Anniversary Post #2.

This post is my interview that I did with Jay Bentley, bass player from the band Bad Religion.




Ron Purtee : Do you think that things are better now with Brett (Gurewitz, one of the bands founders and principle songwriters) back in the band?

Jay Bentley: When he left it was for the better, even though it hurt us in the long run songwriting wise, we were fighting a lot in 94, there was a lot of problems. Him coming back now, everybody’s happy, and he is back writing again, and it puts a good balance in the band, where its not just one direction and it seems to work out a lot better now.

RP: Do you think that with albums like “No Substance” and “The New America” things were starting to lack songwriting wise?

JB: Those were shit records. With “The Grey Race” you had Brian (Baker) coming and writing a lot of music, and that record was a very passionate record lyrically for Greg (Graffin), it was a real personal time for him, and it really helped him on the record the way he was presenting his lyrics. With “No Substance” and “New America” it was like no reason, we were pretty passionless.

RP: Do you think that Brian is taking a backseat in the band now that Brett is back when it comes to songwriting?

JB: No because Brian wrote maybe 40- 50% of the music on “The Grey Race” but he and Greg had a lot of disagreements about what Brian wanted to do musically, and Brian just said, “Fuck it, I’ll never write another song” and it was over. So Brian now writes songs for Dag Nasty, which will come out this year.

RP: Rumor has it that Bad Religion is only putting out one more album, do you guys have a lot left in you?

JB: Sure why not? This band has never had any type of long-term goal, ever. So when I say, “Yeah we might make another record” people take it literally like “Oh my god they’re breaking up”. Its like who knows what the fuck we’re doing. If we make some kind of bizarre business plan, then we’re assholes. If your not making music because your passionate about it then you should just sit in the corner and be some other band with management and everyone else who is telling you what to say.

RP: Of the B-sides you have, which one would you have like to seen on an album but never made it?

JB: “News from the Front” It’s a great song; it just didn’t make it on the record because of time. We were deciding what songs we were gonna put on there, and Brett really wanted to put “Digital Boy” on there. I was like “We already have a version of that on another record, lets go with “News from the Front” it’s a great song.” then Brett said something that you can’t really argue with, “Well I wrote both of them”, and I can’t argue with that, its your song.

RP: Did all of the fighting with Brett start during the recording of “Stranger than Fiction”?

JB: Yeah, kinda, there were just so many things that were happening. You have to remember, Brett wasn’t just a guitar player in Bad Religion, or a partner or a songwriter, he also owned the record label we were on, and there were so many things going on for all of us, and I worked at Epitaph, it was me and Brett and like 5 people who worked at Epitaph, and so there was stresses all over the place, its unbelievable that were all still here. I couldn’t begin to explain to you how awkward that time was.

RP: Many think that the switch to Atlantic was the cause of Brett leaving, because in press afterwards he would use the “sell out” term quite often, do you think that’s the case?

JB: No. His name was right above mine on the contract, so if he didn’t want to go he wouldn’t have signed it. He knows that. He says “Look, I just used it as a way to get out”. It’s no different then when you break up with a girlfriend and you say, “oh she’s a bitch”, she may not be one but you guys just didn’t get along, so you attack her. All of that shit was just talk. It didn’t have anything to do with Atlantic. Going to Atlantic at the time was good, but only because of Danny Goldberg and he only lasted 6 months there and he was gone and we were just dead in the water.

RP: Did it take a lot to come back to Epitaph?

JB: It took 2 phone calls and me meeting with Andy and Dave. Once our deal with Atlantic was up, I was like “Let’s call up Fat Mike, I’ll go on Fat Wreckords, he knows more to do with us than any other label other than Epitaph. It seemed like there was a little bit of apprehension about going back to Epitaph from certain members of the band, but me even having worked there and having been involved in that, at least I was smart enough to know that they knew how to work with us better than any other label on the planet. I kept saying “Even if we hate each other there is no way we are gonna be worse off than we were on Atlantic.” By the time we left there everybody hated us. We have a habit of making people hate us. That works for me, that’s why were punks right?

RP: One last question. Rumor has it that whenever you find a copy of “Into the Unknown” you buy it and put it in storage, how many do you really have in storage?

JB: (laughs) I had about 150.

RP: How many did it press?

JB: 10,000. Brett and I burned a shitload of them one time. We just dumped gas on them and burned them. That was 3 or 4 boxes, that would have been 300-400. Last time I went looking for them they were all water damaged because my mom’s water heater exploded.

Advantage to No One Anniversary Post #1

This is an interview that I conducted with Steve and Tucker from the band Thursday. This is only day one of the Advantage to No One Anniversary posts. Tomorrow, Andrew Bonner from the band Piebald!

Enjoy!



Ron Purtee: When you were growing up, what kind of music inspired you?

Thursday: We were all hardcore kids. You know like Hot Water Music, Ink and Dagger, earlier stuff too like the Who, mainly hardcore bands.

