During the band's 10-year existence, members of L.A.'s Bad Religion have set out to prove hard-core punk-rock can be both intelligent and commercially successful (somewhat).
For instance, the band recently signed a five-record deal with Atlantic Records, and the band's two spokesmen/songwriters - singer Greg Graffin and guitarist Brett Gurewitz - are a college professor and owner/chairman of a punk-rock record company, respectively."We're not purposely setting out to be an `egghead punk-rock band,' but that's kind of the way things have turned out," said Graffin, who is teaching at Cornell University and is working toward a doctorate in physics. "It just so happens that we don't naturally assume our fans aren't intelligent, and we don't take them for granted."
However, while band members say they want to keep their longtime fan base, they're also not above expanding it.
"Well, I've always believed that punk-rock never really reached its full potential, commercially," Graffin said in a telephone interview from Kansas City, Mo. "So this is kind of a grand experiment for us. If we fail, at least we will have tried to get this music out to more people."
Bad Religion is headlining a Wednesday, Oct. 13, show at the State Fairpark Coliseum in support of its first major-label release, "Recipe For Hate."
While some critics and music magazines have noted the album's slower tempos and use of guest stars (such as Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano), Graffin said the album does not reflect a move away from hard-core's in-your-face punch and swift tempos.
"Overall, we've probably written about 100 songs now, and there are bound to be some slow ones," he said. "But it kind of looks like a majority wound up on the new album. That doesn't mean we're slowing down with age, though."
In fact, if anything, Graffin and the other members of Bad Religion are growing to appreciate their music more as they get older.
"With the major-label deal, we'll be able to spend more time on the albums than on promotion and we can concentrate on our live shows more," he said. "And that means we'll finally be able to enjoy ourselves."
Opening the concert, which starts at 7 p.m., are Rancid, Seaweed and Green Day, another punk-rock band that has struck a major-label contract.
Tickets for the show are $10 in advance ($12 the day of show) from Raunch Records, the Heavy Metal Shop, Raspberry Records in Sugarhouse, Graywhale CD Exchange in Ogden, Crandall Audio in Orem and Sonic Garden in Provo. On Wednesday, tickets will only be available at the door and at Raunch and the Heavy Metal Shop until 2 p.m.