Formation and Waiting (1997–2000) Thursday was formed in 1998 by guitarist
Tom Keeley and drummer
Tucker Rule. Months later, Keeley met
Geoff Rickly at an
Ink & Dagger show and Rickly joined the band as lead singer. the group visited Victory's offices and learned about Thursday-branded
whoopee cushions that the label was planning to sell at the tour. Vocalist
Geoff Rickly discussed this matter with Victory founder Tony Brummel, and according to the band, responded that Victory "was a big company and that they didn't have time to run everything by the band." On several occasions, the group attempted to have better communication with the label in regards to promotion. On one occasion, Brummel informed them they were not living up to his expectations. Sometime afterward, the group was touring with
Saves the Day. Brummel became more positive in his interactions, frequently calling the band "just to say hello, or to ask how record sales at shows were going." While all the interactions with the label were occurring, the group were being contacted by major labels. The group, who "didn't understand [anything] about major labels", pondered about other independent labels they would join. following a bidding war between other major labels. Up to this point,
Full Collapse had sold 111,000 copies. On September 9, the group's signing to Island Records was made official following negotiations of an
exit agreement with Victory Records. The agreement required parent company
Island/Def Jam to buy out Victory's contract claim for the group's next two albums. Rickly said as a result of the deal, Victory Records received $1,200,000, which meant the band would be "[paying off] that bill for as long as we were on the new label." In addition, their next two albums were required to feature the Victory logo. With expectation building for their follow-up album, Rickly wanted their next album to be "really aggressive and progressive ... and have all these boundary pushing ideas". and were planning to work on their next album following its conclusion. They said they had accumulated a lot of ideas but were unable to work on them due to touring. In mid-November, the group began writing new material. After an entire writing and recording process that took only six months, the band issued their third album and
major label debut,
War All the Time, on September 16, 2003, to critical acclaim and strong commercial performance.
War All the Time was the first release to feature
Andrew Everding on keyboards, though he would not become an official member of the band until December 2004, when he was officially welcomed into the band at a Christmas holiday show held at the
Starland Ballroom in
Sayreville, New Jersey. The album's title, coupled with it being released approximately two years after the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led many critics to believe it was a political album; however, Rickly has denied this on many accounts, instead claiming that he is speaking about
love being a
war. The album spawned two singles: "
Signals Over the Air" and "War All the Time", though the latter received considerably less attention due to
MTV banning the video for controversial material involving a fake
news feed that appeared to be real and teenagers being weapon targets. Thursday toured extensively to support
War All the Time, featuring dates with acts such as
AFI,
Thrice, and
Coheed and Cambria. On these tours, Thursday performed many in-store
acoustic sessions at various
Tower Records stores and other record stores. The band also recorded a live acoustic session for Y100 Sonic Sessions, a radio program on the now defunct
Philadelphia-based radio station,
Y100. The live acoustic version of single "Signals Over the Air" was used on Y100 Sonic Sessions Volume 8. The band released two EPs: the first was
Live from the SoHo & Santa Monica Stores Split EP and sold exclusively on
iTunes, and the second was a promotion found in
Revolver, called the
Live in Detroit EP. The band went on an indefinite hiatus in 2004, citing label pressure, extensive touring, and health problems as the reasons. However, Thursday returned for a charitable performance to save
New York City's
CBGB, on August 25, 2005, which was streamed live through the CBGB's website.
A City by the Light Divided and Envy split release (2006–2008) In fall 2005, five Thursday demo songs were stolen from the
iPod of the tour manager for
My American Heart, a band Rickly had recently collaborated with for their song "We Are the Fabrication". 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 take 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, while the remaining demo would later become the song "Last Call" on their fifth studio album,
Common Existence. Thursday had originally toyed with the idea of a
double album to follow up
War All the Time but the idea was scrapped, reporting on their website that they believed "not even
The Beatles could properly fill two discs with enough worthy material". Thursday released their fourth album and second major label release,
A City by the Light Divided, on May 2, 2006, on Island Records in the US and
Hassle Records in the
United Kingdom. The album was produced by
Dave Fridmann, becoming Thursday's first full-length album not produced by
Sal Villanueva. The title was created by Geoff Rickly by combining two lines from the poem
Sunstone by
Octavio Paz. The album was available for preview on the band's
MySpace page on April 18, 2006, two weeks before it was officially released.
