By Danielle Livoti
Thrice has a posh tour bus: comfy leather seats, tinted windows, wood countertops that look like the dashboard of a Mercedes. Then there’s Ed Breckenridge, bassist for Thrice, decked out in a beanie, a Coheed and Cambria sweatshirt, a pair of worn-in jeans and sneakers. His laid back attire doesn’t seem fitting for such an elegant bus. In a nutshell, that is the story of Thrice: four casual rockers thrown into a world of glamour.
Thrice was born in 1998 when lead singer Dustin Kensrue and guitarist Teppei Teranishi formed a band with drummer Riley Breckenridge and his younger brother, Ed, who plays bass. The band has put out three albums thus far, including “Identity Crisis” and “The Illusion of Safety.” Their newest album, “The Artist in the Ambulance,” marks the band’s move from the underground record label SubCity/Hopeless Records to a major label, Island Records. Prior to the show at Avalon on Nov. 22, The News had the chance to speak with Ed Breckenridge about the move to Island Records, his experiences with the band and his advice for those bands who aspire to follow in Thrice’s footsteps.
The News: Was it hard moving from Subcity/Hopeless Records to Island Records?
Breckenridge: Not really. Louis Posen [owner of Sub City/Hopeless records] had told us that he was down with us selling our next album off. Since Sub City is a charity based label, he donated the money that he got from our record to charities.
The News: As Thrice has been gaining momentum, the band still focuses on the community rather than itself. A portion of the band’s past albums have been donated to various charities. What’s the most recent charity you’re working with, and how did the band come about choosing it?
Breckenridge: It’s called the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment. We met the founder through Brian McTernan, who’s the producer of the last two albums we’ve done. We met Mark Beemer [founder of the endowment]. His wife died of cancer about a year ago, and before she passed away, they decided to set up this endowment for people who don’t have health insurance and need to get scanned for cancer or need payment for the treatments. It’s really cool. We have a personal relationship with him too which makes it awesome.
The News: Do you usually change the charities that you work with?
Breckenridge: How it works is each CD, for the life of the CD — like how long it’s being put out — it continues to raise money for these charities, so each CD has a specific charity that it works with.
The News: Thrice’s sound is also unique. How would you describe it?
Breckenridge: I’d say it’s melodic rock, with hardcore and punk rock influences, I guess. I don’t think the influences are just limited to that.
The News: Do you have a favorite song on the new album, “The Artist in the Ambulance?”
Breckenridge: I’d say “Silhouette” is fun to play live. It’s like a lot of things that I like about music. There’s a certain amount of energy, but there’s also a certain mellowness to some parts.
The News: What type of music do you listen to? Do you find that it influences the band’s music at any way?
Breckenridge: I think subconsciously the music that I listen to does. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of ‘singer-songwriter’ stuff: Damien Rice and Pedro the Lion and Jeff Buckley.
The News: Do you guys all have different styles, because there’s a lot of Metallica kind of riffs on guitar, or very melodic vocals, but then everyone’s style comes together.
Breckenridge: We definitely have totally different styles.
The News: When you begin to record the next album, do you think you will be experimenting more?
Breckenridge: We don’t have any songs put together yet, since we all write. We pretty much know that if any of us have a full song, its gonna end up being destroyed by everyone else and written into something new.
The News: When do you get the time to write on tour?
Breckenridge: We don’t really[get the time to write].
The News: Do you like being on tour, is it annoying to do the same thing day after day?
Breckenridge: I definitely like being on tour, but you miss home. When you’re at home so much, you begin to take things for granted, and when you’re on tour, you take for granted the things you have on tour. So the time you have on tour helps you appreciate those things back at home, and visa versa.
The News: Between Thrice, Thursday and Coheed ‘ Cambria, shows on this tour have been selling out. How do you feel when you see all those people out there going crazy for Thrice?
Breckenridge: It’s pretty awesome. As a writer, I think music is a very selfish thing. Like, you want what you want. But then you also want to share it with people. So you share it with people. When they love it as much as you do, then its like a special thing. Also, sharing the shows with these other bands is also the coolest experience.
The News: When Thrice gets to headline, what bands would you choose to tour with you? Do you have a say in that?
Breckenridge: Yeah. I’d bring a lot of bands. It pretty much matters on what schedules line up. We really wanna tour with this band Engine Down. They’re really good friends of ours. I think they’re amazing musicians, and they write beautiful music. Just being able to hear them every night would be awesome. Also Glassjaw, Darkest Hour, Denali, Majority Rules.
The News: A lot of bands have pre-show rituals. Does Thrice have any?
Breckenridge: I know Dustin warms up his voice. We all kind of stretch. We all walk around singing songs. We don’t have anything set, just a warm up.
The News: What advice would you give to up-andcoming bands?
Breckenridge: I feel that we’ve been really lucky to be where we’re at. Especially because we’ve never been a band that’s been like, ‘Oh, we wanna be a big band.’ Even from the beginning, all we ever wanted to do was just practice and play in each others garages and just mess around. I think it’s really important to keep that mindset. If you’re writing music because you want people to like your band, I think your intentions are wrong. It’s important to have fun. I don’t want this to be super clich
