Pennywise are a venerable institution in the Southern California punk scene. These four guys from the South Bay took what they had learned watching Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Bad Religion and created their own sound. Obscene met up with the band at Total Access studios in Redondo Beach, the studio where Bro Hymn was recorded. Surrounded by gold and platinum plaques from Guns & Roses, No Doubt, Husker Du, Sublime and Black Flag, Fletcher, Byron, Randy and Zoli opened up about their past, the present and their future. If you spend any time with the band, it's obvious that Fletcher likes to talk and the rest of the band don't seem to mind.

The Beginning
Guitarist Fletcher Dragge, bass player Jason Thirsk, drummer Byron McMackin and vocalist Jim Lindberg, began by playing local backyard parties and recorded their debut E.P. “A Word from the Wise.” The music made its way to Brett Gurewitz, guitarist from Bad Religion, who had recently founded Epitaph Records. The guys immediately got to work and recorded their debut, self titled album in 1991. The album was a hit in the underground and the bands fame began to rise. The song “Bro Hymn”, which was a dedication to fallen friends, quickly became on of their most famous songs. After the release of their second album, “Unknown Road”, during the midst if a so-called punk revival, the band caught the attention of several major labels but they decided to stay true to their punk roots and remained with Epitaph to release their next album “About Time” in 1995.

Tragedy Strikes
After several successful years, the band faced their biggest challenge in 1995 with the suicide of founding bassist Jason Thirsk. “Jason’s death was a huge impact on the band; he was such a huge part of the band. If it weren’t for Jason, I would still be just breaking things, he was the one that wanted to say something” says Fletcher “he brought the PMA, Positive Mental Attitude.” Randy Bradbury took over bass duties and the group quickly went to work on their next album, “Full Circle” and as a tribute to Jason, the band re-recorded Bro Hymn.

Continued Success
With exception of Jason’s death, Pennywise maintained the same lineup since the very beginning, something rare for bands these day. "It was a constant challenge" says Fletcher "it's like being married to three ugly chicks." “It's all about compromise” added Randy. “Fans make us what we are. And we’ve kept doing it because we love it.”

Over the next several years, the band continued to tour and released several albums. They had several hits with songs such as “Society” from “Full Circle” and “Fuck Authorty” from “Land of the Free.” In 2008, the band decided to try something new. They released their 9^th full length album as a free download through a deal with Myspace records. The free album was downloaded some 650,000 times, marking it one of their most popular albums. The retail copy went on to sell around 100,000 copies, not bad considering so many people had already gotten it for free. So why did they decide to release an album for free and would they do it again? It was for the fans of course! “We wanted to find away to give something back to the fans that had supported us over the years. We’ve thought about doing it again, but we wouldn’t have any problem releasing the next album back on Epitaph.” says Fletcher. “It was a way to connect with the fans” adds Randy.

After some pretty successful years, Pennywise was hit by another unexpected event that put their future in question. Founding singer Jim Lindberg abruptly announced he was leaving the group. “After 20 years, nine albums and thousands of shows around the world, my time in Pennywise has come to an end. Being the singer for this band has been an amazing experience, and along the way we made some of the best fans anyone could ask for.” For the many Pennywise fans out there, it was a pretty big surprise that Jim decided to leave. There had been rumors over the years that he didn’t like touring, but after holding down a solid line up for years, it never occurred to many fans that Jim, or anyone else for that matter would leave the band. According to Fletcher, “Jim had always talked about leaving the band for years. He was unhappy with touring. For me, recording and being in the studio is hell, the tour is the big payoff. Connecting with the audience is the goal. He wanted more time off for his family and to work on some projects” For Byron, “it was a surprise that he wanted to leave the band, but it was a real surprise that he actually left this time.” As Jim was the primary songwriter, many have wondered how his leaving would affect the future of the band. “Don’t worry” says Fletcher, “Jim didn't write all, the majority but not all of the music. Everyone in the band has written songs over the years.”

Since Jim’s departure, Zoli Teglas from the band Ignite has been filling in on vocals. They played at the Cypress Hill Smoke out last year and at the Affliction Christmas benefit concert in Long Beach along with Danzig, Suicidal Tendencies and TSOL. They put on a great show and based on fans reactions, no one seemed to mind Zoli filling in.

The Future
Since Zoli was sitting in on the interview, we had to the ask band if he was officially the new lead singer of Pennywise. After giving Zoli some shit about being the new guy, Fletcher announced that "Zoli is the new singer for Pennywise!, I’m really looking forward to having someone that wants to be in the band and is super focused and committed to the band.” While Zoli has been fronting Ignite for years, he told Obscene that “Pennywise is my main focus now. I’ve known the guys for a long time and I’m really excited about working with them”

After hanging out with the guys for a few hours, it’s obvious that they get along great and are really excited about their future. They’ve already started working on new songs. In fact, they had just spent 9 hours in their little practice space working out a new song. Pennywise has persevered for twenty years now and have overcome several obstacles and will continue to do so for many years to come. I can tell you, after spending a few hours with the guys and seeing how well they get along, I’m not worried.