A brief chat with Pennywise

Brett Calwood — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 18:07:12 +0000

Californian punks Pennywise put out the Yesterdays outtakes album last year, and then went on a killer package tour with Bad Religion, Offspring, the Vandals and Stiff Little Fingers, among others. They’re coming to the Gothic Theatre on March 14, with support from local band the Wiredogs. Later in the year, they’re playing the prestigious Ink N Iron Festival in Long Beach. We spoke to singer Jim Lindberg about all of these things and more.C

Yellow Scene: The album Yesterdays is less than a year old, but are you guys working on a new record?

Jim Lindberg: We’ve just been concentrating on doing shows, and with all of the other stuff that we have going on. Hopefully, after we’re done with touring after the first half of this year, we’ll have time to hit the studio. I have a batch of songs I’m really excited about, and hopefully the other guys do as well. We have a US tour, a little bit of Australia, and then some festivals. Then it’s time to hit the studio.

YS: You toured with the Vandals, Offspring, Stiff Little Fingers, etc at the end of last year…

JL: That was amazing. I’ve been saying for a long time that I really wanted to package up with those guys. We’re all friends with those guys so it was very cool to get out and see them every night. I’m fully aware that people who like us usually also like NOFX, the Vandals and all of those bands as well. I think it’s great when we can all play together.

YS: Do you like playing Colorado?

JL: We’ve had great shows in Colorado. We’ve been coming there for years and played all kinds of different venues. It’s an absolutely beautiful place. There’s an active sports scene with all the skiers and snowboarders, and it’s a pretty wild show most of the time. We’re excited to be back.

YS: What can we expect from the set?

JL: We’re gonna mix it up with old and new songs. The Yesterdays release is a bunch of outtakes, and we’ll be playing stuff off that. We also have a cover song that will be interesting – our drummer Byron had the idea of doing the song “Loser” by Beck, to kinda represent the whole controversy with Kanye at the Grammys about real artists. It’s a shout out to Beck, knowing that’s a guy who has been an LA musician making songs on his four-track since the early 1990s. If anyone’s a true musician, it’s Beck. We’re gonna do a cover of “Loser,” and also “I’m Not a Loser” by the Descendents. I just heard some Wiredogs online and they have a very cool sound. Any time we can bring out a local band, it makes for a better show.

YS: After this tour, what’s next?

JL: We have two dates in Australia, we’re playing festivals, and we’re playing the X Games in Austin with Nicki Minaj. A lot of stuff on our plate, and then back to the studio.

Pennywise plays with A Wilhelm Scream, Teenage Bottlerocket, and Wiredogs at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 at the Gothic Theatre; 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood; 303-789-9206; $25.

The post A brief chat with Pennywise appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Riot Fest Denver 2014 was a blast

Brett Calwood — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:18:28 +0000

Ahhh, the big, national music festival. There was a time when I would have been the first guy to the front of the crowd for something like this, bouncing like a loon. True story number one: in 1996 I took an elbow to the ribs during a Sex Pistols reunion show that made my whole side turn purple, and I wore it like a badge of honor. True story number two: I sprained my ankle something horrible during a Stooges set at an All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK. I was crowd surfing, and the last dude didn’t hold on. These are the scars of youth. At 39, with a toddler and wife attached, I spent Riot Fest chilling in the relative calm of the VIP area, turning my head from left to right as bands played on the various stages. Honestly, it was just as much fun.

I’ll get to the music soon. There was fun to be seen everywhere though – from the olde timey circus sideshow to the many merch stands (the one selling t-shirts proclaiming “I love vagina” was proving very popular). Carnival rides and games, mini golf – Riot Fest has it all. Of course, this being a festival, the food was over-priced and varied greatly in quality. I suspect that my gyro combo platter contained pieces of forgotten emo bands.

But all of that is by the by, because we were all there for the music and, by God, there was a ton of great bands to be seen. Work kept me away on Friday, but my Saturday highlights included Detroit’s We Came As Romans (hard, heavy though very contemporary), Clutch (stoner vets still kick ass), the Descendents (the old punks played the Milo Goes to College album in its entirety), Social Distortion (so many great songs), and The Cure (phenomenal performance from the old goths – Robert Smith has never sounded better).

Sunday saw former Husker Du man Bob Mould roll back the years, the Bouncing Souls quite literally bounce, the Violent Femmes play a crowd-pleasing set filled with oldies, and Me First & the Gimme Gimmes plays a ton of funny punk covers including Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” I’m told that the Wu-Tang Clan were superb that night, and they could be heard all over Denver.

And that was that. The weather stayed idillic until late Sunday night, and the crowd was great. I didn’t se any idiotic behavior until I left the festival and saw some dudes racing trucks. Can’t wait until next year.

The post Riot Fest Denver 2014 was a blast appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Stiff Little Fingers Archives - Yellow Scene Magazine

A brief chat with Pennywise

Riot Fest Denver 2014 was a blast