Bad Religion may be the smartest rock band in America, and that’s not just a reference to their erudite, politically astute lyrics.
Singer and founding member Greg Graffin has a Ph.D. in zoology and has taught at Cornell University, and guitarist and fellow founding member Brett Gurewitz is the owner of influential independent record label Epitaph, which he started in 1980. Graffin and Gurewitz are the band’s main songwriters, and they’ve been creating literate, catchy and concise punk rock songs for more than three decades.
The godfathers of the Southern California punk rock explosion of the 1990s, Bad Religion influenced bands like Rancid and The Offspring while themselves scoring big radio hits like “21st Century (Digital Boy)” and “Infected.” They had been going for more than a decade when those songs hit the airwaves, and they’ve continued in the same fashion since, reliably producing albums of intelligent punk rock (the latest is 2013’s True North). Sticking to their vision, respecting their fans and never giving up: Sounds pretty smart, doesn’t it?
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 7 p.m. doors, April 13 & 14, starting at $29.50 plus tax and fee, 18+. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
