Thrice

 Thrice drummer Riley Breckenridge was nice enough to sit down with me for a couple minutes as the crowd slowly started to fill up the Shaw Conference Center for the night’s concert with My Chemical Romance and Circa Survive. We atlked about quite a lot, everything from their new album to their plans for 2006 and his Christmas wishlist. I’d like to thank Riley for taking the time to do it and John and Ron for setting it up for me.

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Bobby: Okay, starting with the basics, you guys have been on tour with My Chemical Romance and Circa Survive for a couple weeks now, how’s that going?

Riley: It’s been awesome. It’s been really, really fun. It’s been a great way to end the year. We’ve been touring pretty much non-stop since June. We’ve been friends with the My Chem guys for probably about three years. And when we met them, we were both opening for the Used right when the Used were starting to blow up; and it’s just been awesome to see them grow and be as successful as they have been. So to kind of re-unite with them and tour with them again and know that they are the same people that they were when we met three years ago is really cool. They’re great people and their crew is great and I just can’t say enough good things about this tour.

Bobby: Has there been any really memorable moments that have stood out for you?

Riley: Not really. The whole thing’s been cool just because we’re playing in front of really big crowds; bigger crowds then we’ve ever played before in Canada and just being out with friends and stuff – the whole thing’s been awesome.

Bobby: Speaking about big tours, you guys just announced that you will be on the Taste Of Chaos tour next year along side bands like Story Of The Year, Thursday, As I Lay Dying and Dredg, are you excited for that?

Riley: Yeah, definitely. It’s gonna be, again, a cool opportunity for us to play in front of a lot of people and probably a lot of people that haven’t seen us before. And we did two or three weeks with the Deftones before, so we’ll be out with friends. And the Atreyu guys are from Orange County and we know those guys pretty well after we did Warped Tour together. We’ve known Story Of The Year for a while. It should be fun. Like we talked to bands who did it last year, like My Chem and The Used, and they had a great time so we’re looking forward to it.

Bobby: You guys also just recently released your highly anticipated new album “Vheissu”. First off, you’ve probably said it before, but I’ve always wondered: what does the name mean?

Riley: I think the biggest reason we chose the name was because it’s not a real word. And we thought it was an interesting sounding word and we thought it would be kind of mysterious. And if you saw the name of the record in print you wouldn’t immediately think of a certain emotion or a certain theme or something. So the word “vheissu” could come to represent the songs on the record and the record as a whole. Then we started to do a little bit of research on the internet finding possible meanings for it, and even though there isn’t one concrete meaning, there’s a few speculations of ways it could be interpreted and some of those were kind of interesting. But I’ll leave that up to people reading the interview. Just search on the internet if you really wanna find out.

Bobby: You released two version of the album, one regular version and one special edition one with a huge booklet of you guys describing how you wrote each song – why did you decide to do that? Release two instead of just one?

Riley: We’ve always been a fan of doing the limited edition packaging and just offering something a little bit more than just music and lyrics. Because we’re all huge music fans, and especially listening to old jazz records, a lot of the old jazz records have liner notes where they talk about the recording process or the writing process, and as a music fan it’s a really cool insight into a record. Much more insight than you could get from just listening to it. The reason we did a limited edition package is because a) we’re limited by budget constraints and b) we knew that the people that were gonna go out and buy the record the week that it came out or really quickly after it came out were people who had been with us for a long time and we wanted to take care of our fans and give them a little something more.

Bobby; One of the things I really liked about the album was, of course, the artwork. All the mystical creatures and the questions splattered across it. Who came up with that idea?

Riley: It was actually done by a guy named Dave Eggers who is an author in the States and he and one of his partners put the artwork together. We got the idea because he puts out a periodical called “McSweeney” – it’s like a collection of short stores. And McSweeney eleven has a very similar cover to the cover of our record because we saw that cover and thought “Man, it would be really cool if we could kind of head into that direction with the artwork.” So we approached Dave and he was into the project and ended up coming up with the artwork that you see on the record.

