Edgefest Website - May, 1999 We talked with Big Wreck lead singer Ian Thornley in late May. He's proud of his band, totally dedicated to music, and ready to rock 'n' roll your ass off at EdgeFest. We started by discussing his songwriting and demo-making. Word is that you're recording right now. Yeah. It's not a major studio undertaking. Just messin' around, I guess… We had studio time booked, but I sort of backed out of it, 'cause I'm kinda getting' into the shit at home, y'know. That must mean that there's enough stuff written to start recording a new album. We've got tons of it, yeah… A lot. Do you record a basic demo of where you're at and just bring it in to see what you all want to do with it? It's for all of the above: I do it for myself, and things that I think we can use in the band, I'll either give to the band or I'll give to the A & R guys and get some input, y'know. I just sort of do this habitually, I guess. Is it hard to find the time, 'cause you've been touring so much since the debut album "broke"? We toured quite a bit before then, too. [laughs] I never really have a problem with it; I just write, y'know? Whether it's on the road, it might just be in the context of a jam during soundcheck. I get a lot of ideas, at all different times of the day; sometimes it's with a guitar in my hands, and sometimes it's just in my head. Do you tape soundchecks? Sometimes, yeah. If there's something that I fear will escape, I'll ask somebody to put it on a DAT while we're doing it. Do you bring along something to record in a hotel room? Yeah, I got a little eight-track digital rig that I finagle with… You can sort of capture the moment a little more. THE NEXT BIG WRECK ALBUM How soon or far away is an actual album? You're asking the wrong guy. [Laughs.] If I was in control, it'd be out now, but I dunno. I really don't. There's probably a whole plan that goes with it, at this point… Yeah. There's a lotta shit that I didn't arm myself for. A lot of it's tough to swallow, but you end up having to swallow it and deal with it… And it's fully understandable. You hold a grudge and you hope no one suffers. We're looking for first quarter of next year, I think. Are there new songs we'll hear at EdgeFest that might turn up on the next album? "All Our Days Are Numbered" and "Motionless" are two that are probably going to make it. There's a few that are keys in the live set - a good bridge from one song to another, or a good opener or closer. It's just a matter of where the set list is at, and which ones are gonna work. But it's probably gonna be a heavy, hard-hitting set. You wanna see the kids in the audience going up like popcorn. [Laughs.] What do those songs sound like, sonically? Sonically, it's probably where the next record's gonna go. I still want people to be able to hear folk music and blues music in our music, but I also want it to be completely different and modern and contemporary. I still want it to be heavy - not necessarily in sounds or in subject matter, but in vibe, if you will. And those two songs are like that. As opposed to "The Ballad." We already have a few ballads, and we'll probably have a few on the next record, but I'm not interested in playing 'em live before they're out. Like [imitating a kid at EdgeFest] "What is this?! Is he feeling it? Let's go get a beer, he's being sensitive." I don't want it to be one of those! [Laughs.] I'd rather maintain their attention: "Look, he's spitting on himself!" [Laughs.] Do you have any sense yet of how the other new songs may differ from those on In Loving Memory Of…? They seem a little more focused, to me. We've done a fair bit of recording, so far, of stuff that probably won't make the album. Just demo stuff. And, just from the perspective that that's given me, there's so many different directions to go; where we can go, but I figure it's [where] to go. I wanna go down every avenue a little further, but I still wanna end up at home at the end of the day, y'know? I want it to sound like us. I think there's a lot of stuff that we're doing that - although it may never make it into a song or on the album - it will somehow give us a perspective on something that might be a little different from the norm. Which in turn would probably be a little more like what we would do, what we'd be into. I don't just want to put out the predictable shite that's out there now. Anyone who, Heaven forbid, is into the last record, I don't want to put out something that they're gonna expect… D'ya know what I mean? Well, even when you put out In Loving Memory Of… , that largely stood against any particular, prevailing trend. It was more, "Here's what we do." And I'm into that. And I'm also into getting very arrogant and cocky and slagging other bands, and that whole thing of saying, "It's simply better than everything else in our field." But that doesn't really get anywhere or do anything. In hindsight - I don't know if it's growing up, or whatever - but to each their own, y'know? There's a lot of people that don't sort of measure up to the musical code that I sort of live by. Some people should be and some people shouldn't be, and some people made drastic vocational errors, I think, along the way, in deciding that they wanted to be a star before being a musician. D'ya know what I mean? In the light of that view, it must have been that the album "broke" as big as it did. