Finnish rockers Flush released their second full length album, Noises, back in November 2024. An album that focusses on anxiety with songs that include stories about personal experiences as well as reflections on society. No shying away from topics like domestic violence, the death of family members, alcoholism, break-ups or the end of the world. To address the balance, the band writes about space satellites, owls, multi-universe taxis and days on the beach. Taking inspiration from legendary punk acts and critical thinkers like Charles Bukowski, Biffy Clyro, Deftones and Bad Religion, the band delivers a unique blend of punk, grunge, alternative rock, and metal.

Lasse from Flush heads to the barrier to tell us why American punks Bad Religion provide the complete package of words, melodies, and aggression.

A CHANGING WORLD

I first heard Bad Religion sometime around 1990 when the music world was changing incredibly fast. Alternative rock was taking over the world and this ultra-fast punk rock band seemed like the perfect blend of anger (speed) and harmony (melodies). This combination completely blew my mind. I have always appreciated vocal melodies in music, but also craved speed and aggression, and Bad Religion was all that. Plus, they wrote lyrics that actually meant something! I learnt to play guitar around the same time, so it was only a matter of time until I had a band that played songs like that. Eventually, this band of mine became Flush.

Recently, I’ve read quite a lot about Bad Religion and their history, and one of the most inspirational background aspects of the band is how much they also explored different paths, made mistakes, lost and found band members, had addictions and disagreements, and yet, the band keeps going on still today. While their music is intelligent and confident, the band as a collection of individuals, make the same mistakes as everyone else, and that really gives me confidence in anyone being able to make good music if they just put their minds into it often enough.

A FAVOURITE ERA

My favourite era of the band is the between albums Suffer (1988) and Stranger Than Fiction (1994), which I know isn’t a very unique stance. This is probably their most popular period. The standard on these albums is just simply astonishing. I know each song by heart and there isn’t a moment where one wants to skip to the next track. Usually I mention Generator (1992) as my number one song and album, but recently I have been spinning Against The Grain (1990) quite a lot and side one on this album is just classic after classic.

A deeper track like song number 5, The Positive Aspect Of Negative Thinking, is probably not often hailed as a masterpiece, and it’s one of the very few songs written by bass player Jay Bentley, but it’s one of my absolute favourites. Less than one minute, blinding fast, a couple of melodic riffs, and then it’s over as quickly as it started. Simply beautiful.

ALWAYS ABOUT THE SONGS

I’ve seen the band live a few times back in the days, but not in recent years. It’s not necessarily even something I need or desire. To me, Bad Religion was always about the songs. I didn’t know the band’s backstory or read into them at the time when falling in love with their music, so it was always just about the songs (and maaaaybe just a little bit about the famous Crossbuster logo). Growing up without MTV (or Youtube), videos did not play a role in my connection with the band, so it was just listening to the CDs, one song at a time, and having my mind blown by this new combination I had not heard before.

When the whole punk rock scene then blew up with Offspring and Green Day spearheading, it was a huge boost for our own music making to see popular rock music made by guys who look like us and play like us. You didn’t need to have long hair, spandex and make-up, and you didn’t need to have superior technical skills to play your instrument. You could, if you wanted to, but it was not a necessity. Such an important time for the whole generation of emerging bands and artists.

AN INSPIRATION

I am not one of those who claim that all good music was written in the past, because lots of great new music is released every week still. However, for my own musical journey, the punk and alternative rock scene in the early 90s inspired me to get into playing and writing music, and it’s a journey I continue still this day. Without Bad Religion, I’m not sure that journey would have ever gotten started.

Our thanks to for Lasse for the contribution to our Why I Love archive.

Here’s Headspinner – “Flush at its most abstract“:

Flush online: Website / Facebook / Instagram

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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