Brett Gurewitz

Brett Gurewitz
Gurewitz in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Brett W. Gurewitz
Also known as	Mr. Brett Brett Religion The Legendary Starbolt
Born	(1962-05-12) May 12, 1962 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Origin	Southern California, U.S.
Genres	Punk rock melodic hardcore hardcore punk skate punk
Occupations	Musician songwriter producer
Instrument	Guitar
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Epitaph
Member of	Bad Religion
Formerly of	Daredevils Error

Brett W. Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962), nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician and record producer best known as the co-founder and guitarist of the punk rock band Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums for Bad Religion as well as Epitaph Records labelmates NOFX, Rancid, and Pennywise, among others. Gurewitz also had a project called Error, which also featured Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Greg Puciato. He is also the co-founder of comic book and graphic novel publisher, Black Mask Studios.

Gurewitz founded Bad Religion in 1980 with Greg Graffin, Jay Bentley and Jay Ziskrout. After releasing two albums and one EP, Gurewitz left Bad Religion in 1983, but rejoined three years later, and recorded five more albums with the band before they signed to Atlantic Records in 1993. The success of his record label Epitaph prompted Gurewitz to leave Bad Religion once again in 1994, and run the label on a full-time basis. During his hiatus from Bad Religion, he released the "Hate You" single in 1996 with his one-off project Daredevils, and entered a period of drug addiction. By 1999, Gurewitz had successfully completed drug rehabilitation, and two years later he rejoined Bad Religion, appearing on six more studio albums with them.

Career

Bad Religion

Then-18-year-old Brett Gurewitz formed Bad Religion in Woodland Hills in 1980 with Greg Graffin (vocals), Jay Ziskrout (drums) and Jay Bentley (bass). All four attended El Camino Real High School. Soon after, they began writing songs and played their first ever concert, as warm-up for Social Distortion. In 1981, Bad Religion recorded a six-song self-titled EP, which was initially released in a 7" format, and soon afterward re-issued as a 12". Compact cassettes were also produced, but they are rare.

Bad Religion's first full-length album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, was released in 1982. When recording sessions commenced, Ziskrout soon left the band and was replaced by Pete Finestone. Cited as one of Bad Religion's most important works, How Could Hell Be Any Worse? was financed by a $3,000 loan from Gurewitz's father. Its success surprised the band when it sold 10,000 copies in under a year. The sound of the record was vastly improved from the self-titled EP. Although not yet credited as a member of the band, Greg Hetson (of Circle Jerks fame) did a guitar solo on "Part III".

Bad Religion released their second full-length, Into the Unknown, in 1983, but were less successful, due to the album's poor production. It was a major change from their previous style, delving into progressive rock heavy in keyboards. While recording one song, Bentley and Finestone left the band and were replaced by Paul Dedona on bass and Davy Goldman on drums. The album, Into the Unknown is out of print, but is included in their 30th anniversary box set.

After the release of Into the Unknown, Bad Religion broke up, but reformed (without Gurewitz) to produce the 1985 EP Back to the Known. The EP features the return of the band's punk rock roots, although also reflecting influences of then current acts such as Hüsker Dü and The Descendents. Soon after, Bad Religion went on hiatus again.

After the How Could Hell Be Any Worse? line-up (also including Hetson) reunited in 1986, Bad Religion released their highly acclaimed album Suffer in 1988. The album was a comeback for Bad Religion as well as a watershed for the Southern California punk sound popularized by their label Epitaph Records, owned by Gurewitz. The reunion line-up recorded two more highly acclaimed albums, No Control (1989) and Against the Grain (1990), before Finestone left the group in early 1991.

Bad Religion replaced Finestone with Bobby Schayer, then recorded their next album, Generator, which was already completed in the spring of 1991, but was forced to delay its release until a year later. For the album, Bad Religion also filmed their first music video "Atomic Garden", which was also their first song to be released as a single. In 1993, the band left their original label Epitaph Records and signed to Atlantic Records, who released their next album Recipe for Hate. While moderately successful, this was the first Bad Religion album to reach any Billboard charts and two videos for the album, "American Jesus" and "Struck a Nerve", were made.

Bad Religion rose to fame with their next album, 1994's Stranger Than Fiction, including their well-known hits "Infected" and "21st Century (Digital Boy)", which are also often considered concert staples. After the album was completed, Gurewitz soon left Bad Religion to concentrate on the future of Epitaph, citing the increasing amount of time he was spending at Epitaph's offices as The Offspring became one of the biggest bands of the mid-1990s. Gurewitz was replaced by Brian Baker during the Stranger Than Fiction tour and Bad Religion recorded two albums without him.

