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Interview: Teppei Teranishi on fatherhood, leatherwork and saying goodbye to Thrice

After a spectacular 14-year career, THRICE decided to take an indefinite hiatus earlier this year. The band have made a point of saying their adjournment is just that, implying that the four members will likely get together at some point in the future to continue making music. But as of right now, the band’s slate is wiped clean. We took this opportunity to catch up with guitarist TEPPEI TERANISHI as he wandered through aisles in a Seattle-area Home Depot, chatting about everything from his band’s new live release, Anthology, to what he has in common with Ron Swanson. (Hint: It’s not the bushy mustache.)

INTERVIEW: Scott Heisel

It’s been just under six months since Thrice were put to rest for the time being. Given the passage of time that’s taken place, how do you feel about how you guys wound things down?
I thought the tour was awesome. I think it was a really fun way to close out the chapter. The bands [Animals As Leaders and O’Brother] were great and the last however many shows we did at the end were really fun. I honestly don’t think I could ask for a better way to close up that chapter.

Yeah, at the very end it seemed like you were just adding a new show every single day in California. Obviously, there has to be part of you that expected that would happen, but did you think it would be that ridiculous?
No, definitely not. We kind of had a back-up plan. We were like, “Well, if these shows sell out in x amount of time, then maybe we could add another show or something here,” but we didn’t expect to have to keep adding more and more.

The fact of the matter is, you probably could have kept on going. So what made you stop when you did?
You can’t draw it out too long, you know what I mean? I think we kind of hit the limit there and we were like, “I think this is enough. We’ve got to cut it off at some point.”

is not just one specific show—it’s from multiple shows.
Yeah. We recorded a handful of shows during the course of that tour, and I think we ended up pulling from maybe two of them. Most of it is from one show—to be honest, I can’t remember exactly which show—but there were just a couple songs, maybe two or three, that we pulled from a different show.

There’s nothing in the liner notes saying where the recordings came from, so I was wondering what the original place was.
I have the worst memory. I know some of the ones we recorded were from Chicago at the Metro, Orlando at the House Of Blues and then I think New York, but I could be totally wrong on all of that.

So if you were at that show and you were the guy yelling, “Deadboooooolt!” for an hour-and-a-half straight, you might hear yourself then?
[Laughs.] Yeah, exactly.

I have to wonder as well, when you played that last show, was there any sort of palpable relief within the band when you finally played “Deadbolt” for what could be the last time, that way no one had to yell it anymore?
No, not necessarily that. It’s a weird kind of thrill feeling. It’s kind of hard to describe, but when you’ve done anything for as long as we have, to think this is the last time you’re going to do it for who knows how long, It’s a really weird thing—especially when it’s a super-bittersweet thing. We all loved doing that still. It’s not like there was bad blood in the band or anything. We just kind of felt it was time to take a break from it.

We recently conducted interviews with Tim and Spencer from Underoath, and they both gave the same perspective, saying, “We could have been the band that just did a festival or two a year,” and coasted on their back catalog, but they wouldn’t have had the time to dedicate to moving forward creatively and artistically as a band. So instead of doing that and taking those pay days, they decided to end it. It seems like Thrice were in the same situation where you could have very easily just said, “Okay, this is a tour just like any other tour,” and then just come out of semi-retirement every three or six months and play a show here or there. Was there a discussion about whether you should make a clean break or not?
Yeah. I guess in a way, we felt like we owed it to people to not half-ass it. I think we dedicated so much of ourselves and so much time and effort and everything into the band for so long, so to let it coast out felt a little weird. We were pretty deliberate in calling it a hiatus because of the fact that we don’t intend to not ever come back to it. I think, if life allows, we’d love to keep doing it at some point. Whether it’d be like record another record or do a tour, whatever, but definitely for the time being it’s put to rest.

You moved as well, right? You’re no longer down in California?
Yeah, up north. Just up the coast in Washington.

Dustin Kensrue also headed up that way, too, for Mars Hill.
Yeah, he just did actually.

