Thrice [This post is about the American Rock Band- for a definition of the word Thrice...]

Warning: There are 17 links below. 9 of these links are to Thrice songs, two links are to Thrice albums, three links are to guest artists on this post (as in non-Thrice music), one is to a sermon series from my church, one is to a Google search, and one is to an older post of mine. Ye' have been warned. No need to click on them all, unless you have a lot of time on your hands.


Let me preface this by saying that this isn't a big thing where I will just gush my love for Thrice, because I really haven't listened to them much (enough). That needs to change. If you are like me and haven't listened to them much, change that. The whole point of this post is to think about the lyrics from The Great Exchange. If you aren't really interested in Thrice (you should be) and are just interested in what I think, you can just scroll down to where the Youtube video is and read my thoughts below. Also, I encourage you to look up words you don't know (like cull[noun]), because they use words that are not frequently used in everyday speech.

Anyway, this post is brought about by the recent release of 3 new singles from Thrice's new album after their multi-year hiatus, which comes out tomorrow (May 27th, 2016). If you have been following me on Twitter, you have noticed I am on a Thrice kick:

I just want to live tweet @Thrice's discography as I listen to it today, but I am refraining.

— Tyler Yoder (@tylerryoder) May 20, 2016

"Your eyes slit the throat of all I know about myself in this life. This silhouette lie." Piercing my soul, uncovering my insecurities.

— Tyler Yoder (@tylerryoder) May 24, 2016

 I was reminded of my Thrice listening experience when I saw the the video for Black Honey. I dove into the lyrics a bit, and I interpreted it as Black Honey meaning Oil. All these countries are going into the Middle East and trying to grab the black honey and can't understand why so many of the Middle Eastern countries and people are very upset at them. Based on the recent release of Death From Above and its obvious references to war, I am inclined to believe my interpretation. Based on the music and lyrics from these first three songs, I feel as though I will like this new album, which is titled To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere. If I were to interpret the title of this album (which I'm going to), I would take it one of two ways- 1) If we try to be everywhere then we cannot be present where we are. Thus, we are nowhere. 2) Since the songs released so far seem to have to do with foreign policy, we could take this as meaning that the US is trying to be everywhere around the world striving for what it views as peace and prosperity while the internal policies and politics are losing importance, relevance, and significance. Thus, the US is trying to be everywhere and is failing to be here, so they are nowhere. This will be much clearer after tomorrow when the album is actually released and we can listen to all the songs. All that to say, after listening to Black Honey, I remembered that diving into the lyrics is my favorite part of the Thrice listening experience, even though my experience is limited.

You've got heavy songs about marriage, like The Weight [Come what may, I won't abandon you or leave you behind, because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment. Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side. I won't run away, though the storm's getting worse and there's no end in sight]. Rockin' jams making us ask heavy questions like Don't Tell And We Won't Ask [... And you're all alone with all the ghosts of lesser humans, whose lives you've spilt to suit your own... Don't we all know that life is sacred? Don't we all know that we bleed the same red blood?]. Sing-along anthems like Image Of The Invisible that cry out for justice [We're more than carbon and chemicals, free will is ours and we can't let go. We can't allow this quiet cull, so we sing out this canticle- we are the image of the invisible]. And songs like Come All You Weary, which is just pure [Come all you weary move through the earth. You've been spurned at fine restaurants and kicked out of church. Got a couple of loaves sit down at my feet, lend me your ears and we'll break bread and eat]. And the jam Deadbolt (I like this music video because it reminds me of everything I wanted out of music when I was in high school, haven't listened to the actual lyrics much).

I will be honest, my favorite album is The Artist in the Ambulance, even though many decry it as being "too mainstream." The jams wake me up, I pump my fist to the beat of my heart and bang my head to beat of the tunes. In other words, I like the album. I must be a Mainstream Kid [Brandi Carlile].

And after all that, you cannot forget In Exile, which reminds me of the hope we can have in God's Kingdom, which we talked about a lot in the Exiles sermon series at church a while ago. [My heart is filled with songs of forever, of a city that endures, where all is made new. I know I don't belong here; I'll never call this place my home, I'm just passing through].

However, the real song I want to think about in this post (now that I have spent words upon words upon words prefacing this) is The Great Exchange. I am embedding this one here, because this is the one I actually want you to listen to if you are going to read the rest of this post:

Akin to my post on Nine by La Dispute from many moons ago, I'm gonna look at the lyrics and write about what I think. I want to dig into the whole Beggars album in general, because it deserves a good once-over, but I haven't listened to it very much yet. So- lyrics to The Great Exchange are below with footnotes where I insert my thoughts. There aren't any crazy revelations I have, I just like the song and it gives me lots of thoughts.

