He’s primarily known as the lead singer of Pennywise, belting out attitude-driven, in-your-face jams. But punk star Jim Lindberg has also made noise with his other band The Black Pacific, which released a self-titled album in 2010.
It’s been a long hiatus for his side band but now Lindberg, along with his longtime collaborator and drummer Alan Vega, have revived the group with a recently released album and a video unveiled last week that shows the singer having his “Best Day Ever.”
“I have probably two boxes of cassette tapes of songs I’ve written over the years that weren’t necessary right for Pennywise so I just figured it’s now or never,” said Lindberg, during a phone interview a few days after the release of the video for “Best Day Ever,” the latest single from The Black Pacific’s new 11-track album “Here Comes Our Wave.”
“I started the band back when I left Pennywise for a little while and I wanted to do some of my own stuff and get to play guitar and produce recordings and doing things my way. We had a great time with that band and I was itching to get back in the studio.”
Lindberg wrote all the songs on the record and besides the drums, he also played all of the instruments including guitar and bass.
“That’s something that makes me feel good that I could write an entire album on my own and have it be received well by the public,” he said.
While Pennywise is straight-up punk, The Black Pacific’s new album leans towards the more pop-oriented side of punk with a bit of a grunge feel and introspective lyrics. There’s even a love song on the album, which is a rarity for Lindberg.
“Pennywise has a pretty narrow target. We play very anthemic, inspiring, sometimes political fist-in-the-air anthems. Black Pacific kind of gives me an opportunity to approach other themes,” he said.
Although in the video for the new single “Best Day Ever,” Lindberg is walking through various catastrophic scenes, the song is maybe one of his most positive tunes. He describes it as a post-punk Nietzchean jam about the concept of accepting your fate and walking through life with a positive attitude no matter what.
“It’s the idea that somehow we have to love our fate no matter what it is. We can’t control things so you have to find a way to accept all the great things and all the calamity and chaos equally,” he said.
Just as he does with Pennywise, Lindberg doesn’t shy away from politics and stating his opinions on this record with songs like “I Think I’m Paranoid,” which is about senseless violence, terrorism, government conspiracies and divisiveness. There’s the track “No Fun,” on which he sings about sociopath dictators around the world who inflict chaos and violence, and he touches on the dangers of technology in the song “Here We Come” when he sings about the threat of A.I. taking jobs and eventually even replacing people.
“I’m a complete news monger. I read every newspaper, I watch tons of shows on TV, I listen to podcasts and so I’m taking in all kinds of views and just trying to put my spin on it and let everyone decide their views,” he said.
He penned a rare love song with the tune “Float Away” on which he sings about wanting to build a raft so he and his wife can float somewhere else to get away from the clutches of the modern world.
“The point of the song is hey, just you and I build a raft and float away somewhere to get away from the phones and from everything now that we’ve kind of made it through this whole thing of raising our daughters,” he said.
So besides floating away with his wife into the sunset, what is Lindberg’s idea of his best day ever?
“Oh that’s easy,” he said. “Wake up and go for a surf, get some breakfast at Uncle Bills, hang out at the beach all day with my friends and get some El Sombrero for lunch. And I would end it by hanging out, having a barbecue with friends and family and maybe playing some music around the fire. That’s a perfect day,” he said.
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