Posted on May 30, 2010 - by Editor

Pennywise: Speaking With Actions – Part II

Zoli Teglas © Imelda Michalczyk

Speaking with the founding member of Pennywise, Fletcher Dragge for a good length of time, during which he quite honestly and passionately spoke about his continued ambitions and desire to carry on the bands message and renewed excitement in touring places for greater lengths of time than previously, Fletcher fetched Zoli Teglas for us as he thought it would be good to have a word with the new singer of the band. Zoli seemed a bit more busy-body than Fletcher, and hyperactive, but keen to chat. We explain what we had been discussing with Fletcher and wanted to discuss how he felt he has been adjusting to life with Pennywise and getting to grips with the material and the pressure. It seemed Zoli too was keen to chat about his environmental ambitions and more importantly Sea Shepherd. First however we discuss understanding the content of the lyrics and meaning behind songs seems to be important for Zoli in his new role.

Zoli: Yeah for sure, I have a dinner engagement with Jim (Lindberg) when we get home.

Steve: And how have you found it, the tour and dealing with the pressure. Has it reached your expectations or are you still anxious?

Zoli: Once I got the songs down I have been ok, since there are so many lyrics and my brain don’t work that quick, ya know what I mean? And the way Jim wrote is completely different to the way I write, so for the first six or seven  shows it was all about lyrics, trying to hit the right keys and then the show got funner, funner and funner. And then I got to get back to focus on the lyrics again cos last night I forgot a bunch of lyrics because I was having too much fun! It’s actually really easy and its fun and Fletcher keeps saying “stop being so tight and strict” so I was so anally trying to get it perfect on stage and that’s not what it’s about. It’s about fans having a good time.

Steve: That’s the impression I got at Groezrock.

Zoli: Being a bit too tight?

Steve: Yeah but that’s going to happen in the start.

Zoli: Yeah it was like my fourth show. The first show was like in front of thirty thousand people, the second show was like fifteen thousand people at home, (stopping and thinking)no that means Groezrock was only my third show?

Steve: Well as long as you have been enjoying it and getting more into it. And after this tour are you heading with the guys to start work on the record and hit the studio?

Zoli: Not straight away no, I’m heading out with the Sea Shepherd’s on a boat, we are going to head out on a Mediterranean campaign, the blue fin tuna is going to get poached to devastation and we are, and I don’t know how we are going to do it, but we are going to try and stop the blue fin tuna being hauled out of the ocean this tuna season.

Steve: I know you mentioned it briefly at Groezrock too, and Fletcher mentioned your interest in environmental campaigns, how did you get involved with that?

Zoli: Well I was thrown in jail as a kid when I was 16 and I had to work it off and I didn’t want to work on the side of the freeway, so I opened up a book and asked the judge if I could pay the 100 bucks for this book; it was about all these different environmental organisations and there was a pelican on one of the pages, pretty specific wildlife out in the Gulf, so I said I would work there and I have been there since 1984? (Thinking about it) So I have been rescuing birds that long and then I met a girl who worked for Sea Shepherds rescuing pelicans…

Steve: Sorry so what exactly is or are the Sea Shepherds?

Zoli: They are an organization that goes out and tries to enforce international law, so for example it’s illegal to kill whales but no one goes out and enforces it, like who is going to care? And there is a lot of money in going out after endangered species as the price goes up. There was a show called Whale Warriors, you can see it on YouTube. I think it’s been on for three years now on Animal Planet and they follow and get in the way of Japanese trying to kill species in the whale sanctuary. And now we are doing this whole tuna fish thing which won’t be so popular because people like to eat tuna, but we are just trying to have a species stop becoming extinct. Because what’s going on is that one blue fin tuna sold in the UK a few months ago for like £111,000, and as the species comes closer to being extinct the fish that the Japanese are lining up and freezing are going to be worth a million! I was walking along the fish market in Barcelona and I saw these little couple-foot long blue fin and they should be after seven years 16 feet long, 1500 pounds maybe? And we are also going to the Galapagos and between tours I’m jumping back on plane and boats and doing this stuff.

