Damn, y'all were real salty 14 years ago lmao

Brooks is a really good drummer. So is Josh Freese. All this means is that Avril Lavigne's new record will have good drumming. I don't listen to her, but at least her fans get to hear two of the best laying down the beats. Get over it for Christ sakes. Whining fuckin maggots.

Josh Freese from The Vandals/A Perfect Circle drums on it, too, if you didn't notice. Josh is one of the most sought after studio drummers today. Honestly, I don't understand why you'd give Brooks crap for playing on a record, even if it does suck. It's a paying job - get over it, kids.

really, who cares? Brooks is a tool and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the guys. He's there to play the drums with the band, then off to play drums for another band. He's half the age of the other members in BR who have years and years of experience and friendship behind them. He'll never truly be part of the band and he knows it, so let him go off and do whatever he wants to do to make some extra cash.

Brooks is a very good drummer, and if he likes Avril's music and wants to be a part of it, than that's fine. But I don't like Avril so I think it's a bad choice... I really hope he didn't do it (or has to do it) for the money.

its funny how news like this makes some people say the stupidest things.

Get off it already. It's done, it's over, caputz. Let's move on. Why do some of you care what Brookes does with his career anyway? I mean I know most people here aren't fond of Avril but come now it's not like Brookes ditched BR and joined Avril's band (like that guy from Gob). There's nothing anybody can do cuz it's over with.

People who actually sit around thinking about who paid Brooks for playing drums should get a life. Oh, and Beto, in what way do Brett's business practices affect your life? Apart from helping you hear tons of cool records he's played on AND released, I mean. You're an asshole.

Watch Along The Way. When the interviewer asks them what their jobs are they variously reply "I own a record label..." "I give lab tutorials" "I build motorbikes" "I'm a teacher" and most famously "I play Nintendo." Had Brooks been there he would have replyed "I'm a studio drummer." Big deal, its his job.

And yes, Mr. Brett is a greedy fucker (even though I'd pay a lot to se him play live)and he does not care about integrity.
I'd love to hear why.

At this point of BR's career... if the new drummer needs money that badly... gooddamn
And yes, Mr. Brett is a greedy fucker (even though I'd pay a lot to se him play live)and he does not care about integrity.
Too bad for the rest of us...

hell yeah scott... good call man.. with pete, i could go either way, but i was a big fan of bob's drumming.. it had the right level of sophistication that br needed.. sometimes i feel brooks is just showing off, but really i can understand why somebody like that would always try to play the craziest beats they could.. gotta make some things challenging... bobby was great and its too bad what happened to him.. it'd suck to all the sudden not be able to do the one thing you do well.... not to say he can't do anything else, but that is how he made a living, and not only that but he joined the band as a huge fan, so it must've felt pretty bad.

I really don't think that the quote "he's the best drummer BR has had yet" is very well qualified. Pete and Bobby may not have been as "classically" trained as Brooks, but they had the raw emotion and feeling that (in my opinion) Brooks is slightly deficient in. And isn't that what punk is all about? Anyone agree with me??

I think it'd be really funny if he was in the background of one of her videos.
The only reason people will be caring about this is because when someone hears you listening to Bad Religion they might say "I hear their drummer played for Avril". But in the end that doesn't mean shit.

By Johnny: Brooks from now on is officially a sellout.
Oh, the irony!

Brooks from now on is officially a sellout.

jesus some people are retarded. Who the hell cares who Brooks plays drums for. He still plays for BR the coolest band there is. I believe Greg Graffin would refer to some of you guys as "johnny more punk than you" assholes. screw you guys, I'm going home.

plus as these guys get older they realize that music isnt holy or sacred. you write and play passionately the best music you can but if you happen to play with a pop act you are no less sincere. this is what they realize when they grow up. you become confident that your integrity will be intact regardless of who you drum for.
Exactly! When you get older you can't care less what other people think about you, this is something more people should learn from. Many of us judge Brooks right now, what right do we have to do that? First off, he also has a rent to pay, and second, who cares what he does for a living? No one would complain if he was a doctor or something like that.

Dammit. He's a studio musician. That's his job. He plays when he is told to play.

as long as he drums for br im not gonna complain

--
Good on him, He is doing what he wants. At least he has the balls to be different
--
He's doing his work... he plays drums for who he wants... and dont matter for who or what he is playng...

jeez! oh jeez!
well well... shit happens... =)

i would agree that they're not a fiercely independent band.... but that's only because it doesn't god damn matter if you're independent or mainstream. what matters is the music. bands that worry too much about being so independent are worrying too damn much. bad religion has proven that you can make great music on both indie and major labels. trying to convince anybody here that bad religion doesn't consider music sacred will be a very hard sell. i also would make the claim that brooks has very much shaped the way the last two bad religion albums sounded... his drumming style is pretty different from bobby's, plus i think having a younger guy there made them feel youthful and stuff.. the thing i've noticed about drummers though is that they do have broader taste in music than say a guitarist.... most drummers are just happy to play, so i guess i can understand.. its a little hard to consider him a real member of br after this though.

