Rock 'n' romance
December 26, 1999
By Jae-Ha Kim

It's one thing watching a guy play bass on stage. It's another thing seeing him walk toward you in a club.

So when Caroline Ansani saw Ted--the man who would become her husband--venturing toward her, she busted a move.

"I thought he was about the cutest thing that I had ever seen," Caroline recalls, laughing. "I'm not really sure what I said. Maybe something really stupid like, `Hey, aren't you that guy in Material Issue?' We talked for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to look like I wanted to talk to him too much, so I left to go dancing."

Ted, who was equally smitten, went looking for her before the evening was over.

"He told me that he was leaving," says Caroline, a teacher. "He gave me his phone number and asked me to call. I was excited, but I didn't want to look excited, so I said, `Sure.' "

At the time, Material Issue was on the verge of stardom and Ted was reaping the benefits of being a young rock star.

"We met in 1989 on my 21st birthday," Ted says. "I didn't want to put her on the spot by asking for her number, which is why I gave her mine. I remember my number on my voting slip, 'cause I had just voted that day. I was so into her that I think I started writing out the address and anything else I could think of."

After the first few dates, he said goodbye to the other women he was dating.

"I knew within the first month or two that Caroline was the girl I wanted to marry," Ted says. "I let her know that, too."

He proposed to her around Halloween 1991. He hid the engagement ring in a pumpkin they were carving.

Married in October 1992, the couple had to work their wedding around Ted's touring schedule.

"[Material Issue's] manager forgot about my wedding when he booked dates," Ted says. "So I flew in from the West Coast to get married. I only had a few days off, so we had to make do with a honeymoon in Galena, Ill. It was way in the country and rolling hills and very romantic and . . ."

Ted stops when he hears Caroline laughing.

"She's laughing at my attempts to embellish it!" he says.

Now the parents of a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, the couple are expecting a third child in June.

Ted, who is working on a solo career, jokes that his kids are very unimpressed with his musical background.

"They hear me talking on the phone about my Web site," he says. "They tell people that my name is tedansani.com."

Play On
BY GREG KOT
July 23, 1999

Ted Ansani Project, "Throttle and Pistons" (self-released): Ansani was Material Issue's secret weapon, a quiet master of rhythm, melody, and background harmonies who bridged Jim Ellison's conquer-the-world ambition and Mile Zelenko's big drum sound. On this six-song EP - which he wrote, performed and produced - Ansani proves himself an adept tunesmith as well, steeped in post-new wave melodies that evoke everyone from the Beach Boys to the Psychedelic Furs.

Material witness
BY JAE-HA KIM STAFF REPORTER
May 27, 1999

Bassist Ted Ansani never wanted a solo career.

As one-third of the Chicago-based power pop band Material Issue, Ansani was content to leave the spotlight to extroverted singer-guitarist Jim Ellison.

But after Ellison committed suicide three years ago, Ansani and drummer Mike Zelenko found themselves in a predicament. Ellison had been their singer, songwriter and spokesman.

"We never thought about trying to carry on without him," Ansani said. "It was his songs that made us so good. Neither Mike nor I could write like that. Everyone knew his voice, and we certainly couldn't sing like that. And to replace him, well, that was never an option. There wasn't another Jim."

So Ansani quietly stayed in the background. Rather than concentrate on his career, he chose to spend some time with his wife and two children at their Chicago area home. He produced a few bands, toured with some others and found plenty of work as a session musician.

And he also tackled something he never did in Material Issue: He started writing songs.

"After Jim died, Mike and I were on our own," said Ansani, 31. "And it was frightening because we had done our jobs in the band, but it was all pretty much based around Jim's ideas. So it was time to scramble and think about what we wanted to do. Neither of us wanted to front our own bands [at the time], and for a while, I was perfectly content to go in and work for someone else, play whatever they wanted and then collect my check.

"But I grew more confident as I started concentrating on songwriting and working on my singing ability. Then about a year ago, I bought an eight-track digital recorder so that I could record near-studio quality material on my own at home. And that's pretty much when I got the idea to record `Throttle and Pistons.' "

On this day, Ansani is dressed in a black turtleneck, matching trousers and a pair of well-worn Cuban-heeled Beatle boots. As the interview begins, his 3-year-old daughter, Christine, peers out of her room and looks startled to see a visiting reporter and photographer monopolizing her dad's time. She returns to the security of her room.

"It was great to be able to spend time with my family and then just head down to my basement to record whenever I had time," Ansani said after checking on his daughter. "I think having that eight-track here just made everything really convenient and easy. It wasn't like work. It was really a lot of fun to record."

