Californian punk-rockers Thrice are making their long-awaited return to Australia with it being a decade since their last stint down under. Previously scheduled for February, the tour will now be hitting our shores this May and the excitement is buzzing.
“We had some scheduling conflicts and the only way to resolve it wasn’t the best, but we were able to push back the Australian trip and fulfil this other touring opportunity in the States,” apologises the group’s bassist Ed Breckenridge.
“When it was possible that the tour would be moved we made sure we rescheduled it as soon as possible because it’s been far too long since we’ve been in Australia.”
When asked about why it had been so long since the band’s last headline tour of Australia, Ed responded, “I think it was due to a couple of things. One is that we had multiple offers to come over and then they didn’t end up working out and then we had a four-year hiatus and the past few years since we got back together we have just been constantly trying to fit in as many shows as we can to our schedule.”
Doing something a bit different for this tour, Thrice are actually allowing fans to curate the setlist.
“We are doing this thing where we are letting fans vote on what they want to hear, so hopefully they want to hear a bit of everything because we have so many songs to choose from now.
“I feel like there are some songs that are kind of outliers, but they usually aren’t chosen. I think the hardest thing for us is when people choose the songs we have played millions of times before. I hope everyone ends up happy with the setlist, we are trying to keep it as democratic as possible.”
With the bands most recent LP only being released last year, fans will definitely have a lot of material to choose from. In fact, they will have 20 years-worth and multiple different styles to choose from.
Speaking of how the band’s musical tastes and inspirations have developed over the years, Ed thoughtfully said, “I think when we started we were more so influenced by punk-rock and metal bands and then over the years jazz and electronic bands started influencing things.
“I feel that’s the natural progression that a lot of musicians or listeners of music have gone through, especially from our peer group. Everyone was just trying to do the heaviest thing possible for a bit and then all of a sudden everyone started trying to make the extremes of pretty sounds and ugly sounds that get slammed together to create these dynamics. It’s a really fun way to play music so hopefully, it’s fun to listen to as well.”
Stop being humble Ed, it’s definitely fun to listen to. Don’t believe me? Go suss out the Melbourne show on the 19th of May and decide for yourself.
Written by Alex Callan