In 1999, after a five-year hiatus from the band, Gurewitz reunited with Graffin and co-wrote the song "Believe It", which appeared on Bad Religion's 11th album The New America (2000). Two years later, after parting ways with Atlantic Records, Gurewitz was officially back in the band and Bad Religion resigned to Epitaph. Schayer also left the band during the time and was replaced by Brooks Wackerman. Now as a six piece, Bad Religion recorded and released the albums The Process of Belief (2002), The Empire Strikes First (2004), New Maps of Hell (2007), The Dissent of Man (2010), and True North (2013), the latter featuring his only contribution as a lead vocalist on the track Dharma and the Bomb. Due to his commitments with Epitaph Records, Gurewitz rarely performs live with the band and restricts his input to songwriting and recording. He does perform occasional live appearances with the band at shows close to his hometown Los Angeles (e.g. he appears on the band's DVD Live at the Palladium).

Error

In 2003, Gurewitz was recruited by 12 Rounds member and Nine Inch Nails collaborator Atticus Ross and his younger brother Leopold to play guitar and bass in an electro-hardcore project called Error. Their only release to date is a self-titled EP, which was in 2004. Following the release of the EP, Error was reported to be looking for a full-time vocalist for touring and a full-length debut; however, the future of the project has been a topic for discussion on many internet message boards. In 2005, Error recorded one new song, "Wild World", that appears on a tribute album to The Birthday Party called Release the Bats: The Birthday Party as Heard Through the Meat Grinder of Three One G, which was released on April 4, 2006. Error has been on hiatus since and it is unclear whether the project will return anytime in the future.

Personal life

Gurewitz grew up in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, where he was brought up Jewish.

In 1997, Gurewitz temporarily left Epitaph to undergo treatment for addiction. He is married to Gina Davis, who had worked at Epitaph, and they live in California. He is a deist.

Selected discography

Year	Artist/Band	Album	Role
1981	Bad Religion	Bad Religion	Producer and guitars
1982		How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
1983		Into the Unknown
1985		Back to the Known	Producer
	The Seeing Eye Gods	The Seeing Eye Gods	Vocals, all instruments, producer, engineer (credited as "Billy Pilgrim")
1988	Bad Religion	Suffer	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	L7	L7	Producer
	NOFX	Liberal Animation
1989	Bad Religion	No Control	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	NOFX	S&M Airlines	Producer
1990	Jughead's Revenge	Unstuck in Time
	Bad Religion	Against the Grain	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	No Use for a Name	Incognito
1991	Bad Religion	80–85
	Down by Law	Down by Law
	NOFX	Ribbed	Producer
	Samiam	Soar
1992	Bad Religion	Generator	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	L7	Bricks Are Heavy	Co-wrote "Scrap"
	Chemical People	Chemical People	Background vocals
	Down by Law	Blue	Producer and engineer
1993	Bad Religion	Recipe for Hate	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	Rancid	Rancid	Background vocals
1994	Bad Religion	Stranger Than Fiction	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	Rancid	Let's Go	Producer and engineer
1995	Bad Religion	All Ages	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	Pennywise	About Time	Producer
	Rancid	...And Out Come the Wolves	Engineer
1996	Daredevils	Hate You	Guitars and vocals
1997	Pennywise	Full Circle	Mixer
	The Pietasters	Willis	Producer and engineer
1999	H2O	F.T.T.W.	Producer
	The Pietasters	Awesome Mix Tape vol. 6	Backing vocals, additional percussion, producer and engineer
2000	Bad Religion	The New America	Co-wrote and played guitar on the song "Believe It".
	Millencolin	Pennybridge Pioneers	Producer and Acoustic Guitar on "The Ballad".
	Rancid	Rancid	Producer
	Voodoo Glow Skulls	Symbolic
2001	Pennywise	Land of the Free?	Co-wrote "Who's on Your Side"
2002	Bad Religion	The Process of Belief	Producer, guitars and background vocals
	The Distillers	Sing Sing Death House	Engineer and mixing
2003	Matchbook Romance	West For Wishing	Producer, engineer and mixer
	Rancid	Indestructible	Vocals, producer, engineer and mixing
2004	Bad Religion	The Empire Strikes First	Producer, guitars and background vocals
2005	The Unseen	State of Discontent	Mixer
2006	From First to Last	Heroine	Background vocals
	The Matches	Decomposer	Producer
	Greg Graffin	Cold as the Clay	Producer and background vocals
2007	Bad Religion	New Maps of Hell	Guitars and background vocals
2009	Rancid	Let the Dominoes Fall	Producer
2010	Bad Religion	The Dissent of Man	Guitars and background vocals
	Parkway Drive	Deep Blue	Guest vocals on "Home Is for the Heartless"
2011	Heartsounds	Drifter	Producer (vocals)
2013	Bad Religion	True North	Guitars and also a producer
		Christmas Songs	Guitar, backing vocals
2014	Rancid	Honor Is All We Know	Producer
2017		Trouble Maker	Producer
2019	Bad Religion	Age of Unreason	Guitar, backing vocals, producer
2023	Rancid	Tomorrow Never Comes	Producer

External links

• Last.fm profile