Style 43

Let me take you back to the days when real bands used to play the Reading Festival. When A.F.I could happily play a set without wearing matching outfits. Unoriginal and mainstream bands were few and far between, and every small stage was full to the brim with varied genres and incredible line-ups. Fast, energetic punk rock bands leading the way with music fuelling passion, excitement, and the general thought of not giving a shit anymore.

The Concrete Jungle stage at Reading was always the reason I handed over what was at the time, probably all the money I had in the world at aged 15, to a multinational corporation in order to watch my favourite bands, packed in like sardines in the pit, where the movement sprung from bodies bouncing around you with no one direction, no aim but to have a really, really good fucking time.

So when the new Pennywise album, “Reason to Believe” dropped through my letterbox a few days ago, the nostalgia fully kicked in. I pulled out an old mix tape recorded from a “Live from Reading” Radio 1 session on Mike Davis’ “Lockup”. After an incredible bill including Lagwagon, Mad Caddies, Aklaine Trio and BoySetsFire.. Pennywise took to the stage. A set that I will never forget, and for me, changed the way I saw punk forever.. that year held one hell of a line-up but for me Jim Lindberg’s boys were the epitome of the good time I had that year.

In their 9th full studio album since signing to Epitaph in 1990 and releasing their debut self-titled album, Pennywise have come a long way. I’m still shocked at this record. I find it incredible and I have endless respect for bands that don’t fade, this album grabbed my attention and got my feet tapping from the moment the first track “As We Can” kicked in. You can’t help but notice straight away, the energetic drum beats staying in true Pennywise style, making me think the rest of the CD’s I have to listen to this week are just going to bore me in comparison.

The band wrote over 60 songs for this album but only 15 songs made it on to the final cut, and each one is great in its own way. There is no low point in this record, it flows through magnificently and triumps over all the critics who say punk rock is dead. Two years on from their previous album release, Pennywise are still one of the most influential, hard-hitting, constant bands of the 1990’s punk revival.

“Reason To Believe” is being released for FREE download via MySpace and Textango but you can pick up copies of the CD on March 25th when its released via Epitaph. “Reason to Beleieve” shows a band moving forward, whilst staying the same, and its not often I can say this is a positive thing. The boys have it in the bag.