetly yelled to the bartender. “Somebody drank it, I swear!”
Lori’s black locks shone in thewhite spotlight, 19-year-old bassist Natalie Martinez wore her usual tough countenance
and 27-year-old drummer Gnat Novea’s black cowboy hat and fuchsia Jem and the Holograms t-shirt animated the background.
Amid wholehearted “Woos” and whistling, the band resuscitated the dying night with energetic Get Over You. Catchy Crazy Love
Cycle and Whoa Whoa followed, accompanied by new Never Hear About It and older Never, notable in its vivacious tempo changes and stalwart bass lines. Pursuing Me, newer Slow Song (don’t let the title fool you) and Walk Away ended their set. The only drawback was the vocals’ being too low. Within moments of starting to distribute their demos, the ladies were fresh
out of them. “They’re one of the best two bands I’ve seen in Miami for a year. They’re totally original,” declared fan Greg Hyden, 39. What sets A.K.A. apart? Partly, fierce stage presence. Afan has gone as far as comparing Lori’s confident persona to
that of Iggy Pop’s—but Lori keeps her clothes on. Influenced by the likes of legendary musicians like Bikini Kill, Ani DiFranco,
The Dead Kennedys, Radiohead, Tori Amos and Billie Holiday, A.K.A. has spawned a sound that’s hard to pin down. Lori’s deep vocals vaguely resonate those of the late Selene Vigil (7 Year Bitch); while Buenos Aires native Gnat’s drumming tends to recall the ingenious Patty Schemel’s (Hole; Courtney Love); and Nat’s bass lines are remarkably thick and full. If you pressed me I’d say A.K.A. are what punk band L7 would sound like if they were starting out today (and singing mostly about relationships in place of wargasms). A.K.A.’s pop tinge, however, makes them more palatable to the average listener. And despite their terrific
talent, A.K.A. retain their humility. They’ve been playing the local underground

scene since February, garnering a loyal and progressively increasing fan base via impressive talent and engrossing performances. At shows, their outfits will convey a different theme (say, suits or police uniforms—tonight it was checkers),
Nat will play from atop amps and Lori will jump around, make weird faces—”She’s funny as shit,” laughs Carnival Waste drummer Neil Rippe— and move her arm in circles as she strums her guitar. “It’s really hard to get noticed nowadays.
I think, as women, it’s really hard—you have to play three times harder and better than the guys—you totally do—you have to fuckin’ totally be out there,” Gnat said emphatically as she sat comfortably on a white plastic chair in her backyard holding a Corona Light with a lime wedge squeezed in. As for their demo, it’s comprised of three tracks: Pursuing Me, Crazy Love Cycle and Whoa Whoa. “It’s about how no matter what you say, no one listens. It’s about releasing your anger,” Nat said about Whoa Whoa. “Those were our most popular songs at the time [and] the most catchy,” Lori added taking a drag off her cigarette.
Lori and Nat are travel consultants and Gnat works for a fax broadcasting company and bartends occasionally. They
met through a mutual friend last October and have been playing ever since. “When we met [Gnat] it was like magic. She was everything we were looking for in a drummer—everything,” Lori affirmed with a wide smile as Nat avidly nodded in agreement. “She’s amazing.” Gnat moved to Miami in the early ‘80s, learned the piano at age seven and picked up guitar at 15—and ended up playing a few Fla. Warped Tour dates with L7 in the ‘90s.
“But my passion since I was little was playing the drums, and my parents always said it was for boys so they never let me play them,” Gnat reminisced. She’s finally taken some jazz percussion courses in her 20s (and more recently played with local rapper
Mahogany and The Disposable Girlfriends). Lori, on the other hand, is mostly selftaught: “I started playing when I was 12.
[My brother] had his guitar in his room and whenever he’d leave the house, I’d go in his room,” Lori said holding her beer, “and I’d be like, ‘I want to play,’” she whispered, smiling quirkily. “One day he caught me…and he taught me Green
Day’s Longview…and it came so naturally to me he couldn’t even believe that
I learned it like that,” Lori said snapping her fingers. Nat began playing the guitar in middle school and is also mainly self-taught: “I like to just do my own stuff,” she explained with a shrug. She switched to bass two years ago to play with Lori and
discovered that it was her true calling. Still, Nat has written the guitar parts for songs like Walk Away (which, with her
permission, Hyden—drunk by now — foolishly danced to onstage). “I never thought I would [end up performing at Churchill’s ‘cause I’m a really shy person,” Lori confessed as she massaged her eyebrows. “When I started playing with the girls,
the only input I really had was doing the drumming for the songs they already had,” Gnat said. “But lately we’ve been
going to the beach and we’ll write lyrics all together. So now it’s like I have a lot more input in what gets done…Now I’m
playing our songs,” she stated happily as a plane flew boisterously overhead. See them live on July 24 with 10 Sheen,

Avenue D and ENCIDIUS at Churchill’s
Pub, 5501 NE 2nd Ave., Miami,
www.churchillspub.com. For booking
information, more show dates and a copy
of their demo call Gnat at 305/519.2523
or Nat at 305/987.0672 and check out
www.myspace.com/aka.