Thrice is a band that I have always respected. They put a lot of heart and sincerity in their music, and they tend not to follow trends, instead writing music that is meaningful to them. The two songs I've heard from their new album, VHEISSU, sound great. The album drops on October 18. This interview was conducted on August 15 in Northampton, MA.

PL: Introduce yourself.

DK: My name is Dustin. I play guitar and sing for Thrice.

PL: I read an internet rumor that said that Island had no clue how to market your new album. Regardless of that, how would you market your album if someone asked you to?

(Dustin asks about the origin of the rumor)

DK: Its a music lovers' record in the sense that thats all we really care about is making music. Its not about trying to fit into any kind of mold or be cool. There's so much repitition and rehashing of things that have come before that we try to avoid. Its basically us trying to find who we are, and thats always changing if you're being honest with yourself. For us, we're into so many things that its a struggle to try to incorporate that and still be ourselves. We had a long time to work on this record, and we were able to do a lot of that, and I feel very confident in what we did. I think we're very proud of the fact that its nearly complete.

The way you market something is through singles, basically. I don't think anyone's ever figured out any smart way to really market, other than that. Advertising, but the main thing thats gonna sell a lot of records is if the video does well or rock radio and stuff. We're going with a song called "Image of the Invisible" for the single. I think its gonna be one of the more bridge kind of songs between the last record and this record. Its less out there than some of the songs on the record, so its a good thing for a single. I don't know-thats kind of the stuff that you start worrying about in a month or so, at least for us.

PL: Do you think success instantly takes credibility away from a band?

DK: For some people, I guess, but I would say that that would take away the credibility from a lot of amazing bands. U2 might be the most detested band in the world, and I think they're amazing; I never really cared if they had a lot of credibility with people. It just depends on what kind of person you are. If you're very closed about who else listens to what you do, then its gonna bother you, but there are bands that aren't big that don't have credibility and bands that are huge that have tons of credibility. Thats not something that we worry about. We try to be honest and do things that we feel morally comfortable with, whether it has anything to do with how we're perceived.

PL: Do you ever see yourself doing something not involved in the music business?

DK: Yeah, I would like to go back to school at some point and maybe get a degree in philosophy or something along those lines. I'm interested in a lot of world views and how they affect the way we live and society. I just don't have time right now.

PL: I wouldn't even bother with school. I have two degrees and I can't even find a job.

DK: I know what you mean. I wouldn't really be doing it for job security, thats for sure.

PL: How do you decide what charities you work with? Do you seek out them or do they seek out you?

DK: No one really seeks us out. Friends sometimes tell us to check something out, but it just kind of happens in a different way each time. This time, we ended up working with Dave Egger's charity, 826 Valencia. He was gonna do a lot of artwork for the record, so it seemed like it would be a good match that way. He ended up not doing the art himself; one of his colleagues did it, but a lot of his artwork his incredible.

PL: Do you think Warped Tour takes its toll on you more than other tours due to its rigerous schedule?

DK: It does. Its a long day. Most tours-you're always out, but your day is not as long and a little more private. Its been a very public and long day on this tour with signings and meet and greets, and you're out in the sun all day.

PL: Are you excited about it being over?

DK: Yeah, definitely. Tomorrow, we're gonna be mixing our record, and we're gonna shoot a video. We're gonna be really busy at home, but its stuff that I want to get done.

PL: Whats one movie everyone should go see?

DK: "Crash" was actually really good. Thats probably the best movie I've seen this year.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you feel all kids should have in their collection.

DK: Any album?

PL: Yup.

DK: If you're into any kind of heavy or punk music, you'd definitely need The Shaped of Punk to Come (Refused) . I'd say its possibly the best rock record in the last ten years.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

DK: Thanks to you guys and thanks to anyone who came out to Warped Tour and sat in the mud or dust or rain.

Interview by: RF

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