I first met Jay sometime during the Gray Race release in early 1996. We started the tour in New Mexico, which, pardon the tirade – I believe Americans should trade for something more useful like Spain or Baja. Call it a geo-political timeshare for…. say … 300 hundred years. Maybe then it will get its act together.

…I digress.

I did not come to Bad Religion as a fan. When they were growing in popularity I was listening to bands like Tool, Helmet, and Quicksand. Admittedly, I did not know much about them until I became acquainted on a personal level. Then I became a fan, a big fan.

…and I have remained one ever since.

In particular, Jay Bentley has been like a big brother. I recall after a show in Montreal walking around downtown until the sun came poking over the horizon, while the streets were full with crowded clubs. We talked about life and dove down all the blind alleys that conversations like that lend towards. And having mixed Bad Religion on and off since the late 90s, I find their live shows to be better than their records, which is the way it should be. Now, don’t misconstrue my words; their records are great, but too many bands can’t pull off a live show without the aid of a computer. That’s a bummer!

That’s not Bad Religion.

And unlike so many bands who fall in love with themselves, they’ve remained human. So often I’ve worked with artists whose egos have gone supernova, who believe in their own myth, and ultimately whose sense of superiority blinds their creativity, so it is refreshing when those -actual- legends remain grounded.

And that’s a tall order.

Recently, Jay came to my home and played bass on a song. He wouldn’t accept money, so I paid him with a cup of coffee, some Thai food, and a hug. Another time, after a big show in Spain, he made sure that I was dropped off near my parents’ home, who were living in Portugal at the time. We’ve caught a bad movie or two together, Hell Boy 2 if memory serves, and walked his dogs in the hills around Vancouver, continuing a conversation that has grown over nearly 20 years.

And what can I say about his bass playing… his tone? It’s like an angry piano.

Exactly as it should be!

Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?

J.B. That’s a tall order! Time changes taste profiles and age becomes your enemy. Of all time? If we’re going to go by shear quantity, it’s a hamburger, and that hamburger is an In-N-Out double-double with raw onions.

Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?

J.B. I think my favorite was always beef tongue, because I knew that was fucking weird. My mom was country through and through.

Q: How did you meet your best friend?

J.B. I said “hi”… she said “hi” back.

Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?

J.B. What I wanted to do was be an astronaut, but I am too tall to fly fighter jets … that was sort of the plan. After that I wanted to race cars because of all my Sundays spent at Saugus Speedway, but no. Thought about becoming a psychologist, but before that could really happen I was the bass guitarist in Bad Religion playing shows and heading off in a completely different direction.

Q: How did you pursue it?

J.B. I played guitar since I was 5 or 6 anyway, but once I became the bass player in a band, I started to listen to other bass players, trying to figure it all out. Most of the players on records were too good for me to emulate at the time, so I just sort of hammered away following the guitar player. At least I was playing the right notes. I would go to shows and watch bass players, trying to pick up little tricks and tips, most of the crap I was doing was just visual (what KIND of bass, what KIND of amp)

Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing it? 

J.B. There was one weekend at my mom’s house when Steve Soto from the Adolescents and I were showing each other what we knew, and that was really eye opening for me. After that I had a better understanding of the fretboard for bass guitar. Shortly after that I was sitting with Jeff Long from Wasted Youth, who was just a phenomenal player, and he showed me almost everything I know and use to this day. That pretty much blew the door off the hinges and everything came into focus. I’m still a terrible player, but at least I know what I’m playing. Sometimes.

Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it?

J.B. What I am doing now is the dream … maybe the biggest dream to 8 year old me. The fact that I’ve been doing this now for 35 years borders on the impossible – certainly based on typical band history, but I guess that’s how we set this up. Everything in the beginning was intentional, small attainable goals; write 6 songs, play a show, write 5 more songs, make a tape … always just fighting the “you can’t do that” attitude from everyone around us.

It’s more than I could have ever imagined. Being where we are now, self-managed on an independent label, especially having had major label success and management, just all seems so smugly satisfying. I think the goal is to see this to its graceful and meaningful fruition, and then for me – I think the next goal will be to share my experience with people who are just starting their journey in this fucked up industry.

