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By Ron Garmon True Believers BY THE TIME MOST BANDS EVER GET TO RECORD A NINTH STUDIO ALBUM, THEY’RE AS MUCH AN INSTITUTION AS HALLIBURTON OR U.S. STEEL. IF YOU’RE PENNYWISE, HOWEVER, YOU’RE INSTITUTIONALLY BOUND TO KICK OUT THE JAMS EVERY NOW AND THEN AND THAT IS WHAT REASON TO BELIEVE OFFERS FANS OF THIS STORIED SECOND-GEN SOUTH BAY PUNK ACT. Rolling into NRG Studios in NoHo with the rest of the rude-noize press for a listening party, I found Fletcher Dragge (guitar), Jim Lindberg (vox), Byron McMackin (drums) and Randy Bradbury (bass) all chill and mellow amid swank Arabian Nights décor. I collar Lindberg for a few moments. “What do you think of the digs around here?” I mumble, jabbing my tape recorder’s “on” button repeatedly. Lindberg replies, “It’s, um, very nice, like a Turkish, um, museum.” What’s the state of the punk nation? “That’s a good question,” he responds. “The punk nation is entering middle age, y’know? It’s evolving like any other type of music. The blues didn’t die with its originators. A lot of people still love it and still enjoy it.” Did this hyper-political band up the politics on this election-year release? “There’s probably not so much political content,” the singer allows, “but, thematically, there’s much more about belief and conviction. It’s more about people’s belief systems and how [they get] in the way of people being tolerant of opposing views. I think there’s a good five or six songs that relate to that. It’s like, ‘How do you deal with uncertainty?’ There are a few songs that have a political bent.” “So there’s a lot of anthems then,” I ask, having a few choice ones blare over the PA with titles like “Nothing to Lose” and “Faith & Hope.” “Any music that catches enough of your experience to make you sing is an anthem,” Lindberg grins. “It’s not like music shouldn’t give you something to yell and scream about. If the lyrics catch on to something you felt or experienced, there’s no reason for you not to shout.” “I get pissed off” “There are people in our scene who realize you need an open mind maybe because there’s more self-righteousness than ever,” Jim resumes. “I think that’s kinda what you’re handed. When I write lyrics, I’m writing things about what I’m angry or upset about. I read the newspaper every day and there’s plenty there to be angry and upset about.” “People ask if I’m making a change, but I’m just getting it out of my system so I don’t go crazy,” the singer continues. “You read about gang killings in L.A. and innocent bystanders getting killed and wars all around the world and all you hear about at home is Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan — I get pissed off. That’s what punk rock is to me. I yell about it and it’s up to somebody else to change it.” Pennywise has been yelling about the world’s ills since the band formed in the Hermosa Beach area in 1988. The band — named for the monster in the Stephen King novel It — released two EPs, A Word From the Wise and Wildcard, the following year. Impressed by the group’s music, Bad Religion guitarist/songwriter Brett Gurewitz signed them to his Epitaph label and released Pennywise’s 1991 self-titled debut. This album’s anti-authoritarian stance and messages of anthemic self-empowerment became the band’s signatures and helped define the West Coast’s hardcore punk scene. Last year, Lindberg — who has an English degree from UCLA — released his first book, Punk Rock Dad, which detailed the balancing act of being a dad and singing songs like “F*ck Authority.” The band has been a headlining act on the Warped Tour main stage seven times in the tour’s 14-year history. Land of the free music After being with Epitaph for eight records — including indie and commercial hits like Unknown Road and Land of the Free? — and selling 3 million albums worldwide, Pennywise stepped into the digital age for the March 25 release of Reason to Believe. Working with a new label, MySpace Records, and partnered with mobile music distributor Textango, the band made its new full-length available worldwide as a free digital download to anyone with a MySpace page for two weeks after the release date. Just prior to its release, Pennywise streamed the entire album on its MySpace page — another first for the band. The Reason to Believe CD is being released to stores through MySpace in the U.S., on Epitaph in Europe. As of March, the album was downloaded about 500,000 times, becoming one of Pennywise’s most successful albums since ’01’s Land of the Free? . Reason to Believe peaked at No. 98 on the Billboard 200. The first single, “The Western World,” was the No. 6 Most Played and No. 8 Most Requested song last month on KROQ. This song debuted at No. 28 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Chart, making the track the highest initial charting single in the band’s career. Strong beliefs Evidently, the band’s new label, MySpace, and vigorous chart performance continue to stir interest in the band, its future and its place in movement history. Ear-calloused punters and pundits out on the hell’s half-acre of punk-rock Blogistan love Reason to Believe as much as this-minute’s nose ring youth, with many a crusty reminiscing into his computer about spiky hair and the skateboard he never learned to use. The onrush of economic immiseration coupled with the bleakness of contemporary culture and prospects favor another old-skool sonic assault the same way temporary good weather favored D-Day. Objective conditions, as the old-timey revolutionaries understood, favor insurgency and Pennywise, in the face of breakup rumors, sundry biz vicissitudes and a label owned by fabled right-wing billionaire Rupert Murdoch, are old hands at it. “I think there are a lot of idealists and people with very strong beliefs in the punk scene,” Dragge cuts in. “I think they get short shrift about that. They’re involved in politics, the environment, about human rights. As opposed to say, indie rockers who are only into girls. There’s not a lot of room for anthems in that music, but I think we can coexist.” Classic and elegant The new album is a sleeker, more polished version of Pennywise’s usual dynamic wreckage, with Lindberg’s surfer-boy holler riding the swelling guitar-churn Dragge sets up like an old punky hodad. The rough sound of their earlier records is filed down, with a few jagged edges serrated in, with the whole coming off as close to classic and elegant as hardcore can get before turning into chamber music. This is still the sound of bars, tattoo parlors and the side of American life where hopeful dreams contend with crazy-mean reality. If all this sounds like Woody Guthrie with facial tats, then you grasp the prickly idea. What I was hearing over the PA was prime stuff indeed but are there any surprises for old-line fans? “There’s a couple of left turns here and there and one song is really metal,” Lindberg allows. “But, by this point, we’re in a state much like the Ramones were. We provide a certain thing for our fans that we love doing.” “Maybe 20 years from now, we’ll put out a reggae album,” Fletcher snorts. On the web: myspace.com/pennywise |
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Copyright © 2002 Mean Street Magazine, LLC |
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