New Documentary ‘Out Of Time’ Celebrates Legacy Of Jim Ellison And Material Issue

1991 remains a fascinating year in the history of modern music. 

Artists like Vanilla Ice, Rick Astley, Roxette and Michael Jackson all released albums, finding placement on the pop charts alongside hard rock standouts like Metallica, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns N’ Roses. 

Phil Collins graced a Genesis album for the last time while Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and R.E.M. reached their respective commercial peaks. 

Alternative music finally gurgled over thanks to artists like Green Day, Matthew Sweet and Red Hot Chili Peppers but nothing could match the impact of Seattle, Washington, a sound about to breakthrough courtesy of genre defining releases by Nirvana (Nevermind), Pearl Jam (Ten), and Soundgarden (Badmotorfinger) that would render pop and hair metal obsolete virtually overnight. 

But in Chicago, just months before the angst of grunge music would come to dominate the radio airwaves, a slightly different sound was percolating, one influenced by power pop and drenched in catchy guitar hooks. Before any of the aforementioned 1991 album releases came Material Issue’s International Pop Overthrow. 

The album would precede Gish, the studio debut of Chicago’s Smashing Pumpkins, by a little more than three months, selling over 300,000 copies following its release by Mercury Records in February 1991. 

It reached #86 on the Billboard 200 album chart, more than 100 spots higher than Gish, opening the door for a major label feeding frenzy which would launch acts like Urge Overkill, Veruca Salt and Liz Phair, driving temporary branding of Chicago as the next Seattle.

Today, conversations about Chicago music usually focus on alternative artists like the Pumpkins, Wilco and Fall Out Boy as well as hip-hop stars Kanye West and Chance the Rapper, with Material Issue often overlooked despite the doors they opened.

The new film Out of Time: The Material Issue Story, an arvonia films production which screens Thursday, December 2 at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, looks to change that, chronicling the group’s earliest days through the release of its third album Freak City Soundtrack in 1994. 

It’s the debut film from director Balin Schneider who, at just 21, wasn’t even alive during Material Issue’s run, born about four years after singer Jim Ellison took his own life in June of 1996. 

Schneider began the documentary as a student majoring in film and French at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, learning of Material Issue thanks to a reference to the group’s most well known song “Valerie Loves Me” in a social media post by Dallon Weekes of Panic! At The Disco/iDKHOW. 

“The Material Issue story was very much something I was surprised hadn’t been told. Because obviously there’s a narrative arc there that’s not easy but makes for a really good story,” said Schneider en route to Kansas during a visit to Chicago following the premiere of his film in Minneapolis earlier this month. “My initial plan was to do an eight minute YouTube documentary. And it was actually December 2, 2018 when my cinematographer and I came to Chicago and did four interviews. And then it just kind of steamrolled. More people wanted to be involved and it blew up on social media. Then we were like, ‘OK. Let’s do a feature.’ From there, it was three years of setting up interviews from my college dorm room, travelling to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and interviewing everybody and getting the footage.”

For the film, Schneider tracked down major players in Material Issue’s earliest days, chatting with musicians like Phair and Urge Overkill’s Eddie Roeser, engineer Steve Albini, journalists Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis as well as behind the scenes figures like Peter Katsis and Jeff Kwatinetz. 

Years later, Katsis would be described in a Vanity Fair article as “the best music manager in the business” for his work with artists like The Backstreet Boys, Snoop Dogg and Jane’s Addiction, while Kwatinetz would work closely with Ice Cube amongst others, co-founding the Big3 basketball league. 

In addition to the interviews, Schneider showcases the band’s songs like never before, securing the rights to Material Issue music for use in the film as well any future releases on formats like video on demand, DVD or vinyl, one of the most difficult elements to navigate while producing a documentary but a crucial one for a film like Out of Time. 

“The label was not cooperative at all. And it was very difficult. That honestly took a year, year and a half. A big part of it was Glen Phillips, who was the band’s touring manager. Glen was our music supervisor and really helped push that through,” said Schneider. “Before our second set of interviews, I had already licensed ‘Valerie Loves Me’ and ‘Diane’ - just to kind of see if I could do it. And it was like $2,000 or something that I did not have. But we eventually did get it. And it’s super cool. Because there’s a lot of music in the documentary. And there’s a lot of demos. There’s some B-sides from some of the albums. I think fans will like that. All of the singles are in there. There’s some acoustic stuff and some live stuff. It’s just a really cool mix. We felt that everything we used would push the narrative.” 

Schneider and his crew unearth impressive video of Material Issue performing live on television during MTV’s Spring Break as well as on syndicated late night talk show The Dennis Miller Show. The live clips pair with footage from Material Issue music videos to showcase the prowess of the power trio as a live act.

“Some of the live footage reminded me of how strong we were. I think as we become older musicians, we lose some of the drive and power that we had when we were younger. And I had kind of forgotten about it,” said Material Issue bassist Ted Ansani. “It’s because we were touring. Every night we were playing. And you just really hone your craft. So when you’re firing on all pistons and you’re put on the spot and put on stage and the lights come on - and we’re just doing our jobs but we have that fire and energy - that was impressive to be able to see that. It reminded me of what we were able to accomplish when we were so much younger. That was powerful to me seeing that.”

A highlight of the film features home video of Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen in the studio with Material Issue during sessions for Freak City Soundtrack, adding guitar to a pair of tracks. 

Shot by Material Issue drummer Mike Zelenko, the footage will be seen by most fans for the first time as part of the new documentary.

