Jim Lindberg Rejoins Pennywise

Southern Californian punk rockers Pennywise have reunited with their orignal vocalist Jim Lindberg, effective early next year. Lindberg was a founding member of the band and, besides a year's sabbatical in the early '90s, remained with the group up until 2009 when he was replaced by Ignite vocalist Zoli Téglás.

Pennywise were due to tour Australia in August of this year, but had to cancel the shows due to a back injury Téglás had sustained early in the year, forcing the band to pull out of a series of dates around the world over the past couple of months.

Speaking with Los Angeles radio station KROQ, guitarist Fletcher Dragge said the decision to invite Lindberg back into the fold came after "a little self-introspection". He called Lindberg, who had deleted Dragge's number and had never expected to speak to his former bandmate again, and asked if he'd consider rejoining the group.

Fans of the band were shocked when Lindberg left the band, apparently closing the door on this part of his life, only to form a new group, The Black Pacific. The band made a statement supporting his decision at the time but have since revealed they weren't happy and felt abandoned.

As far as Téglás' reaction to his departure from the band, he is apparently more than happy to step aside and let Lindberg take the reins once again.

"He's actually happy. He's happy to get the hell out of here," Dragge laughed when speaking with KROQ. "Jim told me he was calling and saying, 'Hurry up and come back man.'"

In an interview with Drum Media earlier this year, one could sense a certain tenstion between Téglás and Dragge, with the vocalist comparing working with Dragge on the band's 2012 record All Or Nothing, to torturously painful oral surgery.

“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"

Pennywise play a show with Jim Lindberg at Los Angeles' Palladium on Friday 18 January, 2013. We expect the band to be back in Australia before long.