:: Spotlight :: Pennywise interview

By: Melissa Buttigieg

After postponing their February tour earlier this year, Californian punksters Pennywise are officially heading to our shores in July, to serve up a power-packed performance for their Aussie fans. Holding a special place for Australia in their hearts, Pennywise had even released a punk version of the 80s Men at Work classic Down Under, a few years back, which is always a highlight to their set each time the band plays here.

“When we tour a country that has so much character, like Australia has, we try and come up with something memorable,” said Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg. “I remembered the song from my younger years and thought it might be fun to speed it up, but the other guys thought it was the most stupidest idea they’d ever heard! We tried it and it worked. People actually liked it, especially in America. We just like doing something stupid that the kids like.”

This time around, Pennywise will visit Melboure, Sydney, Coolangatta and Brisbane, to the disappointment of Perth and Adelaide fans in particular. Lindberg says the band tries to include these cities in each Australian tour, particularly when they don’t follow on from Japan - but logistics get the better of them.

“Unfortunately we’re not 20 year olds anymore, with no responsibility and it’s a different world now. We’d love to go away for three months on end, but it’s just not logistically possible.”

Each member of Pennywise values the importance of taking some ‘downtime’ between touring and recording. “It’s important to come home and reconnect, make time as a father and a husband and also have some creative time. Pennywise is a band that will never be accused of touring themselves into the ground because we don’t want to burn ourselves out.

“We don’t treat it as a job, we enjoy playing music for our fans and don’t want to be fatigued on stage to the point where we don’t know what country we’re in,” says Lindberg.

He has noticed it is commonplace for bands to break up whilst on tour, because of the heightened pressure and tension associated with an intense tour schedule. He says the band have a lot of say with their touring schedule. With a wife and three kids to consider, he finds it’s tougher to be on tour for months on end, and so the band needs to really consider how to get the best mileage for their time away.

A veteran of the Vans Warped tour from its outset, Pennywise has taken a break from touring its line up in recent years.

“It was a great opportunity for fundamentally increasing the band,” Lindberg admits. “We were playing almost every other year and we helped create something great for our peer group and the skate/punk community. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was a bit of a grind and we stuck out against other bands on the bill. So we felt it was time to let other bands have the spotlight and stick to playing our own shows.”

With eight studio albums now under their belt, the most recent release The Fuse is testament to the band’s original punk rock sound, a formula that obviously works, proving to stand the test of time. Even though the punk scene has shifted immensely throughout the band’s past fifteen years, Lindberg strongly values the importance of Pennywise remaining true to its original sound.

“The scene has changed. Musically, bands have shifted somewhat, but we can’t anticipate what’s gunna be popular from one year to another and we can’t compromise our sound just because we’re not always on MTV,” he said.

“Were heading into the toughest time for the band, where the scene is changing and we have to prioritise differently. It’s becoming challenging to agree if we should change and it’s a growing argument, but we just stay true to ourselves.”

Lindberg acknowledges bands from his peer group like Lagwagon, Bad Religion and Social Distortion are still producing great music today. “The latest Social Distortion album is probably the best they’ve ever made. It’s inspiring to me”.

Lindberg also cites Alkaline Trio and Strike Anywhere as bands that are making a great impact on the music movement, with Rise Against “carrying the torch for our music”. “There are some bands out there like Hawthorne Heights and Matchbook Romance that are great bands and are getting their moment in the sun, but it’s hard to say if they will still be round in fifteen years from now.

Pennywise feels it is important that the band continues to make the music that is fun for them to play and that the fans continue to get into.

Lindberg maintains his love for our fair land down under, promising to be back again soon, so more Australian towns can get “more than their share of Pennywise”.

Pennywise plays at The Palace in Melbourne on July 18. Tickets are on sale now.
Check our national gig guide for other Australian dates.