The DRIVE Issue: Thax!
WORDS BY IAN JOHNSON, ART BY CAMILA TRIMBERGER-RUIZ & MACY CHEN
In our quaint city of Madison, it’s easy to daydream about bigger and better things. It’s only natural; ever since its founding in 1836, Madison has served as a transitional city for young people. Recently drafted Union soldiers dreaming of defeating the Confederacy trained on the fields of Camp Randall before marching down the Mississippi River. Generations of young students come to Madison every year before taking their talents to every state in the country.
While Madison is home to one of the most vibrant arts and culture scenes in the Midwest, its unique location between two lakes forms a natural barrier against ugly expansion. This is a double-edged sword, however; Madison locals love the small size for its tight-knit communities and walkable streets; but for young professionals in search of larger, trendier cities, Madison often becomes a distant memory.
However, for Thax Douglas, he has found his home. Regular house show goers will recognize Thax as the large, heavyset man in a gray jacket who reads esoteric poetry from a notebook before local indie shows. Though some dismiss him as another obscure Madison artist, for those in the know, Thax is a veritable indie rock legend right up there with the greats. He’s recorded albums with Steve Albini, read for some of the most acclaimed acts of the ‘90s and ‘00s, and even went to Jeff Tweedy’s wedding. Some of his admirers include Phil Elvrum (the Microphones, Mount Eerie), Rob Schneider (Elephant 6) and Jim Ward (At the Drive-In, Sparta).
Thax spent the “golden age” of indie rock reading before bands at underground clubs in Chicago like The Hideout and The Lounge Ax. A keen observationalist, Thax began writing “poetry portraits” in the early ‘90s. He also attended a life-changing indie rock show which began his lifelong obsession with the music scene. After immersing himself in Chicago’s live scene, Thax decided to combine his love for music and observational poetry by asking bands if he could read before their sets. To his surprise, bands were more than receptive.
“It is very much of the moment. That's one reason why I always write them at the venue or at least the day of the show,” says Thax. By capturing the environment of shows as it's happening, Thax has been recognized as one of the most important indie rock archivists in modern times.
Though he only began reading his poetry at 30, Thax has been an avid music lover all his life. As a child, he tried many instruments but nothing stuck. It wasn't until 1975 when he met up with a group of “Frank Zappa freaks” in DeKalb, Ill. where his love for rock music began.
“[Zappa] The thing that turned me on to rock, he's kind of midway between rock and pop and classical. So, specifically an album called Weasels Rip My Flesh kind of turned me on to the possibilities (of rock) because that album goes everywhere from avant garde to pop to you name it,” says Thax.
This love of forward thinking rock music would flourish in the dark corners of the New York and Chicago underground scenes where Thax would be exposed to everyone from Neutral Milk Hotel to Cap’n Jazz. The energy of DIY music in particular fascinated Thax who would go on to host his own variety show in the late 90s at The Lounge Ax called “Thax After Dark.” This show would feature artists of all kinds, with Thax reading a poem between each set. “In a way it's like every time I read for a band, I'm an honorary member of that band for that night. So it's almost like being part of all these different bands or something like that. I think that's why it doesn't get boring for me,” says Thax.
After spending time in the New York and Austin scenes in the early 2000s, Thax moved back to the Midwest to take a break from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan music scenes. While leaving his beloved scenes was certainly a tough decision, he recognized they weren’t perfect. A proponent of DIY music and culture, Thax has always been outspoken against the commercialization of music.
“One thing that really annoyed me about music like 20, 30 years ago was the power of music blogs. There was a terrible blog in Chicago called Pitchfork that was extremely powerful in terms of getting people popular and stuff and I always hated it,” says Thax.
However, Madison proved more than a worthy substitute for Thax. “It's a pleasant surprise that Madison seems a lot narrower, but also seems deeper. There are a lot of bands that I enjoy reading for again and again. If the muse or the spirit of the poems or whatever got bored, it would let me know pretty fast,” says Thax.
Nowadays, Thax’s outlook on music is much cheerier. “I'm pretty happy with the way things are now. I mean, for the first time, really, in a long time since when I first started getting into music and live music,” says Thax. The ease of creating music in the digital age and the proliferation of previously obscure music has led to a new “Silver Age” of indie music in his eyes. “This Silver Age (of indie music) is inspired by the Golden Age of alternative music but they're not just trying to recreate it, they're using it to say new things. Yeah, in much the same way that the Golden Age 80s bands were inspired by the 60s,” says Thax. This newfound enthusiasm has led Thax back to his beloved music scene, however this time in Madison.
One question still remains. If Thax has been a part of some of the most influential and trendy scenes from the last 20 years, what would bring him to Madison’s relatively small local scene? The answer has evaded graduating classes for decades but I believe I found the answer:
Madison rocks.