The Great Exchangeⁱ

I crewed on a fair golden ship that
Went down at the dawn of the world.ⁱⁱ
We mutinied and sentenced our captain to die,ⁱⁱⁱ
‘Fore our sails had barely unfurled.

We sank shortly after our riot;
Wanton flame and our powder kegs met.
While I swam for my life there came voices aloft
Joyful, unearthly, and dread^iv

Singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.

Too bone-tired to keep my arms moving,
To swim or even grasp after straws.
The undertow drew me down into its cold
And infinite indigo jaws.^v

I heard singing of a violent, tireless mystery:
That one would give his life to save his enemy.^vi

I thought I must be dead or dreaming,
When my captain - still battered, betrayed
Pulled me up, laid me over the beam he’d clung to,
Breathed his last, and sank under the waves. ^vii

Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.
Your body is a bridge across an endless sea.^viii

ⁱ 2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." Martin Luther seems to have called this passage "The Great Exchange."

ⁱⁱ We went down at the dawn of the world. The modern calendar starts (sort of) with Jesus, so it is kind of the dawn of the world. We killed Jesus then, so that's why we went down (we=humanity). This line confused me for a while, anyway.

ⁱⁱⁱ Thinking about the crucifixion as a mutiny makes me view it differently. I often see it more as the killing of an innocent, but mutiny is probably a better way to think about it, because "Jesus My Captain, my soul's trusted Lord." Jesus is our Captain, and so killing Him was mutiny. (In other news, not a fan of the cruise ships in that lyric video for Captain. They shoulda gone with freighters. Cruise ships give me a sense of entitlement, something set apart for a select few, not something that everyone has a part of. Everyone has a part of a freighter, the rich and the poor all benefit from the goods it carries. Same way with Christ. We all benefit from Him. Totally unrelated to the rest of this post entirely.)

^iv This line gets me, and I don't know why. I'm not even sure what it means. When I think about the crucifixion, though, there were joyful voices. These voices were happy that Jesus was killed so that He could no longer disrupt the practices of the Pharisees and other higher-ups, and so that He couldn't usurp the Roman Empire (which I contest was never His desire in the first place. Sorry Judas, Our Brother [Being As An Ocean]). There were unearthly voices. The veil in the temple was torn, exposing the Holy of Holies, the presence of God coming out upon all the people. There were earthquakes, dead people came out of their tombs, etc. Lots of unearthly things. And there were definitely dreadful voices. The disciples were full of dread. Some of them went back to their homes, some went fishing, they locked themselves in rooms, etc. I don't know what they were dreading. Were they afraid Jesus would not rise again and they would be called fools? Were they afraid that Jesus would rise again and change everything about the world? I'm not sure, but I do know that their voices were full of dread.

^v I just like this line. The infinite indigo jaws of the ocean. So deep (the ocean, that is). Our sin carries us down. Weighs us down. Destroys us. "For the wages of sin is death...[see vii]"

^vi The mystery of Christ (Colossians 1) is ages old, but it is tireless. We can hear about it forever and still need to hear it more. And it is violent, because He was tortured and hung on a cross to bleed to death. He endured this to save His "enemy." I use quotations there, because only they thought He was their enemy. Which is something for us to think about. People thought that they were the enemy of Christ, but since Christ was saving them, they weren't really His enemy. If we, as Christians, wish to model our lives after Christ, how does this change our view of enemies in this world? How can somebody be my enemy if I am praying for their salvation? Things to think about.

^vii "... but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Romans 6:23. This stanza contains so much of my hope in being a Christian. Sermons upon sermons can be written (and have been) about the hope that this stanza contains. Jesus, our captain, battered and betrayed from the mutiny, took our sin upon His shoulders, and took it with Him into death. The atoning sacrifice (the sacrifice that amends and restores our relationship with God). Such beauty, such grace, such hope for the future (see reference to the song In Exile above).

^viii The chasm created between us and God by our sin has been bridged by Christ's sacrifice.

Yay nautical songs!

If there are other songs that you feel are essential to Thrice's discography, please let me know.

