The Latest Thrice Press Release

[Jason Tate]

Island recording group Thrice (http://www.thrice.net) raises the curtain on VHEISSU – their cryptically titled 4th album, which will arrive in stores in September. Chosen as headliners on the 11th annual Vans Warped Tour, Thrice will go on to support their new album release with a major headlining North American tour this fall, on a bill with Underoath, the Bled, and Veda. Dates for the U.S. and Canadian itinerary will be announced in the weeks and months ahead.

Evoking the loose collection of arcane myths found in V., Thomas Pynchon’s classic underground novel of 1963, VHEISSU will continue to explore the labyrinthine tunnels of mystery and intrigue that Thrice’s legions of fans have come to expect from the band’s work. While hesitant to explain too thoroughly why they have chosen this title, the band has remarked that at each crossroads they face, they feel they are "Standing at Vheissu," which could stand for Vesuvius, cited by Virgil as the entrance to the maze of the underworld. They have also mentioned one critic's dissection of the word Vheissu, ("Wie heisst du?" which in German means, "What are you called?" or "What is your name?") and say the record draws from this question and explores the connections between our self worth and the names we are given, as well as the names we give ourselves. But in the midst of this barrage of ideas, the band says the reasons for choosing the title were that they "thought it was a beautiful word" that was “not loaded for most people” in the sense that VHEISSU would take on its own meaning for each individual listener.

Thrice spent the months of April, May and June recording VHEISSU with producer Steve Osborne (Massive Attack, Doves, U2, Peter Gabriel) in Bearsville New York. It follows The Artist In the Ambulance, the group’s third album (and first for Island), released July 2003. Raved Rolling Stone, “their universally heavy attack packs a smarter punch then most adrenaline-fueled youngsters can manage.” Thrice’s first two albums were the indie releases Identity Crisis (2000) and The Illusion Of Safety (2002).

Thrice continues to tour in support of If We Could Only See Us Now, their first long-form DVD/CD 2-disc package, which officially shipped RIAA gold (in excess of 50,000 copies) upon its arrival in stores on March 29th. Exactly one month later, Thrice headlined the opening day of the 3-day Bamboozle fest (presented by The Aquarian) in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Two days later on May 1st, Thrice performed at the prestigious 6th annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in southern California alongside Nine Inch Nails, New Order, Bright Eyes, Coldplay and other top acts.

Starting June 29th in Phoenix AZ, Thrice moves into Vans Warped mode, joining nearly 80 bands from across the entire rock spectrum as this summer's Vans Warped tour takes its nine separate stages on the road. Thrice is a highlight of the tour as one of the headliners on the premiere 'North Stage.'

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. With the July 2003 release of The Artist In the Ambulance, which entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart at #16, their following grew even more wide¬spread. The album more than doubled the combined sales of their two previous indie releases.

Featured on the covers of Alternative Press and CMJ Monthly, Thrice also gained a strong critical foothold with TAITA: “….TAITA was arguably one of the most intense and artistically pure albums to emerge from the whole ’03 punk-rock signing boom” said Alternative Press, while the Los Angeles Times said “[their] major-label debut … has the goods to appeal to metal heads, thinking-pop punks and those who like their hard-core more heartfelt than harmful.” Committed to giving back part of their income to charitable causes, a portion of retail sales were donated to the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment (www.syrentha.org), which provides financial assistance for cancer screenings.

[IcedOpethBlind]

can. not. wait.

[SLADE775]

Thrice is the best ALL - AROUND band out there today.....PERIOD!

I have a lot of faith in this album...

[XxLoserDanxX]

splendid. this calls for a sexy party. but for real i def. can't wait for this one. ETID in Aug and Thrice in Sep best two months all year

[ILLUSIONxSAFETY]

Should be amazing

Thrice is one of the select bands, that i never heard anyone say that they suck, or they are bad.

Everyone i've gotten into Thrice thought they were amazing. It seems like this site is no different. I have yet to see an ill remark towards Thrice at all (Now i bet some loser with prove me wrong out of spite). I think that means something very special. Thrice is just that damn good, that everyone likes them, or at least respects them

Whenever the date of release, i'll be at Best Buy when the doors open, thats for sure

[SLADE775]

Thrice is the figurehead of great music.

[jwizz928]

Cant wait to see thrice and underoath. Two awesome bands that are out there.

[[Brendan]]

I don't usually get excited over albums but I'm getting this on the day it comes out.

[xearlynovemberx]

mmmmmmmmm thrice i cant wait for this cd and this tour

[SLADE775]

']I don't usually get excited over albums but I'm getting this on the day it comes out.


are you excited about this alteir iris?

[projectmayhem16]

I've said it once and I'll say it again ALBUM OF THE FUCKING YEAR, that is all

[JunkBondTrader]

Thrice is the best ALL - AROUND band out there today.....PERIOD!

