Posted on: September 8, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Hermosa Beach punk rock icons Pennywise, celebrating its 20th anniversary, raised its collective middle finger in the air to the music industry this spring and did the most punk rock/DIY thing imaginable; they gave away their latest record Reason To Believe for free. In fact, 400,000 downloads of Reason To Believe were recorded during a groundbreaking, two week promotion that gave Pennywise’s MySpace friends the opportunity to download the whole album from MySpace.

Having released nine classic records in its 20-year history, Pennywise signed with Myspace Records this year and the promotion of Reason To Believe marked the first time a U.S. record label has provided an artist with the opportunity to offer a new album free of charge and the first time MySpace has offered a full album download with a worldwide push.

After rocking audiences during select dates on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour, Pennywise is now touring overseas. The second radio single off the Cameron Webb produced Reason to Believe will be “Die For You” and to back it up Pennywise will be playing a series of radio shows in the U.S. later this month, including Chicago’s Q101.1 Block Party alongside Atreyu, and Bullet For My Valentine on September 14. See below for full list of radio dates.

Marking the first time Pennywise has ever serviced radio with a second single from the same record in its career, “Die For You” is the follow-up track to the record’s first single “The Western World” which was a Top 20 hit at Alternative Rock radio and top 10 at several leading stations including Sirius Satellite’s Faction (#1 most played), KROQ (Los Angeles) and 91X (San Diego). “The Western World” proved to be the band’s highest charting single ever. “Die For You” hits radio officially on September 22 and 23.

The band will also headline the first annual Liskfest (www.liskfest.com) in Irvine, California on Saturday, October 11 along with such bands as Gorilla Biscuits, Strung Out, The Vandals, Every Time I Die, Rival Schools, Bleeding Through, Set Your Goals, Revolution Mother and more.

With a presidential election hanging in the balance this fall, now more than ever the world needs the fiery, call-to-arms that is the Pennywise sound. Guitarist Fletcher Dragge says the band’s continuing passion and tension is what makes the band not only tick, but it’s how they’ve survived for 20 years.

“It’s something that we’re driven to do,” Dragge points out. “Our message and what we do has effected a lot of people’s lives and so we kind of feel like we have to do it. It’s bigger than the band.”

Pennywise Tour Dates:

Sep 13 2008

8:00P

Le Festival Envol ET

Quebec City, Quebec

Sep 14 2008

8:00P

Q101 Block Party @ Devry

Chicago, Illinois

Sep 27 2008

8:00P

KEDJ Edgedest @ Schnepf Farms

Queen Creek, Arizona

Sep 28 2008

8:00P

Tucson Electric Park KFMA Fall

Tucson, Arizona

Oct 11 2008

8:00P

Liskfest @ Oak Canyon Ranch

Irvine, California

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