This Post Is About Lyrics

I've been on a huge Make Do And Mend kick lately, as well as a Being As An Ocean kick. Two songs have really stuck out to me lately: Stand/Stagger by MDAM and The Sea Always Seems To Put Me At Ease by BAAO. Stand/Stagger because of the music and I like yelling along, and TSASTPMAE (way too long to type out more than once) because of the poetry. Then one day I listened to the lyrics of Stand/Stagger and I realized how starkly these two songs stand in contrast with each other (lyrics and embedded videos at the end). Stand/Stagger is basically Ecclesiastes without God, and TSASTPMAE is basically J. D. Greear's Gospel Prayer. Once I realized that, it was sort of like that one thing you read one way and it is all pessimistic, then you read it the other way and it is all optimistic. Here, I took the trouble of finding that for you:

pic.twitter.com/q3BReodddw

— Ronnie Joice (@ronniejoice) July 22, 2015

Now, of course, it isn't exactly like that, because these are two different songs, not the same little poem thing, and playing Stand/Stagger backwards would just sound bad. But I listen to Stand/Stagger and just feel sorry for the song-writer because he feels there is nowhere else to go. He feels that we can't earn the favor of others, that the future isn't worth it because we won't be able to earn anything and we will just let people down. Then I listen to TSASTPMAE and can feel a real hope for the future, just the opposite of what I feel from Stand/Stagger, that there is nothing I can do to make God love me less. Part of this comes from the line in S/S, "I'm finding out that all this means is that I'm coming apart at the seams." Part of the reason the song-writer feels that everything is coming apart at the seams is because he is relying on himself. Really, though, all we can do is rely on God. Because we will never be able to live up to others expectation, which means that we will always disappoint others. And as we realize that we can't live up to others, we can realize that we can depend on God. Not on ourselves, not on our family, not on our friends. Just God.

God puts strength in our backbones, knowing that we are going to fall. But that doesn't change how He loves us. He doesn't say, "I raised you better to be healthy and strong!" He says, "I raised you, I knew you would fall, but that doesn't change the fact that I love you. You don't have to feel ashamed around me. I won't stab you in the back. You can mend. You can recover. I have redeemed you already." That's powerful. And that is the hope we can have under God.

We get lost when we rely on ourselves to earn the favor of others and the favor of God. But the definition of grace is that we cannot earn it. We cannot earn God's grace. We cannot earn the favor of others, because we are all part of fallen humanity. But the glorious thing about Christ is that it doesn't matter, because He has already redeemed all of this. All we have to do is accept that redemption, we cannot earn it. A truly glorious thing.

[Videos of songs and accompanying lyrics]

There must be perfect words for feeling alone around the people that love you. They hide their concern, and keep their mouths shut while they watch you come unglued. “You are their oldest son! They raised you better to be healthy and strong!” I haven’t felt that way in so long. But I’d be fine if I could just shake this feeling that all I am is spinning out of control. And it’s slowly becoming clear that your friends and your family can’t bear to tell you that they’ve been watching as you get worse all these years. And it’s still there, the rising fear that your dependence is more than your share, and you’re one step closer to nowhere near. But I’d be fine if I could just shake this feeling that all I am is spinning out of control. Tonight it’s hard not to feel like a failure when I count the scars on my fingers and know there’s nowhere else to go. I’m finding out that all this means is I’m falling apart at the seams. But I’m coming clean. And there’s not much room to breathe between my inconsistencies and the constant reminder that I’ve always been this weak. But I’d be fine if I could just shake this feeling that all I am is spinning out of control. Tonight it’s hard not to feel like a failure when I count the scars on my fingers and know there’s nowhere else to go.

You are the topic of every epic we have ever been told. And as I stand on this cliff, the wind whips through me and I am made bold. Once again, Your presence creeps into my consciousness. Grace made tangible in this newly anointed place and I am brought to my clear senses that none of my perceived failings or disgrace has ever touched my being or inheritance. I am whole, I am clean, I am free, and I brought to my knees. Sink in; permeate this weary flesh. Breathe; life as clean and fresh as the salt-seasoned breeze. Please Father, pull me to my feet. ‘Why are you kneeling, my son? I put strength in that back-bone knowing that you would fall but I promise, you will never taste defeat. You are whole, you are clean, you are free. Get up, rise from your knees!’ We can no longer linger in the shadows of our shame and brokenness. For as sure as the wind blows He has already redeemed all of this. Live as whole, live as clean, live as free. Everything you were made to be standing at the edge of self-discovery. Tired and weary. Our body trembles, buckles. We are afraid of being hurt again, been stabbed in the back by our own friends. We don’t know if we can mend. Minds riddled with unsuccessful recoveries. We’re scared, Lord, we’re terrified. But dive in we must. Cause there has to be something better than this. For we see testimony of You in the sea, Your creation, all of nature. So with a sudden rush we abandon our solitary perching place and as we wash away the mourning dust Immersed; we see Your face.

Winchester Applecross Day 1

I only got to do "Day 1" of Applecross, because church and grandma. But that was as good to me as racing again.

