Thrice - If We Could Only See Us Now

Genre rock Publisher Island Records External Links Official Website Island Records

Thrice is a cult band, and after partaking the CD/DVD combo If We Could Only See Us Now, one can safely say that Thrice knows they're a cult band.

That's because only a cult band with such little history behind it would release a nine-song odds-and-sods CD and pair it with a self-indulgent DVD. Stay away, Thrice newbies.

Only a major label would release something like this. After the excellent The Artist in the Ambulance got them some attention, this is to prime the pump for the new record to come out later in the year (entitled Vheissu) and to issue some product that cannot be easily downloaded.

As for the CD half of the package, some might be surprised at an acoustic version of "Stare at the Sun," the closest Thrice has come to a hit prior to this record. The cover of "Eleanor Rigby" is interesting and full of punk attitude without being snotty. There are a few live tracks and b-sides as well. (What will be left for the Thrice box set 20 years from now?) This is vital because many consider Thrice's punk-pop/hardcore merger to be only one step on the food chain above Good Charlotte, and they need to rise above limited perceptions.

As for the DVD portion, it's ridiculously long - 105 minutes for the history-of-the-band documentary plus three videos, seven live tracks and an outtakes reel that a kindergartner would find to be immature.

The live tracks are a mixture of professionally recorded and photographed concert shots with others that are bootleg quality. The documentary portion is evidence of what happens when you give a camcorder to a band bored with being out on the road. I felt like I had spent more time with them than I have with my family members when it was over.

Subliminally, the band is saying, "We're just regular guys who happened to start a band, and now we're headlining the House of Blues." So perhaps the reason why the documentary runs so long is because we find them to be likable (much more likable than the guys in Good Charlotte). But they should know that regular guys can sniff out pure product too.