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I think that's great, and I hope it's a sign that the pendulum's starting to swing the other way. But maybe not; maybe one of the reasons [the album did so well] is that, because of videos, little 14-year-old girls think I have a nice mouth, or something. But maybe that just means everybody can find what they're looking for. If 14-year-old girls think you're cute, maybe they'll stick around and listen. And there's certainly a set of listeners who are there strictly to hear your music. I'm not gonna shun anyone that's gonna buy the record. I would urge anyone that bought it for the wrong reasons to listen to it and try to get something out of it. 'Cause there is some good stuff on there, y'know? IAN THORNLEY: DEDICATED MUSICIAN When one thinks of Berklee-educated musicians, it's usually good but polite music. Big Wreck seems a lot more rockin', harder, more earthy. That's sort of what I'm into, but I'm also into very sophisticated stuff, too. A lot of those guys tried to bridge that gap: Floyd and Genesis, guys who maybe didn't have as much available to them as somebody in the '90s, but still doing that. At the root of it, you still want something that you're gonna sit down, close your eyes, and drift off and listen to. But I also like getting' off in a visceral way: Let's blow some chops, and wriggle some fingers, and let's do something that's interesting and maybe stumble upon something that's not been done before. And still make it good and listenable to the Average Joe. Do you sit and play acoustic slide guitar, maybe to keep your chops up? I play guitar for about nine hours a day. That's pretty much all I do. That's how you get natural with it. You do it that much, by the eighth hour, I'm sure you're just floating. I find that on different days, I'll float right off the top. Some days I'll have to struggle for it. I don't sit down and practice anymore. I don't work on chops anymore. I find that it takes a few minutes to warm up, before I can do the really technical fast stuff, but that doesn't really get me off. I like getting off on what I hear. Even if I'm not in the process of writing, as a fan of guitar playing, and getting to that place that all musicians, of any calibre, talk about getting to - and all the best ones are the ones that get there all the time. That's what you strive for. You're out at so many different gigs, in clubs around Toronto, that one assumes you're a music fan - with pretty eclectic tastes, too. I'm really not that big a fan. I'm just waiting to get bowled over, y'know? I'm dying for it; I'm dying to have something just make me go "Wow!" and blow me away. Is anybody even coming close these days? I'd have to think about it. I really like what Rufus Wainwright is doing. I'm a big fan of his. I dunno, y'know. Radiohead. Just the usual, whatever musicians like is what I like. But do I own those records? No. I haven't gotten extremely excited about something… unless it's something old that I discovered. Like, "Holy shit! I can't believe they put this out on CD!" Well, is there any old stuff that's knockin' you out? It's still the same for me; I still have the same guys that I'm really into. I'm trying to find old Muddy [Waters] things. I'm a big [Mississippi] Fred McDowell fan. I'm still trying to find more and more of it. I'm into stuff that's just got such a heavy vibe to it. And the guy was also such an amazing guitar player; just the sounds that came out of his fingers, and out of his vocal cords, too. I suppose incessant touring sharpens up not only your playing, but your ability to "grab" an audience. At this point, it must be automatic. You learn, I guess. But it's still a weird thing, 'cause sometimes grabbing an audience is just jumping around and being a complete imbecile - which is fun, and I love doing that. And other times it's, like, trying to really perform well, strictly on a musical level. If you're jumping around on one leg, you're gonna miss some notes! [Laughs.] Sometimes it doesn't matter. It must depend on the audience. Exactly. And then sometimes, I get really bummed out, 'cause sometimes I really feel like playin', takin' a 10-minute solo, and doin' the Allman Brothers thing, but nowadays… I know that a lot of people are gonna miss out, and that's not where we've, sort of, been placed in the music industry. We've been placed alongside Third Eye Blind, for Chrissake, so we're gonna have to give 'em the hits and get out. But every once in awhile, you find that the audience does give you permission for that - which is a plus. PLAYING AND HANGING WITH DAVID USHER AND THE WATCHMEN It'll be interesting to see how that stage dynamic works itself out at EdgeFest. I