21 Years of “Full Collapse” and L.S. Dunes

Recently, Blue Echo Radio had the opportunity to interview legendary drummer, Tucker Rule. Tucker has a long history of playing in bands such as Thursday (since 1997) and Frank Iero the Future Violents. Most recently he’s joined the band L.S. Dunes, which features other legends from bands like Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive, and My Chemical Romance.

THURSDAY’S ALBUM, “FULL COLLAPSE,” HAS BEEN REGARDED AS ONE OF THE GREATEST EMO/POST-HARDCORE ALBUMS OF ALL TIME. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE SET THE STANDARD FOR THE SCENE IN THE EARLY 2000S?

TUCKER: It feels crazy because we literally were just a couple of people who put a band together to play in our singer, Geoff Rickly’s, basement because he used to have shows there. It was like, five dollars to get in and all kinds of acts came through such as Hot Water Music, Saves the Day, At the Drive in, the list goes on. So we literally just put a band together to play [and] to open for these bands. You never think you’re going to do anything that people think is important. That’s not what we set out to do, [we] kind of just wanted to play in the basement so it’s wild. I’m on tour right now. I’m in Worcester, Massachusetts and this record has taken us this far so it’s great.

THURSDAY’S FROM NEW JERSEY. CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR UPBRINGING AND HOW THE MUSIC SCENE IN JERSEY AND THE SURROUNDING AREA HAS IMPACTED THURSDAY’S SOUND AND YOURSELF IN PARTICULAR?

TUCKER: Well we were really lucky to grow up in New Jersey around a time when all of this talent pool was going crazy. I remember being 14 and going to a venue called City Gardens and seeing the Bouncing Souls and Yuppicide. Fast forward a little bit of time after that, [I remember] going to see Agnostic Front at the Wetlands in NYC. We had Philly, New York, New Jersey– all the shows, we would just go to all of them. I remember skipping school one day to see Sick of It All in D.C.. Everything felt close enough to go to and we were kids, so we were willing to get in the car and drive an hour to four, to five hours to see a show. So we just got really lucky that things were so close and people came through the Tri-State area to play. For me, I liked listening to music but also, seeing a hardcore band and being that close really spoke to me.

BLUE ECHO: Shows really elevate the experience. It’s like nothing else.

TUCKER: Absolutely. As a player, as a drummer, being able to watch the drummer that closely and see what movements were making those sounds was really inspiring. I think it was huge for me to pick up the instrument.

DID YOU EVER THINK THURSDAY WOULD STILL BE PLAYING SHOWS OVER TWO DECADES LATER?

TUCKER: Absolutely not. I really thought we put a band together to play in the basement, to play with our favorite bands, to be able to get into shows and be a part of it. So no, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would still be able to do this. Obviously, I love what I do. To have people come out to shows and have people sing along is really rewarding and I love my job more than anything.

HOW HAS CHANGING TECHNOLOGY IMPACTED BANDS AND YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE MAKING MUSIC?

TUCKER: You have to find ways to make money as an artist and as a musician. People think ‘oh, they’re putting out another box set’ or whatever. It’s like ‘well you know this is special to us too’. Being able to turn on Spotify and hear whatever song I want [or] whatever band I want is kind of crazy because we [musicians] see none of that monetarily. At the same time, all of this is just the flier for a live show in our opinion. That’s why we do it. We like playing, we love connecting with people. Writing the music is fun and being a part of the recording process and putting out records is fun but actually playing the music is all we kind of care about.

ANY ADVICE FOR SMALL BANDS TRYING TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES IN THIS ENVIRONMENT?

TUCKER: I would say just be a nice person. Be good to people. You never know who’s coming to your show, and it doesn’t matter, just be a nice person. It’s so much harder to be a mean-spirited person. I think that the more people you come across, the more friends you make.

BLUE ECHO RADIO: I know that’s especially true for the Asheville scene. Everybody in the Asheville music scene has played in everybody’s band and knows everybody.

TUCKER: Yeah. It’s kind of the same with New Jersey. It’s a very small state but it’s vast. It’s filled with lots of people– overpopulated.  Being nice will get you a long way in this world in any career path you choose. 

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR L.S. DUNES? WAS THIS SOMETHING YOU WERE THINKING OF FOR A WHILE, OR DID THE ISOLATION OF COVID GIVE YOU INSPIRATION?

TUCKER: So I’ve been in a band with Tim, Thursday’s bass player, for 25 years. He and I have been inseparable musically from the day I started playing drums. I always just wanted to play with Tim as much as I possibly could. Frank and I did the Future Violents together but even prior to the Future Violents like we’ve always been friends. The Future Violents just taught us that we were very compatible musically so that was a no-brainer for me. Travis from Coheed, he’s always been a friend of mine– a friend of ours. We did some of our first tours with Coheed and I just love the way he plays. I love Travis, I think he’s a phenomenal human-being. Again no-brainer. I’ve always wanted to play with Anthony. I think he’s one of the most talented singers out there. His passion is insane and his stage presence is amazing. That energy is an energy I have in Thursday, and I wanted that in another band as well. Anthony was the only person I felt that could capture that in a bottle. 

All of us have been friends for a very long time and we’ve followed each other’s careers. It’s just been a really fun time. Covid has a lot to do with it obviously because this whole entire record was written remotely. We were never really in the same room and you can only get that with like-minded people. 

WHAT WAS IT LIKE IN THE INITIAL PRODUCTION OF PERMANENT REBELLION AND THE REST OF THE ALBUM? HOW HAS EVERYONE’S EXPERTISE FROM YOUR OWN PROJECTS CONTRIBUTE?

