Bad Religion will be bringing their ‘Age of Unreason Tour’ to First Avenue on Tuesday, July 2nd and I truly can not wait!
Acclaimed Los Angeles punk rock band Bad Religion’s new album entitled Age of Unreason is out now on Epitaph Records. Since the group’s formative years they have steadfastly advocated for humanism, reason, and individualism. Now, when these values are in decline and nationalism and bigotry are on the rise, Bad Religion’s message has never been more essential. Age of Unreason delivers a powerful and inspired response – a political and deeply personal treatise on all they believe in.
“The band has always stood for enlightenment values,” co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz explains. “Today, these values of truth, freedom, equality, tolerance, and science, are in real danger. This record is our response.” The songs onAge of Unreason are both furious and meticulously crafted. There are references to contemporary events; racist rallies, Trump’s election, the erosion of the middle class, Colin Kaepernick’s protest, alternative facts, conspiracy theories, and there are homages to the literary and philosophical works that have long inspired the band.
The track “Chaos From Within” uses the band’s iconic fast, powerful and melodic sound to examine the current border wall controversy with the lyrics, “Threat is urgent, existential / with patience wearing thin / but the danger’s elemental / it’s chaos from within.” As co-songwriter and lead singer Greg Graffin says, “Throughout history, walls have been used to keep the barbarians out, But it seems to me that the truly barbaric aspect of a civilization is the chaos that comes from within.”
Age of Unreason is Bad Religion’s 17th studio album and was co-produced by Carlos de la Garza. It is a timely work of immense power and one of their very best. Society’s step backwards has propelled the legendary band decidedly forward. There is an elevated craft in the way the song “Candidate” vividly evokes the current president, “I am your candidate / I am bloody lips and makeup /I’m your caliphate, opioids and mutilation / a celebrity and my name is competition.” Another track, entitled “The Approach,” addresses the possible demise of democracy with the lyrics, “There’s a moral and intellectual vacuum / and you’re right to be lookin’ askance / philosophically moribund, revolution hasn’t a chance.”
This record is both a dire warning and testament to resilience. The overall message being – seek truth about the world and oneself. As Graffin, who holds a PhD in the history of science, says, “When I saw all these headlines about how terrible our world had become, I started doing a lot of reading. I read about the French revolution, the American Revolution, the Civil War, and I started to recognize that this is a pattern of history and something we should never venture into. There are ample warnings against it. Every school child should know this but it’s hard to get people to read about these things. Maybe this album can help. Because right now, with social media, we are just playing a version of kill the guy with the ball.”
A personal favorite of mine, Dave Hause & The Mermaid, will be kicking the night off. Life is a struggle. Even when things go our way, it’s a constant swim against the tide, kicking against the current in the hope we’ll eventually find the shore. That’s the premise behind Dave Hause’s fourth album, Kick. Kicking was the first thing he saw his newborn twins do and it’s something he himself has been doing all his life. His career as a musician has spanned two decades, and his songs have always been a quest for personal survival – about pushing through against the odds
Tickets are still available HERE!
Remaining Tour Dates:
06/29 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Warped Tour
07/01 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
07/02 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
07/04 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
07/05 – Saskatoon, SK @ O’Brians Event Center
07/06 – Edmonton, AB @ Northlands Park (Punk in Drublic)
07/09 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
07/10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
07/11 – Portland, OR @Portland Meadows (Punk in Drublic)
07/13 – Vancouver, BC @ Punk In Drublic
07/14 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
07/17 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
07/19 – Ventura, CA @ Majestic Ventura Theatre
07/20 – Mountain View, CA @ Warped Tour
07/25 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Hall
07/26 – Montreal, QC @ Montreal ’77
07/27 – East Providence, RI @ Bold Point Park
07/30 – Portland, ME @ Aura
07/31 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
08/02 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
08/03 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
08/04 – McKees Rocks, PA @ Roxian
08/06 – Rochester, NY @ Anthology
08/07 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Hall
08/09 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
08/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Ballroom
08/11 – Silver Spring, MD @ Fillmore Silver Spring
08/13 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
08/14 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
08/16 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Psycho Festival
08/17 – Hollywood, CA @Hollywood Palladium
09/21-22 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Sea/Hear/Now
10/12 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
