NOTEBOOK -- Paul Saitowitz

So this must be how proud parents feel. Seeing their offspring flower

brings a smile to every parent’s face. Only for me, instead of offspring,

I’m talking about a band and a group of friends I grew up with.

If you haven’t heard of the band Thrice, you probably will in the

coming months. This incredibly talented, melodic hard-core act out of

Irvine will be releasing its sophomore album on Tuesday. Two days later,

the band will rock Triangle Square with an in-store performance at Virgin

Records. If you have the opportunity to check it out, you definitely

should.

Now back to that proud parent stuff. I grew up with Thrice’s drummer,

Riley Breckenridge. Along with about eight other guys, we’ve been

steadily hanging out -- chillin’ -- since kindergarten. That’s 22 years

now.

During the summer going into our senior year at University High School

in Irvine, Riley blew up his knee in summer passing league football. When

I say blew up, I mean sans the smoke. There was nothing left of his knee.

He tore his anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament and

even the meniscus. His leg looked like a swollen hot dog with water stuck

in the middle of it.

So here we had a 17-year-old kid at the beginning of the summer with a

bum knee and no chance of heavy activity for three months. Ah, buy him

some drums to keep him occupied!

After he acquired the drum set, me and two other friends joined him in

forming the legendary band, Mad Rise. Never heard of us? Don’t feel left

out. Only the truly dialed-in scenesters knew about the Rise.

We played Bad Religion-influenced punk rock, and we tried to play as

often as possible. One time, we drove for two hours to play in front of

two people. Another time, we arrived to a packed club at 9:30 p.m. only

to go on stage at 1 a.m. in front of only the janitors.

Suffice it to say, after about five years, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle

started to wear on us, and thus Mad Rise ended.

Riley, now a college graduate, still wanted to play music, though. His

little brother Eddie -- five years his junior -- and two of his friends

were just messing around and playing in the garage one day without a

drummer. Riley saw the opportunity and decided to play with the kids.

After a few times playing together, they played at a church community

center in front of a few friends. The crowd was impressed and, through

word of mouth and the Internet, the Thrice fan base began to expand far

greater than the dedicated seven followers that worshiped Mad Rise.

The funny thing is that mixed right in with the Thrice fan brigade was

myself and the rest of the Mad Rise crew.

Jealousy? At first, I may have felt a bit whimsical about what Mad

Rise could have been. But let’s face it, Thrice was far better than we

ever were.

As they’ve gotten bigger and bigger -- several high-profile national

tours, including a second stint on the Warped Tour this summer; features

in national magazines; and products on the shelves of every record store

in the country -- I’ve become a bigger and bigger fan. I have butterflies

every time they step on stage, and I get goose bumps every time the music

kicks in.

Believe it or not, they are my favorite new band, and it’s not just

because I know them. I’m proud close up and from afar. Kind of like a

parent at his kid’s soccer game.

* PAUL SAITOWITZ is a news editor. He can be reached at (949) 574-4295

or by e-mail at paul.saitowitz@latimes.com.

FYI

* What: Thrice

* When: 6 p.m. Thursday

* Where: Virgin Megastore, 1875 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa

* Cost: Free

* Call: (949) 645-9906