Thursday Interview

Coming out of New Jersey, Thursday has quickly left their mark on the punk/emo/hardcore world, culminating in their new release "Full Collapse". Thursday has played with a number of notable bands in their short tenure including At the Drive In and Hot Water Music. In doing so, they have impressed audiences and bands alike with their talent, tenacity and honesty. Look for Thursday this summer on tour with Waterdown and Drowningman, as well as a handful of dates on the Warped Tour.

Professor (P): * Who is responding to this*
Thursday (T): Tom

P: Could you give a quick history of the band?
T: Tucker and I used to get together on weekends when we didn't have school, and just kind of kick around little 2 minute hardcore songs on our really crappy equipment...we'd hang out in his attic and just try really hard to fool ourselves into thinking we were good. I guess we did that for like 4 months and actually started learning how to play our instruments. Right around that time I met Geoff at an Ink and Dagger show, and asked him if he wanted to come to the "practices" and work on lyrics. Tim, I met in a figure drawing class. For a while my other friend from high school, Bill played with us..we recorded waiting with him. After a while he realized that he was not going to be able to commit to touring because of school, and through a mutual friend of all of ours we met Steve, our newest member. We've been playing with him almost a year now, and he recorded Full Collapse with us.

P: What have been your guys' musical influences?
T: They vary a lot....anything from Bad Brains to Hot Water Music to June of 44 to U2 to Miles Davis to Fiona Apple....

P: Does signing and subsequently releasing an album on Victory signal success to you guys?
T: Success is really hard to gauge...some may say that we are successful because we are a victory band, and to an extent that is partially true. They definitely have a distribution set up that is better than almost any independent label out there..so they are definitely capable of getting our records to the most stores and to the most kids. The only thing that really signals success for us is playing to kids who care about what we are doing. Because we all put everything we have into making music, all of our energy is in this, and if people respond to that and reciprocate that energy, it keeps us going....their reciprocation allows us to not run out of energy.....they are what make us successful.

P: Talk a bit about the new album. For instance, where it was recorded?.>By who? How did it go? How much it rocks?
T: We recorded at this great studio in Jersey City called Big Blue Meanie with Tim Gilles and Sal Villenueva from Demonspeed. They did an incredible job and working with them is such an enjoyable process....they are like family, and they genuinely care about what they are doing....they care about helping musicians to make quality sounding music. We pretty much lived at the studio for a month straight. I know everyone put in 15 plus hours every day. Sal was our producer, but it was more like working with a best friend.

P: Talk a bit about the upcoming tour.
T: Well, right now we are getting ready to hit the road with Skycamefalling and Fairweather. It is going to be a little east coast tour. Both of those bands are great. The members of each band that i have met are really wonderful people, and touring is great when you can do it with friends. Pretty soon after that we are going out with Drowningman and Waterdown, from Germany....we are really excited to meet Waterdown, them being new labelmates as well as a great band.

P: Where is your favorite place to play?
T: There are a couple actually....of course playing in our hometown is always amazing...Our record release show at the wetlands was close to the best show we've ever had...there were so many kids who were all so supportive and excited....it is impossible not to be affected by that. We also like playing in Buffalo...we recently played there with Midtown, Hot Rod Circuit, and River City High.....the kids we have met there are all really nice...

P: Who would you love to tour with that you haven't yet?
T: I think each member of our band has a different answer for that question...personally, i would love to tour with Hot Water Music. We all would really like to tour with Cursive who is amazing.

P: Do you guys have day jobs?
T: We all have had various day jobs since starting the band...i worked in a convenience store, Tucker worked at the US Golf Association stuffing envelopes. Steve was actually pursuing cinematography...he had just finished shooting an independent film that has recently won all of these awards, called George Washington...its an incredible movie..

P: To what extent and in what terms does music mean to you?
T: Music has always meant so much to all of us growing up. it has helped us to define who we are in relation to the rest of the world. for me(tom) when i found it difficult to relate to mainstream music's pre-packaged contrived messages, i started listening to my friends youth crew hardcore tapes...even though i may not have related fully to everything those bands were about, at the time they were different from everything else i had heard and I was sure that that was important. For the first time music struck me on a human level. And now, being in a band...it is so rewarding to make music that appeals to not only ourselves but also to other people on a human level. To think that we might help people or kids to find themselves through music the way hardcore helped me find myself is the most rewarding feeling in the world.

P: Do you prefer low- or high-brow humor?
T: I'm loosely mid-brow.

P: Did you vote in the last election? If yes, whom did you vote for and why?
T: Yes I did vote....

P: Will the Bush administration cause the end of the world as we know it?
T: I think that the end of the world will be caused by a chain of different events that involve all of the worlds governments....hopefully he wont do anything to spark that reaction. He definitely makes me very nervous.

P: Do you think that the rash of reality shows only lower pop culture's standards of quality?
T: I think that they start to warp one's perception of what real life is. To be inundated by these messages that are supposedly "real life" when they in no way shape or form are real life, over time definitely can cause a shift in a person's perception of how to hold themselves or how to interact in the real world(no pun intended). Media overload decreases the quality of life in general. In the same way that an 11 year old girl emulates Brittney Spears...the subconscious or conscious mind of a 24 year old man still has a need to relate to someone...so if his favorite show is the Man show(which is supposedly all about the "true" nature of men), he may deem it acceptable to gawk at a woman's breasts openly or to verbally harass a woman who he finds attractive. Pop culture is very very dangerous when people become to accept it as a healthy reality to emulate.

P: Who would win in a wrestling match: Hulk Hogan or Superman?
T: That is difficult. if the match took place at the height of Hulk Hogan's career back in the mid 80's I'm sure Vince Mcmahon would find a way to write it into the script that Hogan would come from behind to pin superman. They'd probably end up in one of those test of strength things where they interlock fingers and just when you think the Hulkster's goin' down, he starts that shaky trembly thing where he spazzes out and beats the crap out of the other guy.

P: Do you think that death is the end of a purely physical life and one's consciousness lives on?
T: Well, i think that all of the person's electrons and physical energy needing to transient leaves the body and goes into something else....so in a sense a person lives on after the body dies.....as far as that electricity and energy being conscious? I don't really think I have an answer.

P: Atom and his Package: Love or Hate?
T: I've only ever heard one song, and it was about ink and dagger and Philly, I thought it was pretty funny.....I don't know him enough to love him, and I don't hate anyone.

P: Have any of you ever had a mullet?
T: I think every one of us has little skeletons in our closets....and I'd venture a guess that you do too.

P: What is your favorite theme song from a TV show?
T: the theme song from Real American Hero...I think that's what it was called. "believe it or not I'm walkin on air, never thought I could feel so free hee hee......" right??

P: Do you have a website for people to check out beyond Victory's?
T: Our website should be up in about a week...its called Full Collapse.com...we've been so busy with touring that we haven't had time to work on it...but very soon i promise.

P: What is on tap for Thursday in the near and far future?
T: Hopefully touring as much as possible. We love traveling all over the place and meeting kids from different parts of the country...hopefully at some point we'll find ourselves in Europe...Also, writing for another record...we are all really excited to get back into the studio. I just hope we can continue being a band and continue growing in that respect, also as people. Thanks.

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