Photo Courtesy of Epitaph Records Bad Religion is still together, working hard to make good music. The band will appear at the Mesa Amphitheatre tonight at 7.

On the verge of breaking up, with internal trouble and a few less-than-stellar albums, Bad Religion has found its soul again.

The band's latest recording effort is on Epitaph Records, which the original band founded in the '80s. The Process of Belief is almost a look back to the group's musical past, with an eye on the future.

Embarking on a tour with two groups as diverse as Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake makes for an interesting lineup. Founding member bassist Jay Bentley said this is a nice change of pace from the fast punches of energy punk Bad Religion is known for.

"These are the kind of shows I enjoy being a part of; it's good for everybody," Bentley said. "It's good for us because it is not just redundant band, band, band."

But this new album would never have been conceived if Epitaph's head and ex-guitarist Brett Gurewitz hadn't had dinner with Bentley more than a year ago. Prior to the meeting, Bad Religion had been playing without Gurewitz for years and had fallen into musical mediocrity. There was something lacking in the group's sound, and the group was on the verge of disbanding.

"When Bobby (Schayer) left the band, that was about as close to being over as it's been in a long time," Bentley said. "It was like, 'well let's just go home, it's done, it's cooked, it's finished.'"

What no one realized at the time was that Gurewitz playing guitar on a track for New America planted a seed that changed the group's future.

"We were seemingly getting along (with Gurewitz), but there was still no talk of an entire reunion," Bentley said. "Bret called me back later that year and wanted to talk to me about the next record - and we hadn't been planning on making a new record at all."

"I don't think that's what anybody wants to do, is to just put out another album that no one is going to remember."

After more talks, the group reunited and began writing songs for its new album. Process is filled with short bursts of musical energy die-hard fans will recognize as the group's signature sound.

Bentley said the best thing about being in the band now is that people are more accepting of the group's punk sound than they were 15 years ago.

"The style of music that we do is more popular and more accepted, which is distressing to some people," Bentley said. "It is relieving to me because now I don't have to deal with the Glam hair bands."

Despite being slapped with the punk band stereotype, the punk idea is not a way of life for the members in the band.

"I don't even care about (being punk)," Bentley said. "When I was 8, my dad said, 'you little fuckin' punk' and I went, 'Cool. I don't even know what that means, but I'm punk' and that was way before the Sex Pistols."

Some things just aren't the same after 13 years of marriage and two kids. But finding solace in music is something Bentley says will never change.

"After the trauma of September, everything stopped and nothing was important anymore," Bentley said. "Now people are kind of returning to whatever normal thing they can possibly get into, and music is obviously one of them to help them cope - I know it helps me."

Bad Religion is currently on a U.S. tour, playing tonight at the Mesa Amphitheatre, 201 N. Center St. For more information, call the box office at (480) 644-2560.