L.A.Pennell
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L.A.Pennell

Band Americana Acoustic

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Discography

-A thin line between love and hate EP (2005)
-All that's left in this crazy world... (2009)
-Ten years and running (2010)

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Bio

Luke Pennell was born June 15th, 1981 in South Bend, Indiana. He grew up around music his whole life and is all he knows. His father, Steve Pennell, played in the Pennell Hayes Band while Luke was a child. Through the early part Luke's life, the Pennell Hayes Band's music set the standard for the music he would love. With music such as Bob Dylan, The Band, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, CSNY, Blind Faith, and Neil Young being played all the time, Luke was influenced by the greats right from the start.

In fifth grade, Luke began his training on the cello. He quickly rose to the top of his class and played first chair in the Polk County Youth Orchestra by sixth grade. In eighth grade Luke was asked to play the double bass for a school sponsored jazz band. It was an easy step for him and opened his eyes to music that made playing a classical instrument fun.

But Luke always had the dream of following in his father's footsteps and play guitar in a rock and roll band...

Christmas of 1995, Luke received his first guitar, it was the same guitar his dad played in the Pennell Hayes Band. Little did Luke know how this moment in time would impact the rest of his life. Creativity started pouring from Luke. He began writing poetry to tunes he had in his head. He knew one day those poems would be songs, he just had to learn how to play that guitar. Essentially self-taught, Luke picked up the guitar, learned a few chords, and started making music.

By 1997, Luke had written over 30 songs. That's when life as he knew it was about to get turned on it's ear. Late 1997 Luke's family moved from the town he grew up in to Jupiter, Florida. At the time, he had no way of knowing how this would impact him musically. After a few months of really not knowing anyone, Luke started attending a small school in Jupiter Farms where he met Brandon and Joshua (www.jallenrager.com).

Luke, Brandon, and Joshua started playing for the school's chapel band. From there they realized that they'd have more fun writing their own music...

In 1998, Problem Solved was formed. They had various members, but those three were the core of the band. Problem Solved was a "skunk rock" (see Ska meets Punk Rock) band. The band was all about having fun and was a good stepping stone for all of the guys. In that band they constantly pushed themselves to become better musicians.

Out of Problem Solved, The Insomniacs was born. Luke and Joshua always loved the harder side of punk rock. This band would push those limits. While the band never really took off, it opened their eyes to what knowing their instruments better could lead to.

In comes Star Saved April. This band made a great run and had some decent success. Luke played an integral role in writing with this band. They were finally thinking about music as a career and were doing the things that could possibly make it happen. They played concerts with Chris Carraba of Dashboard Confessional, La Rue, and many other local and national acts. They knew they were on their way when their song, "Lost" made it on the radio. It wasn't long after that Luke decided to pursue other musical interests.

Luke started writing music with a solo career in mind. This is the one thing that he's always kept close to him.

Luke had a small stint as the frontman for A Satellite Heart who played with national acts like Denison Marrs, Unsung Zeroes, and The Young, but grew tired of it quickly.

Luke, Joshua, Danny, a new friend and drummer Travis, and Luke's sister Lee wanted to start a hardcore band. Boy oh boy did it start out rough! With a few lineup changes, Luke, Danny, Joshua, and Travis settled in on the name, "Know The Enemy" in 2004. Little to their knowledge at the time, the enemy was within all of them. After two years of creating a reputation for drinking, fighting, and everything that comes with that, Luke knew he couldn't keep up the lifestyle that this band was living.

Know the Enemy was over, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. Through that band he met Ashley, who was his wife of 3 years and mother of Elijah, the coolest little boy the world has ever met.


The summer of 2009 has brought a lot of heartbreak and motivation for Luke. Ashley left with no warning, taking almost everything, including Elijah. With not much else to live for outside of fighting for his son, Luke is now writing again and working toward a career in the music industry.

Be expecting to see big things out of Luke over the next year. With a full album in the works, recording and touring are on the horizon. From there you can expect to see him where ever the road may lead.