RP: Would you say that’s still the case today?

Thursday: Oh yeah, definitely. The style has changed with the new bands, not that Death by Stereo is a new, but they are one of those crazy bands that are influential. Definitely Alkaline Trio, and still Hot Water Music, to see them everyday is awesome.

RP: How did you guys come together and form Thursday?

Thursday: Well, Tom and I were best friends in high school. We went off to college, I went to a community college and he went to Rutgers, he met Geoff at an Ink and Dagger show, Geoff was like “Yeah, I’m looking to start a band, do you know anybody?” and Tom said “Yeah, me and this drummer, my best friend have been playing for years” So Tom went to art class with Tim. So it’s all like one circle.

RP: What is like to make a video?

Thursday: Weird. I mean, luckily enough for our first video, Steve actually did it because he is a film student, actually graduated from film school, and that wasn’t too bad because it was hands on for us, it was a live show, everything we’re about. When we were doing the video with Darrin, it was a cool experience, like he wrote us a treatment and then we changed it all around to the way we wanted it to be, and then we collaborated on some stuff. Making videos in general is just a weird thing.

RP: What is the point to the video for “Cross out the Eyes”?

Thursday: It’s basically about identity. It kinda follows the song but it also based on a movie called “City of Lost Children”. Basically identity, like when the guys skin gets burned off, peels it back and its new skin and that’s basically it, it’s a hard video to get you have to watch it a few times. We’re a dark band I like to think ya know, the video is sorta dark, my mom hates it.

RP: On your website you have a statement about Victory Records, can you elaborate on it at all?

Thursday: I’m really not allowed to talk about that, but it was something we wrote, that we totally believe in. We are about the music, we don’t want to get involved in this corporate stuff, and we just wanted people to know the truth. We’re not tryin to slam anybody or demean anybody, I mean Victory is obviously a great label, they have been doing great things for many years, but a lot of people get the wool pulled over their eyes, we just wanted to state our case.

RP: Do you owe Victory any more albums?

Thursday: We actually owe them 2 more albums but we are going to exercise our buy out clause.

RP: What kind of plans do you have after Warped Tour?

Thursday: We are gonna go and play the Redding and Leeds festival over in Europe, its gonna be 4 days we are over there, then we are gonna fly back and have 2 ½ or 3 weeks off, then we’re gonna do a tour called Plea for Peace, a benefit for a suicide hotline.

RP: When do you guys see the new album coming out?

Thursday: Earliest would be summer of next year, we like get it out as early as possible, so we can have new things to play.

RP: What influences the songwriting process for you guys musically?

Thursday: It varies a lot, we have a common ground of hardcore, but from there it goes everywhere, so there are so many bands to ink and dagger, quicksand, desaparecidos, a lot of new bands too, like Godspeed you black emperor, mogwai, sigur rios.

RP: Did you guys have a lot of offers from major labels?

Thursday: Not necessarily offers, but dinners. The way it goes when you’re being “courted” as the industry calls it, you take every meeting that you can, even if you have your mind made up, your mind set. Just be cool, meet people and eat free food.

RP: What attracted you guys most to Island?

Thursday: They were there way before all this MTV crap; they were there before all that. They were at shows when there were 10-15 kids at the shows, and 5-10 of the 15 kids being them. It was never “Oh we have you to have you guys we have to sign you” it was more “We really enjoyed the show and like the band”. They just seemed very real. We liked Island a lot because they don’t want to change their artists. They let them be what they wanna be, like PJ Harvey, they aren’t making her be something that she doesn’t wanna be. Like with artists like Elvis Costello, U2, and Quicksand.

RP: Once you guys get into the studio, how long does it take to record an album?

Thursday: About a month.

RP: What kind of long-term goals do you guys have now?

Thursday: Just being able to play in front of people, any time I get a chance to get behind my drums and have somebody watch, is a good day. So basically to keep this going as long as we can. I don’t care if it gets bigger, I don’t care if it gets smaller.

Picture for January 15, 2009

A few years ago, back when the band Thursday was still relevant, I was at the Warped Tour doing press for a website that I wrote for. Here is the picture that was taken of me, Steve the guitarist and Tucker the drummer. Look at me proudly sport my Forstella Ford shirt.

I Used To Be Important - Part Three

This video is from The Ron Purtee Show that used to air on Cable Access Racine, Channel 25. It was part of an episode that had me at the Van's Warped Tour. Unlike other people who were suffering for fashion outside, I decided to stay in the press box the whole time. Ahh, refreshing air conditioning.

Anyway, this interview is with Eron from Hawthorne Heights. This is awhile before the tragedy that was the death of one of the band members. Enjoy.

I Used To Be Important - Part One

This is the first part in a multi-segmented series entitled, "I Used To Be Important". I will be updating with videos of interviews that I did with some of the hottest names on the music scene.

Here is an interview with the creator of the Van's Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman.