1)Waiting (1999); 2)Full Collapse (2001); 3)War All the Time (2003); 4)A City by the Light Divided (2006); 5)Common Existence (2009); 6)No Devolucion (2011)
Waiting
Released December 6, 1999, Length 33:47 Label Eyeball
1.Porcelain 4:40
2.This Side of Brightness 3:35
3.Ian Curtis 3:47
4.Introduction 1:58
5.Streaks in the Sky 4:30
6.In Transmission 3:41
7.Dying in New Brunswick 4:06
8.The Dotted Line 4:19
9.Where the Circle Ends 3:11
Waiting is the debut album by the emo quintet Thursday. The album was produced by Sal Villanueva and released on Eyeball Records in 1999. The photography throughout the album's artwork, with the exception of live shots, was done by Tom Keeley's uncle, Dennis Keeley.
Suicide Theme
The song "Porcelain" is a tribute and call to action regarding suicide. Kevin, best friend to Geoff Rickly, had committed suicide soon after moving to San Francisco. At the time of his suicide, there wasn't a toll-free suicide hotline available in San Francisco that Kevin was aware of and he was unable to seek counseling at the time of his death. The song "Ian Curtis" was named after late lead singer of the UK group Joy Division. Another victim of suicide, Curtis hanged himself in his Macclesfield home in 1980. The song contains the lyrics "Love has torn us apart", in reference to Joy Division's song "Love Will Tear Us Apart".
Dying in New Brunswick
The song Dying in New Brunswick was written by Geoff Rickly about his girlfriend who moved to New Brunswick and was raped while she was there. The lyrics are about how he hated the city for what happened and how he felt like he was dying whenever he was there.
Full Collapse
Released April 10, 2001, Length 42:30, Label Victory
1.A0001 0:36
2.Understanding in a Car Crash 4:24
3.Concealer 2:19
4.Autobiography of a Nation 3:55
5.A Hole in the World 3:27
6.Cross Out the Eyes 4:08
7.Paris in Flames 4:33
8.I Am the Killer 3:35
9.Standing on the Edge of Summer 3:42
10.Wind-Up 4:23
11.How Long Is the Night? 5:45
12.I1100 1:40
Full Collapse is Thursday's second album and their debut on Victory Records. It combines post-hardcore influences with melodic elements and personal, emotional lyrics. The album helped to establish Thursday as an immensely popular group in the indie and alternative rock music scenes. Live cuts of "Understanding in a Car Crash", "Autobiography of a Nation", "Paris in Flames", and "Standing on the Edge of Summer" appear on the band's 2002 Victory Records live EP Five Stories Falling. The album reached #178 on The Billboard 200. There is also a Special Edition of the album, which includes the videos for the two released singles ("Understanding in a Car Crash" and "Cross Out the Eyes") and several Thursday-themed desktop computer wallpapers.
Printed directly on the inner circle of the disc are the words, "Full Collapse On Impact". "Standing on the Edge of Summer" is written about Rickly's grandmother.
War All The Time
Released September 16, 2003, Length 42:00 Label Island
1.For the Workforce, Drowning 3:16
2.Between Rupture and Rapture 3:03
3.Division St. 4:14
4.Signals Over the Air 4:10
5.Marches and Maneuvers 4:27
6.Asleep in the Chapel 3:46
7.This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb 2:16
8.Steps Ascending 4:26
9.War All the Time 4:33
10.M. Shepard 3:36
11.Tomorrow I'll Be You 4:07
12.Ný batterí (Sigur Rós Cover) 6:34 (Japanese bonus track)
This album was produced by Sal Villanueva who has produced all of Thursday's previous recordings. The album was the band's major label debut, and it enjoyed measurable success, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
A City by the Light Divided
Released May 2, 2006, Length 45:56, Label Island/ Victory/ Hassle
1.The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control) 4:41
2.Counting 5-4-3-2-1 3:19
3.Sugar in the Sacrament 5:12
2.Counting 5-4-3-2-1 3:19
3.Sugar in the Sacrament 5:12
4.At This Velocity 2:58
5.We Will Overcome 3:39
6.Arc-Lamps, Signal Flares, a Shower of White (The Light) 2:32
7.Running from the Rain 4:00
8.Telegraph Avenue Kiss 3:35
9.The Lovesong Writer 5:18
10.Into the Blinding Light 3:48
11.Autumn Leaves Revisited 6:56
12.Even the Sand Is Made of Seashells 4:10 (Japanese, UK, iTunes bonus track)
13.Running from the Rain [Dave Fridmann Remix] (Japanese bonus track)
A City by the Light Divided is the fourth full-length album by Thursday, released by Island Records on May 2, 2006. It reached #20 on The Billboard 200.
