Bad Religion Isn't Mussed By The Fuss

Credibility can be an elusive thing for a punk band, even one that has been around for more than two decades.

So it was that Bad Religion, which performs today at House of Blues at Downtown Disney West Side, found itself enduring major backlash for a recent opening-act stint for pop-punksters Blink-182.

Not that such a fuss matters to bassist and original member Jay Bentley, 37, who has stayed with Bad Religion through an assortment of perceived compromises since he was in high school.

Bad Religion, featuring the reunited songwriting team of Brett Gurewitz and Greg Graffin, likely will encounter a more hospitable crowd in Orlando -- though that wasn't the case for the band's last show here several years back.

"No fights this time!" Bentley admonished, remembering a challenge shouted from an audience member on the band's last trip to town. "Some guy wanted to fight me on stage. I said, 'I'm a little busy right now, but as soon as I'm done I'll come out.' "

Drummer Brooks Wackerman, hired when a chronic shoulder injury forced Bobby Schayer's retirement, anchors an airtight rhythm section with guitarists Greg Hetson and Brian Baker.

"One thing we've never really done is try to keep up with what's popular," Bentley explains. "In that song, Brett is talking about going crazy trying to keep up and realizing you never can. Whatever you just bought from the store, whatever new haircut you just got, you get home and something else is popular."

For that reason, Bentley laughs about considering where the band might be five years from now.

"That's too far away. Five years has always been our window since the beginning of time. I mean, we got together originally because we had nothing better to do and played together for 12 years before without people having the slightest idea who we were."

Even now, the band reaches out to a pocket of the population with no concept of its music through the Bad Religion Research Fund. It's a trust established to fund research by high school and college students in social and natural sciences supervised by Graffin, who is pursuing a doctorate in zoology from Cornell. The money comes with a perk: a lifetime spot on Bad Religion's concert guest list.

"You don't have to be a fan if you have a really good thesis and desperately need the money. More than half of the people who apply don't really know who we are," Bentley says, "and that's cool."

- Jim Abbott