Bad Religion Preaches to Converted

Bad Religion’s “surprise” show Wednesday at Linda’s Doll Hut in Anaheim was one of the worst-kept secrets around.

One of the last surviving bands from L.A.’s original punk scene didn’t help matters by announcing the show over the Internet and on the radio (the group was the guest the night before on KROQ-FM’s “Loveline”).

The Doll Hut has hosted many a band too big for its roadhouse confines (including the Offspring and Social Distortion). Bad Religion’s show especially tested the tiny club’s limits, despite efforts to quell the spreading news. Tactics included listing the headliner under a phony name (Friend or Foe), telling patrons that the group was playing other venues (Club 369, the Roxy) or that the show had been canceled (a recorded message at the Doll Hut advised: “If you heard anything different, just ignore it”).

Still, large numbers were turned away from the sold-out show. Fans showed up several hours early, eager for a taste of Bad Religion’s 13th album, “No Substance” (in stores Tuesday), which, in a sense, summarizes the band’s nearly two-decade career.

From the first song, “Hear It,” there’s a strong sense of the band’s early hard-core sound, as well as a nod to such past compatriots as the UK Subs and O.C.’s Adolescents. Brian Baker’s guitar playing in “Hear It” strongly recalls guitarist Frank Agnew’s on the Adolescents’ “No Way.”

In fact, Bad Religion picked an O.C. club for its first Southland show in part because of the members’ longtime friendship with the Adolescents. (It didn’t hurt that the Doll Hut is booked by former Adolescents member Steve Soto).

Many of the populist social criticisms that pervaded the band’s past albums also come to a head in the much more focused “No Substance,” which attacks what the band sees as society’s false sense of progress.

“We’re bombarded with self-help gurus, television evangelists, phone psychics, all these people who make you think there’s a better life,” Bad Religion’s lead singer and chief songwriter Greg Graffin said in a phone interview earlier this week. “But no one knows how to achieve it.

“All we’ve achieved is an increase in technology. We have the Internet, so we pat ourselves on the back,” he said. “What has a Web page brought us but another way to bombard us with images and force us into our own little corners?”

Of course, the tight quarters at the Doll Hut inevitably forced Bad Religion’s fans into their own little corners, while the band ripped through 25 songs from a 140-song repertoire in about 80 minutes.

Hits (“21st Century Digital Boy,” “American Jesus,” “Stranger Than Fiction”) collided with roughly rendered material never before performed live (“Against the Grain”) as well as seven of the catchier songs from “No Substance.”

The group began the show in a roped-off area that provided a larger performance space than the Doll Hut’s tiny stage. Over the course of the show, Graffin encouraged fans to move closer. Eventually the rope--and the distance it had created between the band and fans--came down.

Occasionally striking ironic rock-star poses, Graffin kept pulling bassist Jay Bentley and guitarist Brian Baker (the former Minor Threat member who replaced original Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz) into a huddle to share his mike, adding a contagious camaraderie to the trademark elaborate harmonies.

“Too bad we can’t have more shows like this,” Graffin said between songs. “The only problem is, [with this low ceiling], we can’t jump or we’ll hit our heads.”

* Bad Religion plays Monday at the Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. $14. (310) 276-2222.