A Well-Oiled Machine

"When I stepped into the Pennywise situation, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, so I sat down with Chris Cornell, and asked him how I can step into a band that means so much to so many people and make sure that I'm not letting anyone down,” Pennywise's new vocalist Zoli Teglas cautiously begins. “He said to me that all you can do is be the best you can, give every song one hundred per cent and everyone who comes to the shows one hundred per cent — there's nothing else you can do. Everything else is up to the fans and out of your control, so there's no point worrying about it.”

Of course, there is the fact that Teglas is filling the shoes of original Pennywise vocalist Jim Lindberg, a situation that inevitably brings up questions of acrimony. So was Teglas' arrival met with reaction from Lindberg? “I actually rang Jim up before all this happened, to ask for his blessing, which thankfully he gave. I also had the chance to sit down with him and talk about what all these Pennywise songs really mean. That was fantastic, because when it came time to perform with the band I was able to go on stage with confidence about where the songs came from and how they should be expressed. And I think it turned out as well as can be expected. You're always going to have people out there who want Jim back in the band, but I think the way I approached things calmed down those dudes with Pennywise tattoos on their chests who were scared that this opera singer from Ignite with all these strange political views was going to come in and ruin their band. I've got to say the way the hardcore Pennywise fans have embraced me as the new singer is so humbling.”

Pennywise circa 2008

The great thing about Zoli Teglas is that the man speaks his mind, with frankness and without fear. So when Drum asks how someone like himself, the major creative force behind his own stellar punk rock band in Ignite, dealt with coming into a situation where he had far less control over everything from songwriting to merchandising, he doesn't offer up diplomatic pabulum. He tells the truth – especially with regards as to why it took the band so long to finish their new album, All Or Nothing, the first with him on vocals.

“Pennywise is a well-oiled machine that has been hotwired a certain way for twenty years,” Teglas explains. “Initially I didn't understand the Pennywise deal, 'cause I'm telling you, Fletcher Dragge is insane — he eats, shits and literally breathes Pennywise — his intensity is an amazing thing to behold. The guy should be running a prison gang, not being a guitarist in a punk rock band. Just dealing with him alone was a whole new learning curve. We went on tour and we were trying to write songs together and I just wasn't feeling it, it was kind of like a push-pull situation. Eventually, when we got to South America where we found the groove of each other, I finally told Fletcher to go fuck himself (laughs). I decided to do what I wanted to do because for the longest time Fletcher was trying to mould me into his little puppet. After I told him to fuck off, and pushed him off the side of the stage, we finally started to work well writing with each other.”

But it wasn't exactly 'all's well that ends well' for Pennywise and their new vocalist – they had to get through recording the album. And with some strong personalities in the studio, that was no mean feat. “When we went to the studio it was the most uncomfortable experience of all of our lives,” laughs Teglas. “I don't know if you've ever been in a studio with Fletcher Dragge, but it's like having root canal treatment and then someone throwing ice water on the tooth, day after day after day. But at the end of it all I think we came out with a pretty good record.”

So how much was Teglas able to contribute overall considering his status as the 'new guy'? “Look, Fletcher would always say to me that they didn't join Ignite, but that I joined Pennywise. That's fair enough, but my view was you have to listen to the singer when you're making an album because he's the guy singing the songs. I brought Fletcher song after song and he was scared that Pennywise would end up sounding like Ignite. If I would have brought him a brand-new version of Bro Hymn it wouldn't have flown because he didn't grasp that I could have brought something into the picture.”

This may explain why All Or Nothing, while still being a killer punk rock record, doesn't click to the extent some fans would have hoped. Particularly noticeable is that Teglas himself seems somewhat restrained and muted in his performance as opposed to the soaring, almost epic vocals he provided for Ignite classics like A Place Called Home and Our Darkest Days.

“Look, although I contributed thirty to forty per cent of the lyrics for the record, I was pushed a bit to dumb it down for this album,” Teglas admits. “It's a good and a bad thing. I'll explain it like this: I love Rise Against lyrics because they set out exactly what they believe in in detail, and leave no room for the imagination about where Rise Against stands on an issue. Pennywise lyrics, on the other hand, are more like a generalisation about staying strong, staying positive and moving forward – which is great in itself. So I feel that I reach people on the actual issues by what I say on stage more than the lyrics I sing. We bring up different organisations like Sea Shepherd and Doctors Without Borders and they come on stage and they're able to sign up people at the shows. I think Fletcher was very afraid of letting me loose on Pennywise fans because I'm very one-sided with my issues, and that can turn people the wrong way. But I must say the crowds have been really supportive so far. It's not like these guys are getting booed off or anything.” 

Always the realist, Teglas sees his tenure in Pennywise as a work in progress. While he's exceedingly proud of All Or Nothing, he's looking to the future, which he believes is very bright for the unstoppable Pennywise machine. “I think having got this album under our belts that it will be the next one that will shine as a collective force. That will be the real songwriting album that I would like to do. This band is an incredible force as a unit and I can't wait to show Pennywise fans what else we can achieve.”

While Pennywise is now Teglas' main focus, Ignite fans shouldn't fear — the band are still together and will be unleashing a raft of new material soon. In short, Ignite isn't going anywhere. “We've released a brand new live DVD that's been in the works for a while,” reveals Teglas. “We shot it in Leipzig, Germany way back in 2008. We've also been working on some new material that has come out great. We've got three new songs coming out any day now that people will be able to download from our website and then we'll be recording a brand new length album, which we haven't done since Darkest Days was released back in 2006. After that's done, we'll get out and do what we've always done: get out on tour and play everywhere we can.

“When I joined Pennywise, there were a lot of fans who were worried that the band would break up or I'd forget about Ignite because I'd joined this huge punk rock band. That's never going to be the case. I love being a member of Ignite; if I didn't I would leave. So don't worry; we haven't forgotten about all the Ignite fans out there. Hopefully we'll get back down to Australia to play some more shows, 'cause last time we were there we had an amazing time.”