A City by the Light Divided was generally received well by critics, spawning two singles: "
Counting 5-4-3-2-1" and "
At This Velocity", though the latter received considerably less attention. The band left Island Records in early 2007. At their 2007
New Year's Eve show at the
Starland Ballroom, the band announced that they will be writing and recording new material in 2008. During a private show they performed on May 3, 2007, in
New York City, long-time friend and artist manager, David "Rev" Ciancio proposed to his
fiancée on stage. Thursday also held a performance on May 5 at
The Bamboozle under the fake name Bearfort. Thursday cancelled all tour plans until their fall tour with
Circle Takes the Square and
Portugal. The Man in support of
Kill the House Lights, a DVD/CD
compilation album and
live album. featuring demos, unreleased songs, footage of live performances, and a documentary about the band. The album was released on October 30, 2007, by their former label Victory Records. Thursday announced on April 2, 2008, via a
MySpace bulletin and their official website, a new
split album with Japanese
post-hardcore band
Envy. The band debuted a song from the album live during their show in
Poughkeepsie on April 24, 2008, and the album,
Thursday / Envy, was released on
Temporary Residence Limited on November 4, 2008.
Common Existence (2009–2010) The band announced on September 30, 2008, that they had signed with
Epitaph Records, regarding their new label the band stated: "It's a great feeling to have a label encourage you to be more socially conscious and politically active." Thursday released their fifth full-length album,
Common Existence, on February 17, 2009, on Epitaph Records. 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']
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."
Cormac McCarthy has also influenced Rickly. Thursday headlined the 2009
Taste of Chaos Tour with support from
Bring Me the Horizon,
Four Year Strong,
Pierce The Veil,
Cancer Bats and a local act. The band was not well received on this tour, as the majority of the audience members showed up at tour dates mainly for opening act Bring Me the Horizon, with guitarist Tom Keeley approximating about 90% of the audience would leave before their set, and described the tour as an "awful experience." Rickly said the tour was "stupid" and found it difficult to share a stage with Bring Me the Horizon, who would call the crowd "
faggots" during their sets. Their sixth album and second release for Epitaph Records,
No Devolución, was released on April 12, 2011. Vocalist Geoff Rickly commented on the style of the new album, stating, "In style, this record feels like a radical departure from our earlier records but in substance it feels like a return. The songs are more vulnerable than they've been in a long time. [...] It's very atmospheric and mood oriented so far." Rickly also stated that the primary lyrical theme is devotion. Thursday debuted "Turnpike Divides" at their annual holiday show on December 30, 2010, at the Starland Ballroom. On November 22, 2011, Thursday posted a statement on their official website and their
Twitter account reading "Thanks & Love", expressing their intention to stop producing music together. However, the statement about the status of band was ambiguous, not stating explicitly in the article whether they were breaking up or on an indefinite hiatus. The following is excerpted from the article: The band's final show took place on March 5, 2012, at the
Soundwave festival in
Perth, Australia. In January 2013, Geoff Rickly stated during an interview that Thursday had in fact disbanded, and that the term "hiatus" was misleading as it had only been used in case the band did ever decided to play a show again. He did, however, indicate that there was a possibility for the band to play shows in the future, but no new material would ever be produced. Since their disbandment, Rickly formed the band
No Devotion in 2014 with former members of the band
Lostprophets, and continued with his side-project
United Nations. Tucker Rule became the touring drummer for the British boy band
The Wanted, the pop-punk band
Yellowcard and worked as a hired musician as well as studio drummer.