Anywho, Cat 4/5 again, but this time it was the last race of the day, instead of the first. So my start time was 3:15. My other two races were at 9, so I hardly knew what to do with myself! I didn't even leave for the venue until 11, it was great. I got there around 12, got my number and all that jazz, and watched a bit of the Masters going at it. Went back to the car, changed, ate a little, hopped on the bike and got a slow pre-ride of the course in between the Masters and the Singlespeed. I watched the start and barriers for a while and then went for a slow bike ride around Jim Barnett Park to take in the sites, then came back to the car and ate a little more. Then I got in a hard pre-ride lap in between the Singlespeed and Womens. Watched the first bit of the Womens, then did some more warming up rides and some sprints and stuff, then I staged. All that free time was amazing and I felt so ready at the start compared to my previous races, it was incredible.

Anywho, I'm riding my 2014 Trek Crossrip Elite again. Nice little bike. With used Ritchey Speedmax tires I bought very cheaply off Ebay, 32c in rear, 35c in front, about 40psi (this comes into play later (foreshadowing)).
I really loved the course, I had a heck of a lot more fun this race than my previous two (and those were a lot of fun as well). Maybe just because I felt more confident, but I attribute some of that fun to the course. I staged in the last row all the way to the right, there was a long paved start/finish stretch so bottlenecks were scarce, a few twisty's, then a nice off camber drop-off into a quick run-up. First lap a couple guys tried to dismount and run down the off-camber (it was pretty sketchy looking for a newbie), but we were so packed together that we sort of just carried them down with us, then they fell at the bottom because they were half off their bikes. It was mildly humorous. I was able to make up quite a few places here, because I was on the outside and could just run by all of it. Then there were a few off-camber turns and stuff. Lowering my tire pressure from ~50 to ~40 made such a huge difference on the off-cambers. Rocktown CX was basically entirely off-cambers, and I had 0 confidence and slipped and slid and wiped out on them. This race I felt extremely confident on them and was able to rail them pretty nice. Except the 2nd lap, where I thought to myself, "If I pedal here, I will strike my pedal on the ground and fall over, but I would also be able to pass this guy." Apparently I forgot that I can't pass somebody whilst I am laying on the ground.
After the off-cambers, there were a few pavement crossings, then a nice deep mud pit with standing water and everything. Then the barriers and a dip through a similar mud pit, then a long, very fast paved descent, which was awesome to recover on.
Back to the mud pits: My first pre-ride lap I opted to walk next to the pits to keep my travel clothes clean. But seeing as I had never ridden in mud before, I knew I had to go through it next time. So I hit the first one, but the rut was really wide and it was very simple. So I came to the second pit expecting the same treatment, but there were no ruts, and I hit the mud and immediately went flying off my bike into the middle of the pit. Mud everywhere. That was fun. I hosed the bike (and myself) down before the start of the race, and was sort of embarrassed.
Back to the race: After the paved descent, there are a couple twisties, then the "Belgian Wall." Which is just a very steep run-up, which was super fun. It was nice and muddy and slick at the bottom, which made it nice and interesting. After that is a nice off-camber section again, then it goes up intot the woods, a couple log barriers (I bunny-hopped them in practice, but when I tried during the race I just crushed my bottom bracket on the logs and almost went over the bars... I guess the adrenaline makes a difference. I decided to run them instead after that).
On the second lap, shortly after I fell on that off-camber, I hit a pavement crossing pretty hard, but my bike felt fine and the tire looked good, so I rode past the pits. Move forward 100 yards to the paved decent, and when I hit my top speed my back end was all sorts of squirrelly, so I looked down and sure enough, the back tire was flat. I rode it to the Belgian Wall, then tried to ride some of the off-camber, but the back end just slid out and there was nothing I could do. So I had to run 3/4 of a mile to get to the other side of the pit. I made a lot of supporters during my run, which was nice. And I was very happy I threw my extra tube in the pit (I never put anything in the pit before...). At the pit there was a neutral mechanic, and he changed my tube in about 2 minutes and I was back in the race (1 lap down). After that I stopped worrying about how well I was doing and just enjoyed myself, and ended up having a ton of fun. I got a lot of practice passing people, cornering in the mud, and sprinting out of corners. I also learned what happens when you are looking down and you forget to turn and go through the tape. Also fun.

Over all, I got 34/44 in my race, and there were 79 guys total. So I didn't do too bad, considering I ran half of the course. I'm excited for next season. Hopefully I will be in better shape by the time it comes around, since I'm not starting from scratch this time around.

Update: Pictures of me have surfaced!

