After some scheduling changes and last minute scrambles I met up with Thrice while on tour in Baltimore. We quietly crept to the back of the bus to avoid waking Dustin’s three year old daughter who was sleeping in one of the bunks. Towards the end of the interview we got a time signal from the tour manager and as soon as he closed the door and we heard the latch little Sailor woke up and began to cry. With in a moment Dustin has jumped out of his seat, almost knocking over a camera and reached for his little girl. What a beautiful portrait of a father’s concern and love for his child and God’s draw to us as his children.

This is Indie Vision Music’s interview with Dustin Kensrue of Thrice.

Jess – Indie Vision Music – So you guys are currently touring with Brand New and this isn’t your first time touring with them right?

Dustin – We went out with them about 2 years ago them and MewithoutYou, probably the best tour we ever did. It’s good to be back out with them. Awesome band live and really good people.

Now you guys have been out with them for a few weeks now. Any cool bonding moments so far?

Mostly we all just play Words with Friends with each other recently (laughs). The past couple days it’s like consumed everyone’s lives. So everyone’s basically playing Scrabble with each other on their i-Phones constantly. A bunch of us went out to dinner the other night. That was really nice. We’re big fans of days off. At least our crew usually, our band, goes to get a whole family dinner. Goes and sits down to eat with each other. But we had a giant family dinner with everyone even bus drivers, it was cool

This is probably a very different lifestyle from when you guys first kinda got things rolling.

Yeah definitely just in the level. At least on the bus you have some kind of comfort and space and sleep. Um… sleep is good. Van tours are really  fun, but they’re also just really tiring and taxing on you after a while

So have your personal lives at home kinda changed over the past couple of years now that you’re bands started to get some momentum?

Um i’d say we’re steadily losing momentum, but that’s ah, a whole other issue some of that is kinda hard to distinguished from a million other factors. But we’re kinda settling in to wherever we are right now. We’re just happy to be making music and that we’ve been able to be making music for 11 years now. So we never had big plans of anything we just kinda take each day as it comes

So are you guys able to spend more time at home and be with family more?

Um yeah, part of that is due to… when you first start a band you have to tour more and then you can’t tour more at a certain point when you get bigger because you over saturate markets and you can’t paly there any more. It just gets bad. At the beginning you’re on a support tours all the time which is cool and just trying to get your name out there, but thankfully we’re not gone 10 months out of the year anymore.

And you said you have a daughter that’s on tour with you. Is she gonna be with you guys for a few more days.

Yeah they came out a couple days ago and they’re be out for two more days. My wife is here and my daughter

Your wife is expecting right? Do you know what the..

It’s a girl

Yeah? Oh… I guess… Hopefully that’s public knowledge (laughs) It is now.

Yeah.

Now you guys have kinda been a band that people can’t put in a box per se. You’ve been pretty diverse especially with the Alchemy Index.  Was it different composing for the Alchemy Index and then going back to a more central genre for Beggars?

Um it was a very different process. The Alchemy Index is definitely different than anything we’ve done in general. (camera wobbles) Sorry the bus shakes. If you feel like an earth quake or something when someone comes in(laughs). (Jess laughs) Um the Alchemy Index was very different. (It) affected your writing to make these certain tones these certain feels and (Beggars) was just kinda a record, getting back in the studio playing instruments and seeing what happens. It was realy fun. It has seemed like forever since we actually jammed together. Since we actually made a record it’s been like 4 years or something. Between that time it was really cool it all kinda came together from bringing our parts in and playing them out. (The) songs were there and (we) just kind recorded how it sounded in our practice space.

Where did the idea of the Alchemy Index come from?

I was half a sleep one day  in a van going to an in-store. Just popped in my head and I was like that could be a really bad idea or it could be really cool.

Do you think it was recieved pretty well from your stand point?

The entire project?

Yeah

Um I think fairly well, better than I thought. I think some of that is due to us loosing a lot of fans with Vhiessu just that was more the major turning point. People were bummed out and the people that stayed around were  interested in the project and were following along. So we tried to let them in on the process. When it came out… especially when the second half came out, people saw the whole project they were… it seemed like a pretty good response

So where did the idea of fire earth water… why did you chose that concept vs other groups of four?

I don’t know it’s just kinda a classic. Ya know? The four elements, um I dont know … (laughs) it just popped in my head that it would be interesting and that ah… I think I liked it because I thought our band was uniquely suited to attempt it from where we’ve come from, from out different musical interests, and how they were diverging.

So how was the lyrical content? Obviously the Alchemy Index, it was very… you had each concept fire, water so how was writing lyrically different for Beggars? What kind of topics did you touch on?

