The Hermosa Beach, California, quartet are punks, though they are positive rather than nihilistic, and thought-provoking rather than typically didactic. The band's upbeat-yet-laid-back attitude makes sense considering its surf-town home base is the party capital of the world, at least according to Pennywise's Fletcher Dragge. The guitarist is the band's resident projectile vomiter, recently aiming for -- and connecting with -- Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of a syndicated radio talk program and MTV's advice show, Loveline. During a June 7 appearance, an apparently inebriated Dragge also held Pinsky and co-host Adam Corolla hostage, barricading the door, claiming he had a grenade and threatening to kill the pair. Live, on the air. Dragge calmed down after the police came. No charges were filed.
But offstage, at home, Dragge is affable. He apologizes for the friendliness of his dog and volunteers photo albums of hilarious moments in Pennywise history. There's the time the band tried to play a backyard Fourth of July barbecue in its hometown and a thousand people showed up. The time the guys filled an entire hotel room with bubble bath on tour. And, of course, various passed out and drunken poses.
The Loveline incident notwithstanding, the four guys from Pennywise -- Dragge with Jim Lindberg, vocals, Byron McMakin, drums, and Randy Bradbury, bass -- pride themselves on being positive for the kids. At a time when politicians accuse the entertainment industry of trafficking in antisocial rhetoric, a punk California band seems like an odd ally. Says Dragge: "Music is such a powerful instrument. There are so many people out there that aren't really helping the situation; they're taking their power and using it in a negative way and instilling negative values on kids, [who] are totally impressionable. Why do that, when you could actually have a positive effect? [But] we're not telling people how to live their lives, we're saying, 'You can be this. You can do this. You can get over this.' "
Singer Lindberg agrees: "If you listen to that [pessimistic] message so much that you hate everyone, [or think] the world sucks, it turns you into a fucking shitty person. We want to be the antidote to that."
Though punk rock is generally seen as espousing a negative attitude, the subgenre that Pennywise fits into (pop-punk?) has always been a mix of humor and uplifting messages. The small oceanside city of Hermosa Beach was also the original home to Black Flag, the Descendents and the Circle Jerks. Pennywise's drag-racing punk sound obviously comes from its members' spending their teen years soaking up influences at parties, where most of those seminal groups regularly performed.
The band's fifth record, Straight Ahead (Epitaph), is rooted in West Coast surfer-skater party-punk, what with rough-and-tumble melodies on top of briny torrents of guitars. Swift tempos, a healthy bottom end and pummeling drums keep it heavy, and Lindberg wraps his voice around hooks. He never just screams, never growls too hard, which makes Pennywise damn catchy as well as urgent.
The album hearkens to longtime touchstones -- personal responsibility, resisting conformity -- but the band has outgrown dogmatic sloganeering, now offering metaphorical lyricism and encouraging independent thought. Musically, the best song is "Alien," the first single. Muted guitars and Lindberg's harmonizing with overdubs of himself build the song up and calm it down before the whole thing spirals into a full-tilt ending. Lindberg repeats: "Where are the aliens? We're the aliens." At the same time, Dragge peels off a quick, repetitive riff. It's the most radio-friendly and catchiest tune on Straight Ahead.
The band's songwriting abilities and steady consistency have paid off. After 11 years together, it is a top name in the underground. Pennywise has co-headlined the Vans Warped Tour the past four years, sold 175,000 copies and 220,000 of its last two records, Full Circle and About Time, respectively, and has routinely sold out large clubs on its own. Its success is a good example of how perpetual touring can win over aggro-punk fans and get them to buy records. Like the band's positivity, its work ethic goes against how punk is perceived by the public. Appealing mainly to males age 14 to 19, Pennywise is almost a stealth success. It is on a well-known indie label, Epitaph, but it isn't the flagship band. And without radio or MTV airplay, it has relied on lots of appearances on skate and snowboarding videos to help boost its profile to people outside of the mainstream.
Pennywise's rise to prominence has not come without suffering, however. Original bass player and band co-founder Jason Thirsk committed suicide in 1996 while battling a substance abuse problem. It was Thirsk who originally wanted Pennywise to be a positive force in a sea of musical negativity. Lindberg says the band continued after Thirsk's death as an extension of the bassist's philosophy of overcoming misfortune.