# Ian Thornley @ Mod Club



## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Really interesting set from Big Wreck front man, Ian Thornley. I'm used to seeing him play in a 5-piece with 3 guitarist creating a huge wall of sound, but this was much more intimate. The band was a power trio and was a great way to showcase Thornley's really tasty tones. His chops are also fantastic. I was really impressed with his right-hand technique in controlling unwanted noise from such a distorted signal with a ton of delay on it. It could've been very messy (and would've been if I was playing that rig), but sounded really pristine.

Kudos to the sound techs, too. It was easily one of best-sounding shows I've ever been too, featuring drums that absolutely punched you in the gut. Everything was balanced well (though, if I wanted to be nit-picky, I could've used a touch more bass) and could be heard clearly.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Ian Thornley is awsome!


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Thornley's latest solo album (for which this tour is) was produced by Mark Howard who worked with Daniel Lanois. From what I understand he's the one actually running the live mixes on this tour as well. 
I saw this show last week at Maxwell's in Waterloo and while it was a fantastic show I found the mix to be waaaay too loud! I had ear plugs and it was still loud! Considering the intimate nature of the material it was unnecessarily loud.I wonder if it's more the venue than the mixer in this case because I've found almost every show I've seen there to be loud and harsh. Too bad 'cause the room itself is great. Perhaps they need some sound treatment as it has a lot of hard surfaces. 
All that said, I would watch Thornley play any time!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Hamstrung said:


> Thornley's latest solo album (for which this tour is) was produced by Mark Howard who worked with Daniel Lanois. From what I understand he's the one actually running the live mixes on this tour as well.
> I saw this show last week at Maxwell's in Waterloo and while it was a fantastic show I found the mix to be waaaay too loud! I had ear plugs and it was still loud! Considering the intimate nature of the material it was unnecessarily loud.I wonder if it's more the venue than the mixer in this case because I've found almost every show I've seen there to be loud and harsh. Too bad 'cause the room itself is great. Perhaps they need some sound treatment as it has a lot of hard surfaces.
> All that said, I would watch Thornley play any time!


Interesting. The mix was pretty loud yesterday, but I wouldn't say it was too loud. The big moments were suitably big and the guitar solos were really pumped up, but the acoustic stuff didn't seem overbearing. Might have been the room, I suppose. I've seen a few shows at the Mod Club and the sound there is generally pretty decent. 

Or maybe we have different tolerances for "too loud?" ^)@#


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

hollowbody said:


> Or maybe we have different tolerances for "too loud?" ^)@#


I dunno... I saw Motorhead a couple times once with and once without earplugs. The mix of sound made all the difference. 
I don't mind volume it's just certain frequencies can be painful if not balanced.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

This must have been a cool show. I was under the impression that his solo record was all acoustic.

The man has chops. I've seen Thornley twice (before Big Wreck came back) and it was great both times.


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## King Loudness (May 3, 2010)

I'd love to catch one of Ian's solo shows. Secrets is a fantastic album, and I have no doubt he would do it serious justice live. Big Wreck came here a year ago but I wasn't able to make it; still kicking myself HARD for that one. 

W.


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

He'll be here in March and it's on the calendar so hopefully I can make it work.


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

If you haven't seen them yet, check out some of the Suhr/NAMM videos with Thornley (and in some cases Peter Thorn, local Edmonton boy).


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Swervin55 said:


> If you haven't seen them yet, check out some of the Suhr/NAMM videos with Thornley (and in some cases Peter Thorn, local Edmonton boy).


Those are very excellent. Great production on them!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

King Loudness said:


> I'd love to catch one of Ian's solo shows. Secrets is a fantastic album, and I have no doubt he would do it serious justice live. Big Wreck came here a year ago but I wasn't able to make it; still kicking myself HARD for that one.
> 
> W.


 
Me too. They played WTfest which was probably two km (as the crow flies) from my front door. I didn't go because it was a big concert and I hate festival "seating".

I've become more and more a fan of Thornley and Big Wreck since then.


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