Interview: Thrice band members emphasize giving to charities
By: Stephanie Staples - U-WIRE
May 28th 2004 8:11pm
The rock band Thrice will open for Dashboard Confessional this Saturday at the E Center as part of the national Civic Tour.
The band that formed in 1998 put out their third album, "The Artist in the Ambulance," last July. Although they carry the hardcore/punk label some would be surprised with their mellow-values and charitable work.
Ever since they worked with their first label, Sub City, they have done charitable work, giving a percentage of the money from their album sales to a charity of their choice. The reasons they do it are simple. They want to give back and help others.
"The reason we started doing it is because we feel lucky to be able to tour and make records and make music," band member Riley Breckenridge said. "For us to be able to share some of our good fortune with people that need help seems like the right thing to do and if more people got involved we can start making the world a better place in little steps."
For their latest album a portion of the proceeds will go to the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment, which offers free breast cancer screening in low-income neighborhoods and helps provide chemotherapy and medication to those who cannot afford the expense of treating cancer.
Mark Beemer created this non-profit organization in honor of his wife who lost her battle with breast cancer in January 2002. Beemer is a good friend of the band. Breckenridge said the band likes working with Beemer because he is really dedicated to making a difference in peoples' lives.
"It feels good to be aligned with a friend and somebody who is totally dedicated and trying to make a difference."
In an article for Guitar World band member Dustin Kensrue commented on their charity work.
"The charities and stuff -- I guess that's just us trying to step beyond what you can accomplish with just music," he said.
When asked about the purpose of their music Breckenridge said that it was about having fun and pushing themselves.
"As far as lyrical content goes I think Dustin is trying to get people to think and look at issues a little deeper than just taking things at face value, and searching for truth and real answers," he said. "As far as the music goes we do what we do and have fun doing it and keep trying to push ourselves, and if that can affect people in a positive way then I think that's a great thing."
Breckenridge said he thinks the greatest strength of the band is their versatility.
"I think one of the biggest strengths of our band is our ability to share the stage with a variety of bands because we're incorporating heavy music and melodic stuff," he said. "We have a pretty interesting dynamic. It's cool that we're not limited and we're not just a part of one scene, we're kind of just a band that plays music."
Thrice is a versatile band that performs the emotions they are feeling. When asked if Breckenridge would consider Thrice an emo band he said that they share their emotions in their music.
"If emo is emotional music then I would definitely say that we are an emo band because there is a lot of emotion in our music and it's kind of what fuels the music," he said. "But I would hope that every band is an emo band because if you're faking it and you don't have an emotional investment or attachment to what you're doing I don't think it's really worthwhile."
The band has a mellow dynamic that sometimes differs from that of the hard/rock groups they have performed with.
"I'd definitely say that on pretty much every tour that we've ever been on we're always the most mellow band, we're always sitting around reading or dorking out on our computers or practicing our instruments or playing video games," Breckenridge said. "We're all really mellow people and really low-key. It's definitely an interesting dynamic."
Breckenridge said he is excited about the upcoming performance. The group will be playing mainly from their latest album "Artist in the Ambulance," including some acoustic music.
 (C) 2004 The Daily Universe via U-WIRE
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