Sea.Hear.Now arrives in Asbury Park this weekend, and Brian Baker couldn't be happier.

The guitarist, who lives a stone's throw away in Neptune, will be pulling double duty on Saturday, Sept. 21, as he plays the festival with both political punk stalwarts Bad Religion and Jersey Shore hardcore supergroup Beach Rats.

"I get to do the hometown show and I'm just thrilled," said Baker, a Washington, D.C.-area native who moved to Neptune nearly three years ago. "It's going to be a lot of fun. It's not going to be that much work.

"I mean, that's the thing, this is so much fun. Beach Rats are all fun. Bad Religion, we've been doing it for a few years so I don't really have a stress level with that. It's just get out there and share the songs, so it's going to be a great day."

Baker, a founding member of early-'80s hardcore pioneers Minor Threat, joined Bad Religion 25 years ago. The band returned in May with "Age of Unreason" which, true to form, combined nuanced and provocative sociopolitical insights with undeniable rock 'n' roll power.

"Hopefully for the audience (Bad Religion) is still a pretty good thought-provoker," said Baker. "I wouldn't say it's an instructional situation but that was really kind of the whole mission statement that Brett (Gurewitz, guitarist) and Greg (Graffin, singer) started this with.

"They are very interested in life's complexities on a global scale. And part of the longevity of Bad Religion is that when that's your topic when you're 15 it remains relevant, it doesn't grow old. Man's inhumanity to man and the destruction of the earth and all of these things that are still so relevant now, that really gives Bad Religion some legs."

The political climate of the world changed drastically in the six years between Bad Religion LPs; Baker noted that "with the global chaos that's going on it really is perfectly Bad Religion time."

For more on Bad Religion and "Age of Unreason," check out this mini-documentary on the album, courtesy of Epitaph Records. (Warning: some explicit language.)

But, the guitarist stressed that the album isn't a purely reactive statement. The time spent on these new songs gave them depth and perspective.

"The shock of Trump and this global nationalism and just every really horrible thing that's happening all over the place, it had settled in and was not just the initial shock and outrage," said Baker. "So when Brett and Greg are getting the songs together for this (album), this is like 2018, we've already seen what's going on and so you have a much more refined perspective.

"And it's really easy to be like, 'Trump sucks,' and it's important that Bad Religion isn't reactionary or nihilistic. ... It's actually the benefit of having it be that long (between albums) and having us been in this horror show, I think it really made better songs."

Baker is also playing Sea.Hear.Now on Saturday with Beach Rats, featuring Bryan Kienlen and Pete Steinkopf of the Bouncing Souls, Ari Katz of Lifetime and Daniel "Dubs" Windas.

The Rats' 2018 "Wasted Time" EP is a blast of old school fury, five tracks clocking in at just over eight minutes.

"We kind of started the band with this idea of 'Hardcore should be in short bursts,' and we were thinking about how when we first started our bands you'd go up and play and you only had three or four songs," Baker said. "The sets weren't long, and even if they were trying to get a little longer then something would happen and the police would come or someone's mom comes home to the basement. So we never really thought about a long set."

The idea for the Beach Rats was born, Baker said, at the 2017 Asbury Park memorial concert for Vision singer Dave Franklin, where Steinkopf and Kenlen collaborated with Kats. Since then, the band has played venues as wide-ranging as the Asbury Park Brewery, the 2018 Riot Fest in Chicago and a New Brunswick house party.

"The idea was, 'Let's just be the anti-band. Let's play festivals and basements,' " said Baker. "And when we write the songs, we don't bring in songs that you've worked on. We all get in the room and just start making noise. Pete will play something twice and you're like, 'OK, that's the verse.' You don't investigate it any further, because we didn't when we were little."

Baker is just one of several Garden State artists set to take the stage at the city's waterfront on Saturday and Sunday as part of Sea.Hear.Now. In fact, about a third of the festival's roster has Jersey connections.

Co-headliners The Lumineers hail from Ramsey, while the B-52s boast singers Fred Schneider (born in Newark and raised in Belleville and Long Branch) and Kate Pierson (born in Weehawken, raised in Rutherford).

Elsewhere on the bill is songstress Sharon Van Etten (born in Belleville, raised in Nutley and Clinton), Work in Progress featuring Little Egg Harbor native "Stranger Things" star Gaten Matarazzo and E Street Band saxophone player (and honorary Jersey Shore royalty) Jake Clemons, plus local favorites such as Brick + Mortar, Lowlight and Boardwalk Social Club.

One of the weekend's late-night shows, Hooligan Holiday featuring Philadelphia native Dave Hause and the Mermaid, is set to featuring an incomparable roster of guests from locally legendary bands such as The Gaslight Anthem, The Bouncing Souls, The Scandals and more.

It's the sort of robust local pride one's come to expect from Sea.Hear.Now masterminds and Jersey Shore taste-makers Danny Clinch and Tim Donnelly.

"They wanted to have great music in the place that they love," Baker said of Clinch and Donnelly. "This was not about making money. It was a great opportunity to lose all of their money. They did things because they wanted it to be right and have a great time. ... The way they assemble these bills is just so beautiful, because it brings every single person in."

Sea.Hear.Now is Saturday, Sept. 21 and Sunday, Sept. 22 in Asbury Park. For tickets, a full schedule and more information, visit www.seahearnowfestival.com.

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