New documentary explores the rise — and mysterious fall — of Chicago’s Material Issue
In the middle of Illinois’ rock music legacy falls the band Material Issue, whose 1991 power pop showstopper “International Pop Overthrow” came around a decade or so after the launch of predecessors like Cheap Trick and Shoes, and just before the gilded Smashing Pumpkins-Veruca SaltLiz Phair-Urge Overkill empire that forecasted Chicago as a runner-up to Seattle in the ’90s rock pantheon.
But, like it’s said, timing is everything, and unfortunately it wasn’t on the side of Material Issue, who bequeathed gems like “Valerie Loves Me,” “Diane” and “Kim The Waitress” that took hold of MTV and radio. The storied trio’s promising future would be cut short by the untimely passing of charismatic frontman Jim Ellison, who died by suicide in 1996.
For years, the band — also featuring Mike Zelenko on drums and Ted Ansani on bass — has been nothing short of local legend, supported by posthumous releases, a more recent Material Reissue re-formation (and the inspiration behind a long-running music festival), and now the subject of a new documentary that aims to shed light on just what went wrong.
“Out Of Time: The Material Issue Story” (Arvonia Films) is the feature debut of up-and-coming director Balin Schneider, and “aims to tell the story of a band searching for its identity in the gritty world of rock and roll in the early 1990s.” It features a lineup of introspective interviews including what’s supposedly the first-ever with Ellison’s family, as well as thoughts from Zelenko, Ansani, Metro owner Joe Shanahan, music critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, music producers Jeff Murphy and Mike Chapman, legendary engineer/producer Steve Albini, and MTV host Matt Pinfield.
“There is something really interesting with Material Issue — the title hints at this, too — how they were displaced in the sound of the time they were in, a sound I think would really catch on today,” says Schneider in an interview ahead of the film’s Chicago premiere Thursday at Lincoln Hall (it’s sold out, but future screenings are forthcoming). “That was one of the first things that interested me — this exploration of why is this band that has three really solid albums and one great posthumous album [so] why didn’t they become bigger?”
Much of “Out Of Time” hones in on the failed launch of the band’s third album, 1994’s “Freak City Soundtrack,” that had the perfect recipe for success, including Mike Chapman at the boards (who had created hits for the likes of Blondie and The Knack), guest stars including Rick Nielsen, and the backing of a major label. Even though it had critical praise, it sold fewer than 50,000 copies and dealt a huge blow to the band. The film explores how the weak response to the album became a fulcrum point for Ellison, who was distraught over the fall from grace.
“In hindsight we were traveling with the movement, being edgier and more aggressive in our recordings. The whole grunge thing was just happening, [and we were] going in an opposite direction of the trend,” says Ansani, who met Ellison while they both were enrolled in Columbia College in the ’80s; Zelenko came along after an ad was placed in Illinois Entertainer.
Zelenko takes it a step further, hypothesizing that a lack of label support, fumbled marketing around the newly emerging “alternative rock” genre, and the wrong choice for the first single (“Kim the Waitress” should have been swapped out for “Goin’ Through Your Purse,” he says) were at play, too.
“I think the frustration that happened four months into ‘Freak City Soundtrack’ really got to all of us, but especially Jim,” he adds.
Today, the band has continued in his stead with local singer/guitarist Phil Angotti now in the lead. The reformed trio first got together in 2011 as “Material Reissue” to coincide with album anniversary reissues. After the showing of the film, they will take the stage once again at Lincoln Hall.
For Schneider, he hopes those in attendance fall in love with the band’s music again — or perhaps for the first time. “It was a complex band in a complex time. But at the end of the day, they had really solid, good music, and that music is going to live on.”