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{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = Jay Bentley
| image             = 13-08-10 Taubertal Bad Religion Jay Bentley 1.JPG
| caption           = Bentley playing with [[Bad Religion]] in 2013.
| background        = solo_singer
| birth_name        = 
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1964|6|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Wichita, Kansas]], U.S.
| origin            = [[Santa Clarita, California]], U.S.
| instrument        = {{hlist|Bass guitar|guitar|vocals}}
| genre             = [[Punk rock]]
| occupation        = Musician
| years_active      = 1979–present
| label             = {{hlist|[[Epitaph Records|Epitaph]]|[[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]]|[[ANTI-]]}}
| associated_acts   = [[Bad Religion]]<br />[[Me First and the Gimme Gimmes]]
}}

'''Jayson Dee Bentley''' (born June 6, 1964) is the bassist and co-founding member of the punk rock group [[Bad Religion]].<ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3611|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Bad Religion|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|publisher=[[All Media Guide|AMG]]|access-date=12 May 2010}}</ref> He has played with the band through its whole existence with a small break between 1983 and 1985.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Along with vocalist [[Greg Graffin]], Bentley has appeared on nearly  all of Bad Religion's studio albums, with the sole exception being their second album ''[[Into the Unknown (Bad Religion album)|Into the Unknown]]'' (1983).

==Career==
Jay Bentley grew up in [[Santa Clarita, California]], and later moved to [[Woodland Hills, California|Woodland Hills]]. As with guitarist [[Brett Gurewitz]] and lead singer [[Greg Graffin]], he was a student of [[El Camino Real High School]]. He played in Bad Religion for three years (1980–1983),<ref name="legacy">{{cite web|url=http://www.badreligion.com/legacy/ |title=Bad Religion – 30 Years |publisher=BadReligion.com |access-date=2016-03-14}}</ref> and left while the band was in the midst of writing and recording their second album, ''[[Into the Unknown (Bad Religion album)|Into the Unknown]]''.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Bentley was a onetime member of such notable L.A. groups as [[Wasted Youth (American band)|Wasted Youth]], [[T.S.O.L.]], [[The Circle Jerks]] and Cathedral Of Tears. He rejoined Bad Religion in late 1985 while the ''[[How Could Hell Be Any Worse?]]'' line-up – adding [[Circle Jerks]]' [[Greg Hetson]] as the band's second guitarist – was reuniting to record the first three reunion albums, ''[[Suffer (album)|Suffer]]'', ''[[No Control (Bad Religion album)|No Control]]'' and ''[[Against the Grain (Bad Religion album)|Against the Grain]]'', which are often considered their best releases{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}. Today, Bentley continues touring and recording with Bad Religion. He has appeared on every Bad Religion release, with the exceptions of ''[[Into the Unknown (Bad Religion album)|Into the Unknown]]'' (1983) and the ''[[Back to the Known]]'' (1985) EP. The band's most recent studio album, ''[[Age of Unreason (album)|Age of Unreason]]'', was recorded in 2018 and 2019, with a May 1, 2019 release.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bad-religion-to-release-age-of-unreason-album-in-may/|title=BAD RELIGION to Release 'Age of Unreason' Album in May|date=26 February 2019}}</ref> Since the early 2010s, Bentley has been the regular touring member of [[Me First And The Gimme Gimmes]] filling in on bass and backup vocals for [[Fat Mike]].{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==Personal life==
Bentley has two sons: Miles (born 1991), who played bass in Dave Hause and The Mermaid, and Hunter (born 1993).<ref>https://www.facebook.com/HunterBentleyMusic {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=March 2022}}</ref> He also has a daughter named Peribeau and a son named Dragon and lives with his wife [[Natalia Fabia]] in [[Costa Mesa, California]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Fadroski|first1=Kelli Skye|title=Bad Religion has good fun in Costa Mesa|work=[[The Orange County Register]]|date=July 19, 2014|page=Life 2}}</ref>

In the past, Bentley has had struggles with alcoholism. He first quit drinking in 1990 but relapsed in 1998. Since 2005, he is completely alcohol abstinent.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BCDu5jtpwHc/ | title=Jay bentley on Instagram: "I was told to write my sobriety date in my big book, and I did just that. I found my way into aa in sept 1990, but fell out in late 1998. I had a pretty good time for a minute, but spent the next few years struggling on and off, and by 2004 I was lost. I've been told that when you're finally desperate enough, you may have a moment of clarity, I was fortunate to be that desperate. This is what it has been like for me. All of our paths have some differences, but if we are honest with ourselves we end up in the same place. Thank you. All of you who were there for me then and who are there now, carrying the message and giving back what was freely given to us. Today I am 11" }}</ref>

==Equipment==
Bentley's main basses have been [[Fender Musical Instruments Corporation|Fender]] models for most of his career in Bad Religion, primarily a black and/or white [[Fender Precision Bass|Precision]] models; in recent years, however, he has been an endorser of [[Epiphone]] and has his own Jack Casady signature.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epiphone.com/news-features/news/2009/an-interview-with-jay-bentley-of-bad-religion.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202071718/http://www.epiphone.com/News-Features/News/2009/An-Interview-With-Jay-Bentley-Of-Bad-Religion.aspx |archive-date=2017-12-02 |title=An-Interview-With-Jay-Bentley-Of-Bad-Religion}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thebrpage.net/media/item.asp?itemID=507|title = Mixdown &#124; Media &#124; the Bad Religion Page - Since 1995}}</ref> Bentley often plays bass with a pick.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Twitter}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080930073432/http://www.thepunksite.com/interviews.php?page=badreligion 2008 Interview with Jay Bentley]
*[http://www.thelandsalmon.com/music-mondays/interview-with-bad-religion-3.html Interview with Jay Bentley 2007]
* [http://www.roomthirteen.com/features/765/Bad_Religion_interview.html Room Thirteen interview May 2010]

{{BadReligion}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Jay}}
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Bad Religion members]]
[[Category:Guitarists from California]]
[[Category:T.S.O.L. members]]
[[Category:American bass guitarists]]
[[Category:American male bass guitarists]]
[[Category:American punk rock bass guitarists]]
[[Category:Critics of religions]]
[[Category:People from Saugus, Santa Clarita, California]]
[[Category:People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:El Camino Real High School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]