BAND: Thrice
INTERVIEWER: JenJen Reyes (jenjen@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: Teppei Teranishi of Thrice
DATE OF INTERVIEW: 04.17.08

BAND MEMBERS:
Teppei Teranishi - Guitar
Ed Breckenridge - Bass
Dustin Kensrue - Vocals/Guitar
Riley Breckenridge - Drums

JENJEN: This spring tour raises awareness in supporting Northern Uganda through the Invisible Children non-profit organization, what would you like to say to your fans in getting involved with the movement?

TEPPEI: The first step to getting involved with anything like that would be to get educated. Go to InvisibleChildren.com. Check the site out. Read about it. Check out their myspace at www.myspace.com/invisiblechildren.

JENJEN: In the Vheissu Album, the song “Image of the Invisible” was involved with helping the Invisible Children movement, how was the feedback on that song?

TEPPEI: It was a happy coincidence. We wrote the song before we knew about the organization or the cause. It was cool because we finished writing Vheissu, and it kinda just happened. We found out about Invisible Children, and we thought it was a really cool organization. We got in touch with them and been working with them after since.

JENJEN: Transitioning from an indie label to a major one, and then finding a home at an indie label again, was there any sense of disappointment along the way? Do you feel that Vagrant Records is a good fit for you?

TEPPEI: It’s been super nice to back on a smaller scale label. I feel like it’s a lot more intimate and communications better. It feels good.

JENJEN: From start to finish, how long did The Alchemy Index project take to complete?

TEPPEI: I think we worked on it for pretty close to a year. Definitely about a year in the making. It was cool because we were doing it ourselves, working on it without a producer, working on it at home and everything. We were able to approach it in a way that we never made in a record before. We were writing and recording as we went. Because of that and the fact we were working with 24 songs, it ended up taking a long time but it was a cool experience.

JENJEN: The album contained songs related to the four classical elements of nature: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, Was there a major source of inspiration that led to that concept?

TEPPEI: Not really actually. Originally, it was Dustin’s idea that he came up totally randomly. He brought up to us and we kinda talked about it. We thought it was a cool idea, but we were a little hesitant. But then when we first started working on it, we were talking about doing it as almost a side project. It would still be Thrice, but a Thrice side project of all four of us doing something. We were talking about releasing it on a small label. It was suppose to be more like soundscapes, ambient kind of stuff. But as we were writing for it, we kinda figured out we were writing actual songs. We thought they were pretty cool. We were so invested in it we thought, “Why not make this our next record?”

JENJEN: As artists, did creating an album around the elemental concept in the case of Alchemy make you feel as if you had to limit yourself, and if so, did hinder the songwriting process at all?

TEPPEI: I don’t think it was limiting, I think in a lot of ways it was kinda cool because we were able to write with a purpose. Usually when you sit to write a song, there’s no goal really. You just sitting there aimlessly noodling around, you call it something cool, then you call it something cool. With these, it’s cool cuz you’re able to sit down and write a watery part, or I’m kinda try to write something earthy. It’s cool to have a purpose, you know?

JENJEN: Digging deeper in the songwriting process, was there a tried and true method that was used when creating the lyrics for this album? Were the lyrics written first or were they created during intense jam sessions?

TEPPEI: It’s different from song to song, but for the most part, we would jam on it and make a song. Usually, Dustin would be singing fake lyrics over things, or fake words. Then he’ll go back over and write lyrics to that. That’s the general thing.

JENJEN: How was your experience with the development of Alchemy without the help of an outside producer? Would you consider doing more albums within your own studio to have your own feel of the album, or go back to having a producer assist on the sounds?

TEPPEI: I thought the experience is really cool. It’s a huge learning experience. I never recorded an entire record before. I’d always recorded demos or compilation songs for us or record friend’s bands, but I never worked on a big project. It’s definitely a huge thing to start off with, but at the same time it’s really cool. It felt really nice getting back to the roots kind of thing because it was just the four of us with no outside people. We were doing it ourselves in our own studio, which is in the backyard of Riley’s house, for a full year. This really felt like we were almost a garage band again just writing songs, kinda doing everything. It took the pressure off. We’re not spending thousands of dollars in some expensive studio with a producer we’re paying top dollar for. It was nice.

JENJEN: It felt like you weren’t fulfilling someone else expectations?

TEPPEI: Yeah, we totally felt we were doing own our thing. It was really refreshing, I think.

JENJEN: Would you consider producing later down on road for other bands?

TEPPEI: Yeah, it’s definitely something I would be interested in. I really enjoy it. It’s probably something I was to do more in the future, so yeah we’ll see. At this point, I’m so busy with Thrice. It’s like I really don’t have time for anything else, and I have a family now.

JENJEN: The fans are all eager to know what kind of sound can we expect in future Thrice albums? Do you see yourselves continuing the more progressive experimental style, or maybe even something heavier like we heard in The Illusion of Safety?

TEPPEI: I’d say more experimental will be more likely. It’s not like we’re always trying to do something different. It’s not like that’s our goal. When we sit down and make another record, we’re not gotta be like “We gotta keep changing. We gotta do something new. We gotta do something cool and different.” A lot of times it does end up being real different, but that’s because I dunno, I mean we don’t really sit down with that as an intention I guess. We just do what we do, and write what we write. I guess my point is that I have no idea what we’re gonna do next, and that’s pretty exciting I think. It’s almost feels that we’re on a clean slate because The Alchemy Index was such a big scope of sounds and genres. I feel like we’re kinda starting over, and we can do anything from here on so it’s exciting.

JENJEN: Any expectations to look forward to on this tour?

TEPPEI: Not anything huge. We have Invisible Children riding along with us, hopefully people will be checking that out and getting educated. Other than that, for us we’re expecting to have a really good time. We’re really good friends with Circa Survive, and they are a great band so we’re excited about that. Pelician, we’ve meet them before. They are cool guys and we love the band. It’s going to be a good time, we’re really excited.

JENJEN: What’s the most creative thing a fan has given to you?

TEPPEI: I don’t know. It’s hard to think of these things right on the spot. We used to get books a lot. We used to have a recommendation thing that we do. We recommend books or music we were digging, and kids were reciprocating that by throwing stuff on stage of their liking. So that was cool. That was a cool exchange of ideas, but I feel like we’ve gotten weird stuff. People made scrapbooks and stuff, and paintings too.

JENJEN: Any advice for aspiring songwriters who are experiencing a drought of creativity lately?

TEPPEI: Oh man, (laughs) I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t really write (laughs). I have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. I guess I try drawing inspiration from things I listen to. With the Fire record especially, I don’t listen to heavier aggressive things anymore, but when we were writing that, we had to be in that headspace. So I went back and was listening to some of the older heavier stuff I used to listen to and drew inspiration from that. That can be a way.

JENJEN: How about creating instrumental sounds?

TEPPEI: Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s always fun to sit down with an instrument and kinda noodle around and see what you come with. If you’re talking about ambient soundscape kind of stuff, just grab a couple of effect pedals and tweak around and mess around and see what you come with. I feel like a lot of times the best things you write are not the things you’re really even thinking about.

JENJEN: Like good things happen when you at least expect it?

TEPPEI: Yeah, and things just kind of happen.

JENJEN: On a final note, what would you like to tell your loyal Bandvibe fans today?

TEPPEI: Keep it real.

For more official information on Thrice, please log onto:
http://www.thrice.net
http://www.myspace.com/thrice

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