think we're gonna keep it short and tight, just hit 'em over the head. I want it really fuckin' loud, really hard. I want it tight. I want it to be, like, monstrous. I guess it'll be a little bit of "Give 'em the hits and get off," but I think we're probably going to take a few left and right turns in the middle of songs. I think we're gonna keep it short and tight, just hit 'em over the head. I want it really fuckin' loud, really hard. I want it tight. I want it to be, like, monstrous. I guess it'll be a little bit of "Give 'em the hits and get off," but I think we're probably going to take a few left and right turns in the middle of songs. I don't think you get encores at EdgeFest. You get your 45 minutes, or whatever, and then get off. Anybody you're looking forward to seeing live or touring with on EdgeFest? When we were touring with Creed, Moist came out for a little while and opened the show. We played a few times with those guys, and I hung with David a few nights. He's a nice guy and a cool guy, so I'm looking forward to seeing him and hangin'. But I'm not particularly a fan of that music - and that's not a slag either. It's just not really my bag. And there's nobody on the bill that I really think of as being my bag. Wide Mouth Mason - those guys are good players. But who knows? Maybe everything'll change, when I get out there. You've toured a lot with The Watchmen, and gotten together onstage for a finale of The Who's "Eminence Front." One assumes that you appreciate what they're up to. Yeah. For me - not slagging anybody - it really is about Danny [Greaves]'s voice. I've just fallen in love with the sound of his voice. It sounds like no one else, nothing else - it's just so pure and thick. And the way he treats it; the way he uses it. He really does use it as an instrument. I'm into that. And as song crafters, those guys are great; they write brilliant pop songs, I think - that probably go over pop listeners' heads a lot of the time. Is there any chance you might record something together that might be released? You never know. I just hung with Danny over the weekend, actually, and we cut a tune that I got him to sing on. It sounded great. I was just finagling with it before we started talking. Can you tell us anything about it? It sounds like something that I would do, minus the sort of rock edge that we have, with Danny singing. Obviously, the melodies are a little weirder than what he normally does, and a lot of the stuff that I did is a little tamer. I don't think it'll be something that sees the light of day. I wish that it would: I'd love to do that - take time off between records someday, and work with him. There's a few guys that I wanna do that with in several different bands. At this point, it's idle wishes. THE HUMBLE POINT OF A PROUD ROCK STAR The way that you describe Danny's voice is probably the way that Big Wreck fans describe your voice. He's definitely an influence on the way I sing. I still fuckin' hate the way I sing. I can't stand it. I can't stand my voice. I don't consider myself a singer at all. You're kidding! Really? Even with the falsetto, and the wide range and vocal dynamics? That's pretty surprising I consider myself a guitar player, y'know? I have trouble considering myself anything but a guitar player. I think a lot of people find your voice of the strongest elements in Big Wreck's music. Let's hope so. Let's hope I don't blow it out. Yeah, I'm not really a fan. I've heard some things that I think sound good, but I always want to mix the vocals down. Even the vocal performance on "That Song," or the energy of "Blown Wide Open"? That's just getting into it, for me, I guess. That's just what it sounds like when I hear it. I don't want a vocal performance that's perfect in every way, but is somehow lacking energy or soul or vibe. I'm gonna strive for those things first, then perhaps go back and re-assess the actual performance f it. But I'm not really a fan of my voice. How do you think the folk-music roots of the stuff your parents listened to affected you musically? For me, it helps a lot with the reasons for it [making music]. I have so many different options at my disposal these days, that it's easy for me to get my head so far up my ass that I forget the reason why… It's, like, "Well, wait a second; do you want to sit down and listen to this thing, or what?" And if you don't, well, what are you doing? And most folk music, to me, is like that. It's minus all'a that shit. I'm not saying that I dislike that stuff, but it's necessary for me to find a medium there. It's really a good starting point, for me, to know that you always wanna come back to songs. You wanna come back to interaction. You wanna come back to communication. You wanna come back to people wanting to hear it and you wanting to play it for them. As opposed to "This fucking guitar sound just isn't right." Does it really matter? And sometimes, you can get to that place where the guitar sound is right. But it's important, I think, to always go back to that, when you're lost.