Pennywise is one of those bands that will never change. They are like the Iron Maiden of the punk rock industry: You know what you’re going to get–be it at their live show or on wax–these guys basically defined the South California hardcore sound and they aren’t about to add keyboards to their line-up or start mellowing out.

So when the band’s singer, Jim Lindberg, threw in the towel last year and left the band for poppier lands (see Black Pacific) it was safe to assume that Pennywise’s bulletproof style might get switched up a bit.

Wrong. Enter Zoli Teglas. The guy sounds like an opera singer fronting the pseudo underground, post-hardcore band Ignite, and looks absolutely nothing like Lindberg. Live, the guy dives around like a bat out of hell and lights up the audience with his vocal prowess. Would the Pennywise fanbase adapt? Well yes and no. Donned in the Pennywise uniform (baggy jeans, baseball hat, scowl), Zoli to the stage at the Starland Ballroom and plowed through a dozen or so classic Pennywise tunes doing a pitch perfect Lindberg impression. Sure, his pipes stretched a bit on singalongs like “Aliens” and “BroHymn,” but for the most part, Teglas just did his job and carried the torch established decades ago by the rest of Pennywise.

The rest of the group were tight as ever. Fletcher creates a wall of power chords as big and powerful as his frame. Byron is a spitfire on the drums, pounding out some of the fiercest punk beats this side of the Mississippi, and Randy Bradbury carries the low end of the rhythm section with driving bass lines on tunes like “Perfect Day.”

Haters can complain that Pennywise should have changed their name or called it quits after Lindberg left the team, but they wouldn’t know the difference between Zoli and Jim if they closed their eyes during the live set. I guess it’s a testament to Zoli’s range and the tightness of the band, but Pennywise isn’t going anywhere and the songs remain the same. I’m just looking forward to the new record to see if Zoli brings a bit of his style to the table.

Zoli Teglas circa 1998, Tramps NYC

When word dropped a few months back that Ignite front man Zoli Teglas would be picking the vocal reigns for Pennywise I got a excited. I was weened on both Pennywise and Ignite during my formative years (1994-98) and to call them two of my favorite bands is a bit of an understatement. While it is sad to see Jim Lindberg leave Pennywise, Zoli is hands down the best real singer in punk rock today. I don’t think anyone can match his pipes–he’s like the Bruce Dickinson of hardcore.

I got the chance to chat with Zoli while he was in the studio with Pennywise finishing up demo vocals for a new record. The first thing I did was mark out because I thought I’d have to pry hard to find out any news of a new record. Instead he was very forthright and excited to talk about his new day job fronting one of the biggest punk bands in the world.

So what does it feel like to be the singer of Pennywise? I assume you were a fan of theirs too back in the day.
It’s kinda surreal. I was at my house in Budapest, Hungary and I was trying to call a friend of mine in Australia, and I accidentally called Fletcher. So I talked to him and he told me that they were having some problems and Jim was quitting the band. He told me that they were going to be looking for singers and I should come back to America. A couple months later I’m on stage with them.

It just seems like it fits. It’s not like one of those things where you jump for joy, but it seems like it was meant to be. We have the same background musically. The only difference is that my voice is a lot higher and I write in a different style. The cool thing is that the new songs we’re writing are a mix of my voice and the Pennywise style of songwriting. Read the rest of this entry »

Good Riddance
“Remain In Memory”
Fat Wreck Chords
Notes: 2x Colored LP (Red, Blue), Gatefold, Limited to 1,100

Fat Wreck Chords comes through with one of the most impressive tributes to a band that helped merge the worlds of punk and hardcore. Documenting Good Riddance’s final show in Santa Cruz, California “Remain in Memory” is a top notch recording from start to finish, piling on dozens of memorable tunes and an audience that couldn’t sound more excited to bare witness to this legendary event.

Good Riddance was never the most popular band from the class of 1994, but they did their best to bridge the straightedge hardline kids on the East Coast with the melodic punk sounds of their West Coast brethren. They started their quest sounding like a punk band cut from the Strung Out/88 Finger Louie mold, but everyone’s eyes opened wider with the release of the band’s incredible split with Ignite and the one-two punch of “A Comprehensive Guide to Moderne Rebellion.” Those two records solidified Good Riddance’s name with the hardcore elite and catapulted them to indie punk awesomeness. For the next decade, the band pounded out record after record of solid music that educated without preaching. This double LP set salutes everything the band worked for.

The live show on the discs spans the band’s entire career over 31 tracks. True to form, Russ Rankin and company keep the patter short, instead cranking out underground classics like “21 Guns,” “Flies First Class,” and “Darkest Days.”

“Remain in Memory” is worth picking up even if you ever were a fan of the band. The set comes in red and blue vinyl and is numbered to 1,100. The gatefold splits open to reveal a nice surprise – a 55-page photo essay of the band’s entire run, including a short history of the band. The soft cover, coffee-table size tome is probably the biggest set of liner notes I’ve ever seen. Included among the live photos and press pics is a handwritten note from Fat Mike turning the band down for a record deal. Luckily he came to his senses.