Thursday

Thursday was formed in 1997 by vocalist Geoff Rickly, guitarist Tom Keeley, guitarist Bill Henderson, bassist Tim Payne, and drummer Tucker Rule. Keeley recounts foundation of the band: “ Tucker and I used to get together on weekends when we didn't have school and just kind of kick around little two minute hardcore songs on our really crappy equipment. We'd hang out in his attic, and just try really hard to fool ourselves into thinking we were good. I guess we did that for like four months and actually started learning how to play our instruments. Right around that time I met Geoff at an Ink and Dagger show, and asked him if he wanted to come to the "practices" and work on lyrics. Tim, I met in a figure drawing class. For a while my other friend from high school, Bill played with us...we recorded Waiting with him. After a while he realized that he was not going to be able to commit to touring because of school, and through a mutual friend of all of ours we met Steve. ” The band began playing basement shows in New Brunswick and surrounding New Jersey and New York areas. The band played their first official show on December 31, 1998 in Rickly's basement alongside Midtown, Saves the Day and Poison the Well. They recorded demos to hand out at shows, and in the summer of 1999, they teamed up with MP3.com for their first official release, the 1999 Summer Tour EP, which featured demos of songs that would be soon be found on their debut album, Waiting, released January 18, 2000, on northern New Jersey-based Eyeball Records without any singles nor radio or television support.