“Ian Thornley is undoubtedly one of the best guitar players I’ve ever worked with in my entire career. Not only is he a great songwriter and a great singer, but this guy can play anything” declares producer Nick Raskulinecz.
When one listens to Big Wreck’s eighth and latest album, The Rest Of The Story, due out on October 24, it’s easy to understand Raskulinecz’s enthusiasm. In true Thornley fashion, the songs span a wide range of musical styles and guitar tones – the vivacious shredfest of “Holy Roller,” the dreamy introspection of “Out Of Range,” the angsty rock of “Believer,” and the pastoral acoustic tapestry of “Laws Of Man”.“I make music to fall in love with it,” says Thornley, and that passion shines through on The Rest Of The Story. A bulk of the album’s material was recorded during the sessions for the 2023 mini-album Pages, which was Juno-nominated for Rock Album Of The Year. The guitarist and the producer see both releases as part of the same sonic continuum. Both were recorded at Noble Street Studio in Toronto. Thornley always pushes boundaries, and Raskulinecz, a fellow songwriter and musician himself, enthusiastically nurtures his curiosity.
“I love surprises,” says Thornley. “I love being surprised. I think that’s because there’s been so much music recorded already that you can lead somebody down a path with certain expectations. When you give them something else, people used to think, I did not see that coming! Whereas now it’s like, I better change the channel because I didn’t see that coming exactly. It didn’t give me what I want. My cheap dopamine hit. I think surprises require effort. To me, enjoying the ride is a big part of it.”
Raskulinecz – who has produced heavy hitters like Foo Fighters, Korn, and Evanescence – praises Thornley’s work ethic, reporting that he’s the first one in the studio each day and the last one out. He understands the mechanics of studio recording, like EQ and compression, and he likes to get his hands on the board. And he loves experimenting with different guitar sounds and pedals.
For Thornley, the lyrics are as important as the music, even if his vocals are often the last element to be overlayed into the mix. The video for the lead single “Believer” shows famous instances of people standing up to problems or overcoming obstacles, from Tiananmen Square to the Moon landing. While Thornley loves the imagery in the video, his thoughts are much more on our current circumstances where the world feels completely askew.
“Publicly, I’ve never been one to pick a side,” he explains. “If we were all billion-selling, private jet-flying, yacht-owning rock stars, I’d probably be a lot more vocal about how I feel about the world. But you sit down and have a cup of coffee, and people are just people. I do have my own opinions –, sometimes they do make their way into songs.”
“Escaping In Place” maintains a serious bent as well, perhaps his more personal, existential slant on the Catch-22 principle. “It’s about being in a cell of your own making and creating a cell for yourself to live in,” explains Thornley. “Being miserable about it, then you’re dreaming about how great life would be if you weren’t in the cell. But being fully aware that you’ve created the cell anyway.”
By contrast, the new single “Holy Roller” takes a more comical slant, although originally it didn’t. “I had to change the original lyric of ‘Holy Roller’ because it was about a Catholic priest who was doing his thing and getting away with it,” elaborates Thornley. “Then Dave, our bass player, quickly snapped me out of that. He’s like, Dude, that’s my 11 year-old son’s favorite song of all the ones that we’re working on. Maybe we should readjust these lyrics. So I basically wrote the song about this Frank the Tank character, like Will Ferrell from Old School. It’s about a goofy guy who’s stayed at the party too long, and it fits the song because the vibe is just fun.”
Thornley credits his bandmates Dave McMillan (bass) and Sekou Lumumba (drummer) and their musical prowess for helping to bring his musical visions to life in the studio. “It’s easier in a way, but it’s also harder,” the bandleader notes. “Any part that you can dream up, or any suggestion that you have, nothing’s off the table. In a way that can be more challenging, because when you’re trying to hone in on something that’s all the way out here, it can make it more difficult. Then, of course, opening it up to those guys: What do you hear? What would you do? What’s your natural instinct? What’s the first thing that you would go to in a song? That can yield good things too.”
Both Thornley and Raskulinecz will literally throw ideas at McMillan and Lumumba as they’re recording their parts. Thornley might call out a line to his bassist, or the producer might run an air drum idea to the skinsman. The duo is sharp and talented enough to adapt even while laying everything down. In concert, they also know how to go with the flow when Thornley creates a new song arrangement.
“Dave is an insanely talented bass player and one of the coolest guys on the list,” says Raskulinecz. “I’ve only worked with Sekou on this one album, and we’re talking about a guy that can do 17 drum tracks in three days.”
Rhythm guitarist Chris Caddell plays with the band live, although Thornley admits if it were possible, Caddell would be in there recording with them. Thornley likens Caddell’s role to that of the late Brian Doherty who “was always the glue keeping everything together. Not to say that they’re loose players, but if I’m right on the beat, and then somebody is a little ahead and somebody a little behind, it’s nice to have somebody who can cover all of it. Especially with riff-based music, two guitar players playing the riff in exactly the same way is not quite as powerful as two guitar players playing the riff perfectly, but very different.”
Having first worked together on Thornley’s second solo album Tiny Pictures in 2009, Thornley and Raskulinecz are like a musical married couple who finish each other’s thoughts. The producer says that by the time the guitarist comes to him with songs, they are fairly finished. But he offers thoughts on tweaking them, perhaps altering arrangements, or editing or expanding certain passages. Sometimes, Thornley comes to Raskulinecz for input earlier, and the producer knows how to massage the material into a stronger form. That synergy yields strong results on The Rest Of The Story.
A good example is the upcoming single “Around”. Thornley originally demoed it as a rough and tumble Rolling Stones type song. Raskulinecz envisioned more of a pop style. The guitarist originally balked at the idea, but then reconsidered and tried it out. “I like it when it’s just a little bit uncomfortable,” admits Thornley of toying with a new idea. “I might surprise myself with how much I like it.” The song “Around” became an exercise in trying different guitar tones, even sampling some parts to create musical textures out of noises.
“We’ve always been really great about listening to each other and working towards the end goal of making the song as great as it can be,” says Raskulinecz. “In the last three or four things we’ve done together, they’ve shaped up like that. We get the song in that form, go in and record it, and there’s still space for spontaneity. We get in a great creative space when we’re in the room together. I love it.”
“He hears what I’m hearing in it, but sometimes he’s able to articulate what I’m too lost in the music to say,” observes Thornley. “Like, I think this should be a song. I’m not going to say that. But then Nick says, Guess what, I’m going to go make it a song. That comes from a lot of things – not just history but friendship and trust. I trust that he’s after the same thing that I’m after, which is that feeling that only music can give you and the excitement of pushing the dust away. What’s here? What’s this? And then building it.”
Tracklist:
01 Staff Party 5:23
02 Holy Roller 3:26
03 Believer 4:46
04 Short Bangs 4:46
05 Out of Range 4:03
06 Around 3:26 MP3
07 Laws of Man 4:02
08 Dog with a Gun 2:58
09 Escaping in Place 4:38
10 Labour Day 4:38
11 Hills
