On August 1st, punk-rock legends Bad Religion released the following on their Twitter feed: “There has been a family emergency within the band, and as a result, we must cancel the remainder of our UK and European tour dates for this year. We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience and understanding.”
Tickets to our headlining club shows in Norway and Germany will be refunded. Contact your local promoter for details. pic.twitter.com/4FPZT9zKgt
— Bad Religion (@badreligion) August 1, 2022
The band also stated the following in the same tweet, “Tickets to our headlining club shows in Norway and Germany will be refunded. Contact your local promoter for details”. For UK fans this means their shows at the Rebellion Punk Music Festival 2022 in Blackpool on August 4th and at the House of Vans London on August 6th will unfortunately not go ahead.
https://t.co/0LwKwciFhJ pic.twitter.com/SIfcJ5ssym
— Bad Religion (@badreligion) July 28, 2022
Bad Religion was formed by Greg Graffin, along with guitarist Brett Gurewitz and bassist Jay Bentley in high school in the Los Angeles suburbs in 1980 and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020. They are regarded as one of the most influential and important bands on the West Coast punk rock scene.
Armed with ferocious guitars, pounding drum beats, insightful lyrics, and an unwavering desire to inspire and disturb anybody who will listen, Bad Religion has continuously pushed social limits and questioned authority and beliefs. The Band’s first major label release, Stranger Than Fiction, included some of the band’s most famous songs, such as the title track, “Stranger Than Fiction”, “Infected”, and “21st Century Digital Boy”.
Age Of Unreason, the group’s 17th studio album, was released in 2019. With tracks addressing various socio-political ills, including conspiracy theories, racist demonstrations, Trump’s election, the erosion of the middle class, and alternative truths.
The critically praised album presents a fierce and highly pertinent musical response to the times. Hard rapid beats, juicy hooks, and spirited choruses are a part of the band’s recognisable and influential sound. Yet, every new song still stands out because it uses composition, melody, and lyrics to tell a particular story that aligns with the band’s long-standing humanist viewpoint.
In December 2020, the band marked its 40 years of recording and performing music with Decades, an event at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California, that the band streamed live in four instalments. The celebratory episodes featured live performance footage, interviews, and a sneak peek at their rehearsals for the anniversary show.
The band released their official biography, Do What You Want: The Story Of Bad Religion, in August 2020. The irreverent musical memoir stories their beginnings as teenagers growing up in the San Fernando Valley experimenting in their garage, they nicknamed “The Hell Hole” to the worldwide punk rock phenomenon they became.
Joining Graffin, Gurewitz and Bentley in this incarnation of Bad Religion are Brian Baker (one of the founding members of hardcore punk legends Minor Threat) and Mike Dimkich on guitars and Jamie Miller on drums.
