Bad Religion Celebrate 30th Anniversary and Label Success -- Exclusive Videos

Posted on Aug 19th 2010 4:05PM by Steve Baltin
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Kristin Burns for AOL

2010 marks both Bad Religion's 30th anniversary and the release of their 15th album, 'The Dissent of Man.' To commemorate these milestones, Spinner was invited to the Los Angeles offices of Epitaph Records to meet with band co-founder and label owner Brett Gurewitz for two exclusive video interviews.

While discussing the evolution of Bad Religion's songwriting, Gurewitz told Spinner about some surprising influences on the band. While he admits they started out trying to write Germs-style songs, the new album finds some heavily classic rock influences, such as the lead single, 'The Devil in Stitches.' "I was trying to write a Bruce Springsteen song," he said.

On top of that, 'Cyanide' features a guest appearance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, which makes sense as Guerwitz says the song has "Stones-y elements and some Petty elements." But that's not what he was shooting for initially: "When I was writing it I was trying to write a Kinks song," he admits.

Check out the videos below to hear more about Bad Religion, Epitaph and how some interesting lobby decor led Tom Waits to sign with the label.