TUCKER: First and foremost, we all were lucky enough to have ways to record at home. I actually bought a bunch of recording gear and watched a bunch of youtube [videos] and asked a lot of friends how to do it. I learned how to record myself. So that was a huge boundary, a huge mountain to climb, for me personally. 

I would throw a drum beat out, somebody would write a riff over it or vice versa. Things just kept stacking up and things were moving really quickly. I think the first song we ever wrote was a song called “Antibodies” and that’s the first song we ever sent to Anthony. We didn’t tell him who was in the band. I messaged him and was like, ‘Hey, I have a band. I have a couple songs that we wrote [and] I would love for you, if you feel moved by it, [to] sing over it.’ Maybe 24 hours later, we got vocals back, and I was like ‘OK, this is sick. This is exactly what I wanted it to be.’ I didn’t give him anything to go off of. I was just like ‘Here’s this. Just do what you do.’ Then I was like, ‘Well this could be a band if you want to be in it and here’s who’s in it if you want to contribute.’ This was on text. He called me, stopped midtext, and called me on the phone and was like, ‘Yo, I want to do this.’ It’s been really amazing. I think the five of us, amongst many other musicians in the world, really wanted to write music during the pandemic and needed an outlet and [we] found each other.

DID YOU FIND YOURSELF LEARNING NEW THINGS FROM EVERYBODY IN THE BAND WHILE RECORDING AND PRODUCING?

TUCKER: Absolutely. With Thursday, we’re already an established band, same as Coheed, same as Circa, same as MCR. Each of those bands have their style. When you’re starting something fresh, you don’t know what it’s going to sound like. You have no plan for ‘I want to be,’ or ‘we should sound like this.’ It kind of happens organically. I learned how to learn people’s writing styles and be intuitive about it. It really helped me to become a better player because I’m used to writing with Thursday. Thankfully I had Tim on my side, and Tim had me on his side [as] the rhythm section. These dudes are very intuitive, very smart, and very good at what they do. Everything came strangely easily, almost alarmingly too easily.

BLUE ECHO RADIO: I mean it worked! I, personally, love Permanent Rebellion. It shot up to number two on my on-repeat within like, four days.

TUCKER: Thank you! We’re really proud of it and that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the record. I don’t mean to sound like a jerk for saying that but I mean it. This record is probably, besides the birth of my daughter and my family, my favorite thing and my most cherished moment in my life that I was able to be a part of. [Ranked] it’s like my family, “Full Collapse”, L.S. Dunes. It’s been really rewarding. My best friend Gordie did the artwork. He did the cover of the record and a bunch of the [artwork] inside of the record. Everything is very special to all of us. 

WHAT DOES L.S. DUNES MEAN TO YOU, EMOTIONALLY AND CREATIVELY?

TUCKER: It’s everything. It’s one of the things in my life that I am most proud of. The first time I saw the cover, I kind of welled up, [and] had a little bit of tears. The first time I saw the song was up on Spotify, even though whatever Spotify rips everybody off, I was moved. 

We’re in our forties, you’re not to start a band in your forties. It’s hard to start a band, and we weren’t able to talk about it. Keeping a lid on L.S. Dunes has been the most impossible thing. It’s crazy. I can only equate it to having a baby. You really shouldn’t tell anybody that you’re pregnant for the first however long it is, but it is really hard to not tell your family, ‘I have this new baby that is literally being birthed right now.’

I would wake up in the morning and I would refresh my email over and over again just waiting for someone to send a riff so I could work on it and it literally became, besides raising my child and being with my wife, my reason to breathe. It’s why I woke up in the morning.  

WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR L.S. DUNES AFTER YOUR INITIAL TOUR?

TUCKER: We’re a real band. People like to throw around the word ‘supergroup’ and all that and I get it yeah that’s the way to put it in a box. I respect that but we’re gang. We’re a real band. I hate the word side project because this is, I keep referencing children here, but it’s all of our second kid. We don’t love Circa more than we love L.S. Dunes, we love them both and we’re gonna do both. This is a full-time thing. We obviously all have schedules but we make time. It’s a real thing, there is going to be real tours, and there is going to be real shows, and there is going to be real merch and it’s a real record, and we’re real people. 

AFTER PLAYING WITH DIFFERENT BANDS AND OTHER PROJECTS OVER THE YEARS, ARE THERE STILL PEOPLE YOU HOPE TO COLLABORATE WITH? 

Scooter, Via Twitter

TUCKER: Yeah, I always want to play with more people because not only do I respect all of the musicians and talented people but it’s a challenge to work with people and I really love the challenge. I think anyone, in any one of our bands, will say the same thing. It’s the challenge and it’s the fun of getting to know someone on an artistic level.

TOP 3 THURSDAY TRACKS TO PLAY LIVE? 

Rowan, Via Twitter

TUCKER: OK well my favorite Thursday song is “No Answers” and that also happens to be one of my favorite songs to play live because it’s a complicated song. It’s not the heaviest song in the world but it’s complicated on drums and I love the content. I just love the song, it’s a great song. 

I love playing “Fast to the End” because it’s immediate and brutal and I love playing Jet Black because people seem to really react to that song.

AS OUR CAMPUS RADIO, WE’VE GOTTA ASK, WHAT HAS BEEN ON-REPEAT FOR YOU LATELY? 

TUCKER: Rod Stewart “Young Turks” has been on repeat for me and also Anthony Green’s “Let’s Start a Band” because it’s my daughter’s favorite record to listen to. She knows all the words and she calls him Uncle Tony. 

Interview Date: 09/06/22

Interviewers: Cielo Maranchello and Maia Breashears of Blue Echo Radio

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