Brett Gurewitz: Bad Religion, Founding Epitaph Records, Early Punk/Hardcore & The Shift to Spotify

We're joined by Bad Religion co-founder and Epitaph Records founder Brett Gurewitz at Brain Dead Studios in Hollywood, CA.

We discuss growing up in the West San Fernando Valley, discovering the Ramones in the late 70s, meeting Greg Graffin and Jay Bentley at El Camino Real High School and starting Bad Religion in the quad, founding Epitaph to put out the Bad Religion 7", the entire BR discography, leaving the band right before the overnight success of Offspring's Smash, rejoining for Process of Belief, his thoughts on streaming as it dominates the music landscape today, and his favorite hardcore records ever.

A genuine honor with a genuine legend and one of the best punk songwriters to ever live.

Check out Colin's hand picked Bad Religion playlist of hits and deep cuts and enjoy: Spotify & Apple Music.

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Cool links:

• Get 15% off DUNABLE GUITARS with code HARDLORE: https://dunableguitars.com

• Get 15% off TIMELESS COFEE site-wide, including coffee subscriptions, cookies and cakes with code HARDLORE.

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00:00:00 - Start

00:00:48 - Brett Gurewitz, Epitaph Records in 2025/2026

00:02:26 - Growing Up in the San Fernando Valley, Finding Music, CCR

00:06:44 - From Elton John to the Ramones: Discovering Punk

00:08:40 - Meeting Greg Graffin & Jay Bentley, Starting Bad Religion

00:16:29 - When Does It Become "Bad Religion"?

00:19:40 - What is Punk, and What is Hardcore?

00:23:28 - The "Crossbuster" & The Bad Religion Logo (Fritz Quadrata Pro Bold)

00:27:32 - Starting Epitaph Records For the BAD RELIGION S/T 7"

00:36:41 - HOW COULD HELL BE ANY WORSE?

00:50:02 - INTO THE UNKNOWN... Selling 10,000 Records (and getting them all back)

00:53:13 - Going to Rehab/Leaving Bad Religion

00:55:17 - Pardon This Interruption...

00:58:32 - Epitaph During 1983-1987, Rejoining Bad Religion, West Beach Studios

01:04:54 - The Beach Boys to the The Adolescents to Bad Religion

01:06:56 - SUFFER... Operation Ivy, NOFX, Growth in Epitaph & As an Engineer

01:10:47 - NO CONTROL... Learning from Suffer, Doing Everything with Integrity, Tribute to the Germs

01:17:05 - Greg Songs That Gave Him Goosebumps, No Control Title Track

01:20:35 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, I Want Something More, Tape Editing in Recording

01:24:40 - AGAINST THE GRAIN... Being Insecure With 21st Century Digital Boy, Songwriting, Picking Singles

01:30:45 - Touring For Bad Religion By 1990

01:32:40 - GENERATOR... Never Writing on Drugs, Split 7" With Noam Chomsky, Bobby Schayer

01:36:20 - RECIPE FOR HATE... American Jesus, Eddie Vedder, Touring While Balancing Epitaph, Struck A MF Nerve

01:41:39 - Bad Religion Leaving Epitaph & Signing to Atlantic

01:45:31 - STRANGER THAN FICTION... Andy Wallace, Better Off Dead, Falling Off the Wagon

01:49:49 - Leaving Bad Religion, Offspring's Smash, Rancid's ... And Out Come The Wolves, Feel The Darkness Re-Release

01:57:44 - Brian Baker, Losing Contact with The Band

01:59:24 - The Landscape of Music Changing, Napster, Torrents, & Brett's Thoughts on Spotify

02:12:39 - PROCESS OF BELIEF... Returning to Bad Religion, Brooks Wackerman, Sorrow

02:20:15 - EMPIRE STRIKES FIRST... L.A. Is Burning, The Iraq War, Why Brett Doesn't Play With BR Now

02:24:38 - NEW MAPS OF HELL, THE DISSENT OF MAN, TRUE NORTH, AGE OF UNREASON...

02:31:28 - Brett's Top 4 Hardcore Records

HardLore: A Knotfest Series, Fueled by Monster Energy

Edited by Steven Grise • Title sequence by Nicholas Marzluf

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