Greg Graffin
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| Greg Graffin | |
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 Greg Graffin on stage with Bad Religion in 2007 at the Starland Ballroom
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gregory Walter Graffin |
| Born | November 6, 1964 Racine, Wisconsin, United States |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Punk rock Melodic hardcore Hardcore punk Folk Country Americana |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, lecturer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica |
| Years active | 1980–present (Bad Religion) 1997–present (solo) |
| Label(s) | Epitaph, Atlantic, ANTI- |
| Associated acts | Bad Religion |
| Website | www.badreligion.com |
Gregory Walter Graffin, Ph.D. (born November 6, 1964 in Racine, Wisconsin) is the vocalist and co-founder of the punk rock band Bad Religion, as well as a life sciences lecturer at UCLA during the winter and fall.
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[edit] Biography
In 1980, at the age of 15, Graffin and a few high school classmates formed Bad Religion in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. After making a name for themselves in the Los Angeles punk scene, releasing three EPs and two full-length albums, they disbanded in 1984. However, the band reformed in 1986 and released their highly acclaimed comeback album, Suffer, two years later. 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, which is owned by guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The band has recorded and toured frequently ever since the release of Suffer. Bad Religion is known for its articulate and often politically charged lyrics as well as its fast-paced harmony, melody and counterpoint.
Graffin and Gurewitz are the band's two main songwriters, though Graffin wrote the bulk of the material on his own for a three-album period in the late 1990s when Gurewitz left the band. Graffin recorded a solo album in 1997, called American Lesion, which consisted of softer, more pop-oriented songs. Most of this album was written during the break up of his marriage, and the songs reflect this in lyrics and style. After a stint with major label Atlantic Records ended in the early 2000s, Bad Religion re-signed with Epitaph and Gurewitz rejoined. They have since co-written and recorded three records, the latest of which, entitled New Maps of Hell, was released July 10, 2007. In June of 2005, it was reported that Graffin would continue his solo work with the release of Cold as the Clay.[1] The new album is an amalgamation of new songs by Graffin and 18th- and 19th-century American folk songs. It was produced by Brett Gurewitz and released on ANTI- Records on July 10, 2006.
Graffin attended El Camino Real High School, then double-majored in anthropology and geology as an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles. He went on to earn a master's degree in geology from UCLA and received his Ph.D. from Cornell University. The Ph.D. dissertation was officially a zoology Ph.D., supervised by William B. Provine at Cornell. The dissertation was entitled "Monism, Atheism and the Naturalist Worldview: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology." It is described as being essentially an evolutionary biology Ph.D. but having also relevance to history and philosophy of science.[2]
Greg Graffin spends most of his time in upstate New York, and teaches Life Science 1 at UCLA during the winter or fall quarters of each school year.[3] According to a recent interview with Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley, Graffin will be teaching there from January to March 2009. After that, Bad Religion plans to record their next album for a June 2009 release.[4]
Greg Graffin received the Harvard Secular Society's "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism" on 26 April 2008. During the award ceremony he played some acoustic versions of Bad Religion songs as well as songs from his solo career. [5]
[edit] Solo discography
- American Lesion (1997)
- Cold as the Clay (2006)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Greg Graffin at MySpace
- Bad Religion official website
- The Cornell Evolution Project, Graffin's Ph.D project
- Bad Religion at MySpace
- Bad-religion.net fan site
- Interview with Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz published June 12, 2004 on Punknews.org
- "Reading, Writing and Rock 'n' Roll" by Paul Feinberg, UCLA Magazine
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