BITE ME! Thrice Interview

Teppei Teranishi of THRICE -by Nikki Neil

Hailing from Irvine, CA., vocalist/guitarist Dustin Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge—collectively known as Thrice—were once one of Orange County’s best kept secrets.

The band got its start by playing in the backyards of house parties before landing their first gig at Anaheim's Chain Reaction in 1999. Thrice caused quite a stir in the underground with their ability to passionately convey their perspective in their music, and when the band released their First Impressions EP the buzz quickly spread.

Hopeless/SubCity soon caught wind of the post hardcore quartet. The label re-released First Impressions before releasing The Illusion of Safety. The socially conscious album was praised for its rebellion against traditional song-structure, and Thrice gained notoriety for their ability to create monumental music.

The folks at SubCity weren’t the only ones that saw Thrice’s potential. Island Records, a label with a reputation for signing edgy artists, soon came knocking on Thrice’s door. In fact, the band had many suitors but Island was the only label that shared Thrice’s musical vision.

The birth of The Artist In The Ambulance marks a new era in Thrice’s thriving career, as the album suggests a promising future for aggressive music with depth. Music fans that have grown tired of mindless metal have connected with the band’s music and Dustin’s lyrics, which contemplate the world and our place in it while weaving poetic layers of imagery and emotion.

The Artist in The Ambulance is a very strong album. I’m sure you are excited about it.

Definitely.

Thrice recently made the leap from indie to major - did you lose or gain by making the switch.

The main difference is that our record is available everywhere, whereas before it was limited, especially in Europe. Prior to this you couldn’t find our records in Europe, but we were recently there and we saw the new one in stores, which was very cool. That’s the main difference.

You definitely have the opportunity to reach a wider audience.

Hopefully.

Have your fans been supportive of this decision?

Yeah, from the start. When we first announced that we signed with Island they were very supportive and said they were happy for us. A couple of kids called us sell outs, but it was a very small percent.

What do you hope fans will get out of The Artist in the Ambulance?

I hope that they just enjoy listening to it. That’s pretty much all I can ask for.

Who came up with the idea for the different picture cards for each song?

Matt Maust and ourselves. He’s the guy who designed our record. He came to us with the idea and we really liked it so we brought it to Island and asked them if we could do it and they said we could.

It is definitely one of my favorite album covers. I like the fact that the story behind each song is printed with the lyrics on its own picture card.

Yeah, it’s definitely cool. It makes it a little more personal.

Where were the pictures taken?

Matt travels a lot and takes pictures wherever he goes, so those are all his original photos. I think most of them were taken in Europe.

What is your favorite aspect of the new record?

I think the album itself is a little more cohesive and it feels a lot stronger than our last record. I think the songs are a lot stronger, and I think the production is better.

You guys have always grown with each album.

Thank you.

Did you have more time to work on this album?

We spent almost two months on this record; whereas we spent eighteen days on the last record and something like five days on the record before that. So we definitely spent a lot more time on it, especially with the production. And, I think it shows.

I noticed that the band is still donating a portion of album sales to charity - how did the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment organization (www.syrentha.org) come to your attention?

The guy who runs it, (Mark Beemer), is actually a close friend of ours now, but we originally met him through our producer Brian McTernan. Mark is a friend of Brian’s. We just thought it would be really cool to help a good friend and a good cause. [Note: The Syrentha J. Savio Endowment organization was founded by Mark after he lost his wife to breast cancer. The organization provides early cancer detection, chemotherapy, and other medication for individuals who can’t afford the expense.]

What about in the past? How did you decide which charities to donate to?

It has always been kind of random. The last record we donated to A Place Called Home. Our former label president/owner found them and presented it to us and we liked it. And then the record before that we donated the proceeds to a child services place, which a local place in Fullerton. It’s been different for every record so far.

Was this an idea you all came up with together?

Actually SubCity, which was our previous label, is a charity label and every record they put out a portion of the proceeds go to a charity of the band’s choice. We thought it would be kind of silly to stop doing that just because we signed to a major label. So when we signed with Island we put it in the contract and made it a necessary thing for us to continuing donating to charities and they let us do it, which is pretty cool.

I think it is great that you guys made the decision to continue doing it.

There really wasn’t any reason to stop doing it.

As an artist do you feel the RIAA is wrong in its pursuit of suing individuals who download music?

