From the Ashes (album)

From the Ashes is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Pennywise.

Background and recording

Pennywise released their sixth studio album, Land of the Free?, in June 2001. The band promoted it with a short stint on the Warped Tour, a Midwestern tour of the United States, and shows in Australia and Japan until April 2002. After this, guitarist Fletcher Dragge spent three months writing material for their next album. In November 2002, it was reported that they had spent a few months in a studio, having completed 15 demos. In January 2003, the band began recording their next album; sessions continued into April 2003. Sessions were held at Stall #2 in Redondo Beach, California; Darian Rundall and the band produced the proceedings. They took a break from recording to play a benefit show in February 2003. The band took further time out when Dragge's father died; the album was eventually mixed in June 2003.

Composition and lyrics

Music and themes

AllMusic reviewer Johnny Loftus described the album's sound as punk rock and said it borrowed a "page from NOFX's War on Errorism, promoting an agenda of awareness amidst its fist-pumping, sun-drenched anthems". Larry Getlen of CityLink Magazine said the music was a "generation removed from that of the band's hardcore predecessors, with many of the drum fills and guitar licks owing more to metal than punk".

Dragge said the lyrics for From the Ashes were written as a reaction to Land of the Free?, which received a minor backlash from some people due to its political nature. He explained that following the September 11 attacks, "people were a little confused as to what Pennywise was about, because we had a lot of anti-government-type songs on that record, and people were feeling like they needed to be behind the government". As a result, they had a meeting and decided that they were going to write about what they "believe is true and what needs to be talked about and what we feel in our hearts".

Dragge said the album's title "symbolizes a type of starting over, and learning lessons from major events like 9/11". He attributed some of the "more heartfelt" lyrics to the band's state of mind following the September 11 attacks, and mentioned that the death of their former bassist Jason Thirsk was a "pretty profound moment" for them. The album's lyrics also covers the Bush administration's handling of the attacks, in addition to ideology beliefs, such as gun control, news media bias and government abuse.

Tracks

From the Ashes opens with "Now I Know", a skate punk song that deals with self-discovery. "Something to Change", another skate punk song, deals with boredom. In early-to-mid July and late July to early August 2003, the group appeared on the Warped Tour. On August 4, 2003, "God Save the USA" was made available as a free download. "Waiting" was posted on the band's website on August 13, 2003, before being released to radio on August 19, 2003. For the rest of the month, the band toured across Europe, which included appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. From the Ashes was released on September 9, 2003, through Epitaph Records. Sohum Shah of The Cannabist said the album contributed to the "resurgence of politically-charged punk rock recorded during the George W. Bush presidency", alongside The War on Errorism and The Terror State (2003) by Anti-Flag. From the Ashes featured a DVD with studio footage, live performances and a trailer for a forthcoming video album; it was promoted with multiple releases shows across California. On October 3, 2003, the band appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. They took a brief break as Lindberg and his wife had a child.

Pennywise appeared at the Smoke Out festival in November 2003, and performed at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas festival the following month. On New Year's Eve 2003 and New Years Day 2004, the band performed at Falls Festival in Australia. In January and February 2004, they went on a tour of the US; the January shows featured Mad Caddies and Stretch Arm Strong, while the February shows included Guttermouth and Stretch Arm Strong. On April 7, 2004, Pennywise performed on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Shortly afterwards, they played a handful of dates with Authority Zero and Autopilot Off running into May 2004. Pennywise toured Europe as part of the Deconstruction Tour, which lasted until June. They then went on shorts tours of Canada and Japan, and a one-off show in Hawaii. In August 2004, the band performed at the Moto Music Mayhem festival in Canada, followed by an appearance at the Holiday Havoc festival in the US in November 2004. They ended the year with performances in Brazil at the 89FM and Radio Cidede festivals.

Reception

From the Ashes was met with mixed reviews from music critics. Loftus said it was a "welcome, rocking return to form after some weaker efforts". Kerrang! James Sherry praised the band for sticking "rigidly to the formula that got them this far" as their "melodic punk formula is still sounding minty fresh and full of life". Ox-Fanzine Randy Flame wrote that the band "remain true to themselves and that's a good thing". He added that every track "live up to the criterion of 'catchy' and 'intoxicating, while Jeff Perlah Revolver said Dragge was "still spewing the kind of chunky, speedy licks that made Pennywise indie-punk heroes a decade ago".

Stuart Green of Exclaim! said the "14 tracks of exactly what we've come to expect. While that may sound like a band stagnating and unable to develop, there's something comforting" in the band being able to "put things in perspective". IGN writer Nick Madsen said that after being a long-term listener, he was "expecting the new album to show some signs of progression and sadly, it doesn't". While complimenting the lyrics for being "matured and seem[ingly] more focused", he criticized the structure of the songs for being the "same, the sound is the same and frankly, the formula is getting a little stale". Klunk referred to it as a "solid contribution to their catalogue", but acknowledged that it did not have "much variety, not much that breaks out of punk's stereotypical traits". The staff at Modern Fix held a similar view, stating that it features "very little experimentation in sound and formula, and you almost wish that Pennywise would find the motivation to put a new spin on things". Drowned in Sound writer Mat Hocking felt that with repeated listens, the songs seemed weaker than tracks found on About Time, Full Circle or their fifth studio album Straight Ahead (1999), "and as such you start to wish they had experimented a little further". Nick Catucci of Blender said in the context of Blink-182 and NOFX, "those bands bring humor and warmth into the mix; Pennywise still rely on pro forma antiauthority anthems". and number 4 on the Top Independent Albums chart, marking the highest initial charting album in Pennywise's career.

Track listing

All songs written by Pennywise.

Pennywise

Jim Lindberg – vocals
Fletcher Dragge – guitars
Randy Bradbury – bass
Byron McMackin – drums

Production and design

Darian Rundall – producer, engineer
Pennywise – producer
Clark Studios – art direction, design

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ Chart performance for From the Ashes

!Chart (2003)

!Peak<br />position

References

Citations

Sources

External links

From the Ashes at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
Interview at Punkadeka