Awaiting an order of gourmet sandwiches at a restaurant on the Sunset Strip, Dead Letter Circus guitarist Rob Maric and frontman Kim Benzie speak of mainstream media and its influence on society. "It's not natural to have violence broadcasted to you from all angles of the world," Maric says. "[Taking action begins] with your personal relations to people around you and changing yourself."

During the band's infancy in the late 90s, Thrice would perform at any shows they could get. "We played at a SeaWorld [parking lot]," guitarist Teppei Teranishi laughs, speaking candidly in the green room of Los Angeles' Mayan Theater. "We had to turn our amps down. We were literally told that we were scaring the whales."