Bobby: There’s also a rumour going around on your message board that you guys are going to be releasing an EP of B-sides from “Vheissu”. Is that true?

Riley: We’ve definitely talked about it. There’s one song that we wanted to record but we didn’t have time to. And thinking about it, it probably wouldn’t have fit on the record very well, but it’s a song that we were all very happy with. But it definitely felt like the odd man out. The other b-sides are things that have been like an online bonus feature or on a video game or something. And like we did with the DVD and EP that we put out last year, or maybe it was this year, I don’t know – I think it’s cool to get an EP of B-sides. And even though you might have them already, like on your computer or something, just to have them on the same disk, to have them mixed and mastered properly and on the same disk, is something that we’re into, so we’re going to try and do that for people who are into it.

Bobby: Like you just mentioned the “If we could only see us now” EP/DVD, I’m personally a huge fan of all the acoustic stuff on it, do you think you’ll ever release an acoustic EP or anything like that?

Riley: I can’t say that it won’t happen, but I know we don’t have plans to do it right now. It’s definitely something that we might try, I mean, time permitting and how our schedules goes. I mean, it’s definitely something that we’ve thought about, but it just comes down to where it fits into our schedule and if it makes sense for us to do it.

Bobby: Those acoustic songs were live at the Apple Store, do you guys ever play those acoustic songs live at big concerts like this or do you save it for the in-stores and stuff?

Riley: Mostly for in-stores. But like we did a tour with Dashboard Confessional last year or two years ago, my chronology is all tweaked, and we were playing some stuff acoustic and reworked “So Strange I Remember You”. That was the last time we played anything really acoustic in the live setting, but it’s something we might toy around with. On the headlining tour we did in the US with Underoath, Dustin was playing “Stare At The Sun” acoustic just by himself and at one of the LA shows we had a string quartet come out and play with him. So it’s something that we’ll try to do, but I don’t know how often it’s going to happen.

Bobby: Also two days from now you guys are going down to California to play the “KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas”. Are you excited to play with all those bands there?

Riley: Yeah, I’d actually rather go to the second night. It’s like Death Can For Cutie, White Stripes and Coldplay I think, and that night is a little bit more up my alley musically. I’m psyched to get to play. We’re definitely honoured that we were asked to be a part of it. We’ve got some special things planed that I won’t say right now but there will be a guest appearance, a couple guest appearances, and what else? Oh, and Nine Inch Nails are playing that day too which is going to be awesome to watch. We got to see them at Coachella when we played last year. They are just an amazing live band so it will be awesome to see them again.

Bobby: Since it’s getting near the holidays, like you guys are starting to play Christmas shows. Rise Against is doing a Christmas show here next Friday, are you excited for the holidays?

Riley: Oh, hell yeah. Like I said earlier, we’ve been on the road since June petty much and if you go earlier than that, we started recording March or April so it seems like we’ve pretty much been away from home this entire year and I just wanna go home and hang out with my family and my friends, and get caught up on what’s been going on back home. Just enjoy the holiday with friends and family. Relax and recharge a little bit and get ready for 2006.

Bobby: Is there any specific present you’re really hoping to get for Christmas this year?

Riley: I really want a Sirius Satellite Radio – one of those portable ones. Because I’m a huge Howard Stern fan and he’s switching over to Sirius radio so I’d love to have that and be able to take it on tour and listen to Howard Stern every morning while I’m on the road.

Bobby: Okay, when you guys first started, you were on Hopeless Records/Sub City, which donates a portion of all CDs proceeds to charity, and you guys are still doing that today with proceeds from “Vheissu” going to 826 Valencia, a non-profit educational organization. You guys are also working with companies like Shirts For A Cure, what are some other charities that you guys work with or support?

