INTERVIEW: CHRIS THOMSON PT III
Tony Rettman: Could you explain how Soulside formed from the remnants of Lunch Meat and why you did not end stay in the band?
Chris Thomson: Details are a little foggy. In Sept ‘85 all of us had headed off to college. Over winter break, Lunch Meat regrouped to rehearse and record new songs. The feeling I guess was that we were writing better songs, better at our instruments and so a new identity would announce that change. I don’t remember a lot of thought going into it. I remained in DC as the rest of the group returned to college when the holidays were over and the band paused. During this time I played in Unrest for a few months. But by spring, with the Soulside guys back in town, we started up again with the goal of playing shows and documenting the new material. I think it was early summer ‘86 that we recorded material for the first Soulside record. It was a combination of unrecorded Lunch Meat songs and new things. I also recorded with Unrest at the same time so I remember bouncing from one session to the other. Soulside also started playing shows, we had this momentum from Lunch Meat that made it easier for us to get shows and draw a crowd. During this time, summer ‘86, Soul Side played with Youth of Today at 9:30 Club, that was my first exposure to the youth crew straight edge movement and it was eye-opening. Seeing all these kids in t-shirts and ball caps and sneakers singing all the words, I was like, “Something big is happening—new kids taking the reins”. So I was in Soul Side for a brief period and played on the first record. That material on the first LP is a mix of Lunch Meat songs and new material. Fall ‘86, the band paused and people went back to college. At that moment I was feeling frustrated with the starting and stopping, I wanted to be in an active band. My aesthetic at the time was more old-school punk and hardcore. I wasn’t sure about all these Revelation Records bands and the new punk sound that was being pushed by Dag Nasty and others. And that seemed to be the future for Soul Side. In retrospect, I was being a snob and things were changing and evolving and I was clinging to the past I suppose. Somewhere during late ‘86, the seeds of Ignition were planted. As Ignition started taking shape I wanted less and less to return to Soul Side and bowed out. Johnny Temple took over bass, who was an old friend to all of us, and a much better fit. I don’t think Soul Side would have turned out as it did, had I remained in the band.
Please tell me how Ignition came together.
During early ‘86 the Revolution Summer vibe was still reverberating. I’m blanking on when Rites Of Spring called it quits but I remember Embrace was playing shows and you could sense there was tension in the band. Maybe it was that Spring when Embrace broke up, they had a super chaotic show at the 9:30 Club and you could tell that was the end. They called it quits soon after. I mention this because Chris Bald split town after Embrace and recharged in San Francisco. I feel like Chris came up with the plan for a new band that would be Ignition out west. Dante had visited Chris in San Francisco during this time and they started talking about playing and I think Alec was looped in around the same time too. I think it was late summer or early fall when I started playing and practicing with Ignition. I don’t remember if I was officially asked. At that time I hung out with Shawn Brown a bit and he was spending time at Beecher Street palling around with Amanda MacKaye. Alec was living there too and Shawn let me know that my name was being mentioned in talks between Alec, Chris, and Dante. I don’t remember if I got a phone call or what. To start playing with those guys was a big deal for me. I had memorized everything about Subject to Change from the artwork to background noises and of course Ivor’s backward laughing in the run-off grooves. Those guys had been friendly to me but I can’t say we were tight. We practiced initially at Chris Bald’s place in Chinatown DC. I believe that was Fall to Winter ‘86.
How soon after forming did Ignition begin playing out and how soon after did you record the 1st 45?
The exact timing is a little foggy, but I believe we started playing at the end of ‘86 and spent several months writing songs. It would be about six months later that we played our first show. The first show was with 3 at DC Space. It was spring of ‘87, approximately a year after Embrace had ended. I feel like the recording happened somewhere after the first show. We wanted to tour and I don’t remember if we recorded practice tapes but we needed a tape to get shows. We went to Inner Ear and recorded five or six songs. I think Ian was the producer. Those recordings served as a demo tape and would end up on the first and second seven inches. Getting on Dischord is a bit of a mysterious process and so we decided to put the first seven-inch out on our own. I think the first one came out around the summer and the second one came out in the fall of ‘87. I should mention that the first show was rough, we didn’t play all that great. Throughout the band, we would have these uneven performances despite really locking things down in practice. I think it took a few times playing live before things clicked. The Rollins Band were super supportive as we were getting off the ground and we played a bunch of shows with them. Being an opener helped me at least get my sea legs.
The reason Ignition stick with me in my old age is certainly due to the music still kicking ass, but there's way more as well. The first two 45's still hold a vibe of being so considerate and personal. The sentiment and imagery are still striking and relatable to me. So, I guess my question is...How much am I projecting onto those records? Were they as painstakingly put together as I imagine? How deeply was the artwork considered for the singles?
