ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker says ending the Los Angeles-based punk band’s tour with a headlining slot at the second annual Punk in the Park festival is a fitting way to finish 2022.
After nearly two years of being unable to tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baker said he can’t think of a better way to cap the tour than with friends, family and hometown fans during the two-day punk rock fest on Nov. 5-6 at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado.
“I love this kind of festival,” Baker said during a recent phone interview from his home in Asbury Park, New Jersey. “It’s not just the people in the bands, but everyone that works with the bands, the people working the stages and the people putting it on. These are all just such great friends I’ve made over a long period of time. The audience is the most important thing, but the perk of something like this is this sort of reunion with all of these people that makes it so much fun for me.”
He said that he likes the festival so much he’ll be there both days.
Baker will perform with Bad Religion on Saturday alongside Face to Face, Dead Kennedys, The Adolescents, 7 Seconds, Manic Hispanic and more. And his band Beach Rats will hit the stage early on Sunday with Dropkick Murphys, The Bouncing Souls, The Murder City Devils, Anti-Flag, Agent Orange, Voodoo Glow Skulls and others. On top of the live music, the all-ages Punk in the Park fest also has a craft beer element with dozens of local and regional breweries offering unlimited tastings of craft beer, hard seltzer, ciders and meads to those 21 and older from noon-3 p.m. each day.
“Pulling double duty is totally fine, but the funny thing is that with Beach Rats, we don’t play very often so we actually have to get together and learn these songs,” Baker said with a laugh. “The Bad Religion part I’m totally fine with. I’m really more worried about making sure we don’t screw up the Beach Rats songs. So there is a little bit of that pressure, and I mean like actual pressure, like when I was a kid. And I love that. It’s fun and great that my big worry is a 22-minute set at whatever time we’re playing … probably like at noon, I don’t even know.”
Baker is a founding member of the influential ’80s hardcore punk band Minor Threat as well as the band Dag Nasty. He joined Bad Religion in 1994 and said he now has a deeper appreciation for his career of choice after a global pandemic put a temporary, but lengthy stop to live performances and touring.
“Any chance to play music is a great thing and it’s my favorite thing to do,” he said, noting that Bad Religion was cautious about returning to the road and watched other bands go out before them to see if and how it would work.
“When we were finally back out there working, I just felt such a sense of gratitude,” he continued. “Initially, personally, it was such a revelation because I really thought this was never gonna happen again. Every time I get out there now, I really relish it more because I know how impermanent it is.”
Dropkick Murphys vocalist-guitarist Ken Casey echoed that feeling. His band did several audience-less livestream concerts during the pandemic and he’d prefer to keep things going in person.
“As someone who goes out and sings in people’s faces on a nightly basis, I gotta make sure I don’t get COVID and that is in the back of my mind, but man, it’s so nice to see faces again,” Casey said during a recent phone interview from his car as he drove around his hometown in Massachusetts. “The streaming stuff was great at the time, but, God, I hope we never have to do that again.”
Last year, Dropkick went on a co-headlining tour with Rancid and this year, it’s out on its first-ever acoustic tour in support of its new acoustic album, “This Machine Still Kills Fascists.” That tour comes to the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on Nov. 8 and will feature songs off the new record plus reworked and stripped-down versions of other fan favorites.
“When you’ve been in a band this long, as long as you keep challenging yourself, that inspires creativity,” Casey explained, adding that though it’s an acoustic show the guys won’t “just be sitting on bar stools being mellow.”
“We’re putting on a show,” he said. “I just left practice for the acoustic set and we’re all sweating, so we’re working hard in some way.”
However, those coming out to Punk in the Park will get the full-throttle experience during its headlining set on Sunday, Casey reports, with all of the Murphys’ rambunctious tunes and maybe just a few of these acoustic songs sprinkled in.
“That’s going to be our one day on this tour where we break out and play loud, so we’ll be raring to go,” he said.
Casey said the new record and its title was inspired by folk music icon Woodie Guthrie, and he felt it was important to share his anti-fascist, anti-violence and anti-war messaging at this moment in time. Casey said Dropkick Murphys have and always will stand for these things, too.
“You know, I’m just going to keep my side of the street clean and know that when all is said and done — in my opinion, which isn’t everybody’s opinion, but in my opinion — Dropkick Murphys will be on the right side of history, as they say,” he said. “You don’t pick up that torch that Woodie Guthrie used to carry and then half-ass it; you have to speak up.”
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PUNK IN THE PARK
When: Noon-10 p.m. Nov. 5-6
Where: Oak Canyon Park, 5305 E. Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado
Tickets: Single-day all-ages (non-drinking) general admission tickets start at $50 and single-day 21+ general admission tickets start at $55; Single-day 21+ VIP admission starts at $135; Weekend all-ages (non-drinking) general admission tickets start at $90 and weekend 21+ tickets start at $95; Weekend 21+ VIP tickets start at $250. Kids 10 and under are admitted free with general admission access. All passes are available at punkinthepark.com. Parking is $20 cash on-site.
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