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.
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Then please go watch our video of Secret Identity, shot LIVE on the stage of Austin City Limits just two weeks ago during the Battle of the Bands by Landshark/Rhapsody. Enter your birthday, and vote!! Make sure you confirm it and be entered to win tickets to an upcoming show at Gameworks. After you confirm your vote (through your email) you will get access to download 12 songs for FREE!!
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At the moment we're present in the Undergroundzine compilation vol.1 with the song Yes we tanned (It's just a raw mix)download it at the following address (copy this in your browser; access will be denied if you click on the link):
so youre currently content w your surroundings n your vague sense of accomplishment did you give all you had to give? or did you give conservative? do you think that all the years that passed you by were all well spent? pictures of everyday life spark memories n certain things pull triggers in your mind what would be different now if you were there rather than here? what passageways, what 'dreams come true' lie just beyond this unknown road? dont you know, the miracles in life they can be found n theyre waiting down that unknown road n so it goes, a few more cornerstones that could be yours
ever get the thought you were mistaken? ever think about the stones you left unturned? more chances slip away w every passing day you say your suffering out in the cold but i think youre just so afraid you mite get burned! wondering too long can take its toil, yeah n wondering can really rack your skull n wondering can send your imagination up a tree wondering what fantasies lie just beyond this unknown road
time is right now of the essence the time is rite to learn your lesson time is right now of the essence TIME IS ALL THAT YOU HAVE LEFT ! ! !
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