I have a lot of faith in this album...

id have to disagree....the mars volta has much more talent and i think the red hot chili peppers also have much more talent in their deck of cards

[last light]

id have to disagree....the mars volta has much more talent and i think the red hot chili peppers also have much more talent in their deck of cards

red hot chili peppers? that is soooo random. mars volta suck. youre wrong.

[projectmayhem16]

red hot chili peppers? that is soooo random. mars volta suck. youre wrong.yeah The Mars Volta are terrible, no talent at all, your views are so interesting :headshake

[wheresweezer]

thrice could name their album vaginal secretion and i would still love it.

[[Brendan]]

are you excited about this alteir iris?
I've honestly not heard that much about it (I assume your talking about the RPG) is it meant to be good.

[SLADE775]

']I've honestly not heard that much about it (I assume your talking about the RPG) is it meant to be good.


I looks good to me!

[ishotthepilot]

last album was so fucking amazing, can't wait for this one.

from their lovely website:


Thursday, Jun 16, 2005 by Dustin
Hello again. We have decided on a title for the new record. It will be called "Vheissu." The following is a very transparent look at the reasons for choosing this title, because it is pulled from an email I wrote to Nick our manager and Dave who is doing the art for the record.
------------------------------------------------------------

We have decided to name the new record, "Vheissu," and I will attempt to summarize why.

The one thing we knew was that we wanted to have a one word title. I brought Vheissu to the table a long time ago because I had always thought it was a beautiful word, and it had no definate meaning in the book it is from (V by Thomas Pynchon, though that is not the word's origin), but was more a loose collection of myths. Something else that I think we all appreciated about the name, is that it is not loaded for most people. They will see it, or hear it, and it will not have any meaning right away, and therefore it can simply come to represent the songs on this record and to title them without coloring them, almost as a number would. But then beneath the surface, there are a lot of interesting, if obscure, references to Vheissu in the book (and in critiques of the book) which create a general sense of mystery, which is something we all value I think. Without going to deeply into these references, these are some of the meanings which we have extracted from them.

One of the references speaks of Vheissu being a code name for Vesuvius, the volcano. Virgil cites Vesuvius as the entrance to the underworld, and in the book this is fleshed out and it is hinted at that there is a ancient race of people, who have access to underground tunnels that lead underneath all nations of the earth.

Riley noted how he felt that we are now (and always it seems) standing at the verging of many different tunnels or pathways that lead to completely differenct places. Riley named this phenomenon "Standing at Vheissu," which the more I think about seems to hold the same sentiment as Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," but with the darker imagery of underground laberynths (and who doesn't like underground laberynths.) In the poem, the speaker chooses a path, and laments the knowledge that he will probably never be back at this point, to make a different decision, or to see where the other path led, but notes that his decision will have "made all the difference," though what difference no one will ever know.

Two other ideas stuck out to me. One being that I see the tunnels underneath us all, as a metaphor for another reality that is quite close to us, but without our knowledge of it most of the time, ready at any moment to break though and interupt our ideas of what reality is. A metaphor for the possibility or miracles in short. In the book it is said of the tunnels that "below the glittering integument of every foreign land there is a hard dead-point of truth."

Also I liked one critics etymological dissection of the word Vheissu when he says this. "If "Vheissu" encodes anything, it is a pun--"Wie heisst du?," which is German for "What is your name?" or "What are you called?" This seems appropriate since one of the themes devoloping in my lyrics for the record is the ways in which we define ourselves. I think a key to who we see ourselves as is names; both given and those we give ourselves, both domestic and other wordly. The ways in which we define ourselves and ultimately live are, I think, heavily influenced by the names we recieve, and the names we give to others.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Hopefully this sheds some light on the reasons for choosing Vheissu. Since we got it from print we really don't know if there is a correct way to say it, but we say it "vee-sue." There is a lot more out there to dig through if you want. Also, as a warning, the book "V" is very very strange, and not a very fast read.
lovedustin

[SLADE775]

id have to disagree....the mars volta has much more talent and i think :headshake the red hot chili peppers also have much more talent in their deck of cards


i hope you die for saying that... :headshake

[TheNumberOneFan]

does anyone know how to pronounce the album title??

[Sink2TheBeat]

why no brian mcternan?
oh well i guess i'm not too upset, he fucked up on the new Bane album

[CutTheStrings]

Sept. is too far away.

[SevenOhThree]

I love Thrice, and I can't wait for this album. They are a totally solid band, that writes awesome songs. This album will probably be one of the best this year.

Thrice is the figurehead of great music.

That made me laugh, but I'd have to agree with you.

[Flags of Dawn]

one of the most all around talented bands around, everyone is extremely good at what they do, but dont try to shove it in your ears by shredding all the time. I love this band.