“I was the guy with the camera throughout most of that stuff. The first tour, we’re all excited, right? It’s our major label debut, our first tour on a tour bus. And I had this camera that I borrowed from my dad. I think it was Beta?” said Zelenko. “So with the promotion of the record, the label had set up lots of radio interviews where we’d do a couple of acoustic numbers. I’m the drummer, right? And who wants to hear bongos? So Teddy and Jim would do their thing with their harmonies and I was there and I captured a lot of it,” he continued. “With the tapes it was always like, ‘OK. Those are the Material Issue tapes. Please don’t lose those.’ So my dad died four years ago and Balin starts working on the film three years ago. I’m like, ‘Mom, where are all the tapes?’ ‘I don’t know. Your father kept them over here.’”

“It took years to compile. We had tons of different formats. 8mm tape. People would send me contact sheets, undeveloped 35mm film. We just had so many fans send us stuff,” added Schneider. “People would record stuff of them off of TV and compile it on VHS - and then they kept it for 30 years. A lot of it was like just finding stuff, as if it was Christmas morning. And that just took so long.”

Following the success of International Pop Overthrow, Material Issue seemed primed for stardom. Produced by Mike Chapman, known for his work with artists like Blondie, Sweet and The Knack, the group’s third album Freak City Soundtrack was supposed to break them further upon release in 1994. But it didn’t happen. By 1996, singer Jim Ellison would take his own life. 

In the film’s examination of just what went wrong, Chapman’s recollection of the period provides a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of a band trying to navigate the music industry and the level of difficulty involved in trying to both achieve and maintain success in the 1990s, the height of the major label system. 

Chapman’s story coupled with the reaction of Ellison’s family functions as Out of Time’s dramatic core.

“Mike Chapman was going to be in America for one week out of the year. And I think it was our finals week. But I flew to New York and drove to Connecticut. And that was our best interview. Mike Chapman is like the star of the film. And the emotional drive of the film. Because I think he loved all three of these guys so much. And also made an amazing record with them,” explained Schneider. “Jim’s mom is also a part of the film that makes it what it is. Sitting down with her, it wasn’t even really her interview - we spent like 12 hours at her house. And then drove back at like midnight to Kansas, getting home at about 9 AM.”

“One of the things in the film that I noticed that’s really important is that towards the end of the film, it deals a lot with Jim’s passing. And how he died. And how it affected not only the band but even more importantly his parents and his family. And that’s really powerful in the film,” said Ansani. “How it affected his mother and his father and his sister really takes over in the film and it spins into this very important aspect, which is dealing with the depression that Jim dealt with. Jim didn’t realize that he was dealing with depression. We didn’t realize he was dealing with this depression. His parents didn’t. And, in hindsight, it’s so important to identify that and deal with it. And now there are resources available at anyone’s disposal if you just reach for the help. And Jim’s mom is very poignant in pointing that out at the end of the film. And it really kind of culminates in a depth that is built throughout the entire film.”

Thursday’s screening in Chicago will also feature a performance by Material ReIssue, a trio featuring Ansani, Zelenko and guitarist/vocalist Phil Angotti who’ve performed together since 2011, respectfully honoring the legacy of Ellison and Material Issue via a handful of concerts. 

Zelenko and Ansani were both in attendance as Out of Time: The Material Issue Story premiered earlier this month, leaving each to take stock not just of the finished product but a chapter of both their lives and career. 

“The other night in Minneapolis was the world premiere, right? And Balin’s been sending us stuff for the past three years to review and comment on or whatever. But, for me, it gives me a lot of anxiety - watching me as a younger man, us and seeing Jim. I just sometimes can’t really go down that road. I’d have my wife watch some of it. She’d come back like, ‘It’s good,’” said Zelenko. “So the other night, sitting there in the theater with all of these people, the whole thing shown - now that I’ve seen it I had to admit to Balin on stage during the Q&A that I didn’t watch it. And I’m glad that I didn’t. Because I got to see it just like everyone else. He did it very well.”

“I did watch it. I don’t like surprises. So as Balin was sending stuff, I was watching it right away, delving into it. I was watching it with my wife too and it was like, ‘Tell me what you think. What do you see here? How does this look?’ It was definitely impressive,” added Ansani. “The band was important to Jim. It was like a badge of honor for him to be a member of a band. And he carried Mike and I through that too. We all kind of leaned on each other. But he was so proud of that - and his fanbase. Anybody that approached him, Jim was right there with them.”

Following this week’s screening in Chicago, Schneider looks forward to more appearances as well as both physical and on demand releases of his debut feature length film.

“I definitely think in the first half of 2022 there will be a digital or streaming release. There will also be more screenings. We hope to go to other markets like New York or Dallas and big music cities plus midwest cities like Milwaukee. And we’ll also have physical releases. There will for sure be DVD and vinyl,” said the filmmaker. 

“I think the band had a tremendous impact on people. Everybody that shares a story with me online or at a screening, it’s like people also like the band because they were at the merch table talking to their fans. They’d see them after the show and they’re nice guys. And I think that’s part of it. People felt connected to this band because they loved their fans as equally as the fans loved them. And, especially in the 90s, I don’t think that you had that as much,” Schneider said. “To me, there’s never going to be a more important Chicago band than Material Issue. I think that one thing that has always kind of bugged me is that Jim and the band still really haven't gotten their due as far as what they did for this whole city of music. That is tremendously important. They really set the model.”