Punk rockers Bad Religion [ tickets ], currently in the midst of an extensive European tour, will continue their road trip with a headlining tour of North America. The band is supporting its latest album “The New America.”

“The New America” was recorded by producer Todd Rundgren [ tickets ] in Kauai, Hawaii, last September. The album peaked at No. 88 on the Billboard 200 chart during its first week of release in May.

Founding Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records head Brett Gurewitz co-wrote and played guitar on the track "Believe It," marking his first contribution to the band since the 1994 album “Stranger Than Fiction.” Gurewitz--who left Bad Religion amid the flurry of criticism that the band received from some fans for signing with a major label--has not re-joined the band, however.

Bad Religion--known for the scholarly lyrics of doctorate-aspiring frontman Greg Graffin--supported the decidedly unscholarly pop-punk act Blink-182 on an amphitheater tour that opened this spring.

In 1998, the band began awarding an annual grant of between $3,000 and $5,000 to a college or high school student working in the cultural or natural science fields. (Graffin holds a degree in evolutionary biology from UCLA and is working towards his PhD at Cornell University.) This year’s grant was awarded to Walter Fuller of Loyola Marymount University for a research project titled “Physiological Effects of Excess Atmospheric C02 on Plants Ecosystem.” Details about the grant process are available on the band’s official website.