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"I'm not really a major label basher," says Gurewitz. "But it is nice to have Bad Religion back on Epitaph."
Atlantic Records dropped the influential outfit in 2001 after an eight-year, four-album relationship. Gurewitz -- who started the band in 1982 with singer Greg Graffin and bassist Jay Bentley, but left to tend to Epitaph in 1994 -- had recently rejoined the fold; it only made sense for the group to return to his imprint, bringing their career full circle.
"Mr. Brett" issued Bad Religion's rudimentary, self-titled debut EP as Epitaph's first product the same year that the band was founded. A vastly superior full-length, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? followed soon after, setting the standard for both BR's immediately recognizable style in particular, and West Coast punk in general. In 1984, following Into The Unknown, Gurewitz left the band for the first time, and was replaced by Circle Jerks guitarist Greg Hetson for the next record (the hard-edged Back To The Known EP) and tour. The shakeup precipitated a three-year hiatus, and when the band returned with '87's excellent, critically lauded Suffer, the Gurewitz/Graffin songwriting axis was back in place.
As the rejuvenated outfit continued to flourish (releasing nearly an album a year), so did Epitaph. In 1994, while the ink was still smearable on Bad Religion's Atlantic contract, Epitaph's The Offspring became a runaway success as punk rock erupted all over the mainstream. The coincidence forced Gurewitz to once again leave his band in order to oversee his business affairs.
"Relationships in the band were a little strained at that point," he admits, "but that wasn't the real reason for my leaving. When I left the band, it was because I had to take care of Epitaph."
Rumors that he was dissatisfied with the major-label deal persisted; so did tales of longstanding substance abuse, a problem that culminated Gurewitz serving jail time.
"I was swamped with Epitaph, and I had some problems that were well-publicized," says the guitarist. "I struggled to get back on track, and I got busted. It took me a couple of years to get my head together after that happened."
Over the simultaneous course of Bad Religion's Atlantic years and Epitaph's transition from cult label to brand name, not to mention his personal struggles, getting back into the band was the farthest thing from Gurewitz's mind. Then Graffin and the rest of Bad Religion (Hetson, Bentley, guitarist Brian Baker and new drummer Brooks Wackerman) suggested further collaboration.
"Greg and I kept in touch over the years, but I never tried. I couldn't have done it any sooner," Gurewitz says. "It was only after sorting out my personal life and the business that Greg and I thought it would be good to write again.
"I didn't realize how much I missed it until I came back."
The Process of Belief is Bad Religion's first Epitaph release in eight years. It's also their best since 1994's Stranger Than Fiction, which, not incidentally, was the last Bad Religion record that Gurewitz and Graffin co-wrote. The disc is not some atavistic "return to form"; it doesn't discard the elements of hard rock, pop and assorted eclectica that have crept into BR's sound over the years. It does, however, fairly vibrate with an intensity and purpose that seems, particularly in hindsight, clearly missing from some of the intervening years' efforts.
For Gurewitz, The Process of Belief felt less like an exercise in nostalgia or new beginning than getting back to business, albeit with a newfound energy.
"It was the same old kind of thing, other than the fact that I think there was a kind of revived enthusiasm, a freshness because it had been so long since we'd done it -- we were very stoked," he says.
Though his role at Epitaph will keep him from joining the band on extended tours, Gurewitz recently found time to come along for two weeks in Europe. He hopes to make as many shows on their current U.S. jaunt as possible; unfortunately, he won't be on hand for the upcoming Florida dates. While his presence as a songwriter and studio player seems vital to producing the band's best material, he thinks two guitars can ably handle things onstage.
"In the studio it's great, just another person to contribute ideas, which is fun. Live, it's weird," Gurewitz says. "I'm just kind of a third wheel. It does sound really full and very heavy that way, but I'm definitely not needed up there for the group to play the arrangements we composed."
When the subject of Bad Religion's future is raised, Gurewitz is loath to look too far. However, he doesn't see himself taking another sabbatical anytime soon.
"I'm really having fun writing songs, talking about it with people, hearing the songs on the radio. I'd love to write another record. I don't know how many more, but it's really super-fulfilling for me," he says. "It's just something I love to do."
Scott Harrell can be reached at 813-248-8888, ext. 109, or at scott.harrell@weeklyplanet.com.
