The guitar tone on The Gray Race is seriously like the holy grail of he Marshall/Les Paul combo. It's so rich, so punchy, and thick as whale. Graffin was also on the top of his songwriting game. That album holds up beautifully. Brian Baker is the reason I'm partial to Les Pauls. My first "serious" guitar is my Epi LP, because I wanted to play a 'Paul just like he did, and it was all I could afford.
Hot take, but for my money, The Gray Race is the best BR Album, Stranger than Fiction a close second. That mid-late 90s was Bad Religion at its peak. And Brian took the sound of BR to a different level.
Baker's always stood out among that era of punk musicians as always being just a nice, cool dude. Always been a huge influence on me since I heard Minor Threat as a kid in the late '80's. Having my old pop punk band's cover of "Circles" posted up on the official Dag Nasty website has always been a huge honor.
No Substance is an absolutely incredible guitar tone record. Not too many great songs, but the good songs from that record are among my all time favorites. Peep "Strange Denial" for some of the sickest gibson/marshall lead tones ever
Agreed, No Substance is my first Bad Religion album I bought. I always thought that there's a lack of something on that album, except for the guitar tone.
Greetings from Florida. I've had the pleasure of meeting Brian a few times and next to Scott Shiflett he is by far the nicest/coolest dude in Punk Rock. Love the Mets hat too.
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait…. Brian Baker was in Junkyard?!?! Holy sh*t!!! I LOVED their first record and I thought the “guy with the Les Paul” was the COOLEST. This is awesome. Also, what a great conversation/interview!
Fantastic interview Fluff! I absolutely adore Brian Baker, and to hear him discuss things like his rigs from Minor Threat thru Dag Nasty all the way up to BR and today with Fake Names and everything else he does. Keep up the good work man!
Great choice! Malcolm on POWERAGE> exactly. Thats the Tone. Enjoyed this interview! Great questions. One of my favorite guitar players. Saw him with Junkyard back in 1991 opening for Skynyrd in KCMO.
Brian definitely used a kemper in 2018 because we toured with dag nasty that year and we had a chat about it! He was renting a JCM800 and he told me that he'd profiled his favourite marshall, A-B'd the rental 800 against the kemper, and the kemper was closer.
My second concert ever, Bad Religion! I was 16 and took an old white t-shirt and cut out a huge stencil of their logo and spray painted it on there haha. Hell yeah Fluff
My coffee: pour over at home. Always black. Usually use a big ass cup; French press at work. Always black. Usually share with coworkers but sometimes I get the whole 34 oz pot to myself; cafe au lait at the coffee shop. No sugar. Love this conversation so far. Also thank you for asking Brian about Dag Nasty. Love that band.
Dutch Bros literally went to the source and support the coffee farm directly - and just went public, so that's good for their suppliers! :-) Hello from Oregon. Paul Gilbert doesn't like it here any more. LOL
Brian Baker FUCKING RULES! Also an INCREDIBLY nice dude, actually all of the fellas in Bad Religion are RAD!
The nicest dude.
Brian Baker is one of the best interviewees I've seen, super friendly and knowledgeable. Great stuff.
The guitar tone on The Gray Race is seriously like the holy grail of he Marshall/Les Paul combo. It's so rich, so punchy, and thick as whale. Graffin was also on the top of his songwriting game. That album holds up beautifully.
Brian Baker is the reason I'm partial to Les Pauls. My first "serious" guitar is my Epi LP, because I wanted to play a 'Paul just like he did, and it was all I could afford.
100% agree about The Gray Race. What a great album.
Hot take, but for my money, The Gray Race is the best BR Album, Stranger than Fiction a close second. That mid-late 90s was Bad Religion at its peak. And Brian took the sound of BR to a different level.
Not my favorite album song-wise (although it has some amazing songs) but I have to agree, probably the best guitar tones BR have recorded ever...
I wish I knew what his set up was for that album… anyone know??
What a down to earth dude who doesn’t BS anything. Love it.
Baker's always stood out among that era of punk musicians as always being just a nice, cool dude. Always been a huge influence on me since I heard Minor Threat as a kid in the late '80's. Having my old pop punk band's cover of "Circles" posted up on the official Dag Nasty website has always been a huge honor.
No Substance is an absolutely incredible guitar tone record. Not too many great songs, but the good songs from that record are among my all time favorites. Peep "Strange Denial" for some of the sickest gibson/marshall lead tones ever
Agreed, from their records, that one sounds the best.
