Pennywise

Pennywise is an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California.

Influenced by the California scene and bands such as Bad Religion, Minor Threat, and TSOL, the quartet — Jim Lindberg (vocals), Fletcher Dragge (guitar), Byron McMackin (drums), and Jason Thirsk (bass) — plays fast, melodic punk rock with hardcore leanings. Their name, Pennywise, comes from Stephen King's novel It, Pennywise being the name of the evil clown who embodies the characters' deep-seated fears.

After releasing two EPs in 1989, Pennywise signed with Epitaph. The band then released its first album, which found great success with the “underground” scene and Los Angeles's “skate” crowd. The band from Hermosa Beach, California, went on to win over fans with albums such as Unknown Road and About Time. In 1996, Randy Bradbury — the bassist who has only ever played on Pennywise's studio recordings — replaced Jason Thirsk, who left the band in an attempt to control his worsening alcoholism. Following Thirsk's suicide, the band entered a strange period that would give rise to their best-known album, Full Circle, in 1997. In recent years the band has continued to tour while releasing albums that keep a punk mentality, without giving in to a poppier take on the genre.

In the summer of 2009, Jim Lindberg, the band's iconic frontman for 20 years, decided to leave. On 16 February 2010, the band announced Lindberg's replacement: Zoli Téglás, singer of the melodic hardcore band Ignite. Jim Lindberg founded a new punk rock band, Black Pacific. Their next album, All or Nothing, gave the band a chance for a fresh start and a new record without Lindberg's influence. On 29 October 2012, Pennywise announced the return of singer Jim Lindberg to the lineup. In 2014, the band used Jim's return to record an album, Yesterdays (named after a song by From the Ashes), musically closer to their roots, made up of songs with slower tempos and more basic riffs. Some of these songs actually originated from the band's earliest rehearsals and were re-recorded for the album.