So you guys are kind of half in one spot and half in another, as Riley and Eddie Breckenridge are still in California. If you had to look at the situation as it stands right now, obviously every fan wants to know: How do you see the next couple years playing out as Thrice? Do you see yourself getting together in, say, 2014? Is it silly to even put a timeline on it?
There’s definitely no timeline. We haven’t even discussed a timeline. I don’t think anybody knows at this point. It’s literally us taking a break from the hectic life of being in a band, which is full of touring and being away from family and stuff like that. I’ve got three kids and Dustin does, too. Now that I’m home, I can’t imagine still having that commitment. It just gets harder and harder every time you leave, especially as your kids get older.

How have you filled the void Thrice provided over the past few months? What has been consuming your day besides kids?
A couple years ago, I picked up doing some leather crafting on the road, and maybe about a little over a year ago started selling my stuff online, just as a total side thing for fun, but that’s actually been going pretty good. So as soon as I got off the road, I decided to put a little more time and effort into it.

What’s the process like for doing something like that? How methodical is it, or do you just kind of make whatever comes to mind?
It’s sort of methodical. I definitely need something to make ends meet while the band isn’t making any money, obviously, so I’m kind of hoping this can be at least one of the avenues where I can make that up. I guess I’m basically wearing all the hats at the same time, because it’s just me. I’m designing the products. I’m actually handcrafting all the products and then just dealing with the day-to-day kind of stuff, just dealing with customers, shops and whatever.

Was that something you knew you were going to step back into as the band were ending the tour? Had you already mapped that out, or was that one of those things where you woke up the next morning and said, “Well, I guess I’ll do this.”
No, I’ve been thinking about it. Obviously, for however long we’ve known that we were going to wind it down, it’s been in the back of my mind. I’ve been like, “I gotta figure something out.” I still don’t have a solid plan, to be honest. I’m just kind of winging it and taking it day by day. This has been keeping me busy and hopefully will end up paying off.

You have this honest appreciation for this type of art, of creating things out of leather, but at the same, you probably have people who find it who are Thrice fans, and that’s what draws them to what you’re creating, not necessarily because of the skill. I imagine it’s kind of similar to NIck Offerman, the actor who plays Ron Swanson on Parks And Recreation: He also has a wood shop. He carves and sells things like chairs and tables, and it’s something he’s done for many years, but I imagine nowadays the business he gets is strictly people who are buying it for the sake of saying, “I bought something from Ron Swanson.” Are you concerned that maybe what you're crafting isn’t necessarily reaching the people that might appreciate it the most?
No, but I see what you’re saying. I was really intentional about it actually, in the beginning, kind of building the brand up and not—and I still don’t—advertise the fact that I play in a band and I’m the guitarist from Thrice or whatever because of that fact. I really wanted the brand to carve out its own name and for the products to kind of stand on their own without having to rely on that. So I think because of that, it’s been kind of a slow build. It’s definitely a niche market, but within that niche market, it’s made a name for itself apart from the band. But yeah, I definitely get customers who somehow find out about what I’m doing, but at this point, the majority of my customers are just people that somehow found out about the brand; it’s people who're separate from the Thrice world, I guess.

 

Going back to Anthology: I’ve always found it interesting when bands will put up an online poll for songs people want them to play. I know that you said the entire setlist was chosen by your fans, but I have to wonder, is that really 100 percent true? Was there no band influence at all?
Absolutely, yes. That was our point, too. We’ve done this in the past and it was more like, “We’ll take it into consideration” type of thing, but this time, we really stuck to it and 100 percent of our setlist was chosen [by fans]. We just took the top four or five songs from each record and just threw that into the setlist—no adding [by us] whatsoever.

So it’s a testament to the power of democracy.
Yeah. Minus our votes. [Laughs.]

Were there any moments of that set, at least on the 24 songs that made the release, you kind of wish people hadn’t voted for?
No. I actually think it turned out really cool. I think at that point too, you kind of drop your guard. I could be picky and say, “I don’t want to play this song,” or whatever, but at this point, we were kind of doing it for the fans. We just kind of got up there and had fun with it. Stuff obviously like “Deadbolt,” we’ve played a million times and don’t really care to play again for the last tour, but people voted for it, and it was really fun to play it because obviously people wanted to hear it, so we just took it for what it was and made the best out of it.

Were there any surprises out of what people voted for? I know on the record, Dustin introduces “Daedalus,” and he said he’s really happy people voted for that song.
There were a couple like that. It’s just funny because the songs we really wanted to play ended up matching up to the ones that people wanted to hear. It was a surprise to us.

