Interview: Thrice remain humble in face of success
By: Daniel J. Lehnherr - U-WIRE
October 8th 2003 8:11pm
A flurry of activity has surrounding the band Thrice since their major label debut and appearance on the Vans Warped Tour this summer, but vocalist and guitarist Dustin Kensrue hasn't forgotten that the music isn't everything.
Despite a video shoot for the single "Stare at the Sun," a week of performances in the United Kingdom, preparations for a national tour this fall and the constant media attention that has persisted throughout, Kensrue maintains an un-advertised allegiance to higher goals than commercial success. In a phone interview, the singer lamented the fact Thrice couldn't draw more people to a fundraising event for cancer research near the band's hometown of Irvine, Calif.
"To me, it's frustrating. We were hoping for a lot more [participants]," Kensrue said. "If people did more small things all the time, it would all add up."
Kensrue and the other members of Thrice -- Teppei Teranishi (guitar) and brothers Ed (bass) and Riley (drums) Breckenridge -- may consider themselves more significant as socially aware individuals than as a marketable ensemble. Altruism isn't a new concept for the group. Charitable organizations have received a percentage of proceeds from their two previous albums. Their third release, "The Artist in the Ambulance," benefits the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that helps uninsured breast cancer victims pay for medical costs.
"It [health coverage] is such a huge problem in this country," Kensrue said. "You're so screwed if you don't have it."
Despite the band's Good Samaritan appearance that seems to diverge from the famed philosophy of rock and roll excess, Kensrue denies the band is trying to appease any assumed guilt for their success. Rather, their activism is an extension of who they are as people.
"Not everyone can do any one thing. This is what we have to be doing," Kensrue said. "I think it also serves as a small model as to what you can do, no matter where you're at."
"The Artist in the Ambulance" is the Island Records debut for the band that released their first two full-length offerings on Sub City. Kensrue said it was a "challenge" to record the follow-up to 2000's "Identity Crisis" and 2002's "The Illusion of Safety."
"We're always trying to outdo ourselves. I think we've learned a lot about ourselves making this record," Kensrue said.
Writing the album was a collaborative effort. While Kensrue crafts the entirety of the lyrics, the other band members bring their own distinctive playing styles to the riff-heavy, rhythm-conscious music. Kensrue is proud of the complexity of the time signatures and structures of the songs on The Artist in the Ambulance.
A fair amount of screaming pervades the new album, but the vocal explosions are used more as a complement to the vocal melodies than on previous albums. Kensrue said the band's style has become more defined each time they go into the studio.
"It has gradually progressed. Melody is important to us," he said.
Kensrue demonstrates that commitment to melody on "All That's Left," the album's first single. The lyrics, which Kensrue rewrote eight times, sound almost apologetic: "One day the dreamers died within us, when all our answers never came," Kensrue sings in the song's opening verse. "We hid the truth beneath our skin, but our shadows never looked the same," and later, "We are the ones who lost our faith. We dug ourselves an early grave. We are the dead. Can we be saved?"
The theme of depravity and remorse is mirrored on the album opener, "Cold Cash and Colder Hearts." Kensrue sings: "They are sick. They are poor. And they die by the thousands and we look away ... 'cause we don't have time here at the top of the world."
His lyrics are often introspective and deprecating, sometimes obliquely political but never straightforward. Maybe that's why Thrice is a bit of a hard sell, because the meaning is obscured somewhere behind the words, or maybe it's because their music can't be easily classified in a pre-existing genre. Call it punk, thrash, emo, screamo or math rock, they really don't care.
"We're numb to it," Kensrue said.
Despite their success with their album, which was produced by Brian McTernan and mixed by Andy Wallace, Kensrue said the band wants to spend less time in the studio when it comes time to do another record.
"Next time, we don't want to push ourselves," he said. "We want to get back to more of that feeling when you first start out. It would bring out more energy."
Energy isn't lacking at their live shows, however, as fans reciprocate the enthusiasm the band has for the music.
"The fans are amazing. I'm really blown away by it," Kensrue said. "Two thousand kids just going crazy-it's the best feeling in the world to have such devoted fans."
Fans will have the opportunity to see Thrice this fall when they tour with Island Record-brethren Thursday. The national tour kicks off Oct. 17. Thrice went overseas for a weeklong tour of the United Kingdom in early October, and plans a tour of Japan and the United Kingdom next spring. The band has clearly come a long ways since forming in 1998 in the living room of Breckenridge's parents' house in Irvine, Calif.
"We started out as dumb kids starting a garage band," Kensrue said.
But those dumb kids, despite the media hype, haven't lost sight of what's really important. "The Artist in the Ambulance" has sold more than 150,000 records, accruing an as-yet unknown amount of money for cancer victims. As for the fundraising event near their hometown, Kensrue, still the apologist, would like to make up for this year's false start.
"Next year we're going to plan it a little more ahead of time," he said.
 (C) 2002 U-WIRE via U-WIRE
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