Thursday: bringing the chaos

(Credit: Brantley Gutierrez)

For a band that was (literally) the cover story for the emo movement a few years back (see Spin, Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, etc.), Thursday seem like they might actually in the best place in their career now. The New Jersey group's new album, “Common Existence,” is by far the band’s finest effort, mixing the aggression and energy of their early work with the complexity and larger lyrical perspective of their more recent albums—it’s a record that would feel right at home played next to Fugazi, the Deftones or even Radiohead.

On the eve of headlining the Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour (with Bring Me the Horizon, Four Year Strong, Pierce the Veil and Cancer Bats), we spoke with Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly about going back to his indie label roots, sparring with the United Nations and hanging with the Cure’s Robert Smith.

Your bio says you recorded this in a “damp warehouse.” Why didn’t you choose a dry one?
[Laughs] We wrote it in a damp warehouse, but we recorded it upstate in a log cabin. But yeah, we spent a lot of time in this huge warehouse in North Bergen, New Jersey. It was too big; we had to rebuild the walls to create a smaller practice room. We’d go in there six hours a day, six days a week. It was really a shithole.

You moved from a major label to an indie [Epitaph] during this recording. Did that affect you at all?
Actually, we started out recording without a label. It was kind of weird. We signed to Epitaph halfway through recording—they never even heard the stuff we were working on. Thankfully, they didn’t want us to change anything after they heard it.

There are some big guest stars on this record. How do you decide that Tim from Rise Against or Walter from Quicksand is right for a song?
It was pretty simple. When Rise Against was in town, we were like, “You have tomorrow off? Wanna come in?” As for Walter, I ran into him jogging in Brooklyn, and asked if he wanted to sing on this one song where we were pretty much ripping off his old band. And he heard it and said, yeah, that’s really Quicksand.

I heard that the new record also has a connection to David Foster Wallace.
I had been in touch with him about writing some lyrics, or doing something for Thursday or my side project, United Nations. We exchanged a few letters back and forth. I was totally bummed when I found out about his suicide. He was such a compassionate, amazing writer; his views on irony and TV culture are stunning, and I kind of felt the same way, about irony being the tyrannizing force in art. Part of the record is dedicated to him.

Speaking of United Nations…apparently, you’ve received some threatening words from the actual U.N.?
That’s sadly true. The way it looks, we’re fighting a lawsuit we could win…if we had the money. It’s a trademark and copyright infringement case, but there has to be confusion in the marketplace for it to work. There’s no way somebody’s’ going to say, “I found this record in a record store, I thought it was for the real U.N.!” I mean, our Web site is unitedfuckingnations.com! We never mention them in a song. I think they’re suing because they’re like, hey, punk kids don’t have money. But we’re talking to the ACLU; it’s a First Amendment case at this point.

On a different note: you produced the first My Chemical Romance record. Did you know what you were dealing with?
I felt they were going to be huge—Gerard knows what he’s doing. But I didn’t think they’d be world dominating huge. I mean, they did Times Square on New Year’s Eve! For me, it was a crazy mix of emotions and it sucks, because he’s so busy that we don’t get to talk much, and Gerard and I were really good friends. But it’s interesting: I see where they’re at and sometimes, I’m like, thank god that’s not me.

You should have taken a percentage of future sales or something. You’d be set!
Yeah, I could have been a total douchebag. Part of me is like, I struggle to make rent, why couldn’t Thursday get a fraction of that? [Laughs]

Your writing, in some ways, has become more outward since the initial “emo” articles about you came out. You talk a lot about politics; are you excited about where we are now?
Besides the horribly crippling recession? [Laughs] Sure, I’m looking forward to Obama. Actually, United Nations was asked to play some Nader rallies; it was a flattering offer, and I’ve looked up to Nader. But I was and am an Obama supporter.

For the Taste of Chaos tour, did you have any say in the bands?
We did not. They basically said, “Do you want to headline this festival? We’ll promote the shit out of it.” And we’re like, “Well, OK.” I like the Cancer Bats; I don’t really know the other bands, to be honest. I wish I knew more about them.

One of your openers, Bring Me the Horizon, sort of has a reputation for getting into fights.
Hmm. I don’t really know them. They look like skinny English lads; I’m not worried.

When you opened for the Cure a few years ago and Robert Smith would watch you on the side of the stage, what was going through your mind?
The first show he did that, I freaked out; I couldn’t stay in the moment. I mean, I lost my virginity to a Cure song! But I got used to it, and we became friends. We’d go drinking after shows. He’s super cool.