Usually I dont have an overarching theme for a record. Sometimes later I’ll see i was thinking alot about this… Just around the title track Beggars is just looking at this idea of how much we take for granted. Things we think we’ve acheived or done or  deserved whatever. How many thing are given to us at a very root level. You can’t  determine where you were born or so many things about yourself, you intellect the color of your skin, all these things you have no control over. It’s not to say that we don’t have responsibility, but just taking a step further back And I think wondering about what that means. What does that mean to your accomplishments? What does that mean to the way you treat people, the way that you view them in light of their circumstances? Thats one that I can easily talk about. There’s a bunch of different themes. The first song is kinda about (what) some people call total depravity. Everyone is, the world is, like messed up that everyone is I would say a sinner, other people would put it in different terms, but that there is something wrong in the world there is something wrong inside us. That kinda sets the tone for the record. It’s a pretty dark record a lot of heavy topics.

Specificially one of the songs that stuck out to me was “At the Last” (get the lyrics here) it seems like (the topic was that) people think that they’re a good person, are there any other thoughts or reasons that came up in a song?

Thats kinda playing on that theme that someone denying that there is something bad in them, people justifying their lives. It’s based on part of a sermon by (Charles) Spurgeon. and it’s, ah, basically talking about at the end of your life looking back how you  will view certain things. I think it’s good practice to look at your life now and say what am I gonna think of this? Was this time wasted, (what about) the way i treated this person?  Am I gonna be proud of this ya know? Was the vast portion of my time and effort spent on meaninglessness or evil even. So, ah that’s kinda the idea of someone looking back at the end of their lives and regretting a lot of things

You guys have kind of been… I guess the Christian market has kind come in and out with you guys as far as the media, you’ve been on the cover of Relevant magazine and been mentioned in HM magazine what do you think is the big draw for you guys verses other Christian (musicians) that kinda do the same thing that you guys do?

The big draw? We’ve never really courted the Christian market so they kinda come when they feel like it…. i guess … I don’t know if I know exactly what your asking… I haven’t seen a large interest from the Christian media i guess is what I’m saying.

Yeah, you guys don’t do the tours and aren’t involved in the “Christian” market  but they’ve still kinda sought you out. What do you think drew them in?

Um I don’t really hide the fact that I’m a Christian, not all of us are Christians, but i think that’s why it’s not more invovled in that way. I actually have issues with kinda the way that subculture works itself out. I think it’s unneccessary in a lot of ways, at times artificial. And  I think there is a lot of need for people that make art from a place that is real to them and especially for Christians. I think this implies that you don’t always need to be trying to make what you think you’re suppose to make as oppose to what you actually feel. and I think that when you make art, whatever you believe, that those things will be coming out through you art and there will be a more honest product in the end. And there’s a place for different kinds of things and different kinds of music. For me I try to write (about) things that are interesting to me and my relationship with Christ is central to my life so that kinda of comes into the music, but I try to do it in a way that is, um smart and anyone can engage with and not feel alienated by. I think we should be able to talk about issues and beliefs and different things with different kinds of people and that shouldn’t be a taboo thing. I hope people would be intrigued and challenged and inspired to think about things and not be offended, but you can’t make art worrying about who you’re going to offend.

Yeah I totally see where you’re coming from. So we’ve kinda touched on the Christian market is there anything you would change about the rock industry or the rock market?

Um… I dont know we try to do our own thing. We feel at odds with most things (laughs). The rock world changes every five months, but ya know the way the industry works the way that music is perceived. I don’t know I guess I don’t think about it that much. I dont ever think about what’s happening with it. I guess it’s kinda hard to figure out how it’s relevant to you in the end.

Are there any questions you’ve wanted to have been asked in an interview? Or any topics that you’d want to be brought up?

I like it when people ask questions about certain songs or specific parts of songs but I dont have a specific thing that I’m dying to talk about (laughs)

Well what are some of your favorite tracks off of beggars?

I like Beggars (the title track) alot. Um I like the Great Exchange. I think that’s not one of the more popular ones just because it’s one of the more mellow ones. It’s a very beautiful song I like the words to it a lot. It’s basically a retelling of the Gospel, but, um that scene and all these different character and that general heart is the same.

Have people come up to you to talk about lyrics at all? (Tour manager, Damon, opens door and points to watch) I guess we need to wrap it up.

What time is it?

(Damon)We have 12 mintues until you play.

Yeah we can wrap it up. (Door closes Sailor begins to cry Dustin hurrys to the rescue. His wife takes over and he comes back to his seat)

Are there any closing comments you want to plug or anything any organizations you want to mention that you’re working with or like?

Invisible Children is out with us now. I definitely encourage people to check out the site Invisiblechildren.com

Thanks we appreciate you talking the time out to talk with us!

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