Chris Bald was responsible for the majority of the music and all the lyrics. He’d bring in riffs and collectively we would arrange and fill in blanks. His bass playing definitely informed his guitar playing and I think it’s that simplicity that created a vibe on the initial songs. My bass playing followed the chord progression with no embellishments so it created this wall of repetitive heaviness. I don’t remember a lot of thought going into the music. It was like, “I’ll do this, you’ll do that, and Dante will do his thing and we’ll see how it sounds”. The artwork was lifted from mechanics manuals and books on symbols. Chris was drawn to these bold monochromatic images and because we were limited by cost to one color printing it made sense. As someone who went into advertising, it’s interesting how these punk bands branded themselves with symbols thinking of the Black Flag Bars and the Faith “F”, and Chris did that by picking that infinite weave design that became synonymous with the band and showed up in a lot of artwork.
Was there a reason you used the artwork of Rockwell Kent on the second single?
We were always mining libraries for cool images and I had long been a fan of Rockwell Kent’s illustrations. Check out his Moby Dick illustrations if you’re curious. I found the falling man illustration somewhere and it was perfect. Both bold and evocative, it gave the sense of someone on the edge, which I think a lot of the music conveyed.
Is there a reason you released the first single on your own?
Getting on Dischord is a mysterious process. Ian was super supportive and interested in the band from the get-go. As DC is fairly famous for short-lived bands, I believe Ian was taking a wait-and-see approach. That made sense because it took a bit for the band to gel. I think the band wanted to move at a faster pace and felt we could establish ourselves with a seven-inch and that’s how IG records came about. By the time the second seven-inch was put together, the band had gelled, had a bunch of shows under our belt, and a small following. The second release was a split with Dischord and paved the way for the LP to be released fully on Dischord. I remembered the first and second release being taken from our first recording session but I could be wrong about that.
Photo: Ken Salerno
Ignition had a reputation for explosive live shows. I only saw the band once; the show at City Gardens opening for the Bad Brains. Alec swung from the rafters as I'm sure you remember. Did this wild stage presence affect the band in regard to playing or getting gigs? Were there venues that did not appreciate swinging from rafters or playing in the nude?
I was a fan of singers that broke the audience/performer wall and Alec had that reputation long before Ignition. I do remember Alec swinging on the rafters and crawling under the stage and taking off his shoes. I don’t remember it causing any issues with clubs or promoters. I think if Alec’s intentions were more destructive, which they never were, I think that would have caused problems. Chris Bald was the one who got naked, I remember that happening in San Francisco and I think it occurred at least one other time but don’t remember the circumstances. The San Francisco show was a Halloween show with Gwar and it was especially bloody as it was Gwar’s first appearance in San Francisco. I think the club was more concerned about cleaning up after Gwar than Chris Bald getting naked.
What are your fondest memories of being in Ignition?
Ignition went to Europe in the Fall of ‘87. The Norwegian band So Much Hate had set up a tour with Philly’s Flag of Democracy and I don’t remember the circumstances, but FOD had to cancel at the last minute and we got the slot. So that was huge. Scream and Government Issue made it to Europe before us but it was still the early days of American Hardcore Punk bands touring over there which made people very curious and interested in us. It was a novelty. It was also the first chance for European and UK folks to connect with OG Dischord folks, so lots of people were especially excited to meet Alec, Chris B, and Dante and talk about the Faith and Iron Cross and see if they could tease out any insights about Ian MacKaye. There were lots of interviews and decent turnouts. Ian actually made it to Amsterdam to hang out with us for a few days while he shored up arrangements with De Konkurrent - a European distro company - based in Amsterdam.
Another fave memory was playing Mississippi Nights in St Louis with the Rollins Band. The show was recorded for public access TV and it’s been up on YouTube forever. Watch it and you’ll see Alec throw up and crawl under the drum riser.
Chris Bald and I were the engines behind screening the Ignition shirts and posters. That was a good feeling to make our own merchandise and for me having a t-shirt helped to legitimize your band. We certainly got more accomplished as we went along. I think the tour posters we made were a thing of beauty. That experience is probably why I still screen shirts today.
Please tell me what brought about the end of Ignition and tease me with what was next for you musically.
After three years Chris and Alec were still very committed to the band and Dante and I were less so. We had a turbulent US tour in the fall of ‘88 in part because the tour was cut down to three weeks and I don’t why. So I started making plans to join my girlfriend at UW and finish college. Dante started planning to open his restaurant which I think opened in ‘89 or so. I should add Dante comes from a long line of restauranteurs, his dad ran Food For Thought for decades, notable as a veggie hangout spot and show space. After Dante and I bowed out, Chris and Alec tried playing with some other people but it never got off the ground. Mark Robinson of Unrest had briefly gone to UW and made friends with Reg Shrader. I connected with Reg when I got to Madison. Reg was jamming with Chris Hamley, Arika Casebolt, and a guy named Ian Valentine, and brought me into the mix. Chris, Arika, Reg, and Ian met as regulars of O’cayz Corral. The club where Surgery lost their van to a semi a few years later. At first, I was going to play guitar and possibly sing but it was quickly apparent that I was not a good guitar player. I became the singer and Ian got lost in the shuffle and thus began Circus Lupus.