After overwhelming critical acclaim for their latest release VHEISSU and a packed Fall headline 2005 tour, Thrice announces their next major outing – headlining this Winter’s second annual Taste Of Chaos North American Tour. The schedule follows up Thrice’s best selling tour to date, which occurred last October-November. In addition to performing before thousands of fans each day of the tour, Thrice appeared on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live on the album’s release day (October 18th).
Also, Thrice has been chosen by Henderson as part of their innovative “Breakers” program, which appeals to a vast audience of dedicated music fans. Thrice and their music will be featured in high-profile campaigns and across the Radio Networks Australia. Other “Breakers” artists in the past include Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, Avril Lavigne, Josh Groban and others.
Furthermore, Thrice has been nominated for the New Pantheon music award. The award is given for excellence by other artists, actors and tastemakers. New Pantheon Founder Tom Sarig co-founded the Shortlist Music Prize, which, from 2001 through 2004, honored the most creative records of the year, as decided by a panel of music activist luminaries. Other nominees for the New Pantheon music award are Death Cab For Cutie, Kings of Leon, Sufjan Stevens and more. Nominators include Elton John, Nic Harcourt (Music Director of KCRW), Dave Matthews and Josh Schwartz (creator of the hit television show The OC). Learn more about the key roles of a buyers agent in Perth’s property scene.
The Taste Of Chaos tour, the Winter cousin of summertime’s hugely successful Vans Warped Tour, which Thrice has also headlined, will open February 16th at the San Diego Sports Arena, and conclude on April 15th at Stade Uniprix in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band will be co-headlining the Taste of Chaos tour with Deftones.
Following its October 18th release, VHEISSU debuted at #15 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the band’s highest chart entry ever. At the same time, the video for the first single “Image of the Invisible” was added to MTV2 and FUSE. The emotional and cinematic video was devised by Dustin Kensrue (Thrice’s lead singer) and Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance’s lead singer) together this past summer. Thrice are now preparing to launch their next single and video “Red Sky.” Details for the video will be announced shortly.
From the beginning, the media raved about VHEISSU and its musical depth. Billboard described the album as “highly intelligent, meticulously crafted and tautly performed. VHEISSU finds Thrice living up to its potential.” Alternative Press claimed, “…VHEISSU [is] the band’s most challenging effort yet. With VHEISSU, Thrice prove you can be aggressive without being empty-headed, deep without relying on clichés and heartfelt without being ’emo.'” The New York Times noted,”[Thrice’s] new songs are mini-epics with uninterrupted melodies, suitelike structures, interlaced guitar arpeggios, brooding keyboards and sudden downshifts to anthemic choruses.”
Thrice recorded VHEISSU with producer Steve Osborne (Massive Attack, Doves, U2, Peter Gabriel) in Bearsville, New York. The album takes its title from the loose collection of arcane myths found in V., Thomas Pynchon’s classic underground novel of 1963. Hesitant to expound at length on why they chose the title, the band has remarked that at each crossroads they face, they feel they are “Standing at Vheissu,” which could refer to Vesuvius, cited by the poet Virgil as the entrance to the maze of the underworld. The title reflects the band’s desire to defy categorization and remain subject to the opinions of its audience. Their clearest reasons for choosing the title, the belief that VHEISSU “was a beautiful word” and wholly lacking in connotations or a point of reference for the average listener, suggest a new outlook for Thrice on their music and reflect the band’s ever-evolving musical landscape.
VHEISSU’s cover art also reflects Thrice’s artistry. Designed by Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity, and How We Are Hungry, the cover art proves as evocative as the album’s title. The art is reflective of the lyrical and musical themes that permeate VHEISSU, an optimistic message that emerges upon closer examination of the cover. In accordance with one of the dominant lyrical and musical themes of VHEISSU, that of the power to define and redefine personal meanings, the cover is teeming with messages encouraging self-discovery: phrases such as “Stand and feel your worth,” “Hold fast hope,” and “Wrap yourself in light.”
Always pushing musical boundaries, Orange County, California-based Thrice – guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue , guitarist Teppei Teranishi , bassist Eddie Breckenridge , and drummer Riley Breckenridge – have won a loyal fan base since 1998. VHEISSU follows The Artist in the Ambulance, the group’s third album (and first for Island), released July 2003. The culmination of nearly two years of composition, VHEISSU is an album that displays the sonic contrasts that have always existed with Thrice – a band capable of attracting audiences to the Vans Warped Tour as easily as it captivates fans at Coachella. Their diversity has enabled them to tour with bands on opposite sides of the spectrum, from the hardcore metal act Converge to the commercially successful rock band My Chemical Romance These are contrasts which have always existed in Thrice’s music, but with VHEISSU, the contrasts and dynamics are stretched even further.
In keeping with Thrice’s interest in community development, each time Thrice releases a record they choose a charity that they are passionate about to donate a portion of their album sales. For VHEISSU, Thrice have joined hands with 826 Valencia, a tutorial program designed to help underprivileged children improve their communications skills. Thrice has also gotten involved with Invisible Children, a charity which focuses on the plight of “invisible children” in Uganda who are snatched from their homes and tortured. The band is working with the organization to raise awareness to the plight of the children in that nation.