| CD REVIEW Thursday |
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Band: Thursday Based in New Brunswick (New Jersey), Thursday is an Emo-Hardcore band which formed in 1997 with a line-up comprising singer Geoff Ricky, guitarists Tom Keeley and Bill Henderson (whom was replaced by Steve Pedulla along the way, but I ain’t sure of when that happened, as the consultation of several biographies of the band have given me no place in time about the event), bassist/ backing singer Tim Payne, and drummer Tucker Rule. They recorded demos which they handed out at shows, and eventually teamed up with MP3.com for the release of their 1999 Summer Tour EP. On January 18, 2000 the Eyeball Records imprint released the band’s debut album The Waiting, which displayed a somewhat eclectic musical direction including influences from British Goth Pop laden with discordant and unpredictable guitars threads on a basis of New York Hardcore which was enticing enough for major label Victory to offer the band a deal for their second album Full Collapse, which arrived in April 2001. Thanks to the label’s promotional capacities, the track “Understanding In A Car Crash” broke the band into mainstream national radio and audiences. The band also toured in promotion of the album, including a support tour to Saves The Day. The following year saw the arrival of a live EP entitled Five Stories Falling, a release which the band used to fullfill the contractual obligations with Victory, with whom they had fallen in disagreements over promotion tactics. In fact, the band had even considered breaking up at one time due to those disagreements. Thursday then made a switch of labels to the even bigger major Island, whose first release of the band would be September 2003’s conceptual War All The Time (which features keyboardist Andrew Everding, who’d become an official member – at least for live shows – in late December 2003). Again, extensive live promotion ensued, including tours with AFI, Thrice, and Coheed And Cambria (which also included many in-store acoustic performances at Tower Records outlets and other record stores). Following this full-length, the band released the EPs Live FromThe SoHo & Santa Monica Stores Split EP (sold exclusively through iTunes), and Live In Detroit. During 2004 the band took an extensive time off, citing “label pressure”, extensive touring, and health problems as reasons for their absence. They eventually re-emerged on April 25, 2005, for the charitable cause to save New York City’s legendary CBGB club, a performance which was streamed live through the venue’s website. The band again came in the news in the Fall of 2005, when rough demos they had recorded were stolen off My American Heart’s tour manager’s iPod and then leaked onto the Internet. The band later made a statement through their website that, although they were disappointed that these unfinished songs had been leaked, they were also somewhat pleased that so many people had shown interest in ‘em. 4 of these songs would eventually made it in their improvement versions onto the May 2, 2006 released album A City By The Light Divided which would turn out to be the band’s first full-length not recorded with producer Sal Villanueva. Live promotion throughout the Summer was done by goin’ on the Warped Vans tour, and headline shows during September and October saw the band backed by Rise Against! The band ended their cooperation with Island in early 2007, and then cancelled all tour plans until the Fall, when they allied with Circle Take The Square and Portugal. The Man. This in support of their Kill The House Lights release, a retrospective CD/ DVD package. On their 2007 New Year’s Eve show, the band announced that they would be writing and recording new material in 2008…the first result of which came in the form of the split album release with Japan’s Envy, issued through the Temporary Resistance Limited imprint on November 4. On September 30 the band announced they had signed to Epitaph, a label with which they immediately felt right at home…or how else would you interpret a statement like “…it’s a great feeling to have a label encourage you to be more socially conscious and politically active…”? So here we are at this moment in time…or more specifically, of this review…where we’ll have to talk music, and I dare say I way pleasantly surprised by the music this band plays. As it happens, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard anything by them (at least consciously), and the term “Emo-Hardcore” I’d already seen tagged on the band in reviews of their earlier albums had made me somewhat apprehensive of what might be on the plate! But although I have grown with much of the EmoCore scene over the years (there’s simply been too many bands and labels wanting to milk out the popularity of the genre and jumping on a bandwagon they really had to place to be on with the mediocre middle-of-the-road tunes they were making) I have to admit that the Thursday’s guitarists manage to make for a palate with nice melodic complexities thanks to a great rhythm/ lead guitar interaction, and several unexpected but pleasant tempo and mood changes. Truly, the guys know how to build a certain tension…and a state of mind in the listener which makes him wanna check out their music over and over again to analyse all the different details of their play! Vocally, both Rickly and Payne bring what you’d expect from an Emo band, but they dó bring in some variety as well, which is another way the band prevents the occasional listener from being bored all too quickly! If you’re already a Thursday fan, you’ll already know what to expect from this second full-length album produced by Dave Fridmann, and you may have noticed that the track “As He Climbed The Dark Mountain” already appeared on the band’s split CD with Envy. Those readers who didn’t know the material of this fine band yet (and we can only hope they’re reading this review now after all) I can only recommend very warmly to check up on the songs posted at myspace.com/thursday where, alongside 3 songs off the A City Bt Light Divided and one each off Kill The House Lights and War All The Time, you’ll also find new single Resuscitation Of A Dead Man (as well as a couple of older videos). Enough to not only get acquainted, but also convinced by the unique qualities of this outstanding band! Well, with those complimentary comments in mind, could you really be you surprised to find me nominating Common Existence into my year-lists? 98/100 Tony. |