Ian Thornley has led Big Wreck on and off (mostly on-time) for over 30 years. Formed in Boston in 1992 by Berklee College of Music students, Thornley brought the band back to Toronto, where it had a successful run from 1997 to 2003. After that, they disbanded, went solo, released three more albums, and finally reunited in 2010, producing five more albums. The sixth, “The Rest of the Story,” will be in stores on October 24th.
I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Thornley from his home studio.
Alan Cross: You've been in your full-time music career for over 30 years. Have you ever imagined something like this?
Ian Thornley: Well, I never imagined it would be otherwise, but to be honest, I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I never thought I'd still be working hard 30 years later, and I never thought I'd still be fighting in the mud to make a living. If I had thought about it at the time, I would have thought about producing other people or moving on to other projects, like film music.
Nowadays, it's becoming more and more difficult to go out every year, and it's also becoming difficult to go out for long periods of time. Now we have a little boy at home, and our daughter is grown. It gets harder and harder when you're away from home, and it's harder to sleep on the bus. But I still love music. I'm still hooked. And I'm trying to make it better. Any way I can continue to practice music and make a living, I will do it.
AC: Big Wreck's first album (In Loving Memory Of…) was released in 1997, right at the end of the golden age of CDs. Since then, everything about business has changed. Lots of questions: How did you adjust?
IT: It's not like we were very successful and had a lot of money and somebody suddenly turned off the faucet. Our main source of income has always been the road and playing as many shows as possible. We sold a ton of that first record right before people stopped buying records. I've since adjusted my expectations. I think a lot of musicians of my generation who lived through that era have certain shots that they have to take. All the bands that had big hits right before us, they're still playing shows, and we're… well, we've been slowly growing back up over the last few years.
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However, there was a certain sense of freedom in not having to serve a master. We didn't have to rewrite Big Wreck hits like That Song or The Oaf. There's no need to succumb to preconceptions about what Big Wreck means.
AC: How has your approach and sound changed through all these albums?
IT: I think it's more sophisticated. The process is still the same. Like my phone, there are little shortcuts available to us right now. When something falls into my lap and I hum something into my phone, I think, “Okay, that's something.” Sometimes I sit down at my computer and start mapping songs, other times I record something on my phone and leave little breadcrumbs to access later. But it's still waiting for a drop of inspiration. and make it.
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I think I have improved as a craftsman. I think it's gotten better. And I'm good at distinguishing good ideas from not-so-good ideas. In the past, many of the ideas I stumbled upon would turn into something else when I started building them in the garage the next day. But when you start pushing your inspiration in one direction or another, it can become blurred or lost. And you end up putting it aside and saying, “No, I don't think this is going to work.”
AC: How much time do you spend chasing the guitar tones that you hear in your head?
IT: It's inseparable from the pursuit of the perfect chorus, the perfect verse, the grouping of words, the grouping of notes. My hair stands on end and I feel cold. Today, I think it's all about silly rhymes and “Oh, that was a good hook.” It's not just the sound of a guitar that keeps you up at night. I think that's all important. That's half the experience of going into the studio and recording. This is because it often inspires other parts and influences how phrases are created. Most musicians are reactive and react to what they hear.
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The same goes for effects applied to microphones and vocals. Depending on what's going on, the way you sing changes and the way you handle the microphone changes. Moving the mic one centimeter (to either side) in front of the amp can dramatically change the sound. Sometimes magic stumbles. There is no plugin for that. There is no app.
AC: This album, The Rest of the Story, was recorded at Noble Studios in Toronto, which is a really nice studio.
IT: I was lucky. We were planning to release three EPs, but decided to make one EP and one full album. We booked a studio for two weeks to get 17 or 18 basic tracks. However, Dave (McMilliam, bass) and Sekou (Lumumba, drums) complete the track in about five days. Nick (Raskulines, producer) said, “We're going to need a truck to get the guitars and amps in here, because we're going to be using all these goodies.” I ended up cutting a lot of guitars there.
AC: Why was the album titled The Rest of the Story?
IT: I thought this was a good tie-in to Pages, the EP that preceded this. There was going to be Page 1, Page 2, and Page 3, but it became its own separate entity.
AC: Were there any surprises?
IT: Surprises happen every day when I'm in the studio. That's why I'm the first to enter and the last to leave. And when someone says, “What if…” good things start happening.
AC: What’s next?
IT: We're going to do some book shows for the rest of this year and then hit the road in the first quarter of next year. I'm going to be attending Live Across Canada, so it should be fun. I don't think we've ever played with them before. I have a few other ideas that I'm considering.
The rest of the story will be published on October 24th. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
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