The New America LP

Album Details

For the unrelenting and demonstrably vital crew of Bad Religion, the story of “the new America” is about more than a distant point on our country’s horizon, it’s about a creative journey into the heart of their own punk rock origins and thought-provoking purpose. The group’s fifth label release, THE NEW AMERICA was recorded on the Hawaiian island of Kauai with the famed Todd Rundgren in the producer’s chair.

For the group’s singer and songwriter, Greg Graffin, Rundgren’s participation in the recording effectively brought him together with one of his musical heroes and life-long influences. With the maverick rock star and one of the underground’s true originals in the role of project mentor, Graffin rose to new heights of creativity, performance, passion, and perspective. On dramatic rock tracks ranging from the propulsive, riff-roaring “You’ve Got A Chance” and the high-flying anti-anthem “New America,” Graffin sings of a welling optimism tempered by stark reality.

The millennial moment is dramatically surveyed with such insightful numbers as the cyber-sexy “I Love My Computer” and “A World Without Melody.” At the same time, such songs as “Whisper In Time,” “A Streetkid Named Desire,” and “1000 Memories” find Graffin taking an introspective walk through personal crisis, powerfully related in embraceable, universal tones. In the process of moving forward to carve out one of the band’s most dynamically alluring, energized, and communicative albums of their now 20-year-long career, Graffin reunited with former guitarist and one of Bad Religion’s founding members, Brett Gurewitz, to write the driving, soaring (and tellingly-titled) “Believe It.” The contributions mark Gurewitz’s first to a Bad Religion album since 1994’s RIAA gold-certified STRANGER THAN FICTION.