Paul SaitowitzHalf way into the Vans Warped...

Paul Saitowitz

Half way into the Vans Warped Tour -- the summer festival of punk,

hard core, extreme sports, temporary hair dye and black T-shirts --

and a tad more than two weeks from melodic hard-core band Thrice’s

highly anticipated major label release, “The Artist in the

Ambulance,” one of the artists is indeed in need of an ambulance.

Drummer Riley Breckenridge, the oldest member of the four-piece

band known for its extreme time changes, Iron Maiden meets Metallica

riffs and imagery-laden lyrics, is laying flat on his back in the

living room of his Costa Mesa apartment. There is a pillow propping

his head up and a frozen pack of blue gel underneath the small of his

back. The pain is so severe that the band’s booking agent, Andrew

Ellis, and manager Nick Bogardus have to carry him across his kitchen

and into his room just to get him into his bed. His friends all stand

around him throwing looks of concern and shaking their heads at one

another.

There are still almost 30 dates left on the tour, including the

next four in Southern California, and for a band known for explosive

live shows, playing without a drummer could leave the local crowds

angry and disappointed.

To Thrice, whose members are known for staying late after shows to

meet and talk to their growing fan base, there’s nothing worse than

disappointing the fans. Breckenridge lamented his dilemma to the fans

on the band’s Web site, and within minutes, there were several

threads on the site’s message board wishing the drummer well.

Thrice took the stage just as the sun was going down to close the

Ventura Warped date. A crowd more than 5,000 strong stayed to watch

the set, knowing that the band would be missing a member.

Guitarists Teppei Teranishi and Dustin Kensrue, and bassist Eddie

Breckenridge -- Riley’s younger brother -- spent the day in the bus

throwing together an acoustic set. Unsure of what they were about to

do, they took stage.

As the audience matched Kensrue lyric for lyric, the acoustic set

didn’t seem to hamper the crowd surfing and overall exuberance. The

next two shows would follow suit, until the final, hometown show.

After three acoustic songs to the packed house at Cal State Long

Beach, the crowd grew restless when it saw the drums set up behind

the band. Riley Breckenridge returned for powerful rendition of “See

You in the Shallows,” off of 2002’s “Illusion of Safety.” Without

missing a beat, the band was back in form and the elation on the

members’ faces showed they felt like they were back to where they

were supposed to be.

“Playing acoustic was really cool for us. It was great to see the

way the songs translated and the way people reacted, but we didn’t

have time to refine anything and that made it a bit uneasy,”

Teranishi said. “It was so good to have Riley back.”

And so it has been for the band since it formed just five years

ago, and as they have become modern rock radio staples, regulars on

MTV and the object of autograph seekers around the globe, all four

members have taken each step with a grain of salt.

“We didn’t start a band to be famous or anything like that,” Eddie

Breckenridge said. “With us all, it’s all predicated on the music. We

don’t want people to know us as people or for what we do outside of

the band. It’s natural for people to latch onto to things like that,

but image is not important to us. We really don’t have any image at

all.”

There are still the indie rock elite who scream sellout at the

success the group has achieved, but anyone who has watched them

progress from the beginning knows differently. Embracing mainstream

popularity has been anything but normal for these guys, who look to

bands such as Pearl Jam and Radiohead as models for how to handle

themselves.

They have already turned down countless offers to tour with more

“mainstream” bands, there are no photos of the band in the CD insert,

and don’t expect to see them inhabiting the pages of the teen

magazines and gossip columns any time soon.

“I hate the term ‘Rock Star,’” Riley Breckenridge said. “It

implies a lifestyle and an image. We’re not here to party like Motley

Crue. We’re four dorks that are lucky enough to play music for a

living, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

It was hard work, rather than image, that got the band to where it

is now. With countless North American tours, including three stints

on the Warped Tour -- this is the first year they’ve done all the

dates -- a recent tour of Europe as part of the Deconstruction Tour

and plans to hit Japan and Europe again in the future, Thrice has

been on the road -- give or take a few months for recording -- for

two years.

They were just as relentless recording and writing “The Artist in

the Ambulance” as they are with playing shows. For two solid months,

they literally locked themselves in a rehearsal studio for eight

hours a day, seven days a week writing. With the help of producer and

band confidant Brian McTernan, the latest effort is far more balanced

and memorable than “Illusion of Safety” or 2001’s “Identity Crisis.”

“Although songs are more cohesive and less sporadic, this is by

far our most complex album,” Riley Breckenridge said. “We have a lot

of really mathy stuff in odd times, but there is still the underlying

melody to hold it all together.

Lyrically, Kensrue has continued to explore themes of uncertainty,

mortality and thinking for oneself, but there is also a hint of

political awareness that wasn’t there before.

Fans oftentimes dissect the lyrics on the message board, with

interpretations coming from all directions as to what is really being

said. The new album should inspire more of those discussions, but

don’t expect any answers from the band members.

Remember, they’re here to give the music. The rest is up to you.

* 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.