{"id":2597,"date":"2017-04-06T09:38:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T09:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/"},"modified":"2018-03-22T22:40:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T22:40:59","slug":"interview-greg-graffin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Photo Credit: Svenski – St. James<\/small><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d<\/h1>\n

Punk rock legend, country music lover, author and college professor, Greg Graffin<\/b> has many strings to his bow. The latest venture for the Bad Religion frontman has been to once again explore his solo endeavours, and with the release of new record \u2018Millport\u2019<\/i>, Graffin<\/b> has taken his musical outlet in a different direction once again. Known as the recognisable voice of Bad Religion, \u2018Millport\u2019<\/i> offers up something more calming and soothing compared to the songwriter’s politically driven punk band.<\/p>\n

But Graffin<\/b> explains this change in tone isn\u2019t something new to him, this is something which has been with him for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been singing this kind of music since I was a kid,\u201d<\/i> Graffin explains. \u201cMany of the old-time songs were handed down from my parents and their siblings. When I was just a kid, my uncle played Doc Watson songs and we sang along whenever the family got together. Doc Watson had a major impact on me.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

And it was this musical grounding which made the writing process for this new record very organic for the Cornell professor. \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling,\u201d<\/i> added the Bad Religion frontman. \u201cMaybe for Bad Religion it\u2019s a louder feeling, but with my solo work, it\u2019s no less profound. Hopefully, music lovers are attracted to the melody and harmony in either format.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Having formed Bad Religion at the age of 15, with his friends from High School, it is no surprise that when you hear Graffin\u2019s name you are going to associate it with songs like ‘21st Century Digital Boy\u2019<\/i>, ‘Los Angeles is Burning\u2019<\/i> and ‘You\u2019<\/i> rather than a folk rock classic. And being so ingrained in the punk scene, the 52-year-old doesn\u2019t expect all Bad Religion fans to love what he has done with this album. He adds: \u201cI can\u2019t really expect people who only like to slam dance to embrace an album more akin to square dancing. But I like both.<\/i><\/p>\n

“All I know is that I would never have learned about the rich variety of roots music had not my uncle turned me on to Doc Watson or my dad turned me on to Johnny Cash. In another word, you have to learn about it from somewhere. So maybe some punkers who love Bad Religion will learn about it from me.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

With ‘Millport\u2019<\/i> being Graffin\u2019s first solo outing for the best part of 11 years, it was down to his busy schedule as a writer and professor of Evolution, as well as touring with Bad Brains has meant it has taken awhile to surface. However, it is the vocalist\u2019s academic background which has, in part, influenced the new record.<\/p>\n

\u201c’Millport’ was a project where I put into music a philosophical puzzle – the struggle to remain relevant while the world is speeding toward a newer modernistic future,\u201d<\/i> explains the songwriter. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea of permanence in the face of change is something we try to grasp in the scientific study of evolution too. Therefore, my latest book ‘Population Wars\u2019 could be seen as an academic approach to the same puzzle I sing about on ‘Millport\u2019.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

For the die hard Bad Religion fans thinking that this new material released by the band’s frontman could be the beginning of the end of the punk rock heavyweights, they need not fear, as Graffin says music in any form holds a special place in his heart, and as long as people still want to hear it, he will continue to share his musical outlets.<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cI will always appreciate the great privilege of being able to share music. That means I take the opportunities that come my way and at the moment I can do both.<\/i><\/p>\n

"Bad Religion is deeply meaningful to me, so is my solo work. That\u2019s why I\u2019m so thankful to people who enjoy both sides of my musical output.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

For ‘Millport\u2019<\/i>, Graffin once again teamed up with long-time Bad Religion collaborator, Brett Gurewitz to create an authentic country rock album. And if this is what Graffin\u2019s musical background is, then there is no better homage than creating an album in a similar ilk, and doing an incredible job of it.<\/p>\n

‘Millport\u2019<\/i> by Greg Graffin<\/b> is out now on ANTI-<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Greg Graffin<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Tim Birkbeck (@tim_birkbeck<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Svenski – St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d Punk rock legend, country music lover, author and college professor, Greg Graffin has many strings to his bow. The latest venture for the Bad Religion frontman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":16235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[62,2014,2015,2012,2013,15023],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-already-heard","tag-anti-records","tag-bad-relgion","tag-greg-graffin","tag-millport","tag-tim-birkbeck"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInterview:\u00a0Greg Graffin - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photo Credit: Svenski - St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo Credit: Svenski - St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-06T09:38:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-22T22:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tim Birkbeck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim Birkbeck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin - Already Heard Staging","description":"Photo Credit: Svenski - St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Photo Credit: Svenski - St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2017-04-06T09:38:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-22T22:40:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tim Birkbeck","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim Birkbeck","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/"},"author":{"name":"Tim Birkbeck","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c7de5f62b68448f877529b40c01a3366"},"headline":"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin","datePublished":"2017-04-06T09:38:25+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-22T22:40:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/"},"wordCount":780,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png","keywords":["Already Heard","Anti- Records","Bad Relgion","Greg Graffin","Millport","Tim Birkbeck"],"articleSection":["Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/","name":"Interview:\u00a0Greg Graffin - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png","datePublished":"2017-04-06T09:38:25+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-22T22:40:59+00:00","description":"Photo Credit: Svenski - St. James \u201cWhen I write a song, I want to identify something that is puzzling or interesting and try to relate it to a feeling\u201d","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/interview-greg-graffin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so6_r11_1280.png"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c7de5f62b68448f877529b40c01a3366","name":"Tim Birkbeck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3591e921bb7fd3b817b4c829439568e3d92a88309f8e5d3460b30ccf078a2ad6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3591e921bb7fd3b817b4c829439568e3d92a88309f8e5d3460b30ccf078a2ad6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3591e921bb7fd3b817b4c829439568e3d92a88309f8e5d3460b30ccf078a2ad6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tim Birkbeck"},"description":"Besides writing for Already Heard, he also hosts the Just An Insight podcast, writes for the Basingstoke Gazette and VultureHound and shouts in The Divorcee. Twitter","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/timbirkbeck\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37819,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions\/37819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}