Celebrating 20 years of a seminal record is a huge milestone for any band and over the years, so many artists have celebrated these huge anniversaries in a variety of different ways. We’ve seen it all before, a remix/remaster, vinyl represses, an acoustic redux and ultimately a touring cycle playing the album in full. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the past and reconnect with fans that may have been lost along the way.
But a lot can change over 20 years and, in many cases, the way bands perform their earlier material has evolved as their sound has evolved over time. This is very much the case with Thrice and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their crucial third record The Artist In The Ambulance, they seized the opportunity for a do-over of sorts and re-recorded the entire album.
The Artist In The Ambulance – Revisited breathes new life into the band’s classic album and gives fans an opportunity to hear these anthems with some room to breathe compared to the heavily compressed sound of the original. Vocalist Dustin Kensrue’s voice has aged like a fine wine, and to hear him belting these songs with an added 20 years of grit is the perfect cherry on top.
Where the original recording sessions for Artist... were full of time constraints and pressure, the band ensured that they could take their time when recording the redux in order to make sure it was exactly what they wanted. Speaking with drummer Riley Breckenridge, it certainly sounds like having the opportunity to take their time helped them finally get these classic songs sounding exactly how they wanted them to sound.
“I recorded drums in April of last year and Ed did bass shortly thereafter. We had some fly dates we had to do followed by a short US run with Bayside in June before a UK and Europe tour with Coheed and Cambria that started in October, so we were kind of piecemealing in these little recording sessions in. We were working on it right up to when we left for the Coheed tour, and we were getting mixes on the road. Even though we had more time this time around, we were still busy and pressed for time “.
Few bands have evolved quite like Thrice. Their early material is very much part of the Californian punk sound of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Hyper fast, aggressive, intricate and raw. As the years have gone by, their musical range has grown in so many ways and you would be easily forgiven for thinking it was a completely different band when comparing The Artist In The Ambulance with their latest record Horizons/East. Breckenridge notes that revisiting the classic album with that evolution in mind resulted in the perfect result.
“We had 20 years of perspective and a clear-cut idea of what we wanted this revisit to sound and feel like. I think I can speak on behalf of the entire band and say that I don’t think we could be any happier with how it came out. It sounds great and it’s one of my favourite sounding records we’ve ever made, whether it’s a revisit or otherwise.
It’s a really accurate reflection of how these songs have evolved, how we’ve evolved as musicians, how our gear has evolved, how our tones have evolved, and it just feels really good to have it out there now. The way it sounded before was very of the moment, it was very 2003. I’m glad they both exist. The old one’s not going anywhere, and I think it’s an amazing record. It clearly did amazing things for us but this new one is just a breath of fresh air into that already existing space.”
Thrice will return to Australian shores in September as a part of the Artist... anniversary touring cycle. Naturally, the band will play the album in its entirety but will also include a slew of fan favourites to round out the set. With 11 albums under their belt, constructing a balanced Thrice setlist that covers as many bases as possible is no easy feat. Throw an entire album play-through (plus an Artist b-side or two) in the mix and trying to curate the songs for the rest of the set becomes even harder. Having just finished the first leg of the Artist tour in the US, Breckenridge explains the approach to curating the set and how the band is trying to find the right balance.
“One of the things we tried to focus on when building this setlist was to keep the energy fairly high because we know that a lot of the people who got into us by hearing The Artist In The Ambulance may be fans of our more heavier or aggressive stuff. So, we wanted to showcase some of the more heavier stuff we do now and maybe win them back in a way.
It was also important for us to try and showcase something from almost every record if possible and we’re pretty close. We’ve done a little bit of tweaking to the set as this tour has progressed just to improve overall flow. It’s got a little bit of every era of Thrice and the energy is higher than a normal Thrice headline show would be and it’s fun. It’s exhausting, but fun.”
The band might be focusing on celebrating their earlier work currently, but that hasn’t stopped them from thinking about the road ahead. There has been many a mention of Horizons/West in interviews following the release of East in September 2021 but nothing set in stone about the album’s progress. Riley advises that it is still very much on the cards but the focus on these anniversaries has given them the breathing room they desperately needed to avoid disaster.
“We’ve had a lot of people ask when Horizons/West is coming. Initially, I think our plan was to record East and West together and then stagger the release, but we got to the point with East that we realised we needed to back away from this so that we don’t rush it or screw it up potentially because we felt so good about the first batch of songs.
"Because the 20th anniversary of Artist was coming up, it was a given that we were going to do this tour for a while. It’s giving us a little chance to get some perspective and we’re really focused on the task at hand right now. It’ll give us some time to decompress and then really focus on Horizons/West when the time is right.
In revisiting these old albums, like we did a Vheissu 15 year tour right before Covid hit, we did The Illusion of Safety shows at the end of last year and we’re doing this now. We’re learning to appreciate the things we used to do back in the day, and I think we’re looking forward to incorporating that back into what we do in the future.”
Interview by Nicholas Simonsen @blackechomusic
Thrice – The Artist In The Ambulance Anniversary Tour
Thu 31 Aug | Northcote Theatre, Melbourne [2ND SHOW]
Fri 1 Sept | Northcote Theatre, Melbourne - SOLD OUT
Sat 2 Sept | Metro Theatre, Sydney [LESS THAN 100 TIX!]
Sun 3 Sept | Princess Theatre, Brisbane - SOLD OUT
Tue 5 Sept | Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide [LESS THAN 100 TIX!]
Wed 6 Sept | Badlands, Perth - SOLD OUT
Thu 7 Sept | Badlands, Perth [LESS THAN 100 TIX!]