Q: What advice would you give your 15 year old self?

J.B. 15? What a mess. Don’t EVER sell that Rickenbacker! Take it easy on the booze, be nicer to your future ex-girlfriends.

Q: If life were a person what would you say?

J.B. There’s this passage I’ve got memorized, “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children, and I will strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt the poison and destroy my brothers, and you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!”… I’ve been saying that shit for years, and if you ever heard it, it meant your ass…

I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just some cold-blooded shit to say to a mother-fucker before I popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this morning that made me think twice. Now I’m thinking, it could mean you’re the evil man, and I’m the righteous man, and Mr. 45 here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness… OR it could be you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. I’d like that. But that shit ain’t the truth. The TRUTH is, you’re the weak … and I am the tyranny of evil men. But I’m trying, Ringo. I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.

Q:  If you were in charge of the world and you have no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?

J.B. “An equal and unfettered opportunity to an education of all things known to man.”

Q: Has morality disintegrated to point that we now need Yelp for people?

J.B. It won’t be nice, but maybe the distant future holds some FICO type score that will also include penalties for how many people dislike you on social media. But really, I do believe that people need to be held responsible for their behavior and actions. And if someone were to start a Yelp page against an individual, maybe that should be a sign to said individual that they’re being a dick.

Q: How is society getting things right?

J.B. Our society is getting almost everything right, because we’re all still here! Can’t say the same for all societies across the globe.

Q:  What do people need in order to see each other as equals?

J.B. Historically, it has been immediately following a tragic or natural disaster, for a short amount of time only. Long-term equality will come from a common enemy, and right now there isn’t one. This morning I was meditating on the thought “come from a place of love and respect” and I had to put some work into the concept of respect. Not the “earned respect” so commonly thought of, but the automatic respect due to another human being for their space, their lives. I believe that lack of human respect allows us to see others as useless, therefore inferior.

Q: Do you have hope for the future?

J.B. Of course! The future is awesome! But, I am not in control of it. All I can do is try to make today as good as I can to increase the chances of a better tomorrow. I think most people want a better tomorrow, but there is a ton of crazy to swim through to get there. If more people start rejecting the fear mongering of the future then we, as a society, will start down a much more civilized path.

Q: Hot topic of the week:

This is an open discussion. Could be Gay marriage or Confederate flag, Donald Trump, for example:

J.B. Well, if it’s open, I’m just going to leave it there. I’ve got no soapbox issues today. Maybe that’s the hot topic. Everyone has an opinion, whether they have any practical experience on the subject or not. That’s just sadly tiring. It’s too bad that practical judgment has been replaced with naive realism and what would have passed for entertainment is now considered science.

How about this.

I’ve noticed that instead of people being awed by the fact that we can find different answers to theories presented decades ago, because of advances in our ability to process millions of bits of information, we just take a “science is lies! They are lying about everything”… look and see? I’m not going to point fingers at how this all started, but let’s just say that when “doctors” were giving the thumbs up to cigarettes, that may have been a good start.

Q: What are three things that work for you: For example, I can’t find a good razor, because of a near unbridled need for massive profits I find that many products don’t live up to their advertising. What works for you?

J.B. Three things that work. Hahaha… not me, that’s for sure! Let’s see…

1. I’ve got a Martin acoustic guitar lying around the house that always seems to work. They don’t need batteries or cables. I put my fingers on it and music happens … and that’s been happening for about 30 years. Good track record there.
2. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life been disappointed with a can of 3 in 1 oil.
3. Alka Seltzer Cold Medicine Plus. Colds, flu, heartburn, hangovers… cures pretty much everything, every time.

More thought-provoking questions:

1:  Do Americans have the right to complain about immigration?

J.B. Americans are born with the right to complain about anything they want to.

2: If our value system is based on scarcity then what of a human life now that we are in the billions?

J.B. If you haven’t seen the video of the young child being run over in China, you’re in for quite a shock. The effects of over-population are usually devastating.