Courtesy of Chapman Baehler During the past two decades, Pennywise has sold millions of records and left scores dazed and confused in the mosh pit.

Courtesy of Chapman Baehler Pennywise, named for the scary clown in Stephen King's novel "It," is on the road promoting its ninth album, "Reason to Believe."

Punk rockers Pennywise and The Offspring will headline the KJEE Summer Round Up on Sunday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Pennywise, named for that mean and scary clown from Stephen King's "It," has a new album, "Reason to Believe," the band's ninth. During a two-decade career, Pennywise has sold millions of records, influenced thousands to dance, and left scores dazed and confused in the mosh pit.

No more radical than asking fans to think and do the right thing, Pennywise believes that a well-informed citizenry is the basis of a functioning democracy. Then again, according to lyrics from the new single "The Western World," that part of the world is functioning about as well as a rusting Edsel: "This is the face of our vanity. The tabloid death of humanity. We take the best and we spit out the rest. And always leaving 'em wanting more (in the Western World)." Hate when that happens.

Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg, who doesn't hate America, despite what people say, had a few stories to tell.

What's the latest in Pennywise world?

We're on tour supporting our new record. "Reason to Believe" came out about a month ago and we have a new record label. It's on MySpace Records and we gave it away for free for a couple of weeks, so we're trying some new things, trying to keep things interesting.

Free CDs? That works?

Oh yeah, it went really well. We got a lot of people that may not have heard of Pennywise before listening to our music.

You guys haven't played any GOP fundraisers lately, I would assume?

Nope. You know, I'm getting less and less political these days. I don't really pay attention to the parties anymore. I pay attention to the ideas. What's best for the country — that's what I'm into. So it'll be an interesting race this year, I'm sure.

Is America getting dumber?

The cool thing about the punk scene seems to be that a lot of people are really interested and want to get involved and pay attention to the issues. I'm hopeful that people have the same goals and want the same things — all the ideals set forth by our Founding Fathers years ago. I think that's what everyone's interested in.

What about those who say Pennywise is un-American?

Anyone who says that is not paying attention. I'm absolutely pro-American. I love this country and that's why I get so interested in the issues. The un-American ones are those who are not paying attention to the corruption in government today. I want the best for America.

What about those who say all your songs sound the same?

Well, every blues song sounds the same. We add our own elements to each song and approach different subjects and topics. More and more today, people are haters, and you can't pay attention to them or you'll go crazy. So we just do our own thing and let them do all the talking.

Is the mosh pit kinder and gentler, or still the same?

You never know what you're going to get. It depends on where you are, what's going on, what day of the week it is and how much beer people have had.

Any memorably screwball shows?

Every time we play, something weird's going to happen — all the way from playing in our friend's backyard for two people to playing big festivals in Europe. We've pretty much had everything and in between.

DIY punk rock is now corporate punk rock: What happened?

It's unfortunate, but it's a progression that's come about because so many people are into punk rock music. It attracts a lot of people out there with a certain mind-set; whenever that happens, you're going to have people following the money and people trying to exploit that.

How do you account for the band being around so long?

Probably just sticking to our roots and doing things our own way. We don't change for any kind of trends. We play the kind of music we want to play and don't listen to anyone else. You have to stick to what you believe in. People can say what they want — like you said, the songs all sound the same, but we've been around 20 years, so we proved 'em all wrong.

Can you describe that magical power that music has?

A lot of times music brings about something deep inside of us that we didn't know how to express. Having it put into musical form with drums, distorted guitar, pumping bass and screaming vocals makes it that much more visceral and urgent, especially when you hear a song about something you believe in. That's why you've got so many people who base their lives around music.

Is there a little-known fact about Pennywise?

Probably that we're all very pro-American. Everyone is proud to be an American and happy to be living in this country. We just want it to be the best place on Earth.

— E-mail music writer Bill Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.