For a full biography, continue to Brian's profile.
In 1994 Brian was asked to fill in for Peter Holsapple of R.E.M.. He was already preparing to join their Monster tour when he was offered to join BR. He considered R.E.M. to be one of the biggest bands in the world, but also considered BR one of the biggest punk bands in the world. So two days after Greg's call he phoned R.E.M. again to tell them he was joining BR, packed his bags, sold his car and began his new career. Or, as he put it, "That's me in the corner, choosing Bad Religion." "Touring for nineteen months with one of the biggest bands in the world isn't exactly a shitty offer, and I was absolutely blown away that these R.E.M. people even knew who I was. (...) My best friend Nathan [ex-Careless] got the gig. After the Monster tour ended, Nathan bought a house and built a home studio in the backyard. He's happy. I rent a one bedroom apartment and record my songs with an acoustic and a boom box, but I am in Bad Religion. I'm happy."
Graffin: "Brian spent weeks at my house going to Bad Religion college, learning a mountain of songs and practicing harmonies with me."
Brian's first gig with Bad Religion was at the Bizarre Festival in Germany on August 20, 1994.
Greg G. at a D.C. concert (April 16, 1996): "This is our new guitarist, Mr. Brian Baker - don't you think he sounds a lot better than that other guy?"
In 1984, Brian was in a band called The 400. They recorded a 5-song demo tape.
In 1997, he recorded the album "Troublizing" with Ric Ocasek (producer of The Gray Race) and several other musicians.
In 2001, Brian and Ian MacKaye produced "Face Au Silence Du Monde", the second album of French-Canadian punk band Penelope at Washington, D.C.'s "Inner Ear Studios".
Brian says that his only real influence that you can still hear when he plays nowadays is Captain Sensible from The Damned. He wanted to look and sound like him and learned every single note he ever played. According to Brian, everything he plays to this day is a combination of Captain Sensible and Angus Young.
In 1987 he was voted best guitarist of the year by Flipside readers. In 1988, he was voted both second best guitarist and second biggest asshole (only surpassed by GG Allin).
Brian said that if someone writes his biography the title should be "Arrogance and Affluence: The Rise and Fall of Brian Baker".
His earliest childhood memory is falling out of a convertible and cracking his head open at age two.
| 01/02 | added line about The 400 - By wrong planet |