Line-up

Venue

Razzmatazz

122 Carrer dels Almogàvers, 08018, Barcelona, Spain

www.salarazzmatazz.com/

Capacity: 1,930

View upcoming concerts

Pennywise biography

Originating from California US, Pennywise are a long-standing and politically-motivated punk-rock, skate-punk, alternative collective who take their name from a clown-like monster in Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel ‘It’.

Pennywise formed in 1988 and consisted of Jim Lindberg as the lead vocalist, along with Fletcher Dragge (guitarist), Byron McMackin (drummer) and Jason Thirsk (bassist). However, Mr Thirsk - described as “the emotional core of Pennywise” by Lindberg - suffered from an alcoholic relapse, and died on July 29th 1996 due to a self-inflicted gun wound, before Randy Bradbury consequently joined the band as the new bass player.

Pennywise have released 11 studio albums since 1991 along with one live album ‘Live @ the Key Club’ in 2000. Whilst the band were signed to Epitaph Records, their first album was named ‘Pennywise’, which promoted the idea of maintaining a positive mental health. Since then, Pennywise’s most successful albums have been ‘From the Ashes’, which charted at 54 on the US Billboard 200 and 4 on the Top Independent Albums list, and ‘Reason to Believe’, which gained rave reviews amongst critics and gained a rank of four out of five on Allmusic. It also featured the single ‘The Western World’ which was downloaded over 400,000 times on Myspace, and maintained a position in the Top 40 Modern Rock Tracks chart for 20 weeks.

The Californian band are renowned for demonstrating political and moral wrong-doings in their music, and have influenced many other well-known bands such as Phinius Gage, 4ft Fingers and Consumed with their hard-hitting rhythms and passionate lyrics. Pennywise have played alongside the likes of The Offspring and Sum 41, and performed at surfing and snowboarding concerts like Winter X, whilst their music has featured in video games such as Burnout 3:Takedown.

Having stamped their authority on the punk-rock scene with such a raw and distinctive sound since the late 1980s, Pennywise continue to inspire a keen following and demand a particular respect from fans and fellow-musicians alike.

Live reviews

Pennywise are punk rock legends hailing from Hermosa Beach, California. Forming in 1998 they have been touring the country in support of their highly influential style of skate punk. They’ve played at venues of all sizes, but are most known for performing on Warped Tour almost every summer in the 1990s.

Pennywise helped usher in the return of punk as a popular music from with the aid of The Offspring, Green Day and Rancid. They’ve influenced countless bands that can be heard on Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords or in your local punk scene.

With 10 studio albums under their belt there are plenty of tracks to choose from for a solid set list, but you can always expect a hear their favorite crowd pleasers like “Come Out Fighting,” “Perfect People,” “Fight Till You Die,” and “My Own Country.” Pennywise concerts are filled with rallying gang vocals, fist pumping, mosh pits, circle pits, crowd surfing and hilarious banter from bassist Fletcher Dragge.

Lead vocalist Jim Linderg is a true showman and knows how to lead a crowd and few punk rock singers are as interesting to watch as he is. As every Pennywise show comes to an end expect an emotional experience as their hit song “Bro Hymn” (a tribute to original member and friend of the band who passed away, Jason Thirsk) sends the band off to a thousand simultaneous “Whoa’s” from those in the crowd.

Anonymous