Thrice’s
cofounding
guitarist/
frontman Dustin
Kensrue wields
his Nash JM-63,
which has Lollar
humbuckers—a
High Wind
Imperial at the
bridge and El
Rayo in the neck
position.
Lots of guys can shred
my face off, but to me
it seems like you need
something more, like
passion and creativity.”
—Dustin Kensrue
DUSTIN KENSRUE’S GEAR
GUITARS
• Nash JM-63 with Lollar High Wind
Imperial Humbucker (bridge) and
Lollar El Rayo Humbucker (neck)
• Cave and Canary Baritone Solaris
• Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom
Did you set out to become
a genre-bending band, or is
that something that happened
naturally?
Teranishi: No, I think it’s
definitely natural. When we first
started, our musical tastes were
a lot narrower, but we were all
listening to metal, punk rock,
and hardcore. I think it was just
natural for us to want to kind of
melt all those things together.
Kensrue: It definitely evolved
over time, but I think way back
in the day we thought there was
something interesting about
trying to mix some punk rock
88 PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2016
and little bits of metal guitar
tied together with a hardcore
sensibility. It was just a mix of
bands we dug at the time, really.
We were listening to a lot of
new school, West Coast punk.
We were listening to East Coast
stuff like Minor Threat. And,
of course, we were listening to
Iron Maiden and bands like
that. When you’re creating, you
learn by taking different pieces
and comping them and putting
them into a new context. At
a certain point that becomes
unconscious—you don’t even
think about it anymore.
After releasing so much material
over the years, how do you
avoid slipping into familiar
patterns?
Teranishi: I think it’s getting
harder as our catalog grows.
We’re aware of it, but at the
AMPS
• Fender ’68 Custom Vibrolux
• New Vintage Amps Custom “DK36”
(MK36 modded by Nic Patullo
from New Vintage)
EFFECTS
• Strymon BigSky Reverberator
• Strymon Mobius
Multidimensional Modulation
• Strymon TimeLine Delay
• Electro-Harmonix POG2
• Walrus Iron Horse Distortion
• Walrus Deep Six Compressor
• Walrus Harvester Overdrive
• Mojo Hand FX “Kensrue” Rook Overdrive
• S u ule a
• JHS Mini Foot Fuzz
• Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler
• TC Electronic PolyTune Mini
• Voodoo Lab HEX Loop Switcher (2)
• FAMC Liquid Foot+ Mini MIDI controller
Photo by Sangsouvanh Ping Khounivichit
more leads—like on “Hurricane,”
or the super messy solo in “The
Window.” I’ve always really
loved playing. None of it is really
technical or difficult, but I’ve had
a lot of fun dialing in my tone
this time.
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