Riley: “Identity Crisis” we worked with a place called Crittenton Family Services which was like a home for abused and neglected children. “The Illusion Of Safety” we worked with a place called “A Place Called Home” and that was kind of like a boys and girls club in south central LA where kids can go get tutoring and be coached in athletics. And one of the coolest things about that charity was that they had a music studio and a music teacher so kids could get out of school and instead of wondering around the streets and getting into trouble they could go and be creative or further themselves in their education and stuff. “Artist In The Ambulance” was SSE which is tied in with Shirts For A Cure. And then we just started working with Invisible Children which is a charity that’s trying to take the situation in Uganda which is, in a nutshell, there’s a militia in Uganda that is abduction kids and forcing them into the militia. So it’s essentially kill or be killed for these kids. And it’s caused a bunch of kids to be displayed and it’s a terrible situation and definitely something that shouldn’t be ignored just because it’s happening on the other side of the country. Invisible Children is trying to raise money to make a safe haven for these kids and keep them out of harm’s way. There’s a DVD that you can buy and watch and it’s pretty much a given that if you watch it you’ll want to get involved. It’s a very moving DVD. You can check it out at InvisibleChildren.com.

Bobby: Yeah, I’ll definitely have to check it out. Okay, if you personally could tour with any person or band, dead or alive, broken up, still going, whatever, to tour with, who you would pick to tour with and why?

Riley: Can I choose two?

Bobby: Yeah.

Riley: *laughs* Actually, I’m going to choose three. Most of them are for the same reason. Zeppelin. Because I think it would me amazing to see that band live and I think they are one of the most important bands in the history of music and to be able to see them play every night would be incredible and to meet them and to share ideas. Another band that’s not around anymore, Botch. One of my favourite hardcore bands ever, totally ground breaking, totally ahead of their time. And they broke up a few years ago and I think it would’ve been awesome to tour with them. They’re definitely a huge inspiration. And then finally, Radiohead. Just because I feel like, for me personally, watching them play is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball or Wayne Gretzky play hockey. It’s a band that’s at the top of its game and they set the bar as far as bands go, at least for me personally. So to be able to tour with those guys would be incredible. But at the same time, people who go to Radiohead shows go to see Radiohead; they don’t give a damn about whose opening. But I’d just want to tour with them so I could watch them play.

Bobby: Now onto a bit more unusual questions that I like to ask at all my interviews just to spice things up a little bit. First of all, if you guys, as a band, were stranded on a desert island with no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?

Riley: Oh wow, I would probably say Ed because he’s got the most met on his bones. But I don’t think I could eat my brother, so maybe Dustin, I guess. *laughs*

Bobby: Now, if you were a member of the opposite sex for a day, week, month, however long you want, what would you do and why?

Riley: Play with my boobs. *laughs* Probably.

Bobby: Could you tell us something about the band or one of its members that not many people know about. Like a little quirk they do on the road or something like that?

Riley: I don’t know. We’re pretty good at revealing the deepest and darkest secrets of Thrice, mostly because there aren’t very many. But the answer I usually give to questions like that is that Teppe and Ed both knit a lot. Knit and crochet which is kind of odd I suppose. And then Dustin and Ed play Warcraft all the time. It’s like all consuming. I don’t even talk to them on the road anymore because they just sit on the computer.

Bobby: Yeah, I know what you mean. One of my friends has played it for 80 days now, it’s crazy. I guess that’s about it. Do you have any final thoughts?

Riley: I guess to anybody reading this, just keep an eye out in 2006, we’ll definitely be back. We’re gonna be all over the US and Canada on Taste of Chaos and I’m sure we’re going to tour next summer and I’m guessing we’re gonna be touring all of 2006 so hopefully people will come check us out. If somebody’s picked up the record out there, thank you very much, we appreciate it. And if you haven’t, I would encourage you to check it out even if it means downloading it because I want people to hear this record and I don’t care how they do it. I just want it to be heard.

Bobby: Okay, thanks a lot.