New York had the Ramones. Los Angeles has PENNYWISE, the most significant hardcore band to emerge from SoCal punk’s second wave. As it celebrates it 20th anniversary, the Hermosa Beach band is doing things its own way, taking on a brave new world by linking up with MySpace Records and offering its latest album, REASON TO BELIEVE free to fans for two weeks. Starting on March 25, P-Dub fans can grab a high-quality download of the Cameron Webb-produced, 14-track album, arguably the band’s fiercest record in a decade. Not surprising from a band that has always forged its own destiny, it’s an Internet first--marking the first time a U.S. record label has provided an artist with the opportunity to offer a new album free of charge and the first time MySpace has offered a full album download with a worldwide push.
PENNYWISE formed in 1988, when punk couldn’t be less popular and hair bands were a sign o’ the times. Its four members quickly developed a style entirely their own--a tsunami of California hardcore, melodic surf punk and optimistic anthems that went against the seek-and-destroy ethos of its era. PENNYWISE garnered a nationwide following through constant touring--they’ve done the Vans Warped Tour so many times they’ve got permanent road rash--as well as numerous snowboard, skate and surf videos. After nine albums, PENNYWISE is best-known for its pounding rant “Fuck Authority,” searing soul-searcher “Alien,” and their ode to brotherhood, “Bro Hymn,” an autobiographical song that pays tribute to its founding bass player, Jason Thirsk, who committed suicide in 1996. Currently, the new single “The Western World” is the most requested song on KROQ 106.7, L.A.’s No. 1 modern rock station and already in heavy rotation.
Despite the early loss of Thirsk, the union of vocalist JIM LINDBERG, guitarist FLETCHER DRAGGE and drummer BYRON McMACKIN, high school friends from Hermosa, ran too deep to quit while they were ahead and they signed on bassist RANDY BRADBURY and continued putting out albums that went straight for the American jugular--politically-charged, culturally relevant, unflinchingly honest and consummately independent.
Among the band’s studio albums are its eponymous Epitaph debut (1991) and 1993’s Unknown Road, which revealed the full potency of what they had to offer. Before recording its third album in early 1995, PENNYWISE was hit up by the majors. It was, after all, hot on the heels of the “year punk broke,” but the band stayed true to its roots and remained on SoCal’s independent Epitaph Records. The resulting album, About Time, remains till this day one of the greatest punk records of all time.
By 1996, when PENNYWISE was recording its fourth album, Thirsk took time off to deal with alcohol addiction but tragically, he never came back. He died July 29, 1996, eight years after the band’s inception. The albums that followed--Full Circle (1997), Straight Ahead (1999), Land of the Free (2001), From the Ashes 2003 and The Fuse (2005)--revealed a band that just got harder and more political over time, as the world of music got softer and less interested.
With REASON TO BELIEVE, hardcore fans and newcomers alike will see first hand that punk bands may come and go, but Pennywise is forever.
Greetings. I just wanted to thank you for your continued support and invite you to have a first listen on myspace to the tracks off the new EP "Monster & Minstrel" due out later this month. Bright stars to you! Ahmond
Acá pasamos a dejar una invitación, después de 15años Café Tacvba regresa en concierto aqui en Tabasco, una gran producción, un buen show y mucho desmadre. Caiganle. Saludos y buena vibra desde el sur. Siempre pa adelante, lo mejor!!!
Just wanted to keep you in the loop, and tell you that you can get tons of exclusive stuff! We're talking about videoss, photos, bonus mp3's, set lists, and so much more
Man's Lazy Vacation I was enjoying the second week of a two-week vacation the same way I had enjoyed the first week: by doing as little as possible. I ignored my wife's not-so-subtle hints about completing certain jobs around the house, but I didn't realize how much this bothered her until the clothes dryer refused to work, the iron shorted and the sewing machine motor burned out in the middle of a seam. The final straw came when she plugged in the vacuum cleaner and nothing happened. She looked so stricken that I had to offer some consolation. "That's okay, honey," I said. "You still have me." She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Yes," she wailed, "but you don't work either!" Read more funny jokes at www.mebefunny.blogspot.com
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