Agreed, No Substance is my first Bad Religion album I bought. I always thought that there's a lack of something on that album, except for the guitar tone.
It's probably the BR album on which I skip the most songs but you're right, the good songs on NS are G O O D!
Greetings from Florida. I've had the pleasure of meeting Brian a few times and next to Scott Shiflett he is by far the nicest/coolest dude in Punk Rock. Love the Mets hat too.
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait…. Brian Baker was in Junkyard?!?! Holy sh*t!!! I LOVED their first record and I thought the “guy with the Les Paul” was the COOLEST. This is awesome. Also, what a great conversation/interview!
He still plays with them today. Such a cool guy, just loves playing music
Fantastic interview Fluff! I absolutely adore Brian Baker, and to hear him discuss things like his rigs from Minor Threat thru Dag Nasty all the way up to BR and today with Fake Names and everything else he does. Keep up the good work man!
One of the greatest rhythm players of all time. Great guitarist!!!
No Substance is a Bad Religion album I return to a lot. Mainly because the tones are freaking amazing.
The amount of bands that Brian has been involved in is staggering.
Brian's just the best. What a guy
I would have been loosing my shit talking to BB about gear. Great stuff!
this has to be one of my favorite interviews with one of the most influential underrated guitarists ever
Great choice! Malcolm on POWERAGE> exactly. Thats the Tone. Enjoyed this interview! Great questions. One of my favorite guitar players. Saw him with Junkyard back in 1991 opening for Skynyrd in KCMO.
Brian definitely used a kemper in 2018 because we toured with dag nasty that year and we had a chat about it!
He was renting a JCM800 and he told me that he'd profiled his favourite marshall, A-B'd the rental 800 against the kemper, and the kemper was closer.
Thank you both so much for doing this.
What?? Looking forward to this chat!
Damn you fluff… I just bought a jubilee, now i’m gonna have to get a junior too.
Thanks to you both!
Great interview! Enjoyed it!
Heyyy that's my hero! Great interview Fluff!
Ok I resubscribed Fluff. Brian Baker is one of my heroes. You saved face. 😆
My second concert ever, Bad Religion! I was 16 and took an old white t-shirt and cut out a huge stencil of their logo and spray painted it on there haha. Hell yeah Fluff
Thanks Fluff!
He's great. love bad religion
Now interview Jay! That would be super fun!
Brian is really quick witted.
Fluff were you a little star struck in this interview? Lol, great interview with a legend! Loved it.
YEEEEEEEESSSS!!
My coffee: pour over at home. Always black. Usually use a big ass cup; French press at work. Always black. Usually share with coworkers but sometimes I get the whole 34 oz pot to myself; cafe au lait at the coffee shop. No sugar. Love this conversation so far.
Also thank you for asking Brian about Dag Nasty. Love that band.
"Stephen from ALL"... haha. Call out the band fewer people know with less records. I herd he was in some other band too.
Well that was rad.
All this coffee talk, as i prepare my morning coffee, gemtlmen ☕
Mike Squires gets a shout out! Mike is the best!
He channelled Ian when he said " F'n miracle "
Les Paul’s typically have rosewood necks definitely before and most after 1974. 😂
Americans: "Is there such thing as bad coffee?"
Canadians: "Yes... American coffee"
😋😋😋 Brian rules, great ep!
Dutch Bros literally went to the source and support the coffee farm directly - and just went public, so that's good for their suppliers! :-)
Hello from Oregon.
Paul Gilbert doesn't like it here any more. LOL
Cool interview but wayyyy too many ads, holy moly lol
I really loved Brooks on drums. They still rip regardless though.
Graffin/Holland 2024
Straight talk
No jive
Do Reade from We Are The Union next.
"Is there such thing as bad coffee?" Fluff probably never visited France. Or it might be that if you live in the U.S, every coffee abroad is better.
Belgian instant coffee is somehow legendary among travelers and I WOULD LIKE TO UNDERSTAND THIS
Pretty much all of Europe has good coffee. But I've found some good spots in the new york!
Top 10 Anime Crossovers
Guilty of Nespresso-ing
Squires will set a brother up
Good interview! God, I hate Asbury's music scene - specifically the (p)one (st)ony . House of independents, though
MOIST!
Talking about coffee, 1st world problems. Is coffee really that important? It tastes amazing, I got some from Ethiopia which is just delice.