Boom times: the Ian Thomas interview

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Summer, 1993 by Peter Steen

It's summer and The Boomers are essaying another, grander,tour of varied venues across Germany. Lead by seasoned rock-and-roll pro Ian Thomas, the Canuck quartet is returning to the land that kept their first album alive and called out for more.

This kind of attention is not without precedent. Saga - a homegrown act with a Euro-rock sound - never achieved the domestic fame it enjoyed across the pond. But The Boomers aren't targeting the same, radio-fed audiences that brought success to earlier acts .

In fact; Thomas - whose catalogue of hits is topped by the seventies classic Painted Ladies - doesn't feel the need to write for radio anymore.

"I've spent too much time as a writer, trying to write for the marketplace," he says. "I write for myself now and I'm always going to write for myself. I'm past the point of writing for this great, nebulous demographic ... crossover-radio format. I don't think (radio) format should be dictating to writers what to write. That's the cart before the donkey."

Usually, an artist whose commercial heyday is some distance down the road behind him would crave radio exposure. But any youthful lust for fame has been replaced by a matured lust for substance.

Replaced by The Boomers.

Though united with studio veterans Bill Dillon (guitar), Peter Cardinali (bass) and drummer Rick Gratton, Thomas - as lead singer and main songwriter - can't help but be the group's media focus. He appears as comfortable and sincere in his role: just one member of the band - as he's portrayed.

Another example of the sense of honesty Thomas seems immersed in these days.

"We were doing the first album and we knew we wanted to call it What We Do - |cause it's what we did - and we were trying to think of a name for the band. We thought |Well, you know, we've kinda been around. We're a little off the beaten track, as far as the mainstream ... so how about The Beatnicks?"

But they learned there was another band by that name. "The boomers (as in baby) ... that's who we are. We're not hiding anything. We're not trying to make like we're younger than we are. We're not trying for the teeny-bopper market, so why don't we say who we are?"

What We Do was not a real commercial success, until a very odd think occurred.

It was "dead," according to Thomas, until a German record store owner began playing it in his shop. Requests began piling up, eventually sparking the record label's continental cousin to import the album and release it domestically. This caused an immediate demand for concert appearances and a subsequent tour.

"If it hadn't been for them, I doubt very much I would've had the real joy - and sort of spiritual experience - of performing with the band," says Thomas; remembering that he hadn't done a concert tour in ten years.

With newfound drive, Thomas spent last summer writing the songs for The Boomers' follow up work: Art Of Living (reviewed elsewhere in this issue in the new column "Northern Exposure").

Thomas says, "Everybody thinks Art Of Living is way stronger than Who We Are. I didn't think I could beat the last album and I don't know if I have." He feels the songs on Aft Of Living "are somehow more personal ... on the subject matter, they're a lot doser to the marrow."

Indeed, he recounts how Cathy, his wife of 23 years (and "childhood sweetheart"), stated that the new album "is kind of exposing us to the world." Thomas points to songs like Still In This Thing and To Comfort You as examples of her concern. "However," he adds, "the guy in To Comfort You was a little better than I was."

When critiquing his world, the security of German interest in Art Of Living - and his excellent relationship with Dillon/Cardinali/Gratton - grants a degree of candour Thomas appears to relish.

On the subject the Canadian music scene, "I kind of think the same thing about it now as I did 20 years ago. Somebody asked me [then] |what does a Canadian musician need the most, to do music in Canada?' And my answer was, |the United States.'" He feels "the economics of touring in this country are not great. The sales base [in Canada], apart from the occasional block-buster album, sometimes is not enough to sustain a living."

Thomas allows that, "like a great many Canadian musicians, I do have to subsidize my love of music." This takes the form of writing film and television scores, coupled with his other passion, acting. "I do a lot of character work, as an actor... voice-overs and what-not, for commercials."

High on his list of annoyances is Canada's seemingly eternal English/ French conflict.

In Germany, "a lot of people I met spoke three or four languages. And here we are, arguing over whether there should be French on a cereal box. Give me a break. We're almost rednecks here.

"It's so childish. I would like Canada to have a good solid look at Yugoslavia, before we continue this bickering and split this place up ... on this mindless, racist ethnic [garbage].

But don't call the Hamilton, Ontario native a Canadian nationalist.

"Nationalism, in general, is sick. Nationalism's just another name for bigotry." He rants about English-Canada's "lowball thinking" and adds "I think there's maybe as much intolerance - probably more intolerance - coming from the French. Their language bills and everything".