Thrice Interview - 10.13.2004
| Interview with Eddie Breckenridge (bass) Interview by Jason Schleweis & Jeff Marriott | 10.13.2004 | Chicago, IL | Aragon Ballroom  With all of your recent success signing on Island Records and being on MTV, how have your fans responded to all of this?They have been responding better than I thought. I think we are a smart band and we don't make any decisions that jeopardize our art. I wasn't scared about that happening, [disappointing the fans] I don't think we would ever put ourselves in that position. And I think people that are worried about our success maybe understand that now. And if they don't maybe that's something that they...I don't know, that's their problem. But how people have treated it has been great and I'm glad that the people that listen to us are intelligent enough to know that like...how they love our music is the same way that we feel about it and we would never want anything to jeopardize that. That was way to long, I hope that kind of answered it! We read in a past interview with Dustin that the thing he most looked forward to this year was thinking of new ideas for songs. Is Thrice already working on a follow up to "The Artist In The Ambulance?" Yeah that's what we were just talking about before you got in here! (Laughter) I think more than we ever have before we are agreeing on what we want to do next. It isn't specific and we really don't want anything to be specific, and there's like nothing written. We don't want to be like "oh we're going to make the album sound like this." I think for the first time we're really excited to write stuff and we really don't care what people are going to think about it. I mean not that before when we were writing we thought "ok what are people going to like" but we are really excited about experimenting and making an album that we are willing to die for. And I don't think we exactly did that on our last record and I think we've learned a lot from that. Like when we were recording "The Artist In The Ambulance" I was in the studio laying out my bass parts and I don't like that. It's a cool way to go but also I don't think it's the best. So we're all super excited about [the next record]. A lot of bands are starting to release DVD's with their albums. Are you guys going to be releasing a DVD anytime soon? We have been filming what we do every once in a while. We're probably not that good, but I think we might. Have you seen the Coheed and Cambria one, it's so good. A lot of the lyrics for your songs such as "The Melting Point Of Wax" are very deep, and philisophical at times. Is that something as a band that you relate to or do you just smile and nod when Dustin shows you what he was written? (Laughter) Well talking from myself, I think we all share a common understanding of how we feel about the world and things like that. When we first hooked up as a band I really didn't have that much in common with them. Like I skated and Dustin didn't skate. But I think the one thing we had in common was our views on philosophy and logic. And we love arguing...not like arguing with each other! But like debates and stuff like that. But no, I think a lot of the stuff he writes is stuff that we talk about or something personal that happens to him and sometimes he combines the two. We all do a lot of reading too which is where a lot of our expressions come from. Speaking of meanings the name Thrice is something you guys just kind of came up with out of nowhere. What would you change the name to if you could? I don't know. Nothing in particular just something different though. Something that has meaning to us, that's the only thing that I kind of regret. People always come up to us and ask what it means and it's like "well nothing at all really, I don't know." (Laughter) What do you feel is the best aspect of your live show that you think everyone should come see? Maybe the fact that people can see that we have become more comfortable with what we're doing. We always think of new things and change little parts of the songs so they are different from what's on the CD, so it's different what you hear live which is cool. And then I think just the energy and I feel that people need a visual too that's contrasting to what you hear. To kind of compare the two and really get more out of the music and just feel the emotion. We just noticed that tonight you opened but Friday night in Grand Rapids when we were able to see your show, you played second. Is there any reason behind this? It just has to do with how the Deftones set the tour up. Originally they were going to have us swap back and forth, but we know that Thursday is bigger than us. They have more of a fan base in some cities than us, especially here in Chicago so we were like "you guys just go ahead and play after us." Was this something you decided right before the show? No, no we decided before the tour began. How has the tour gone so far? It must be great playing with labelmate Thursday and the Deftones are just incredible. Are there any bands that you would really want to tour with in the future? Well first off the tour has been awesome. We have been wanting to tour with Thursday for a long time but our schedules never really worked out at the same time. I think Island Records just made it possible because Thursday just got done with their new record and they had them waiting for a while and then we got to get together for the tour finally. We have been wanting to tour with the Deftones for a really long time. They're real cool and as far as bands that I would want to tour with in the future there are a ton of them. But one band I can think