Brett Gurewitz

Brett Gurewitz (born May 12, 1962) is a guitarist and songwriter in Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the record label Epitaph. Gurewitz owns Westbeach Recorders and has engineered several Bad Religion records using he pseudonym "The Legendary Starbolt". Brett co-founded Bad Religion in 1980, along with Greg Graffin. Jay Bentley, and Jay Ziskrout. He founded Epitaph Records in 1981. He quit Bad Religion in 1983 following the release of the "Into The Unknown" LP and spent several years mired in a drug addiction. During that time, he worked for Chameleon Records. In 1985, using the psuedonym "Billy Pilgrim", he recorded and released a 5 song E.P. under the moniker "The Seeing Eye Gods", collaborating with a friend who was allegedly his cocaine dealer. In 1987, after getting sober, Brett rejoined Bad Religion and remained with the band until 1994, when he left again. Officially, he left to concentrate on Epitaph after the success of the The Offspring, but it was later revealed that the real reason had to do with personal tension within the group and a blow-out fight with Jay Bentley was the final straw. In 1996, Brett launched the Daredevils, who released a 7" called "Hate You", whose title track was said to be aimed at Bentley. That group was sidetracked when Brett relapsed into drug abuse. Brett eventually landed in jail on a drug possession charge before getting sober again. In 2001, he rejoined Bad Religion. However, his participation is limited to writing and studio work, as his focus is still on running Epitaph. He has completely retired from performing.