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"Even before there was a Thursday, spindly frontman Geoff Rickly&amp;apos;s heart was set on signing with Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz&amp;apos;s seminal West Coast punk label, Epitaph. So when the emo innovators parted ways with Island Records two years ago, Rickly turned to the band&amp;apos;s manager, and uttered two words: &amp;quot;Dude? Epitaph?&amp;quot;\r\nOn February 17th, Epitaph will release Common Existence, Thursday&amp;apos;s fifth studio album. But before inking with Epitaph, Thursday enjoyed close to a year obligation-free with no label, publishing deal or management. Much of that time was spent inside a dank New Jersey warehouse, where Thursday wrote the 11 songs for Common Existence, helmed once again by producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Weezer).\r\n&amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m not sure if it was because we didn&amp;apos;t have a label, and we were just writing for ourselves, but we&amp;apos;d get together, and shit would be turned up to 11 again, and we&amp;apos;d be fucking mashing chords together and changing time signatures, and doing all the fun stuff we&amp;apos;d done on [2001&amp;apos;s] Full Collapse,&amp;quot; Rickly says.\r\nThe record marks a return to the frantic pacing of Thursday&amp;apos;s earliest efforts, and is sprinkled with hints of Quicksand, one of the band&amp;apos;s chief influences; coincidentally, Quicksand&amp;apos;s Walter Schrieffels provides backing vocals on the track &amp;quot;Friends in the Armed Forces.&amp;quot; But is Common Existence Thursday&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;comeback&amp;quot; LP? Considering the band almost entered early retirement after the Island split, perhaps. Rickly says this is definitely the proudest he&amp;apos;s ever been of a Thursday record, but, given the current economic climate, he&amp;apos;s not sure a comeback&amp;apos;s in the cards.\r\n&amp;quot;If we were in different economic times, I think it could very well be a comeback for us,&amp;quot; Rickly says. &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;m looking at budgets where our projected income, after three straight months of touring, is just $2,200 each. So, if I don&amp;apos;t spend any money on the Taste of Chaos Tour [which launches February 14th in Los Angeles], and just eat what&amp;apos;s in the venue and hang out, I&amp;apos;ll be able to send home rent and utilities to my girl.&amp;quot;\r\nWhile they may have helped emo&amp;apos;s naissance, Thursday don&amp;apos;t consider themselves part of that scene anymore. &amp;quot;The scene has grown in a different direction,&amp;quot; Rickly says. &amp;quot;I don&amp;apos;t feel like we fit in anywhere now, because I don&amp;apos;t think a lot of bands are doing what we&amp;apos;re doing. I&amp;apos;m not embarrassed about what we do, but I don&amp;apos;t think we were ever the emo band that people said we were. And I feel like, now that it&amp;apos;s not a trend anymore, I&amp;apos;m on a holy quest to differentiate Thursday.\r\n&amp;quot;Now&amp;apos;s the time when we can make some really great records that are completely different from everybody else, because nobody&amp;apos;s ripping us off anymore or even trying to do anything close to what we&amp;apos;re doing,&amp;quot; he adds. &amp;quot;I really admire the Deftones, who came out during the height of the nu metal craze. The Deftones are to nu metal what I hope Thursday becomes to emo &amp;#x2014; the Deftones were never really doing what everybody thought they were doing, and actually, they&amp;apos;re pretty interesting.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jersey-rockers-thursday-turn-it-up-to-11-on-common-existence-20090205>