In a few short weeks, Californian post-hardcore/rock luminaries Thrice will return to Australia, performing their beloved 2003 record The Artist In The Ambulance in full to sold-out rooms across the nation.
A career-changing release that hit at the perfect moment culturally, The Artist In The Ambulance is considered a classic of the early ‘00s post-hardcore boom, sitting alongside albums by the likes of AFI (Sing The Sorrow) At The Drive-In (The Relationship of Command) and Thursday (Full Collapse) as landmark recordings.
It is also arguably the last Thrice album to fit within those genre confines, with the band openly and freely experimenting with their sound across the eight studio albums that have followed. So while the band’s lineup has remained unchanged throughout, the musicians behind the music have evolved, both musically and personally, with each release showcasing that growth in both obvious and nuanced ways.
This continuous sonic experimentation made the band’s recently released 20th-anniversary re-recording of The Artist In The Ambulance a particularly rewarding experience for the band and a fresh listening experience for fans. Featuring reworkings of every song on the record, bringing them more in line with the way the band performs the tracks live in their current state, The Artist In The Ambulance (Revisited) breathes new life to Thrice classics, displaying the band’s considerable progression as musicians, while featuring guest appearances from a variety of established acts including Sam Carter of Architects (Under A Killing Moon), Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra (Stare At The Sun), Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music (Blood Clots and Black Holes) and Ryan Osterman of Holy Fawn (Paper Tigers).
It is both a celebration of the zenith of the band’s early era and a re-imagination of it and it is a more accurate example of The Artist In The Ambulance that fans can expect to hear live when the band hits Australia at the end of the month.
Before the band hits our shores, we caught up with drummer Riley Breckenridge to discuss the record's enduring legacy and the motivation behind the recently released 20th-anniversary re-recording.
Revisiting The Artist In The Ambulance With Riley Breckenridge of Thrice
Thrice have changed their sound so much since 2003. Given this, was revisiting The Artist In The Ambulance an interesting experience for you?
“Definitely. I think it was a little bit challenging for all of us, just because we don't make music in that vein anymore. There are still elements of it that are in the music that we're making now. But we were very influenced by metal at the time. “
“I think as we've gotten older, all of our tastes have diverged, whether it's like into electronic stuff, or jazz or like singer-songwriter folk stuff. So yeah, going back to it after 20 years, it's like, oh, like, do I remember how to play this fast anymore? Like, Teppei’s shredding a lot on guitar, and Dustin’s screaming a lot more than he would. I'm playing faster tempos than we do now. So it was challenging, but it's been really fun to revisit that stuff. It's got a lot of energy.”
The approach you took with the 20th-anniversary re-release of the album, where you re-recorded it in full, offered a unique experience as a listener. As a member of the band, were you surprised by how much those songs had changed throughout your years on the road?
“It wasn't unexpected, the whole point of the project was to kind of incorporate some of the feel and the tone that we use now, and just apply those to the older songs. We didn't change a lot of the structure, we made a few little decisions here and there, whether it was omitting the string section that we had on the original or trying to use more organic sounds for some of the like ambient stuff in the background. Dustin kind of changed the cadence of some of the vocals a little bit to kind of fit where his voice feels comfortable now, and I think it's kind of evident in the way that the record was received, like, people kind of feel like it's just the fresh twist on an old record, and they can kind of hear that record from 20 years ago, for the first time all over again, which is exciting for a lot of people.”
“I think for the four of us as well, like, we got to hear these songs with a whole new life breathed into them, because we've been listening to that, that record for 20 years. And it sounds like it sounds like so it was cool. I think we're all really happy with how it came out and how it was received, as well.”
Your brother Ed is of course the other half of the rhythm section of Thrice, have you found that being brothers has helped you to forge a particularly strong musical connection throughout the band’s existence?
“For sure. I think it's hard to quantify it. But I think there's some kind of communication that goes on beyond just verbal or nonverbal communication. We just vibe together, which makes sense because we're brothers. Touring and being away from family and friends is hard, but to be able to take a piece of my actual family on tour everywhere we go and to have all those shared memories and have somebody be able to turn to who's an actual family member when I had a bad show or I'm just having a rough time or some stuff is rough at home. Just having him there has been a real gift. I think he feels the same about me.”
The era of music that you’re celebrating with this tour has been experiencing a cultural rebirth over the last few years, offering the chance for a band like yours to play a lot of nostalgia-heavy package tours. Have you enjoyed the experience of being able to tour with a lot of those bands again and revisit such an important time in your lives?
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, with the way touring is, you never know when your paths are gonna cross. You never know if they will cross again. So to be able to do some of these nostalgia festivals, it's been cool. Like we've gotten to reconnect with like the Alkaline Trio guys, the Thursday guys. I know I'm gonna leave out a bunch of bands, but like, it's so cool to see these people and then learn about how their lives evolved over the years and get to relive a little bit of that, like, early 2000s glory days with everybody.”
Are there any bands that you wish would have come back and played these festivals that haven’t yet?
“My answer before this year would have been botch. But they are out touring now. I'm going to see them in December. They are one of my favourite bands of all time, certainly one of my favourite heavy bands of all time. I saw them maybe three or four times back in the day, and I was convinced that I would never see them again. I'm so stoked to see them again. I would like to cross paths outside of just going to see them play a show, but maybe that'll happen at some point, this year or next.”
That’d be sick, I hope that tour makes its way down to Australia! I’ve never had the chance to see them and they’re on my must-see list too! Now let’s carry on with the nostalgia, what are your favourite records from that period?
“When I think of that era, most of my favourite records are from around 2000-2001-2002, stuff like Cave In’s ‘Jupiter’ and Botch ‘We Are The Romans’, Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ those are the big three for me. I don’t think I’d be the musician I am today if it wasn’t for those three.”
Would you consider the drummers of those bands to be the biggest influences on your playing style?
“I draw from some others too, I would say Dave Grohl quite a bit and John Theodore who plays with Queens of the Stone Age now but those three like JR from Cave In, Phil from Radiohead, and Tim from Botch are massive influences.”
Your 20th-anniversary ‘The Artist In The Ambulance’ tour is coming to Australia later this month. What do you remember about your previous visits to Australia?
"The crowds down there have always been incredible for us. I don't know how or why, but they have. One of the first times we came down in 2003, we played with Hot Water Music and Alkaline Trio, and I just remember the shows being insane.”
“So it's always been a treat for us to get back down there. It's difficult to get down there just because the travel is rough, and it's really expensive, especially now, it’s almost cost prohibitive to come down there, but the crowds have always been great. We've been lucky to get some great weather down there too. Oh, and Australian breakfast too is one of my favourite meals anywhere in the world. So I'm excited to get back into that and get back to Australian coffee!”
A man after my own Melbournian heart! I ran into Teppei and your brother at a specialty coffee shop in Melbourne last time you visited, so I am not surprised the coffee rated a mention.
“Yeah, it’s awesome!”
As someone who attended that 2003 tour as a high-school kid, I agree the shows were amazing!
“A highlight of my entire touring life. I'll never forget that.”
Listen to The Artist In The Ambulance (Revisited)
The Artist In The Ambulance is one of many influential albums celebrating a 20th anniversary in 2023 including Linkin Park's Meteora, AFI's Sing The Sorrow, Evanescence's Fallen, blink-182's blink-182, Lamb Of God's As The Palaces Burn and Avenged Sevenfold's Waking The Fallen.
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