Gurewitz reunited with Graffin

In 1999, Gurewitz reunited with Graffin to co-write a song together called, “Believe It”, which would appear on their next album, The New America (2000). For this new album, Todd Rundgren , an early musical inspiration for Graffin, was brought in to produce. “Todd was kind of an underground sensation back in 1974. Here’s a guy who was making pop music but in a way that you wouldn’t hear on the radio. So much of my early musical identity was wrapped up in the way he conducted himself.” In the summer of 2000, they set out on a successful 3-month U.S. arena tour opening for Blink-182 . Interest in recording the record waned due to Rundgren’s poor attitude. Jay Bentley reflects on this by saying, “I didn’t feel we were going anywhere and so did Greg. Todd didn’t like Greg and that made Greg so mad! He met his idol, and he was a jerk! I don’t think Todd gave a shit about anything.” However, Graffin later writes in his book, “Anarchy Evolution”, that, although Rundgren was difficult to work with, he and Graffin remain friends to this day. Meanwhile, Bobby Schayer left the band following a serious shoulder injury and was replaced by Brooks Wackerman ( Suicidal Tendencies ).