Bad Religion

Bad Religion have been around longer than I’ve been on this planet, so getting a chance to speak to one of their members was an honour and a privilege.

Bass player Jay Bentley spoke with us about their new record and what it’s like being in a punk band 25 years into the game…

Interview w/ Jay Bentley of

Bad Religion

By Cameron Chambers 

2007

Hey Jay, thanks heaps for speaking

with us today, we really appreciate it. 

All good man! How are you doing

today? 

Really good thanks man, yourself? 

I’m really good. Just getting

ready for Warped. It’s a long dirty tour, it’s going to be awesome.

Just a great tour to be on! 

Where are you calling from

time zones? 

I’m currently in Calgary getting

ready to watch Pennywise. The sun is shining and it looks like it’s

going to be an awesome day. 

And how has the current tour

been going? 

Well, we recently did one show

in Spain and then started this thing about a week ago, and it’s been

awesome so far. 

“New Maps Of Hell” has

turned out? 

Well, it’s not actually out

yet man! Ha ha, it doesn’t come out until July 10^th.  

Really, ha ha, it’s already

floating around down here in Australia! 

Shhh, don’t tell anybody, ha

ha. But yes, we’re really happy with how it turned out and we’re

really excited to play it.  

What’s the reaction to the

new songs been like at your recent shows? 

Well, the way it’s always been

is people watch us to see if we like it – which we do – and if we

play a new song that we’re not into, then they don’t like it. 

I don’t really know though.

The record is so new that we haven’t talked to anybody to see what

they think about it. We only really know the stuff on the internet at

this point in time, which has been all good so far.  

This is your 16^th

process changed over the years? 

It’s hard to not get repetitive

so we are always looking for new ways to coin an old phrase I guess.

The one constant is trying to stay relevant – that’s what we really

strive for.  

The big changes are bringing in

people like Brooks who’s just a massive drummer so we can do some

things that we weren’t able to do previously which is great! 

Bad Religion have been together

– or was that always the case anyway? 

Musically our influences are so

diverse and so random that it doesn’t fall into one category. I’d

say that at this point we are influenced by ourselves because we’ve

been together for so long. You know, we write a song and we’re like,

“that sounds like a riff from 12 years ago”, so we don’t use it,

ha ha.  

I think the thing is that we can

stay current by understanding what the sound of the music is. As a band,

you don’t want to cling to some pre-historic song. At the end of the

day, we are Bad Religion and will always continue to be Bad Religion

but with new recording techniques and the introduction of the digital

ago, we can try things that we hadn’t been able to previously. 

How does it feel knowing that

and passed your music on to their own children! 

Ha ha. Well, I’ve still got

friends that I’ve grown up with but I don’t really think about the

band. As soon as you start thinking about what you do and try to give

it some credibility things can get weird – and I just don’t want

to do that. 

You guys are about to embark

appealing as it used to be? 

Ha ha ha ha. The more you do it

the easier it gets because your expectations are so low, ha ha ha. We

just get out there and know what’s in store for us so it makes it

really fun. 

It’s just a great tour to be

a part of and it’s so much fun. 

In the last few years the Warped

this year? 

So far we’ve played 4 shows

and people have been really excited to have us on the bill. I’ve caught

up with and spoken with some of the other bands and the response has

been really cool.  

Some of the bands on the tour

we’ve known for years which is great but there are some other really

cool bands who we’ve just met.  

At the end of the day, we’re

all out here to have a good time and so far so good. We’re not even

a tenth of the way through the tour yet though, ha ha. 

I spoke with Nick from Tiger

every day. 

That’s really cool! We’ve

played a lot of shows with the older bands on the tour so we definitely

have some old friendships out here. It’s cool because these are the

tours we couldn’t do on our own, but with the Warped Tour we can get

together with a lot of our friends and just hit the road and spend some

time together. 

Are there any other bands on

the tour that you’re excited to see? 

I’ve been watching The Gallows.

Sorry, not The Gallows, just Gallows! Ha ha, everyone always makes that

mistake! 

Yeah man, it seems everyone

in October.  

Make sure you see them! 

What touring plans have you

guys got once the summer is over? 

We have some Fall touring organized

in the States. In October we’re hitting the East Coast and then in

November we’re hoping to hit Australia. 

I was going to ask you about

that coz I’ve heard rumours… 

There are rumours, ha ha ha ha.

We keep trying to come down to Australia so I’m definitely going to

be working a lot harder to make it happen!  

Given Brett’s commitment

– what do you get up to in your downtime?  

Just hanging out with my kids

man, ha ha. 

Ha ha, cool. 

I’m serious man! Ha ha. 

I’m a dad, and I look at my

kids and just love spending time with them. I’ve got a lot of friends

who are just having kids now and they’re like, “oh look at my new

kids” but my kids are 16 and they’re just the funniest guys ever,

ha ha. 

They’re always taking my car

though, ha ha, but hanging out with them is the funniest thing in the

world.  

Are they fans of your music? 

Sort of, you’ve got to remember

that when you’re 16 you always think your dad is a jerk – even if

his band is kind of cool, ha ha. 

Ha ha ha, when was the last

time you attended a show as a fan? 

About 4 months ago I went to see

Circle Jerks and Pennywise in Vancouver and it was awesome. I got in

the pit and everything! Ha ha. 

Ha ha, how’d that work out

for you? 

It was awesome. The Circle Jerks

still put on such a great show. 

Who are some bands you’ve

heard recently that people should be checking out? 

Well, the last Bouncing Souls

record was fantastic! 

For sure, that’s a great

album. 

And I’m not really sure how

big they are down there in Australia but the new Arctic Monkey’s record

was really amazing. 

I’m still walking around the

campsite at Warped trying to find a new act to check out. My friend

told me to check out a band called Family Force Five so I’m trying

to suss them out. I’m not even sure if they’re a legit band or if

my friend is just pulling my leg but I’m trying to find them!  

As I mentioned earlier, it’s

year with Strung Out – any truth to this? 

That’s the rumour man, ha ha.

I heard it too! 

The only chance I’ve had

cool but I’m still hanging out to see you guys! 

That was me. That was my fault

man. 

Really? 

Yeah, in 1999 I cancelled us off

the Australian part of the tour because I had a nervous breakdown. 

It was the first year that we’d

done the Warped Tour in the States and then we hit Europe as well –

so we’d been on the road for 6 months and then we were supposed to

go to Australia.  

I got home and my wife was like

“I’m leaving, I don’t want this shit anymore” and I went crazy

and called Kevin and said I can’t tour anymore, I need to stay home

and salvage my marriage and I kind of went into a tailspin. 

Family first man. 

Yeah I guess, ha ha, but in retrospect

I wish we’d done that tour, ha ha. 

That wraps it up Jay, anything

else you’d like to add? 

Keep surfing, ha ha. 

Ha ha, I’ll spread the word.

Take care man.

Bad Religion’s

“New Maps Of Hell” is available through Epitaph/Shock!