Pennywise

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.

Consisting of brothers Toby Morse (lead vocals) and Todd Morse, alongside rusty pistachio (guitars,vocals), Todd Friend (drums, percussion) and Adam Blake, (bass), H2O began after Toby, a Sick Of It All roadie, decided to form his own band, desiring a taste of the spotlight. The band toured relentlessly up and down the East Coast, supporting the likes of Rancid, No Doubt and Social Distortion. Released independently, "H2O" (1996), "Thicker Than Water" (1997) and "F.T.T.W." (1999) helped to raise the band's profile and in 2000, Five years of hard work paid off, and the band signed to major label, MCA Records.

Major debut, "Go" arrived in 2001, followed by appearances on Warped Tour. H2O travelled to Europe in 2005, for a wide scale tour, before returning to the US for shows with The Used, Pennywise and Dropkick Murphys. A fifth record, "Nothing to Prove," was released in 2008, with the release supported by worldwide tours, performing at major UK festival, Reading and Leeds.

In 2011, H2O decided to pay respect to their influences, recording a 15-track cover album, "Don't Forget Your Roots." It was not until 2013 that an album of new material began to surface, with recording for "Was Here" put on hold due to touring commitments alongside New Found Glory and Alkaline Trio.