Reunion and second breakup (2016–2019) In January 2016, former members of Thursday posted a picture of themselves hanging out to Rickly's Twitter account. This sparked rumors that the band would soon be reuniting, however Rickly quickly dispelled them by saying that their communication was minimal in the five years since disbanding and they were "just finally mending some fences and healing some old wounds." Thursday's former booking agent began encouraging them to reunite the band with the freedom to do whatever they wanted and without the pressure of having to write a new album. Two months later, Thursday announced a reunion at
Atlanta's Wrecking Ball festival in August 2016. Rickly said: "Five years ago, we found it necessary to end Thursday for reasons beyond our control. Earlier this year, we were able to reconcile all of our differences and spend time together. This is a vital component to what we loved about being in Thursday and we're happy to say that we'll be playing this show as the same line-up that began touring together on
Full Collapse and jointly worked on every record since." Thursday had no intentions to reunite before this and only agreed to perform only two days before publicly announcing their reunion, making the decision because of the festival's strong lineup and the involvement of a charity. In May, Thursday announced an appearance at both Chicago and Denver's
Riot Fest dates in September. On June 15, Thursday announced a "homecoming" at
Starland Ballroom on December 30. On January 31, 2017, Thursday announced a 24-date tour for March and April 2017, the band's first full tour since 2012. In June, Thursday headlined the
Northside Festival in
Brooklyn, New York. The band announced in October 2018 that their reunion would end in 2019, stating, "When we stopped playing last time, it wasn't on the best of terms. This time, we get to put down touring on the very highest of notes: in each other's lives and able to pick up and play together behind closed doors whenever we want. If we are ever able to do Thursday again, it will be a new, separate chapter. Thank you all for your time, attention and friendship." The band's planned final show took place on March 17, 2019, at
Saint Vitus in
Brooklyn, New York. However, Thursday did not play any international shows during this reunion, and due to mounting pressure from their international fanbase, the band announced in May 2019 a German show at
Cologne's Family First Festival. "It seemed impossible that we would all be available at the same time to play shows again, especially in any sustained way. But when our old friends in
boysetsfire asked us to play this festival with them, we saw that we had a rare opportunity to accomplish two things at once: visit a country that's always been kind to Thursday and play, once more, with a band that we've admired since before we were a band," the band said. Further shows followed in
Eindhoven, Netherlands, and two UK shows at London's
Electric Ballroom, with
Full Collapse played on the first night and
War All the Time played on the second, which took place in December 2019. The band also opened for the reunited
My Chemical Romance at Los Angeles'
The Shrine on December 20.
Second return (2020–present) In June 2020, Thursday announced that their first show in nearly two years would take place at
Riot Fest in September 2021. The band reunited without Everding, reverting to the
Full Collapse and
War All the Time-era line-up. The second (V2) was a commemorative holiday show, with guests including Iero,
Jim Ward,
Walter Schriefels and
Bartees Strange. The third and final performance (V3) saw the band performing
Full Collapse and
No Devolución in their entirety. In June 2021, the band shared a cover of
Bruce Springsteen's "
Dancing in the Dark" as part of an ongoing series of covers headed by the creative collective Two Minutes To Late Night. They also played a series of live shows that same month throughout the east coast and midwest of the US, with
Taking Back Sunday and
Piebald. In October 2021, the band were featured in Dan Ozzi's book
Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, And Hardcore 1994–2007. A chapter on
War All the Time was included in the book, as well as a photo of the band performing live serving as the book's cover. In July 2022, the band headlined Philadelphia's This is Hardcore Fest, playing
Full Collapse in its entirety. By this point, Thursday became a "core trio" of Rickly, Pedulla and Rule, with Norman Brannon (of
Texas Is the Reason) replacing Keeley as touring guitarist and
Stu Richardson (of
Lostprophets and
No Devotion) replacing Payne as touring bassist. In September 2022, the band joined
My Chemical Romance as a guest on their North American tour for seven shows. On their last night opening, Thursday performed "Jet Black New Year" with
Gerard Way, who features on the original song. Rickly then performed "This Is the Best Day Ever" with My Chemical Romance, a song he featured on. On April 12, 2024, the band released their first new song in 13 years, "Application for Release From the Dream". It was the band's first song with Brannon as guitarist, while Richardson produced and played keyboards. A second new song, "White Bikes", was released on December 6. It was recorded at the
Hansa Studio in
Berlin, featuring Richardson on bass and was written about the death of Rickly's friend. A third song, "Taking Inventory of a Frozen Lake", was released on January 1, 2025. In February 2026, the band was announced as part of the lineup for the
Louder Than Life music festival in
Louisville, scheduled to take place in September. In April 2026, the band began their "Full City Devolución" tour, featuring
Chris Conley from
Saves The Day. The band is performing songs from the albums
Full Collapse,
A City by the Light Divided, and
No Devolución, celebrating their respective 25, 20, and 15 year anniversaries. The tour is set to conclude on April 30th in
Boston. ==Logo==