As the years go by, I am more and more embarrassed to admit it for some reason, but I remain a devotee of the punkers that won’t quit even if members of the group do, Bad Religion. That being said, they’ve created about 17 news stories recently. Here we go.

On April 6, 2004 Epitaph Records opted to digitally remaster and reissue the BR catalogue they had the rights to, spanning five albums and one video.

Replacing the out of print 80-85 with How Could Hell be Any Worse? (which had been the title of the band’s first full-length in 1982 and whose content was originally on 80-85 with the first EP Bad Religion and the third EP Back to the Known, while the second EP, Into the Unknown mercifully remains out of print). For whatever reason, the name 80-85 was dropped, and the content remains the same, just like, totally remastered and stuff.

1987′s Suffer and 1989′s No Control, and 1990′s Against the Grain will feature that neat remastering along with, gasp, new artwork!

1992′s Generator features the only non-remastering non-nomenclature content change, with two additioanl tracks of alternate album cuts.

Also seeing the light of day is the long lost video Along the Way, fetauring Darren Aronofsky level film editing of 20 concerts so every five seconds the colors of shirts change. Plus the neat band interviews where lead singer Greg Graffin espouses on some political theory and the other members of the band talk about how they really like Nintendo to someone with a heavy German accent. It’s weird, but then again I base this entirely on the pre- DIGITAL REMASTERING that likely brings to the forefront the NINTENDO!

In just plain digital mastering news, BR plans to drop a new album June 8, 2004 also on Epitaph. With the title The Empire Strikes First, it marks the second album (and first since 2000) since the return to Epitaph and former band member Brett “Mr. Brett” Guerwitz.

Get Your Tracklist On:

01. Overture
02. Sinister Rouge
03. Social Suicide
04. Atheist Peace
05. All There Is
06. Let Them Eat War
08. God’s Love
09. To Another Abyss
10. The Quickening
11. The Empire Strikes First
12. Beyond Electric Dreams
13. Boot Stamping On A…
14. Live Again – The Fall of Man

If all of this wasn’t enough they announced a headlining European Tour between the reissues and the new album and an announcement that they will (for the third time no less) be headlining the Warped Tour and making all the 14-year-olds ask aloud, “Why the hell isn’t Good Charlotte closing? They f’kin rokk!”

Tour Dates:

European Tour
————–
May
06: Helsinki, Finland Noustri
07: Stockholm, Sweden Arena
08: Oslo, Norway Rockefeller
09: Lund, Sweden Mejeriet
11: Dublin, Ireland Ambassador
13: Glasgow, Scotland Academy
14: Manchester, UK Academy
15: London, UK Astoria
16: Bristol, UK Academy
18: Tilburg, Netherlands 013
19: Brussels, Belgium Ancienne Belgique
20: Paris, France Elysee Montmarte
22: Madrid, Spain La Riveria
23: Barcelona, Spain Razzmatazz 1
25: Zurich, Switzerland x-tra
26: Bern, Switzerland Bierhubli
27: Milan, Italy Alcatraz
29: Munich, Germany Elserhalle
30: Essen, Germany Grughalle
31: Berlin, Germany Huxleys
June
02: Hamburg, Germany Grosse Freiheit
03: Hannover, Germany Capitol
04: Nürnberg, Germany Rock Im Park
05: Nürburg Ring, Germany Rock Am Ring

Warped, Non-European Tour*
————–
June, Again – Only Warped and Non-European
25: Houston, TX Reliant Center
26: Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Center Lot
27: San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
29: Las Cruces, NM N.M.S.U. Practice Field
30: Phoenix, AZ Peoria Sports Complex
July
01: Fullerton, CA Cal State Fullerton
03: San Francisco, CA Pier 30/32
04: Las Vegas, NV TBA
06: San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre
07: Ventura, CA Seaside Park
08: Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre Lot
09: Boise, ID Idaho Amphitheatre Lot
10: Seattle, WA Gorge Amphitheatre Lot
11: Portland OR Columbia Meadows
13: Vancouver, BC Thunderbird Stadium
15: Calgary, AB TBA
16: Bozeman, MT Gallatin County Fairgrounds
17: Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fairgrounds
18: Denver, CO Invesco Field
20: Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheatre
21: St. Louis, MO Bank Pavillion
22: Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Amp. Lot
23: Cleveland, OH Tower City Amp. Lot
24: Chicago, IL Tweeter Center
25: Minneapolis, MN Metrodome Lot
26: Kansas City, KS Verizon Wireless Amp. Lot
28: Atlanta, GA Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre Lot
29: Orlando, FL Central Florida Fairgrounds
30: Tampa, FL USF Sundome/Vinoy Park
31: Miami, FL Pompano Beach Amp. Lot
August
01: Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Fairgrounds
02: Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amp. Lot
03: Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Amp. Lot
04: Washington, DC Nissan Pavilion Lot
05: Pittsburgh, PA Post Gazette Pavilion
06: Philadelphia, PA Tweeter Center @ Waterfront
07: New York, NY Randall’s Island
08: Englishtown, NJ Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
10: Hershey, PA Hersheypark Pavilion
12: Quebec City, PQ TBA
13: Montreal, QB Parc Jean Drapeau
14: Toronto, ON The Docks
15: Detroit, MI Pontiac Silverdome
16: Cincinnati, OH Germain Amphitheatre
17: Columbus, OH Germain Amphitheatre
18: Buffalo, NY Darien Lakes PAC
19, 20: Boston, MA 3 County Fairgrounds

* Also featured on tour will be, among three thousand other angst filled names:
Yellowcard, Story fo the Year, The Vandals, Taking Back Sunday, Simple Plan, Piebald, NOFX, New Found Glory, Lillix (now with more comfortable contact lenses!), The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Guttermouth, Good Charlotte, Flogging Molly, Billy Talent, Anti-Flag, Allister, and The Aquabats

*Bad Religion: www.badreligion.com
*Epitaph Records: www.epitaph.com
*Warped Tour: www.warpedtour.com