This is Pastepunk’s third interview with a member of THRICE. The first one occurred in April 2002, striking when the band was radiating the energy of their breakout full-length The Illusion of Safety. We caught up with the band again in late 2003, shortly after the release of The Artist In The Ambulance. In the nearly five years that have since flashed by, it’s hard to overestimate the musical changes that have transpired for the band. From pioneers of a wholly new take on punk and metal, the band set forth to conquer a new spin on prog rock too. Despite arguably mixed results, there’s no doubt that THRICE walks without comparable in the music it composes. Never settling for stillness, staleness, or aping the sound and style of others, few bands so much to keep things interest and unpredictable for their fans. In late May, James talked via email with super-guitarist, and budding producer/mixer Teppei Teranishi about the latest goings in his life and the wide open future that lies ahead.

Pastepunk: How was producing the THRICE disc different from producing the THE OUT_CIRCUIT’s Pierce the Empire With a Sound and producing Water and the rest of the Alchemy Index, or for that matter, Mr. Kensrue’s solo disc compared to Earth? Cramped quarters? Did you learn things from one that you used on the other, or are the two completely different? What was the hardest part of producing each of the three projects, be it a sound you just couldn’t get or parts of songs that didn’t quite mesh?

Teppei: Pretty different I guess. It’s a huge difference recording a band, and recording a band that you’re a part of. Plus, I only mixed The Out Circuit record which was actually pretty cool. I wasn’t sure how it would all be, receiving tracks someone else had tracked and having to work with what I was given, but it turned out to be a cool experience. Jared who helped Nate (who is The Out Circuit) record everything did a great job and it was fairly easy getting the sounds the way I wanted them to. It was also sorta cool hearing how other people do their thing. Dustin’s record was a breeze. We just threw stuff up and went for it. We wanted it to sound pretty natural and raw so there really wasn’t much to it. Other than making sure it sounded pretty raw I guess. The Earth stuff was similar in that we wanted the whole thing to sound really natural and raw. We really wanted the listener to feel like he/she was sitting right there in the room with us. It was fun to record because a lot of it is pretty stripped and there isn’t too many things fighting for sonic space. The hardest part of recording The Alchemy Index was the Fire disc for precisely the opposite reason… that there are SO many things fighting for the same sonic space. Recording heavy stuff is tough because of that. Especially if you don’t want it to sound like a every other heavy recording. Everything needs to sound big, but everything can’t be big or it would just sound like a huge mush of sound, so I guess my job was to make everything perceptibly big. It was definitely a challenge.

Pastepunk: Given Thrice’s mercurial nature do you see an end in sight for the band, or this as part of an evolution in a career? In a related note, is the notion of a career viable for this band (or any others), given the family ties that are beginning to develop?

Teppei: It’s definitely a part of the evolution of the band. It’s simply another record… it just happens to be a big concept record, but in the history of the band, it’s just another record. We’ve been doing this for 10 years now! I think it’s safe to call this a career at this point.

Pastepunk: Any news on BLACK UNICORN?

Teppei: Ha! Nope. I think it’s funny people even know about that. I’m not sure how that happened. Black Unicorn is a product of my friend/ex-guitar tech Chris Jones and I being bored and writing songs in the back lounge. We were home, had extra time, and decided “hey lets record these songs.” It’s fun, it’s cheeky, and it was a one time thing… I don’t think it’s gonna be anymore than that.

Pastepunk: If you could talk to the Teppei of 2003 and 2004, what would you tell him?

Teppei: Somehow the haircut you had will have turned into some kind of emo phenomenon and morph into some very ridiculous and over the top fashion…. errrr, statements? In short, cut your hair, and retire “Deadbolt” now because people will yell for it your entire set.

Pastepunk: Thrice seems to attract an intriguing and diverse group of friends and associates. Who else can DILLINGER CHILDREN, INVISIBLE CHILDREN, THE OUT_CIRCUIT and MEWITHOUTYOU agree on? How did you all meet and become friends with Dillinger Escape Plan and the Out_Circuit? In a six degrees-ish note, how did you guys decide to have the FRODUS cover (“The Earth Isn’t Humming”) on Earth?

Teppei: Haha. I don’t know how that happened. I guess just from being a band for so long, touring so much, and meeting so many different people. It’s funny cause even further than that, all my friends at home play in indie bands that have nothing to do with the circuit that we are part of. Riley has always been a huge Dillinger fan and somehow got to know those guys. I don’t really know them that well, but Ri’s good friends with them. We are all huge fans of Frodus and have tons of mutual friends so getting to know them was only natural. If you didn’t know, Nate from The Out Circuit played bass in Frodus. As far as the cover, we’ve always loved that record (And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea) and we’d talked about covering a Frodus song for a while. I whipped up a quick demo of the song in an “earthy” style and everyone liked it so we did it.

Pastepunk: What was practice like for this tour? It seems like there’s a lot more “deep album” choices on the setlist (“Flags of Dawn,” “Motion Isn’t Meaning”). Was it relearning old songs, or dusting off ones that don’t often get played?

Teppei: It was a lot of figuring out how to play the new songs and refiguring out old stuff.

Pastepunk: Is the ubiquity of music downloading a worry in your mind? Are there ways to harness it for good?

Teppei: I don’t think it’s realistic to think it can be stopped. I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that people actually purchasing records is a thing of the past. Bands are going to have to find different ways of selling their music and making a living… How, I’m not really sure. I guess I should probably figure that out….

Pastepunk: What prompted you and the ATTACK IN BLACK boys to go out under a club and search the catacombs? Aside from the TV, what’d you find? What was the experience like?

Teppei: I’m always down for an adventure. Especially when I’m stuck in Canada in the dead of winter. I was going crazy with cabin fever. We didn’t really find anything too interesting. It was a big of a let down to be honest.

Pastepunk: When does Thrice plan to leave Vagrant? (What? You guys released two discs on Sub City, then moved to Island, released three records, and have now released two CDs on Vagrant)

Teppei: Out contract with Vagrant is actually done now. We only signed with them for this project. We don’t know what we’re going to do next, but that’s a good thing. I like not being tied into anything. Especially with the state of flux the music business is in.

Pastepunk: What have you been listening to recently?

Teppei: I’m just gonna ramble some stuff off the top of my head… The Beatles, The Kinks, Tom Waits, Dr. Dog, Aushua, Radiohead, Richard Swift, The Band, Bill Withers, and The Black Keys