Thursday's Uncomfortable Position

04/14/09 4:57pm

by Sheena Lyonnais (CHARTattack)

It didn't seem that long ago when New Jersey's Thursday would sell out venues and pack mosh pits.

Nowadays, kids are leaving gigs early, and it's particularly bittersweet considering that Thursday may have become one of those bands whose time has come and gone. The word "pioneer" has been getting thrown around with increasing frequency, but it could also be code for "the kids are moving on."

"It's a little scary sometimes," guitarist Tom Keeley said while en route to Texas as headliners of the Taste Of Chaos tour.

"The thing that is a little disconcerting is that these kids really don't care about or are less inclined to do research to find out what bands are tied to other bands and who influenced who. They care less about the history of the music and care more about the fashion of it and the excitement of a brand new band full of attractive guys... and I can't charge them for that."

Thursday released Kill The House Lights in 2007 to try to win back some of that audience, but the new direction of spacey guitars and ambience polarized fans. One side loved the adventurous new record and the other hated it and jumped ship.

Thursday were very much aware of this and took it into consideration over the two years it took to make their latest release, Common Existence. The record comes a decade after their Waiting debut and it throws back to the elements that made Thursday who they are: hard songs, social topics and heavy guitars. It has hints of Waiting and 2001's Full Collapse, but really borrows most strongly from 2003's War All The Time.

In "Friends In The Armed Forces," vocalist Geoff Rickly sings, "And the medic can't play the rhythm of your heart, so it starts to fade like footsteps in the march." Although it's intended as a social commentary on American soldiers, it could just as easily be about the death of post-hardcore music.

Thursday were pigeonholed early in their career into this post-hardcore/screamo category for their seeming inability to write happy songs. Indeed, they released a decade-long discography of tracks about death, wars and struggles. Despite their energetic shows, there was always a prominent aura of gloom.

"I'm a very positive person," Keeley says. "I love life.

"I love my life, but most of the music I'm drawn to and most of the music I write is really dark.

"I'm not exactly sure why, but music for me and the rest of the guys is only about five per cent entertainment. It's something more, it's something deeper and less quantifiable. It's more like a bloodline. The sounds that I'm drawn to are the ones that reverberate with something in me that makes me address the parts of my life that are difficult.

"I don't necessarily go to a show or play music to party down. It's not about that. Yeah, you want to have a good time, but that's subjective for every different person.

"For me, the shows we went to in the beginning, there were bands that were political, there were bands that were 'emo,' and you would go and see people playing so hard that their hands would bleed. Even if you didn't know what they were singing about, you knew that it was important and there was a sense of urgency."

Whether Thursday's diminishing crowds on Taste Of Chaos indicates the passing of an era doesn't take away from the fact Common Existence is a solid record. It's their first release on Epitaph Records, and Thursday treated it as therapy. The guitars are heavy and the lyrics are deep. This raw passion is what keeps Thursday alive despite everything, because one can't help but get lost in their music when they're performing.

"On stage when you're playing and you're really there, there is no good or evil," Keeley says. "There's just that moment and in that moment, without having your judgments about 'this is hard' or 'my life is hard' or 'this is unfair,' in that kind of immediate moment that judgment kind of goes away and you can just be.

"It's about getting in that immediate moment where you're totally free and you don't have to worry about anything but staying in that moment."

Thursday will tour in support of Common Existence for the next few months. The band remain positive and optimistic as they continue to write resilient music with strong stories and messages. Though Keeley is a little concerned, he's as happy as can be.

"To go from hot new upcoming act to post-hardcore pioneer, I can't really complain about that," he says.