The little band that could

Back on Aug. 26, Costa Mesa’s Riley Breckenridge, the drummer for

melodic-hardcore band Thrice, graciously answered questions from Los

Angeles’ KROQ-FM (106.7) morning show, “Kevin and Bean,” about the

sound and popularity of his band.

It turns out the hosts, Kevin Ryder and Gene “Bean” Baxter, had

been handed a Thrice CD by a vacationing fan a few days earlier

during a radio-station event in Las Vegas, and Baxter had tossed it

into a pool shortly after it reached his hand. The next day they

joked on the air about the band’s name and the situation. That

afternoon, the station was hit with hundreds of calls and e-mails

from ire-stricken fans. To quickly fix the situation and save their

hip quotient, the duo invited Breckenridge on the air and agreed to

play a song from the band’s well-received second album, “The Illusion

of Safety.” They even joked about the band one day playing the

station’s modern rock all-star summer show, the “Weenie Roast.”

After that day last August, the station never mentioned Thrice or

played another tune from the band until last month. One afternoon, on

his “Catch of the Day” -- a new cutting-edge song he offers up to the

listeners once a week -- afternoon DJ Jed the Fish played Thrice’s

“All That’s Left,” the first single off the band’s major label debut,

“The Artist in the Ambulance,” which is slated for a July 22 release.

The song first hit the airwaves at 4 p.m., and within five hours

it had reached the second slot on the “Furious Five at 9” -- the

station’s countdown of the day’s five most requested songs.

Two days later, it hit the top spot, and for two weeks -- before

Metallica’s gawdawful “St. Anger” hit the airwaves -- it held steady

as the station’s most requested tune.

Two weeks ago, the band opened the “Weenie Roast,” which featured

the likes of the Foo Fighters, the White Stripes and Hot Hot Heat.

The band was introduced to the sold-out crowd by none other than

Kevin and Bean, who claimed, “We’ve been backing them for almost a

year now.”

Thrice will play the main stage on the Vans Warped Tour this

summer with Rancid, AFI and the Used before heading off to England in

the fall to play the Reading and Leeds festivals with Beck, Metallica

and System of a Down.

To Kevin and Bean: Never underestimate the little guy.

* PAUL SAITOWITZ is the features editor. His column appears Friday

and he may be reached at (949) 574-4295 or by e-mail at

paul.saitowitz@latimes.com.