The last time Thrice played in Louisiana was Sept. 12, 2001. “It was a rough day for everyone,” said Riley Breckenridge, drummer for post-hardcore rock band Thrice. “It was really just bizarre for everyone.” The band will perform tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at the House of Blues in New Orleans to a sold out show. The band’s final major label release for Island/Def Jam Records, “Vheissu,” was a big bridge for the band, according to Breckenridge. The band has split from the label and signed to Vagrant Records in August to release their new project, “The Alchemy Index,” a collection of four EPs, released two at a time. He said “The Alchemy Index” was a huge learning process and a big risk for the band, but taking risks is what excites the band. Thrice released the first part of “The Alchemy Index,” “Fire” and “Water,” on Oct. 16. Breckenridge said the album is about seperating the band’s musical elements and expanding on them. “Fire” is the heavy post-hardcore side of the band and “Water” is the orchestral and digital part of the band that shined through on “Vheissu.” Breckenridge said the “Earth” and “Air” parts of the project, to be released next year, are unlike anything the band has done, especially “Earth.” “It was a huge challenge to make [Earth],” he said. “But in the end, it was truly rewarding.” Breckenridge said the band has progressed its sound in the past few years. While not fully abandoning their heavy riffs, the band has learned to compose greater structures in their song writing. Now with “The Alchemy Index,” the band has taken the techniques and sound they have composed and have seperated them into four elements to progress more upon. Frontman Dustin Kensrue said he is surprised by the reaction the first half of the new record has gotten so far. “I wasn’t expecting people to grab a hold of it, but they reacted to it well,” Kensrue said. Kensrue said the band likes making things dramatic, referring to the crescendos and epic sound that fill later Thrice records. “I just felt like we were trying to push these elements in as many ways as possible,” he said. “The [song titles] included each form of the elements. The ‘Fire’ and ‘Water’ discs are most themed lyrically, which make it a little more thematic.” Kensrue doesn’t want listeners to take those lyrics literally. He said song titles aside, tracks such as “Burn the Fleet” and “Digital Sea” are about more than the concrete elements they are named after. “For us it’s all about progressing and trying new things,” Breckenridge said. “People don’t know what to expect, and there’s something appealing about that.” Trying not to sound cliché, Breckenridge said the band has a close interaction with fans, and he thinks that’s what keeps the band honest with themselves and their music. Blade McPrather, petroleum engineer junior, said he started listening to the band in high school. He said the band’s second album, “The Illusions of Safety,” blew him away. “Thrice’s musical and stylistic progression since their inception has been very interesting,” he said. “With the release of ‘The Alchemy Index,’ they seem to be making music the way it was meant to be made.”
—-Contact Adam Pfleider at [email protected]