Thrice

Thrice, an Orange County quartet, came together in the closing years of the 1990s and rapidly established itself among the era’s notable post-hardcore acts, standing alongside contemporaries Glassjaw and Thursday. Two early-2000s punk albums preceded their mainstream breakthrough via the brooding hardcore of 2003’s The Artist in the Ambulance and the atmospheric textures of 2005’s Vheissu. Across the 2010s the group placed five consecutive releases inside the indie Top Five, among them the hard-rock-leaning To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere and Palms, both from 2016, each of which reached number one on the relevant chart. The band sustained its exploratory trajectory on the eleventh studio album, 2021’s sonically expansive Horizons/East.

Thrice formed in 1998 in Irvine, California. Guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge, and drummer Riley Breckenridge had known one another from high school and the local skate park; repeated rehearsals, competitions, and club performances gradually shaped the quartet’s sound. By the end of 1999 the band possessed sufficient material for a full-length recording. With Death by Stereo’s Paul Miner, the four members tracked twelve songs and self-released the Identity Crisis LP in April 2000. Continued live activity drew the attention of Hopeless/Sub City’s Louis Posen, who signed the group in 2001, reissued Identity Crisis, and booked Thrice alongside Samiam.

Subsequent tours with Midtown and Hot Rod Circuit led the band back into the studio under producer Brian McTernan. Although the sessions proved difficult, The Illusion of Safety appeared in February 2002. Thrice supported the album on the road with Further Seems Forever and Face to Face, began headlining its own shows, and attracted major-label interest, ultimately signing with Island Records in June. A Warped Tour slot followed, and the fall brought club dates with Hot Water Music and Coheed & Cambria.

In February 2003 the band returned to McTernan’s studio, this time financed by Island. The focused The Artist in the Ambulance arrived in August 2003, propelled by the hit single “All That’s Left.” An extensive touring schedule included European dates, while the group maintained its charitable commitments, active since its affiliation with Sub City. Proceeds from The Artist in the Ambulance benefited the Syrentha J. Salvo Endowment, which funds cancer screenings.

The ambitious follow-up Vheissu appeared in October 2005; the EP Red Sky followed early the next year. Fresh material emerged in 2007 and 2008 as the four-disc conceptual project The Alchemy Index. Released in paired double-disc installments, Vols. 1 & 2 addressed fire and water, while Vols. 3 & 4 completed the cycle with air and earth; the series introduced expanded textures and programming. Two live documents, The MySpace Transmissions and Live at the House of Blues, were also issued.

The 2009 studio album Beggars further broadened the band’s palette, incorporating Baroque flourishes reminiscent of tourmates the Dear Hunter and instrumental passages akin to Radiohead. For the next record the members developed ideas separately before convening at Red Bull Studios with Dave Schiffman. The resulting seventh album, Major/Minor, surfaced in summer 2011.

A three-year hiatus was announced in 2012. During the break Kensrue pursued solo work, while Riley Breckenridge joined Puig Destroyer and Eddie Breckenridge played in Angels & Airwaves. Thrice resumed activity with festival appearances in 2015 and announced a new album late that year. Recorded with Eric Palmquist, the ninth album To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere was released in May 2016, reaching number 15 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Independent Albums chart.

After signing with Epitaph Records in 2018, Thrice issued the single “The Grey,” included on the tenth studio album Palms, which arrived in September 2018, again topping the Independent Albums chart and peaking at number 27 on the Billboard 200. Record Store Day 2019 brought the EP Deeper Wells, comprising four tracks tracked during the Palms sessions. In 2021 the songs “Scavengers” and “Summer Set Fire to the Rain” appeared on the eleventh full-length Horizons/East, which continued the band’s expansion of its sonic range.