[murphy77]

does anyone know how to pronounce the album title??
thhey said it on their website as "vee-sue"

anyways cant wait to see them at warped and excited for the album

[reav]

actually, vee-sue is pretty wrong.
vaissue, would be closer, but still not it.

[XxLoserDanxX]

actually, vee-sue is pretty wrong.

i dunno that made me laugh. but yea i was wondering how to pronounce it too.

[ForeverInADay]

i just picked up "if we could only see us now" over the weekend, and that dvd makes me so excited for new thrice. man oh man.

[reav]

so stupid, like... I know exactly how to pronounce it because german is pretty much my 2nd mother tongue, but I can't really put it into the right phonetics.

I will let you guys know once I come up with it, though.

fhaissue is pretty much the nearest I got until now.

[Chemical Love]

I love Thrice.

[JunkBondTrader]

i hope you die for saying that... :headshake

john frusciante fucking shreds on guitar and flea is an animal on bass.........both would tear eddie and teppei to pieces......though all four are talented

no talent in the mars volta.....jon theodore is probably one of the best big time drummers going right now.....Mars Volta are a modern day Rush, like a fucking all star team, just pure talent

[Illside]

john frusciante fucking shreds on guitar and flea is an animal on bass.........both would tear eddie and teppei to pieces......though all four are talented

no talent in the mars volta.....jon theodore is probably one of the best big time drummers going right now.....Mars Volta are a modern day Rush, like a fucking all star team, just pure talent

.......wow. Please remove your Mars Volta baseball cap and matching panties. Thank you.

[kittypants]

Thrice is one of a handful of bands that make you think for yourself. Dustin really knows how to write inspirational yet deep lyrics.

[weworemasks]

.......wow. Please remove your Mars Volta baseball cap and matching panties. Thank you.

fata has nothing on the mars volta. please remove your head out of your ass.

[Illside]

fata has nothing on the mars volta. please remove your head out of your ass.

Awww, that's real cute... Looks like I stepped on some toes with that comment. You obviously don't understand that I made that response because the poster sounds like he's practically sleeping with the band, not because I hate Mars Volta. Moron.

[sweethypocrisy]

john frusciante fucking shreds on guitar and flea is an animal on bass.........both would tear eddie and teppei to pieces......though all four are talented

no talent in the mars volta.....jon theodore is probably one of the best big time drummers going right now.....Mars Volta are a modern day Rush, like a fucking all star team, just pure talent
are. you. kidding me. DUDE
i hate your guts. i wish your whole family would get the worst form of cancer for your sheer ignorance. ok. maybe thats to far. but omar has more talent in his foreskin than you or anyone in your family does. and cedric bixler is an amazing lyricst/vocalist, so in conclusion, you need to shut the fuck up.

[xspeedyx]

ok, so let me try it. the german term "wie heisst du?" could be pronounced like "vee hiced due" and vheissu could be something like "vee ice sue"
i don't know if that makes any sense but fuck it, thrice is the best :dweeba18:

[Alex Djaferis]

Thrice is the best ALL - AROUND band out there today.....PERIOD!

I have a lot of faith in this album...

best thing ive ever seen you say dude :D thrice own me and my world.
i cant wait to see that album art and the track listing.

[gtxpunkxguy]

i can't believe no one's talked about how amazing they are live. i saw them at the civic tour, and they freakin tore it up (no pun intended). i've only seen them once live, but i'd have to say that they're one of the best, if not the best live band.

[JunkBondTrader]

are. you. kidding me. DUDE
i hate your guts. i wish your whole family would get the worst form of cancer for your sheer ignorance. ok. maybe thats to far. but omar has more talent in his foreskin than you or anyone in your family does. and cedric bixler is an amazing lyricst/vocalist, so in conclusion, you need to shut the fuck up.

are you kidding me.....maybe you should read the whole post you fucking moron....i was actually praising the mars volta....stop jumping to fucking conclusions, obviously you dont even know who jon theodore,jackass

[duffe]

september will be an amazing month for music.

[A picasso blue]

yeah The Mars Volta are terrible, no talent at all, your views are so interesting :headshake


i was almost going on a rant and then i saw..ah yes, sarcasm ! :animateds


just this article shows how knowledgeable Thrice really is. it indicates that this album's definitely not just something that a band tosses out there when they feel like it

[reav]

ok, so let me try it. the german term "wie heisst du?" could be pronounced like "vee hiced due" and vheissu could be something like "vee ice sue"
i don't know if that makes any sense but fuck it, thrice is the best :dweeba18:
that was amazing, you're almost there.

but the vee part is what bothers me.

(sorry, being the saosin dork that I am, I am also a big sucker for correct pronounciations ;))