Medium Cool Records

Ticks

Tom Hicks comes from Decatur, Illinois, a town of 92,000 on the Sangamon River about three hours south of Chicago. He is 26 and has been playing guitar since he was seven. He's been trying to write songs he could stand for some time, but was only recently successful.

He sent three of those songs to Twin/Tone Records in the fall of 1991 simply addressed to "A&R" with a letter explaining that it was his first attempt at singing and writing alone.

On first listen, the songs made so strong an impression on all at Twin/Tone, they thought someone was playing a joke: these songs were too good to be anyone's first attempt. The label made a call to Tom Hicks; it was his tum to think someone was playing a joke on him.

Over the next six months Tom continued to write and, although he didn't have a band, T/T affiliated label Medium Cool was so excited about the material they went ahead and booked time to do an album. Tom brought his Decatur, IL pals with him: his closest sidekick and sometimes collaborator Erick Hubbard, 24, plays four- and six-string bass; drummer Todd Dare, 20, who has a reputation as a closet recording buff; and rhythm guitarist Eric Fisher, 24. Tom handled lead and rhythm guitar and vocals, Making a guest appearance on the final cut, "My Tum Today," is former Replacements lead guitarist Slim Dunlap.

Interestingly and somehow appropriately, the "studio" for sun shinin on your rain was the fifth floor offices of the East Side Digital/Rykodisc building in the warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. Recordist extraordinaire Brian Paulson (Joe Henry, Arcwelder, The Wedding Present, Babes In Toyland) discovered its sympathetic recording nooks and crannies some time ago. The fact that it wasn't a "proper" studio didn't stop Soul Asylum or Arcwelder from cutting demos there; and it didn't stop Joe Henry or The Leatherwoods from recording albums there,

Gradual experimentation turned into full-fledged recording sessions. Without the formal environment of a recording studio, all rules went right out the window, The drums were set up in the conference room, guitar amps were strategically placed in offices, hallways or under skylights, The bass was plugged directly into the recording console and the vocals were cut wherever Tom felt most comfortable at the time, Producers Peter Jesperson (The Replacements, The Leatherwoods; T/T ro-founder & Medium Cool director) and Paulson got down to the bare bones business of nailing Tom's songs as simply as possible onto eight track, as opposed to the twenty- four track industry standard.

Even the band name came about in an unusual manner. As tape was accumulated, they discovered Paulson had marked them with an abbreviation: Ticks #1, Ticks #2....

Ticks' debut is a raw and innocent record where melancholy lyrics of isolation and indifference collide with music that is uplifting, exciting and danceable, It's at times reminiscent of T. Rex, Lou Reed, The Replacements or Buzzcocks. sun shinin on your rain touches on the conflict between passionate motivation and debilitating self-doubt: a dose of real life to which we all can relate.

- from the 1992 Medium Cool bio