I think downloading music and sharing music is a cool thing if it is done right. I download and share music, but whatever I download that I like I make sure I go out and buy the album. It’s definitely a really cool way to be able to find out about new bands. A lot of people found out about us through the Internet, which is cool.

Speaking of the Internet, I LOVE the band’s website. It’s beautiful. Who designed it?

Another one of our friends…his name is Dave Gorum. He works for a company called Eatdrink Media. He designs a lot of our shirts too.

So far in your career, what has been the most important lesson that you have learned?

Perseverance. We just try to have fun and kind of go with it. Our intent was never to become big and famous. We really love music, we wanted to write music and have fun playing music and that has always been our goal.

And now you have to opportunity to do it on a bigger level.

Yeah, which is very cool.

Are you on the road with Thursday?

Not yet. That tour starts in about a month.

Are you on the road right now?

No. This is the first time we’ve had a break all year.

What are you guys doing during your break?

I’m just hanging out at home and getting things done. I haven’t been home all year, so there are a lot of things I need to do.

You’ve been married for about a year, is that correct?

Yeah.

How is the relationship surviving your new schedule?

It’s definitely tough, but my wife is very cool and she understands what needs to be done. It’s cool because we just started touring in a bus and it makes it a lot easier for her to come out and hang out. She’s come out on the last couple of tours and stayed with us for a week at a time, so that makes it a lot of easier.

It sounds like the bus really helps.

It does.

I’m sure it is hard to get a relationship going when you’re on the road all the time.

Before this break we were literally home a total of three weeks the whole year at four to five day intervals, so it was pretty crazy.

Had things changed much, when you came back, or were they pretty much the same?

It’s still the same. But in regards to the Orange County music scene, I have no idea what is going on. There are new venues opening and there are a bunch of new bands. I have no idea what is going on.

In the past, what were some of your favorite clubs to go to in order to check out bands?

I used to go to Chain Reaction a lot. It’s kind of like our home venue. We kind of got our start there and played our first shows there, so it’s our local favorite.

What influences shaped you as a musician?

I’ve always been around music. I played piano at an early age. When I was a kid I liked metal—Metallica, Pantera, Skid Row—I was into that kind of stuff. As far as the band goes, I think our roots are definitely in punk. But, now we all listen to different kinds of music, so I really don’t know what our influences are now.

You mentioned that you play the piano. Is there any one instrument that you don’t play very well, or are you just musically inclined?

I actually just got a violin the other day, and I have no idea how to play it. I’m terrible. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m in a parking lot outside a music store and I’m going to buy a “How to Play Violin” book so I can teach myself.

So there’s a possibility that we may hear you playing the violin on a future album?

I hope so. That would be very cool. I would really love to learn how to play it.

If nothing else you could do the Jimmy Page thing and play the guitar with your violin bow.

That would be cool too.

Do you have any other musical projects outside the band?

Not really. This band takes up so much of my time that I hardly have time to do anything else.

So if you were to form a side band would it be similar to what you are doing with Thrice or would it be entirely different?

If I were to ever do that it would be completely different. There would be no point in making music that sounded like Thrice if it wasn’t Thrice.

Are you still skating?

I don’t do it too much any more. I actually went skating the other night and it was the first time in years. It was fun. I’ve had a skateboard the whole time, and I ride it once in awhile, but I haven’t actually gone out and skated. It was fun. I suck now. It’s kind of frustrating, but whatever.

When you are on the Warped tour, did you watch the pro skaters do their thing?

I watched them a couple of times.

Is there any particular person that you feel really stands out?

Steve Cavalero was there for a few days, which was cool because he is like a legend.

What has been your wildest experience on the road?

We are a really mellow band. We don’t really see anything that is too crazy. I think that being on the road in general is really cool. I was just in Europe. I traveled all around Europe and got paid for it. I got to play shows in front of all these different people. I feel very blessed to have that opportunity.

That is so awesome.

It’s really amazing.

Aside from the Thursday tour what else is lined up for the rest of the year?

After our break is over we’ll be heading back to the U.K. to do a week’s worth of shows, and then when we come back we’ll head out on the Thursday tour. Then that tour will meet up with The Deftones and we’ll be playing two and a half weeks with them and then that is about it for now. Now that will go up until December, so that pretty much fills the year

Is there anything else that you would like to add.

I just want to say thank you to anyone that has listened to us and supported us and has come to our shows.

Be sure to check out Thrice’s cool website at www.thrice.net