Vocalist Geoff Rickly comments on the album's intent:
I think it was, "How do we keep the urgency and the excitement of what Thursday's doing?", which to me has always been a chemistry kind of thing, like the way the band fits together and pops into place and stuff. How do we do that but make it more multi-dimensional? We didn't focus at all. We put anything we were mildly interested in there and said, "Let's juxtapose this into the mix." So we ended up with big sort of ballads that were almost like U2 and some grindcore stuff and some really blasty, screamy shit, and other stuff...I would love to leave some sort of legacy. But I just want to get to a place where we're not living or dying by the trends. There's a few bands in every genre that don't leave the genre, don't say "we're not doing this anymore" but kind of outlast it. I would really like to be the Sonic Youth of our scene. That would be really rad.—Geoff Rickly,
Prior to the album's release, in Fall 2005, five Thursday demo songs were stolen from My American Heart's tour manager's iPod. Rickly had recently collaborated with My American Heart on the track "We Are the Fabrication" for their album The Meaning in Makeup. The band issued a statement on their official website stating that they were disappointed the unfinished products leaked, but that they were glad that people took that much interest in their music.
The band confirmed the title of one demo, "At This Velocity" and promised it would make their upcoming album. Three other songs ("The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)", "Telegraph Avenue Kiss", and "Autumn Leaves Revisited") would also make the album; the demo versions of these songs are quite different. One more demo song had not been released until recently, in the form of "Last Call" from the band's fifth album, Common Existence.
Common Existence
Released February 17, 2009, Length 44:51, Label Epitaph
1.Resuscitation of a Dead Man 3:21
2.Last Call 4:03
3.As He Climbed the Dark Mountain 3:01
4.Friends in the Armed Forces 4:10
5.Beyond the Visible Spectrum 3:59
6.Time's Arrow 4:13
7.Unintended Long Term Effects 2:18
8.Circuits of Fever 5:07
9.Subway Funeral 4:18
10.Love Has Led Us Astray 4:39
11.You Were the Cancer 5:49
Digital deluxe edition bonus tracks
12.Fake Nostalgia 3:22
13.Common Existence 3:53
14.The Worst Vow 3:14
15.Circuits of Fever (Innerpartysystem remix) 4:12
16.Love Has Led Us Astray (original demo) 3:00
Song information
The band explores many subjects, including marriage (”Last Call”), fatherhood (”As He Climbed the Dark Mountain”), and physical abuse (”Time’s Arrow”).
In a March 2009 interview, Rickly explained the album's title refers to humanity's shared experience, and that many of the songs were influenced by the words of his favorite poets and authors.
| “ | Almost every song on the record is connected to a different writer. The first song, "Resuscitation of a Dead Man" is influenced by Denis Johnson's Resuscitation of a Hanged Man. Another song is based on a book Martin Amis's Time's Arrow. The whole record also has a lot of themes from Roberto Bolano, a poet who wrote The Savage Detectives and a few other things. The song "Circuits of Fever" is very influenced by [writer] David Foster Wallace. | ” |
On December 9, 2008, the band released the first new track from the album, "Resuscitation of a Dead Man", on their MySpace page. In early February, another new track, "Friends in the Armed Forces", was released for streaming on the band's MySpace page. In successive interviews with Spin.com and Rock Sound, keyboard player Andrew Everding and vocalist Geoff Rickly explained the track's significance:
"[The song] is about a personal experience that Geoff had with someone we know who's serving in the Iraq conflict. It can be forced down your throat to support someone who's fighting for a cause you don't believe in... We support you as people but we don't support your efforts." - Andrew Everding, Rock Sound interview
"I have a close friend in the service and several others that have finished their tours... The song was inspired by my conversations with them and by my conversations with their family members. It's about the shifting of perspective when it comes to wrong and right - ultimately, the song is a wish for peace and wellbeing for my friends." - Geoff Rickly, Spin.com interview
A music video was filmed for "Resuscitation of a Dead Man" which features various pyrotechnics such as sparks falling around the band. Footage includes the band performing in a red room and urgent scenes of a man being rushed on a gurney. Later on, Thursday's amplifiers become engulfed in fire as well. In an interview on No. 1 Countdown, band members stated that all pyrotechnics were indeed real and frequently singed their hair.
On September 15, 2009 Thursday with release a digital exclusive deluxe edition of Common Existence with five bonus tracks, the music video for "Resuscitation of a Dead Man" and a digital booklet.