Steve: That sounds pretty full on.

Zoli: It will be good though ya know, and if the singer is shot and killed the cd sales go up (laughing).

Steve: With the band; learning the songs is one thing and understanding them is another. So as the singer how difficult has it been to transition from Ignite?

Zoli: Well I’m wrapping my head around it now. Now what I’m trying to do is make it my own style but these are Jim’s songs, I’m following his voice and vocal melodies, and when I write new Pennywise songs I try and keep the Pennywise mentality in the forefront. Like yesterday there was a girl in the front row with a Pennywise tattoo on her forearm and there are so many fans with Pennywise tattoos and the last thing they would want is for me to make this my own little deal, it’s about what’s right for them. And I’m a chameleon type of singer and I’m figuring it out so it might take a minute especially to write, but it’s going to make me a better writer. I never had a number one hit before and Pennywise has a bunch. They are big band and they have proven themselves as big song writers and I need to prove myself and step up my writing abilities to match up to theirs.

Steve: Are you excited about that?

Zoli: It’s a challenge (with a concerned face which breaks into a grin) I come out and it will be weird tonight as people will be “oh no”

Zoli Teglas © Imelda Michalczyk

(shaking head) and about six songs into it they will be “OK I like this guy”, usually because they are stage-deaf by then. No one has come to me yet and told me I suck yet, except for Fletcher, he tells me that every night (laughing).

It’s interesting and a big challenge and its fun. I think so many times why anybody would not want to do this? Like ‘Bro Hymn’, we were talking about it; it must be one of the songs that defined punk rock, it’s one of the themes of punk rock. Some soccer teams use it and hockey teams use it as the music after goals and stuff and people sing it all the way home, so it’s an honour to sing it.

Steve: Yeah I would say it’s pretty iconic. This is also the longest period you have spent with the guys in the band on the road, how has that been, getting to know each other better?

Zoli: It’s been easy man, we have our hotel rooms and we are not playing 58 shows in 62 days or anything so you can focus on the show and you are not exhausted. You can have people backstage and pay for their drinks and it’s really good, it’s nice.

At this point Zoli suggests he would like to catch-up after the show to talk about Sea Shepherd, saying he never does post show interviews  but would like to and also he needs to go warm up his voice. The next twenty minutes are filled with drinking a few beers and hearing Zoli run through vocal ranges, while walking the corridors backstage at the Empire (seriously).

Then after the show, one which went down pretty well by all accounts, the band manages to somehow convince the venue to stay open late, something I have never experienced at a London show and invites their fans to hang with them after the show in the bar. After letting a small swarm of well meaning and excited fans mingle and take their photos and secure their signatures, Zoli (who has been running around like a anxious host ensuring everyone has a beer in hand) is keen to expand on the work of Sea Shepherd and manages to find a corner and pulls into the conversation Steve Roest, CEO of Sea Shepherd about the plans over the coming weeks.

Zoli: We are going to be meeting up in a few days and go out in the boat.

Steve: Where are you going to meet up?

Steve Roest: I think the most likely is to meet up in Amsterdam and get the cheapest mode of transport down to Cannes where our boat the ‘Steve Irwin’ is preparing for the Mediterranean campaign.

Steve: Zoli you mentioned pre show and on stage about Sea Shepherds, tell us a bit more about what you aim to do on this campaign?

Steve Roest: We are a global marine conservation organisation setup in 1979 by Captain Paul Watson. Our mission is to defend ocean marine habitats and marine wildlife. We have operations in the Galapagos, we have operations in the Antarctica during the whaling season where the Japanese in particular from the end of November to March kill 1000 whales “in the name of research”, and it’s a commercial whaling operation. We go there and use sometimes controversial direct action methods, we believe where poachers and illegal fishing goes on we will go in there and actually stop them.

Steve: And not to sound too harsh but why should people care?

