Interview with Dustin Kensrue of Thrice

The pretentious rock star with the big ego has become such an over-worked cliché that it’s long passed the point of ridicule. When bands themselves make fun of those other acts who are living out the formulaic rocker existence, you know that the concept is passé. Yet for all of the attempts that are made to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls of excess amongst musicians, there are still plenty of over-indulgent jerks who prance and preen on and off stage, begging for attention at every turn. So, it’s always refreshing to come across someone like Dustin Kensrue, lead singer and primary lyricist for Thrice, who exudes a humbleness of spirit even when belting out lyrics at the top of his lungs during the most intense of songs in the band’s repertoire. I had a chance to speak with him recently before Thrice’s show at Warehouse Live in Houston, TX on April 21st, 2008.

APN: So, the first question I have for you today is what was your general inspiration behind the four EP’s that make up The Alchemy Index?

Dustin Kensrue (DK): You mean aside from the four elements? What made me think of the four elements?

APN: Yes.

DK: I have no idea. It just popped into my head one day and it seemed like an idea that was well-suited to our band in particular, with us always trying to bring a bunch of different influences in. It seemed like a good way to expand that and really push out in different directions.

APN: Because you, in that sense, have to go in four really different directions. You have a bit of old Thrice, a bit of new Thrice, a bit of whatever you are becoming. Do you have one of the EP’s that strikes you as more forward thinking, more forward-looking, for what happen next with the band?

DK: No, I don’t think so. As far as people saying that there’s “old Thrice, new Thrice,” there was not any kind of attempt to bring something from behind. It was just that most of our old stuff is heavier makes the heavier record [Volume 1, Fire] fit with that more. But we tried to do things with that record that we hadn’t done before with previous releases - there are lots of baritone guitars and attempts to play heavy stuff in a different manner then we have before.

APN: Outside of using the basic elemental words, if you could describe each of the EP’s in a few words apiece, what would that sound like to you?

DK: Aw man, I’m really bad at this. I’ve had to do this before, and it always comes out pretty poorly, but now that they’re available, people can listen and make their own adjectives.

APN: Fair enough. I’m a fan of adjectives, so I always have to ask those kinds of questions. Thrice continually, throughout the course of your career, have had this coming together of aural art and visual art, especially with the Vheissu album. What’s behind that? You have a lot of musical influences going on throughout your career, but who brings the art in? Is that one member? Everyone? What is that like, bringing the visual art into the music?

DK: It’s different at different times. I did all of the art for The Alchemy Index. It’s just kind of out of necessity. Dave Eggers, who did Vheissu, was going to do The Alchemy Index, but he was super-busy and out in Sudan, and I just didn’t think it was going to get done in time, so I just decided to do it all myself.

APN: Dave Eggers, who wrote What Is The What?

DK: Yes.

APN: Excellent.

DK: We’d gotten in contact with him before and we talked about doing some kind of collaboration, and he did the art for Vheissu, and we were really happy with that and felt that his style would be really good for the next installment, but it just didn’t work out, so I took that on. I think in general, we try to put some thought into the art that’s going behind the music. We’re kind of a dying breed, or maybe it’s going underground, but having physical graphic was always something that was important to us growing up, both the artwork and the lyrics. I think it’s splitting to where if you want the physical product you can get a cooler one and then, if you don’t, you can get just the tracks. I think that’s the way it looks like it’s going. We’re looking to put out a four 10” vinyl set in a book soon.

APN: That was my best guesstimation. I was having a conversation with some friends about how the band would be releasing The Alchemy Index on vinyl and I guessed four 10”, so I guess that I win.

DK: [laughs]

APN: Tell me about the band’s work with Blood:Water Mission. I have a lot of friends who are involved with several similar projects around the globe. How did Thrice get involved with Blood:Water?

DK: It was through a friend of ours who used to work with Invisible Children and then started working with Blood:Water. We’d done some stuff with Invisible Children, so he turned me onto what Blood:Water was doing and I was really drawn to the simplicity of the project, the grassroots nature of what they’re trying to do. It’s about empowering communities to take care of themselves, to build the wells so they feel a sense of ownership of it. It’s a very simple goal of getting clean water to these people and AIDS relief, because any kind of AIDS relief without clean water isn’t doing much.

APN: It’s pretty pointless.

DK: Yeah. There are all of these opportunistic bacteria are in their water, and when their immune system has been depleted, they can really wreck people’s bodies and health. It’s a simple two-pronged operation.

APN: Excellent. So this tour is sponsored by and partnering with Invisible Children. Is that correct?

DK: Yeah.

APN: You’ve worked them for a while, you mentioned.

DK: We’ve done various things. We’ve never done an album that benefited them, but with Vheissu, there were lots of things that tied in strangely with the song “Image of the Invisible” and the video for it and what they were doing before we even knew what they were doing. So it gave us a bond initially and we did a benefit show to raise awareness for them in general. They approached us about coming out on tour and we were more than happy to have them out.

APN: Excellent. So they have a table outside all of your shows?

DK: Pretty much. They have a van that comes around to every show. They’ll have at least two people at the table with information on ways for people to get involved.

APN: What are your hopes and dreams for the tour in general? What are you looking forward to as you hit the road?

DK: The only things we really want from tours are to play good shows and to form good bonds with the people we’re out with. We’re all kind of shy, so it takes us a couple of days to start to mingle. Actually it usually takes longer than that, but we’re trying to cut down on that time.

APN: You’re touring with Circa Survive and Pelican on this tour. How did you come to choose those two bands? Did you choose them? Did Vagrant choose them? What happened?

DK: Labels don’t usually choose bands, or at least not in our capacity. When you’re headlining, you have a large say in what’s happening. You have to build a package that’s going to work and that you’ll feel comfortable with. We thought, as a bill, these bands would be strong and cohesive live.