Greg Graffin: "There are also conservatives who like Bad Religion"

The entire Primavera Sound site can be seen from the terrace of the AC Forum hotel where Gregg Graffin receives us, somewhat annoyed by how difficult it is to sleep with the music from the festival resounding in the room until the wee hours of the morning.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
03 June 2023 Saturday 10:22
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Greg Graffin: "There are also conservatives who like Bad Religion"

The entire Primavera Sound site can be seen from the terrace of the AC Forum hotel where Gregg Graffin receives us, somewhat annoyed by how difficult it is to sleep with the music from the festival resounding in the room until the wee hours of the morning. The leader of Bad Religion, one of the seminal Californian punk bands, has been coming to Barcelona for more than thirty years, this year at Primavera Sound. He attends La Vanguardia, the afternoon before his performance, with the serenity of a university professor, his another trade of his. PhD in Zoology at Cornell University, he has taught Evolution at the same Ivy League institution, where he has developed his admiration for Charles Darwin.

Do you still feel nervous before going on stage?

I just want the show to go well, we've always been very precise when it comes to playing big festivals, I don't worry about the guys because they're all professionals. They are as focused as I am not to make mistakes, we are very united in this. But there's always some doubt when you perform for a new audience, especially people who haven't heard you, that's the nerve part.

You have played in Barcelona many times, what do you like about the city?

You might get mad about this, but I always say that it reminds us a lot of our place of origin, Los Angeles. The lifestyle seems pretty similar, very carefree, and the people are nice. . I don't mean to make comparisons, but it's easy and familiar to us, and although the language is different I grew up in Southern California, so I can get by with Spanish. Every time we come we learn something more about the history of Barcelona, ​​so long, deep and illustrious.

Do people still remember Californian punk?

Perhaps it is Barcelona itself that is rediscovering it. There are bands from that time that continue to play and continue to play well, but they also show their own growth and their own evolution.

What defines Californian punk?

I've always felt a bit like an outsider and maybe that's the appeal of this music, that it mattered to people who felt like they weren't part of the Southern California culture, but lived there. I think that feeling exists wherever you go, maybe a lot of people who grew up in Barcelona don't feel part of the Barcelonan culture. There's an attraction to that punk element that makes you feel like you're not part of ordinary society. We've always tried to show that music has a lot of... I wouldn't say a message, more of a philosophy, of continuing to develop your mind, questioning common perceptions. And I think that's going to appeal to people for years, because every generation has a certain number of people interested in it.

He looks fit, and so does his music.

I have always respected the art of recording. Recording a record, a tape or whatever is recorded today is to fix a moment in time. You capture an idea and I've always thought that our live should reflect that, it should be a replica of what's on the record. The public wants to see it in real time, they want it to sound like the record because the record is what they listen to over and over again, they grow with it, it's part of their life. So I've always thought that we have to make sure that when we go on stage we can sound like the record. That's especially true for my voice, which is why I've taken care of it all these years, and most good singing comes from an athletic body, so staying in shape is really important. It's all in the service of making the music sound like it did on the record, so lots of exercise.

There has been a growth of conservative thinking in the US.

Let's not forget that in the fifties and sixties there was also a conservative movement. Then in the 1960s and 1970s it went back to a more liberal environment, so maybe what we're seeing is the pendulum swinging back. The regression will always be there, because it is the base of the conservative party, that does not change, it is the base of religion as well. The same thing happens in politics, religion and all the topics we talk about in our songs.

These are the topics that interest Bad Religion fans.

We have liberal fans for the most part, but there are also conservatives who like Bad Religion, they appreciate the questions we ask because they are challenging and not just calls for stupidity. They encourage the use of the intellect. I think it's better to adopt liberal policies as long as they are based on reflections that depend on objective evidence for answers, because then we can make progress. But that doesn't mean you have to do anything to be called a progressive. Progress to me means learning something in the process, and if you just adopt conservative policies, it means you haven't learned anything.

Punk has always needed a purity test that others don't have.

I think that's a good thing for politics, but on other issues it's not. One of the biggest things that happened in music was the idea of ​​a love song, when you say I love you you don't need to prove it in the sense that you prove something scientifically. When people say they love Bad Religion I don't ask them to show it to me; When some people say they love the New America album, or hate it, you can't criticize them because they've learned something about Bad religion and you have to thank them. There are places where proof is not necessary but if we talk about politics, then you have to build a base from facts, experimental and objective evidence. That is the difference between politics and music.

Where are you weirder, as a punk in college or as a teacher on stage?

Both sides are just as confused, kind of don't get it, which is why I've written a couple of books on the subject, to try to show that there's alternative thinking in the way I approach punk rock and the way I I approach the academy. I am referring to the satisfaction that questioning things gives me, and hoping that the public can also use their minds and educate themselves on these issues that are so important to everyone's lives.

Are you working on new music?

Brett and I are always composing. Last month we talked about making new songs, so there will be more, stay tuned.