"... if you happen to play with a pop act you are no less sincere..."
That's fucking ridiculous.... of course you're less sincere... You might still be a music lover and you enjoy it for just the sound of it, but real musicians and real music fans love music that both sounds good and has meaning... i god damn doubt anybody in bad religion would share your opinion there... i think bad religion realizes that it is a business, but that clearly comes after everything else. obviously there's money to be made and brooks is a studio drummer, so he can do whatever he wants, but bad religion has always been an independent band even when on atlantic. they were more or less allowed to do what they wanted because they were already hugely popular in the underground. that gave them power. now i'm pretty sure they're human and have the right to make mistakes, and some of the things they've done, they might regret a little, but calling bad religion pop-rock on this site is just fucking stupid.

no one should be surprised here. br have never been a militant independent band like fugazi or others. they write pop rock songs now and they were a radio band on a major label for a while. theres very little thats underground about them. sure they rule but theyre not a fiercely independent band...for reasons you guys have cited. plus as these guys get older they realize that music isnt holy or sacred. you write and play passionately the best music you can but if you happen to play with a pop act you are no less sincere. this is what they realize when they grow up. you become confident that your integrity will be intact regardless of who you drum for. i dont doubt however that he needed the money.

Dude, the BR page should have kept this slip of judgement a little secret. Who wants to discredit BR? Let's just pretend this never, ever happened.

Duh, Avril IS PUNK! I don't know why all you people are upset. But seriously, like it was mentioned Josh Freese plays drums on crap he doesn't like (as in Meridith Brook's song "Bitch") and he said it's to pay the bils. But then he does the stuff he loves with his friends (Vandals/Devo/A Perfect Circle). Brooks is still pretty young and hasn't been with BR for that long so he's probably not making tons of money. That and I don't think his previous bands made as much as BR. Hell, maybe he has car or house payments. Either way its not like he left BR for Avril. Although that would make her the punkest band in the universe ever. No, it wouldn't.

I always thought brooks was an independant drummer anyway. i dont care to much about who drums for them anymore brooks doesnt change the way the sound if anything it is too good for bad religion and makes it sound cheap like some crappy kroq band. i think its stupid that he did that but he plays for the money so yeha

Good on him, He is doing what he wants. At least he has the balls to be different.
I completely agree! I'm so fucking tired of the entire selling out deal, and the punk elitism.

Good on him, He is doing what he wants. At least he has the balls to be different.

I think that this shows how is music becoming just a bigger business much more these days than ever before... The examples have been already written - Armstrong with Pink, Hellcat with Warner, Frees drumming everywhere and now also Brooks... So it's not about pashion for good music anymore, it's just every day work like any other (being plumber, being drummer, being teacher, being songwriter, being president, being asshole...) That's all I gotta say. But I still respect Brooks as one of the best drummers in the world, anyway it's his profession...

Fisrt thing I thought : people here will think it's lame...
anyway, I honestly think that it's not a problem, because it always bugs me when fans (especially punk fans) begin to say that some musicians are just bad without any real arguments.

first thing i thought was.....lame...

I love that everyone's too "above it" to actually have an opinion about this. True, it doesn't really matter. But for the sake of discussion, between BR fans, you have to know this is complete crap and it's definitely worthy of ridiculing Brooks for it. Dork.
You're telling me that if Graffin lent guest vocals to, say, a Cher record, you people would just say, "well, Graffin's a good singer, why wouldn't Cher want to sing with him?" Get real.

Even though I personally loathe Avril Lavigne, I'm not upset that Brooks drummed on one of her songs. Like others have said, he's one of the absolute best in the business, and so I'm sure his talents are in great demand. If he wants to make some money on the side (and I'm sure it's pretty decent), I say go for it.

The only people that need studio drummers are usually pop acts like Avril Lavigne, Evanescense, Kelly Clarkson, & ect so that's why when you look at the artist profile of someone like Josh Freese you'd see a lot of pop garbage. You can't be picky when your a studio drummer otherwise no one will hire you.

wow...well i'll justify it to myself. i mean, mr. brett is pretty heavy in organizing the warped tour (obviously kevin lyman mosty is) but bands like good charlotte and yellowcard have been welcome...and eminem and was it methodman(?) played warped tour in 1999 or so...plus, its not as bad as tim armstrong (mr. critical of BR,Offspring, and Green Day when the went to major labels in the early 90s) selling Hellcat to Warner Bros. and collaborating with freakin PINK! The comment by therightclique was pretty much right on...it was just for his studio job purposes. he is the best drummer in the biz anyway.

I hope he's doing that for sexual goals (lol)...shame on him otherwise

Who cares. Don't forget that Bad Religion used to open for some Blink 182 shows in 2000-2001 or whenever it was...
Who cares with whom Brooks plays for. Maybe he IS friend with Avril.

christ... i guess he's basically just a studio drummer anyway, like josh freeze, but its hard to have respect for him playing on crap like this. he's not making enough money with br? or is he like a personal friend of avril lavigne's?