No Devolucion
Released April 12, 2011, Length 53:09. Label Epitaph
1.Fast to the End 3:21
2.No Answers 4:53
3.A Darker Forest 3:40
4.Sparks Against the Sun 4:47
5.Open Quotes 2:55
6.Past and Future Ruins 4:15
7.Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart 3:42
8.Empty Glass 4:59
9.A Gun in the First Act 5:02
10.Millimeter 2:48
11.Turnpike Divides 4:54
12.Stay True 7:53
Writing and recording
Thursday entered Tarbox Road Studios in Fredonia, New York with producer Dave Fridmann in July 2010. Fridmann had previously produced the band's previous two studio albums: 2006's A City by the Light Divided and 2009's Common Existence. In a press release for the album, vocalist Geoff Rickly commented, "We've worked with Dave Fridmann before, but this is definitely the most we've ever clicked with him." Fridmann was also inspired by the new direction Thursday was taking their music, and assisted the band in taking their music to new areas.
Thursday entered the studio without any demos and impulsively wrote No Devolución on the spot. Within a week the band had a full album written — a dramatically shorter time frame for Thursday as their previous albums had taken between six months and a year to compose. In an effort to "[keep] the songs fresher," recording was performed in several two-week periods with a month off in between sessions. The album's closing song "Stay True" was an improvised studio warm-up song based around a guitar part. Each day a new variation of the instrumental song was preformed and recorded live, with some versions lasting up to 20 minutes. The nearly eight-minute track that appears on No Devolución was Thursday's favorite version of the song, and vocals were later recorded for it. Rickly also recorded some of his vocal parts in the forest that surrounds Tarbox Road Studios.
Style and lyrics
While writing for No Devolución, Rickly's marriage was described as being "on the rocks," which had an effect on some of the lyrics. All of the songs center themselves around the concept and theme of devotion. The song "No Answers" analyses the difficulties in maintaining a friendship with a former lover. According to Rickly, after being in a relationship with someone for an extended period of time, "there's more important levels to the relationship than simple romance." Another common lyrical theme on No Devolución is how religious symbols can inadvertently divide the masses, which is most exemplified on the song "A Gun in the First Act." The song "Stay True" was written about the hardcore group Touché Amoré—a group that Rickly knows through his vinyl-only label, Collect Records. He stated, "In thinking about what I wish for them, their band and all the mistakes I hope they don't make I recalled all the mistakes I had made."Musically, the record has been described as being atmospheric, dark and moody. Unlike previous Thursday albums, Geoff Rickly did not compose any guitar parts for No Devolución. He wanted to let the members "who actually do the playing on the album [take] charge," and allow them to experiment with "new sounds and directions." According to Rickly, each song on the album explores its own musical direction and "vibe" resulting in a collection of sonically diverse songs.The music is also a departure from the sound found on Thursday's earlier albums. This idea is supported by the album title which translates from Spanish to "no returns." The vocal style has also evolved from previous Thursday albums. Rickly described his singing style as "desperate" and at the top of his range in the past, but for No Devolución he gives a more "sung delivery" that better paired with "beautiful passages."
Rickly noted that the end of Turnpike Divides has a similar lyrical structure to Shudder to Think's "X-French Tee Shirt". Rickly wanted to do a long, complex circular melody which Fridman noted was similar to what OK Go tried on another song.
Promotion and release
In early 2011, Thursday toured North America with Underoath. The tour marked the tenth anniversary for their second studio album Full Collapse, which was performed in its entirety on all dates in celebration. A 7" vinyl split single featuring Underoath's "Paper Lung" from their 2010 album Ø (Disambiguation) and Thursday's "Past and Future Ruins" from their No Devolución was released as a tour-exclusive item in limited quantities. Also during this tour, Thursday held a contest in which six winners were chosen per tour date to preview select songs from No Devolución.
No Devolución was released on April 12, 2011 through Epitaph Records in CD, 2×LP and digital formats. There was also a limited edition CD version designed by paper craft artist Mia Pearlman, who also created the art that was used for the packaging of the standard releases. The limited edition features layers of solid bleached sulphate paper with a different laser cut design on each layer to where "light will shine through the CD hole." It was limited to 500 pieces and individually hand signed and numbered by Pearlman. On February 1, 2011 the song "Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart" was digitally previewed via online streaming. Thursday intentionally selected this song to preview first because it was the most radically different song off of No Devolución when compared to their older material. Geoff Rickly described releasing a heavier song as "false advertising," and by releasing "Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart" the group would send the message to their fans: "You're not going to get the record you think you're going to get." The song "Past and Future Ruins" became available for online streaming on February 22, 2011, and "No Answers" became available the following month on March 22.
