PENNYWISE AND MYSPACE GIVE FANS REASON TO BELIEVE FOR FREE

Pennywise talk about signing to MySpace Records and why they decided to release their new album ‘Reason to Belive’ as a free download for their fans.

Pennywise, who have defined Southern California Punk Rock music and who have sold over 3 million albums worldwide, have joined forces with MySpace Records to release their upcoming album, ‘Reason to Believe.’ The album, which will be released on March 25th, will also be released for free via MySpace as a high quality DRM-free 320 kbps MP3 download for two weeks. The first single, ‘Something to Live For’ was also available for download as the MySpace ‘Single of the Week’ and after many successful years on Epitaph Records, Pennywise thought it was time for a change so they signed with MySpace Records.

We caught up with vocalist Jim Lindberg and drummer Byron McMackin to find out if it was an easy decision parting ways with Epitaph after so many great years together.

“Yeah it was an easy decision in the idea that we were ready for something new. We’ve been with the label for a long time and it’s been great. Epitaph is the best label around but I think we were both ready to do something new and Myspace came along at the right time. It’s a really great tool for us to be able to get the music out there to people that might not have necessarily had access to it in the past because MySpace goes so many places and different countries. And now being able to download the music for free it even opens us up to a bigger group of people that might not have the ability to get music on their street corner or have the funds to do so. So, in that way it was an easy choice to make.”

So in a day and age when record sales are dismal and the major labels are trying hard to catch up with technology, Pennywise decided to release their album as a free download via MySpace for two weeks, beginning March 25th. But true fans of high quality CD’s with graphics and artwork will also be pleased to know the band will also be releasing a CD with bonus tracks for their hard core fans as well. On the same day ‘Reason to Believe’ is released as a free digital download, Pennywise and MySpace Records will also release a high quality CD version of the album to retail outlets for sale, containing the same songs as the downloadable version. On April 8th, the band will also be releasing a limited edition double vinyl version with two bonus tracks as well. We also talked with Pennywise about creating a little hype with the release of ‘Reason to Believe.’

“When you get the CD, it’s like one or two extra tracks on there and artwork and everything so you know, it’s just trying something different. Trying something new and create a little hype. They’re giving us the tools to do that and we’re looking forward to hopefully getting people excited and giving it away to our fans and other people as well. I mean hopefully, for our fans it’s cool because we’ve done 8 records and I guess this is the ninth or we’ve done nine I think, so it’s kind of giving something back and also other people can go get something for free and if they like it maybe they’ll become a fan.”

To download the free, 320 kbps version of ‘Reason to Believe’ fans simply have to add promotional partner Textango (myspace.com/textango) as a MySpace friend on their MySpace page (anyone can create an account for free) anytime before April 7th, 2008. Users who have added the profile before March 25th will all receive the album in their MySpace inbox on March 25th. Pennywise will be making a national television performance on Fuel TV’s ‘The Daily Habit’ in early April and you can expect the band to announce a run tour dates in support of ‘Reason to Believe’ in the coming weeks.