From Cedar Meade Studios.
Flat Tire Running

Mudd

Rocktown CX (Bike Race #2)

Second bike race ever: Rocktown CX in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. I live a couple blocks from the race venue, and we had some old friends staying with us so I told my wife I would just ride over for my warm-up so she could spend some extra time with our friends, then she would bring my tools and tire pump over closer to race time. It was 28 dgrs F when I rolled out in the morning, the first time this year it went below freezing. I apparently went way too early, because they hadn't even pounded the barriers in when I got there (too cold?), so I just rode around town a bit to keep warm. As soon as they got the barriers in I pre-rode one lap to get a feel for the course. A lot of off-camber stuff and ziggy-zaggy turns. I'm not good at turns, but I love 'em. I basically just commute to work, which is pretty straight, so I enjoy turning back and forth for some variation. You climb the entirety of the course in about 1/8 of the course, then slalom down. I stood in line and registered, and gave the course 3 more laps. I think I was the first person to fall on the course in pre-ride. Wiped out on the corner before the barriers because there was a tiny patch of mulch there, but I think everyone fell there at least once when they hit the mulch. Then I wiped out after crossing a deep gravel turn. I was able to stay up past the gravel, thankfully.
My last race I had a goal just to finish the race. This time I had a goal to finish well. So when we lined up to start, I went as far forward as I could. Got second row, which was nice. But then I was all flustered because I had pinned my number on upside down and had to scramble to flip it over before the start whistle, and I barely made it. And I even had the presence of mind to put the bike in the right gear for the start! Whistle blew, and I was 4th or 5th (24 riders) into the first corner and hit the gravel climb. I suddenly realized I was in way over my head so I sat back a bit, fell back to about 10th, but halfway up the climb I noticed I was feeling good and everyone else was fading fast, so I stood up and hit it again and finished the climb 3rd. Felt great to pass all those guys on the climb (my first time passing anyone!) Got passed at the top on some of the off-camber stuff, and made it to the barriers (halfway) sitting pretty in 5th. Then came more nutty off-cambers and I got passed more, then I got hit by a big thing of sticky spit. Not sure if I wasn't hydrated well or ate wrong, but every time I swallowed I would gag because I couldn't get my spit down, and that slowed me up a lot. But I just kept fighting. I passed a few guys, got passed by a few guys, and at the end of the second to last lap I was sitting exactly at halfway (12th, my actual goal was top half, so I was happy). Then I hit an off-camber turn too hard and slid out. Got back on my bike after about .5 seconds and started pedaling as hard as I could: no resistance. Chain was off. So I put it back on as quick as I could in my thick gloves, getting passed by two guys in the meantime. I jumped back on and set out to chase them, and I had one full lap to do so. When I got to the bottom of the climb they were just getting to the top, and I figured there was no way I could catch em, but I went anyway. I railed the downhill turns, pushing as hard as I could, sticky spit and all, pedaled through all the corners, head down, chugging away. Come to the barriers and I finally look up to see how far ahead of me they are, and they were only one turn away, but it was at the nutty off-camber section, where I sucked. But I just went for it. The finish was halfway up the course, right between the two big climbs. The first big climb had a really tight S-turn onto the hill to try and make it a run up, and I caught the boys on the S-turn. I was in utter amazement that I caught them, I stopped feeling any pain in my legs, stopped noticed the sticky spit, I just want to beat these guys. We pounded up the climb and crested the hill 3 abreast. There were a couple S-turns (including one off-camber) before the finish sprint, and I knew they would drop me a bit on the off-camber turn. I tried to rail them, but it was just too technical for me. We hit the finish sprint single file, I was barely off the back. But they hit the sprint and I realized I have never sprinted before, didn't know what to do, and was way too late hitting the gas, and I had no energy stores left. 
It was an awesome race, and I felt insanely gratuitous that I caught those guys, but I am still disappointed in two things. A: I fell on the off-camber, causing me to lose my coveted "Top half result" (I finished 14/24). B: I don't know how to sprint. But I'm building for next time. It's a lot of fun.

Black-Eyed Corn Chowdah

Bring 3-4 cups of water to a boil.
Add 2 cups of black-eyed peas
Add small to medium chopped onion
Add 1 garlic clove
Add 3 to 4 small, chopped potatoes
Add 1-2 cups of chopped celery
Add 2-3 cups of chopped carrots
Add 2 or 3 chicken bouillon cubes
Add 1-2 quarts corn
Add 3-4 T of flour, stir until all flour is absorbed.
Add 1 bayleaf
Add 1/4 t thyme
Let simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add a spoonful of sour cream, stir it up.
Salt and pepper to taste
Eat (with tortilla chips, if you so desire)

Optional: Add some sausage
If you really like corn, eat with cornbread