Andy spoke to Dustin Kensrue and Teppei Teranishi of Thrice, before their set at Reading on Saturday afternoon.
Punktastic: Hi guys. What does the average day at a festival like this entail for the Thrice?
Dustin: Mainly trying to find a bathroom, and a bit of press! We only get one meal a day here, so you’re also waiting for the perfect time to eat.
Teppei: Trying to find something to do to keep you occupied. We played a show in Germany, Highfields Festival I think. It was really beautiful and right on a lake, and the production crew got hold of a couple of rowboats we could take out on the lake. If there’s stuff to do like that it’s awesome, otherwise you’re sitting around a lot, waiting for things to happen.
PT: You’ve played Reading several times before. What are your best memories of being here?
Dustin: It gets blurry after a while. I barely remember Main Stage that was absolutely crazy. I think it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to.
Teppei: The Main Stage is really weird though, because there’s only a couple of thousand of people paying attention to you, but then you see everyone else in the arena and it feels massive!
Dustin: Playing in the tent is a different story though. It’s a bit more intimate, a bit more normal.
PT: What do you have in store for your set tonight?
Dustin: We’re trying to do a pretty even mix of stuff tonight.
Teppei: We always try and keep the balance. Playing new songs is always fun, but I know what it’s like going to a show and wanting to hear certain songs from the band. We try to play a bit of something for everyone.
PT: The Alchemy Index was a 4-disc concept record. Was it always intended to be a standalone idea or will we see more concept-style records from you in Future?
Teppei: I don’t know. We never really planned that from the start, we always do whatever we feel and it just sort of ended up that way. I don’t think we ever planned to release it as a concept record or anything like that initially, so I guess if we feel like it again, we will do.
Finally, Dustin, you released your first solo record, Please Come Home last year, and in January you said that you would record a follow up. Can you tell us anymore about that?
Dustin: Yeah I’ll release another album. It’s just a matter of getting it together and writing and recording between everything else. I’ve got some songs together; it’s just a case of finding the time to finish them off now!