Steve Roest & Zoli Teglas © Imelda Michalczyk

Steve Roest: Well that’s an interesting question, why should people care about anything but without getting existential about it; we are guardians of the planet. If we can’t tend the world around us then it’s our fault when it’s destroyed, but also if we don’t protect the environment and you consider 70% of our oxygen comes from the oceans and you just need to look at what happening in the Gulf of Mexico, what else do I need to say? We are destroying it and use it as our toilet. The rainforests, if you look at Borneo, they are 98% diminished, it’s insane the destruction, it’s insane. We are an organisation that simply goes out there and does something about it. And it’s great to go out and stop those illegal activities.

Steve: And how can people help or get involved? Are you government funded at all?

Steve Roest: No we are aren’t but we get donations, and most of our donations are from individuals; we have some celebrity donors and high network people, the Dutch post code lottery is a big supporter of ours but really it’s the power of individuals and if you can give us a small donation, just give something, every single day the people that work for us risk their lives to save the environment.

Steve: What is the more urgent action you are going to take with the blue fin tuna? What does that involve?

Steve Roest:  Well the blue fin tuna is on the verge of extinction, they are the largest warm blooded fish in the ocean, and they are an incredible species and have been around for tens of millions of years. A number of leading groups have estimated they will be extinct within five years, they have tried to put a ban on fishing them in place but governments bowed under economic pressure and as a result of that they will be fishing 13500 tons which is nonsense, there is illegal fishing out there which means 18000 tons is more likely and if somebody doesn’t do something about it, that fish will no longer exist.

Steve: So what is it you are hoping to do?

Steve Roest: Well we are going to identify the illegal fisherman and stop them.

Steve: What do you mean by stop them?

Steve Roest: I can’t reveal too much (grinning) but when we identify the illegal fisherman, then Captain Watson will find the best non violent measures we have to stop the poachers and protect those fish. You will have to wait and see.

Steve: Fair enough. So from your perspective Zoli, you explained how you got into this, but what are you hoping to get out of this?

Zoli: Well it’s an opportunity to put my money where my mouth is. On stage it’s one thing to try and get everybody to sign up to an organisation, Sea Shepherd and I rescue sea pelicans but it’s time for me to get out on a  boat with them and I have never been cos I have been travelling so much and toured so much for almost 20 years. So it’s time for me to go an actually do the work. So after this tour is over I’m flying out and going to support all these different campaigns. Everyone is needed out there ya know, and if you don’t do it I swear no-one else will. Like what’s going on in the Gulf right now, there are all these pelicans being wiped out right now cos of the oil, it gets on them, they can’t fly and they drown. People are out there doing things to help them and I just can’t keep talking about these things on stage, I actually need to go and do it.

Steve Roest: He doesn’t do nothing, he does talk about it onstage, but he does already go out and rescue wildlife.

Zoli: I don’t do enough, I don’t. (Sounding angry with himself)

Steve Roest: He set this up himself and just does it and that’s what Sea Shepherd is all about. That’s why we say to people, individuals can make a difference, don’t just sit around and bitch and moan about it, go out and actually do something. Make a difference to the environment.

Zoli: One thing to focus, whether they are social issues or environmental issues, take that one thing and really pinpoint it and accurately focus on it.

Steve: And what you have both talked about, and taking the initiative and actually doing something about it that; makes this all very punk rock (sorry about the cliché).

Zoli: Exactly and one of the biggest things is if you don’t want to go out and do it, awesome, just give us some money cos you will find someone that really does want to. All these organisations and the people are risking lives and when I was waiting tables before I was in rock bands, I was working a day or two and donating it cos I was still at school and that’s what I could do. So if you do really want to make a change but don’t have the time, please do give us some funds.

Steve Roest: Donate online,  there is a lot of information and ways to get involved; global volunteer groups etc. We need people with skills, get involved with a local group, get known and let us get to know you.

Please Visit Sea Shepherd online.