of that stands out is a band called Enginedown. They are out of Virginia I think, or D.C. I can't remember but that general area! *Laughter* Awesome band you should check them out if you haven't heard of them yet. What were some of your personal influences growing up and learning to play the bass and are those the same influences you draw from now? Definitely when I started playing I was listening to a lot of punk rock. And only punk rock which I sometimes regret now. But part of why I started playing music is because I learned there are more important things than just punk music and so many things to draw from each type of music. Like the energy and how heavy you can be, there are just so many styles of music and just being able to share and combine those are the key to making good music. Stuff like jazz and rock and even pop music...that Justin Timberlake record is really good. *Laughter* But I mean I wouldn't play that exactly but at the same time there are melodies and rhythm patterns and different things you can hear in all that and I think all of that stuff comes through for our band when we write. Maybe not consciously but subconsciously when your writing and you set down and say "how does it sound like this" and the songs kind of just come out of you. In what direction would you like to see the band move musically in the future? I would like us to be looser. I think we made a step forward on the last record but I think a lot of our songs were really tight. Which is good but I think the dynamics between having a really hard and a really mellow part are important. I want to work more on that and I don't know just set down and be able to do our thing and just grow as artists. You're always learning which opens up so much, like when we first found out about pedals we were like "whoa, we can do all this stuff" and we could just have a lot of fun and experiment so I hope we can just smack some stuff around and see what we can come up with. Now you guys give a portion of your album profits to SSE free cancer screening, what made you decide to do that? Well we were recording with this guy from DP and he was working with a band and met this other guy Mark Beamer. He kind of knew him from the scene because he would always take pictures and stuff and they became really good friends. When we were recording out there we met Mark and learned that his wife had actually died from cancer and he and his wife had set that up before she died. And we were like well what should we do for the next album and helping them out was just like the obvious choice. For once we could have a personal relationship with someone that we were working with. And Mark is an awesome guy and so we decided to help him because in America if you don't have money for healthcare your pretty much screwed. And it's just cool to be working with somebody that you know and love and he has such a passion for it. He's always so excited about helping people and he even got Kid Dynamite back together for a benefit show. We give you guys a lot of credit for doing that too, especially in an industry that is always about just making money. I mean I don't know I'm glad we do it but I'm bummed out on it sometimes. I mean not bummed out on it literally! But we don't want it to seem like it's just something that we do so people see us and think "oh hey look what they are doing." I want it to be something that people see and think "look at what they are doing, maybe we can do something like that." I just don't want it to seem like we are just doing it to do it if that makes sense. And it's really cool because I am so lucky to be playing music so I feel that I need to give something back and make a positive wave effect if my music is unable to affect everybody. What is the most surprising thing that has ever happened to you, good or bad? I would say that just a lot of things have happened to our band that we thought would effect it negatively have worked out to help us in the end. A lot of record labels denied us or kept dropping us and then our van broke down. But all of these things that have happened to us have put us in a better position. When our van broke down we met this band called Tsunami Bomb and it's just like weird how bad things can lead you in a positive direction. And I am really grateful because I wouldn't even be playing music if it wasn't for skateboarding and meeting Teppei. I think just the fact that we are in the position we are now and I just feel so lucky. I am so grateful because everyday I think this could all end any second so I try to take it one step at a time. Do you have a secret rockstar obsession that you always spend a lot of money on? Rockstar...I don't ever want to be that. (Laughter) I have a problem with buying shoes, I buy like three pair every time I am out on tour but that's about it. It's not even that bad either. The last question is do you have an answer to a question we didn't ask? Is there something that you want all of your fans to know? I would say thank you to everyone that has been supporting us for a while. I feel that we are a lot different than most bands because of the fact that we're not a good band. (Laughter) Everyone that listens to us can respect each of our albums even though they are all so different and the people that listen to us give us the chance to experiment and grow. And I guess just thanks to everyone that has continued to support us and play music if you don't already because it has made such a difference in my life for the better. Well thanks so much for the interview, we really appreciate you doing this for us! Thank you so much for your support! |
