after years playing in local bands, lindberg joined pennywise in 1988 with fletcher dragge on guitar, jason thirsk on bass and byron mcmackin on drums. some of the members were previously alums from two south bay high schools, redondo union high school and mira costa (where lindberg graduated in 1983). in 1989, the band released two eps, "a word from the wise" and "wildcard", that attracted the attention of epitaph records, who signed the band a year later. lindberg left the band briefly after the release of their first album, "pennywise", citing the escalating violence of the l.a. punk scene and was married. randy bradbury filled in on bass while thirsk moved over to vocals. lindberg returned however to record their sophomore release, "unknown road", after the band's music was featured in a number of surfing and skateboarding videos attracting a less violent following. after they released their third studio release, "about time", thirsk left the band in late 1995, and was again replaced by bradbury. they had moderate chart success, with the latter album reaching the "billboard" top 100. it was hoped that thirsk would return on bass, with bradbury switching to rhythm guitar; unfortunately, thirsk died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on july 29 of that year at the age of 28. although pennywise considered disbanding after thirsk's death, the band decided to continue on with bradbury as his permanent replacement. since then, pennywise continued to record and perform, releasing six more studio albums and a live recording.