Thrice Band • Page 27

I'm truly sorry you missed out on their tours together. 2007 with mewithoutYou opening is hands down my favorite show I've ever been to.

 

And I was at that exact same show too. Still the best show I've seen to this date too.

 

I can only imagine how amazing that would be. That's as strong a lineup as you can get.

 

It truly was a spectacle. That was my first time seeing any band on that bill. So that made it even more special. It was crazy because mewithoutYou just put on a hell of a show. And they were the first band to play that night. Somehow each Thrice and then Brand New managed to raise the bar.

Every show I go to now, I can't help but compare it to that experience. Everything was perfect. From the venue to the lights. Hell, even the tour poster remains one of my favorites to this day.

 

Funny story, I was living in Europe when this tour made its way through Chicago, and was super pissed that i would be missing it because they were three of my favorite bands at the time. But they were playing in Cleveland a few days after I moved back. So I convinced a friend to drive to Cleveland with me to see the show. Being the idiot that I am, I never once considered that Cleveland and Chicago might not be in the same time zone. As a result, I missed mwY entirely and I walked in just as Thrice opened with Artist. I have been irrationally angry at Cleveland ever since.

 

I love that tour poster

 

I think I'm finished! For those of you who watched my first draft, I added Dust of Nations and Broken Lungs, all while cutting it down a couple minutes. Thanks for the feedback!

 

Beginning to come around on Everywhere. It's definitely a Thrice record, it sounds like them, it's done well too, I just wish they took a few more risks on this album.

 

Flames will rise and devour me
Oh, to breathe in fire and know I'm free
Know I'm free!

The ending to Firebreather is just so damn good. Fuck.

 

No argument here! Probably my favorite album opener.

 

I've only seen this cover/artwork one other time before, and I think I remember it being a promo cover for The Artist In The Ambulance. Anyone else seen this before?

 

Nope, but that's pretty awesome.

 

I own it

Track list:
1. Eclipse
2. Motion isn't meaning
3. Stare at the sun (acoustic)
4. Cold cash colder hearts live at the Apple Store
5. The artist in the ambulance live at the Apple Store

 

It's so weird to see those Face to Face shows as I went to at least 6 of them. The Face to Face fans didn't react AT ALL to Thrice.

It's also interesting to watch their stage presence evolve.

 

I don't know if we've talked about this but during the recent podcast which had acoustic performances to start and end the episode, Dustin remarked how he didn't like his vocals until The Alchemy Index. He felt Vheissu wasn't his best performance, despite being their best record per the popular opinion.

He said the difference was no longer working with a producer as of The Alchemy Index. He was more comfortable with Teppei engineering and that was when he was able to experiment without the time crunch or pressure of having to sing something the way a particular producer expects.

What do you guys think of these comments? I think he's gotten better with every release but I really noticed his vocal progression as of Vheissu; he truly became a bona fide singer at this point. However, he refined his sound to include a bit of blues and folk as he really got into singer-songwriter stuff in the mid 2000s, hence the release of Please Come Home in 2007 as well as the recording of Earth in 2007 (and his idea to show the band's range in terms of sound and genre via Alchemy).

Major/minor is a frustrating record for a number of reasons as it was so close to being a great record. They had some of their highest highs but they're undermined by some of their weakest tracks ever. However, Dustin blew his voice out during recording so you can really tell how fried he sounds. The record was a tough stretch for the band given the personal loss they ALL endured. So, given the circumstances, I'm surprised the record was as good as it was. To rephrase, M/m is a good record, but coming out of Beggars and being a band that gets better with every release, you couldn't help but feel underwhelmed.

That's why TBEItBN stands out so much, vocally, since Major/minor didn't feature Dustin at full strength. Plus, he's become an even better singer throughout the hiatus (as more reps yield better results time and time again).

God do I wish "It's Not Enough" and "Carry The Fire" were Thrice songs. They're good songs now, but having the influence of Teppei, Riley and Ed would make them even more epic for lack of a better word. "Enough" even started out as an idea for Thrice.

I wonder if they ever jam "Carry The Fire" at rehearsal out of curiosity. Probably not. Solo artists will often play their band's material live but bands almost never adopt a song from a member's solo project.

Anyway, I digress.

What do you guys think of Dustin's comments about his vocal performance on Vheissu?

 

I have always loved Dustin's voice in all their albums, I think it was it's best at Beggars though. I had no idea he blew his voice during M/M, he still sounded awesome on the album and on tour.

 

TBEITBN is his best vocal performance by far, but I felt like he finally came into his own on Vheissu.

 

This is pretty much how I feel. He'd started to show flashes of what he could do vocally on Artist, but it really became apparent on Vheissu and somehow only got better from there.

And to @Mike J 's other point, if they ever did one of those reimagining type albums that we talked about in the other thread, I'd love for them to do Thrice versions of "It's Not Enough" and "Carry the Fire". Heck, I'd settle for an EP with a fleshed out version of "Seneca", the full band version of "A Song For Milly Michaelson", and Thrice versions of those 2 songs.

 

I missed this part. I know I'm in the minority on this site, but I think M/M is better than Beggars and no way a let down. I'll take Yellowbelly, Words in the Water, Promises, Cataracts or Anthology over anything on Beggars any day.

The thing about his voice, I think his voice is where it needed to be for each album. I can't imagine his voice now doing Betrayal is a Symptom and I can't imagine his early voice doing In Exile. I think his vocals fit the style of music per each album really well. There are a few exceptions of course, like Deadbolt sounds better with his older voice.

 

I would absolutely love a re-imagined version of deadbolt by them. Preferably the extended live version. Dustin's adult voice certainly does it justice.

 

Agreed. If anything Beggars was a letdown for me, and M/m was amazing. I love both albums though.

 

Agree completely. My love for Beggars doesn't ignore my initial let down that there wasn't any real bangers on the album and went with Earth 2.0 instead.

 

I'm not denying that M/m has its high points, but just look at their last tour, it was the most underrepresented album as it had only one song (Yellow Belly). When it's all said and done, I think that record will get the least "live love" for the duration of their career. Obviously, the first 3 records don't apply to either point, but those records had lengthy runs in their live sets. M/m seems destined to get the shaft since they have SOOO much material now. And it's likely that at least 6 songs from TBEItBN will remain in their live sets for a very long time.

Like I said when the tour first started, I really don't want "Anthology" in their future sets because it brings up a sad time for me (a time that could've been their swan song). During a time of rebirth for the band, I'm glad they had the self-awareness to remove it after a few shows for 'Yellow Belly.'

Don't get me wrong, 'Words' is one of their best songs ever, but it's not a song that the crowd is begging to hear every night given the deliberate pacing.

"Yellow Belly" and "Promises" will likely be the go-tos moving forward and that's totally cool.

At their very first show back, they played "Cataracts" and I effing loved it in that setting. However, the crowd didn't care and Riley has since been on record that they felt it was flat, which is why they cut it the next night.

God, it feels so good to talk about this band in present and future tense again.

 

There has been times though that Artist wasn't always represented except a song or two. Then they went through a phase recently where they play it a lot. Same thing with TAI. I don't think the fact that a band with such a huge discography does a tour with one song from an certain album doesn't mean anything really. Only time will tell I suppose.

 

Artist in the ambulance was one of the most important, formative records in my life. I thought it would be my favorite of theirs forever. Now I rarely listen to pre-TAI Thrice. Weird how that happens