Pennywise proves never giving up is worth the effort
IN CONCERT
What: Pennywise with Strung Out Where: Capital Ballroom When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. Tickets: Sold out
Longevity for a punk band is often measured in years, not decades. California quartet Pennywise has bucked that trend, surviving the suicide of one founder and the exit of another to thrive for nearly three decades. And they are still going strong, with a new album, Never Gonna Die, due next month.
“We were a couple of guys in a garage playing music because we were bored, loved it and wanted something to do on Friday nights,” guitarist Fletcher Dragge said of the band’s roots in Hermosa Beach, California. “It’s been a crazy ride.”
Dragge formed Pennywise — who took their name from Stephen King’s It — with frontman Jim Lindberg, drummer Byron McMackin and bassist Jason Thirsk in 1988. Epitaph Records, the modern-day label synonymous with above-ground punk rock, released the band’s self-titled album in 1991, the first in a series of collaborations between the label and the group that continues today. The title track from the forthcoming album, which will be released April 20 on Epitaph, premièred online Tuesday, the results of which had Dragge feeling hopeful about another hit album from the group.
“Anybody who’s an artist, whether it’s an actor or a painter or a musician, has the uneasy nervousness of having your personal work judged,” he said. “I’m never comfortable until after people say it’s a success. Then, I can let down my guard. We’re always on pins and needles to see what the feedback for the first song is going to be. ‘This sucks.’ ‘I want to hear old-school Pennywise.’ But the response so far has been pretty much overwhelmingly good.”
Though the band has sold more than three million albums on the Epitaph imprint, rowdy live shows are what earned Pennywise its keep (as for how the band is enduring as members enter their 50s, Dragge said Pennywise remains in game shape, can be counted among the best of its kind when it comes to concert performances).
The band toured relentlessly between 1991 and 2008, and in that time played every corner of the world. Victoria always eluded the band, but the group will make its long-awaited debut on Tuesday at the Capital Ballroom. Not surprisingly, the event sold out in a matter of weeks.
“We’ve always written rebellious songs about checking yourself and trying to be logical, and have some morals,” Dragge said of the band’s ongoing legacy, now in its third decade.
“We’re not perfect by any means, but it’s pretty basic when you look at it.”
Pennywise is nothing if not a band with a serious approach to its craft.
Play to live — that’s the punk philosophy nowadays, the 51-yearold Dragge said. “You don’t sell a lot of records now, and punk has almost gone back to its roots. You’ve got to go out and earn your keep. You’re not going to sign a label deal and get a bunch of money.”
Despite their longevity, change has always been a part of Pennywise. Thirsk died in 1996, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and Lindberg has been in and out of the lineup several times as well. With the longtime lineup seemingly intact (Lindberg’s most recent sabbatical came to a close in 2012), the group is re-focused on entertaining a new generation of fans. Pennywise toured the world in 2017, playing the album Full Circle in its entirety to celebrate the recording’s 20th anniversary.
The recording marked a turning point for the group. Not only was it the first record without Thirsk (he was replaced in 1997 by bassist Randy Bradbury, who has remained with the group in the decades since), Full Circle also features Society, Fight Till You
Die and Bro Hymn, three of the band’s most enduring songs.
That fans from different generations responded so warmly to the tour told Dragge that Pennywise offers something to its fans that most bands do not. There’s kinship that exists, he said.
“Pennywise records are always going to touch on social issues and political issues, and right now, we’re living in a world of craziness down here in America. Social politics are just as important to us as real politics. You’ve got to find your way in the world and you’ve got to believe in yourself, and you’ve got to get through the hard times. That was the underbelly of our original idea. Never giving up. Never giving in.”