I know that you’ve previously been involved with Thrice doing a lot of recording; have you started to branch that out at all up in Seattle?
I haven’t. Mainly just because I’ve been really busy with this other stuff. Honestly, I haven’t really had time for anything else, but yeah, I eventually plan on getting myself a [recording] rig. I don’t have a rig at this moment because I left it in California with Thrice, but I plan on getting myself a rig and maybe, if anything, just recording some stuff for fun, but no solid plans for doing anything.

What about playing? Have you picked up your guitar recently?
Just messing around the house, nothing serious.

Are your kids old enough to play instruments yet?
They are. My oldest son is five, and he’s actually getting pretty proficient at piano. He has a really good ear, and he’s super-stubborn. He won’t let me sit there and teach him. He’ll make me show him a song, and he’ll watch it, then he’ll figure it out, which is pretty cool. I think it’s a good brain exercise.

What songs have you been teaching him?
Pretty much anything he wants to learn. He went through a really heavy Beatles phase for a while, so he wanted to learn “Get Back” and some other songs. Now he’s in a pretty big Michael Jackson phase.

For a five-year-old, those are two pretty good phases.
Yeah, I’m not complaining.

Be careful, though, the Skrillex phase is right around the corner.
Oh yeah, I know, but “Billie Jean” is his jam right now.

I’m assuming music plays a pretty big part in your household. Now that you’ve had kids for five years at this point, have you showed them what Daddy did for a living? Are they aware? Can they recognize songs?
They definitely know, especially my oldest son. He was touring when he was three months old. He’s grown up coming to our shows and stuff, so he obviously knows. So does my middle son who’s three. They’re obviously old enough, and the last show was only a few months ago, so they definitely remember that and know that Daddy played music. They know Thrice songs. They even know Dustin’s voice. They can hear a song, and if they haven’t really heard it before, if it’s Dustin, they’ll know that it’s Dustin.

I’ve noticed you don’t have a social-media presence at all. Is that something you’ve chosen to remove yourself from?
I’m just horrible at it. Personally, I kind of hate social media, and I’m not very good at doing it. I have an account for the brand, but I’m so horrible at updating it.

That’s a good reason to have kids, because in a couple years they can update it for you.
Exactly! [Laughs.]

What are some things you want to accomplish in your life in the next year? What are some things Thrice inhibited you from being able to do?
Kind of a lot. Not that I’m complaining. Just like anything else, it was a full-time thing so it took up 100 percent of my time away from my family. There are a lot of things I have interests in and would love to explore, what I’m doing now being one of them. I’m really enjoying doing the Teranishi Brand stuff. I guess a year from now, I’d like to see it still going, hopefully growing. Right now I’m doing 95 percent handcrafted leather stuff. I did some collaboration with Ebbets Field Flannel, which is a baseball hat company. The second round of them went on sale yesterday, and they sold out within half a day, which is pretty crazy, so I would love to step out and do some more stuff outside of leather accessories.

What are you currently listening to?
I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz, actually. I always have, but when I’m in my workshop, I don’t necessarily need to focus on it. It’s just good background music, I guess. I’ve always been kind of drawn to the bebop stuff, like the hard rock kind of stuff. Anything by Miles Davis, too, obviously. The new Norah Jones is nice. Danger Mouse did it, so it has some similar grooves to the Black Keys stuff, which is pretty interesting, paired with Norah Jones, obviously not as energetic or heavy. The new Converge is awesome. I just listened to that the other day, actually. It’s probably one of the first really heavy things I’ve listened to in a while, and it’s awesome.

Out of the 24 songs you chose for Anthology, what is the one that you just loved playing every single night, that you’ll miss the most over the next couple years?
“Anthology” is kind of nice to play. We were closing the night with it every night. I don’t know, It’s kind of a feel-good song. As feel-good as we get, you know. Closing the night out with it and knowing this would be the last time I would be in x city for however long, that was always kind of nice… I’m trying to figure out a better way to explain it than “bittersweet” because I’ve said that, like, 10 times.

The warm fuzzy, if you will?
Yeah, exactly. The nice warm-fuzzy moment. I think I’ll miss that. alt