"Throttle and Pistons" is available at some local record stores. It also may be ordered online (www.tedansani.com).

"Ted is just testing the waters with this record," said Richard Milne, who hosts "Local Anesthetic," a showcase for Chicago's best artists on WXRT-FM (93.1). "[He] is so musically knowledgeable that it all came pouring out here. He does need to hone some of it. But anyone would have been overwhelmed writing material after having worked with such a terrific songwriter like Jim. I think he demonstrated a lot of heart tackling this.

"If he found the right group of guys to back him up and just took the helm as the lead vocalist, he could be on to something really good. I'd really like to see him in a band."

"Yeah, Richard keeps telling me to put a band together," Ansani said. "At first I really didn't want to, because I feel I work a lot better on my own. But I'm kind of looking forward to it now."

Ansani, who played most of the instruments on "Throttle and Pistons," said that getting a group together is his next project. But he said he and Zelenko won't be playing together anytime soon. Each wants to establish his own identity.

Just as important, Ansani said he's ready to delegate responsibility.

Currently guiding his own career, he's actively seeking a manager to handle his day-to-day events. He's also very interested in doing some work on film--both as a musician and actor.

"I'm starting to notice now that I learned a lot from watching what Jim did--from the way he wrote songs to how he handled the business aspects of Material Issue," Ansani said. "He took the initiative and just went out and did it. He had no fear. And you really can't in this business. It's all about going out and taking chances."

Back in the day, Material Issue was the band that was supposed to put Chicago on the rock 'n' roll map again. Signed to Mercury Records in 1990, the trio released its critically acclaimed major label debut "International Pop Overthrow" the following year.

"Yeah, I'd hear people talking about how great the Smashing Pumpkins are, and they're surprised when I mention that the Pumpkins opened up for us a couple times at Metro," Ansani said. "We were one of the first bands out of the gate and it was just cool. But the Pumpkins and Urge Overkill, who were all friends of ours, were doing as well and then eventually better than we were. But there was never an animosity thing. It was great for these guys, and we'd go and cheer them on.

"You can be bitter about the way things turn out or you can try to take what you have and make the most of it. I would never trade the experiences I had for anything."

METROMIX

Ted Ansani Project
"Throttle and Pistons" (Ansani)
By Dan Rivkin
On his debut release, ex-Material Issue bassist Ted Ansani mines familiar territory for the fans of the beloved former Chicago trio--namely, pop songs about girls. And also true to form, the Ted Ansani Project, as the EP is credited, races through its six-song tease in under 20 minutes. Ansani, backed by Critics' drummer Marty Winer throughout and Kill Hannah's Kerry Finerty on guitar and keyboards on "Have to Say," accomplishes no more than what he did in the past with Material Issue. The record doesn't have any surprises--the harmonies are crisp, the instrumentation is precise--and that's a welcome thing. "Hello Miss Once Again" serves not only as the EP's lead track, but also as a return greeting for, at least, one-third of a band tragically cut down in 1996 by the suicide of Material Issue leader Jim Ellison. The guitars crunch, the drums tap out in perfectly simple time, all setting the tone for the remaining 15-odd minutes. "Space Robot" features the most delicious hooks of a pretty curvy record. An unnecessary instrumental take of "Girl For Hire" which closes out the CD, is Ansani's only misstep on an otherwise safely-crafted debut.

FULL THROTTLE Former Material Issue bassist, Ted Ansani, has wrapped up production on his first solo effort, "Throttles and Pistons: The Ted Ansani Project." The self-released six song ep showcases Ansani on vocals and virtually all of the instruments. He hopes to shop the tunes around to various record labels. In the meantime, fans of the late, great Ish can purchase the ep at www.TedAnsani.com. Ultimately, Ansani hopes to land the tracks on an independent feature film soundtrack. Not surprisingly, the tracks have a dark, cinematic bent to them. "I'm really interested in doing film scores and television work," he says. Ansani also hints that he will be doing some acoustic gigs and on-air radio appearances in the near future.

NOT LAME RECORDING COMPANY

THROTTLE AND PISTONS-The Ted Ansani Project- EP-Ted is the ex-Material Issue and here he is helped out by Marty Winer from The Critics. This six song EP(one song is instrumental of another song) is a totally cinematic, modern pop record. Full of more focused melodicism than a lot of MI material, Ted shows the colors of his talent, that, apparently, was waiting for an proper outlet. Each song has its own frame of reference and sound. It's great! Here's the run down, beginning to end.....The first song has a jangly Byrdsy meets Brinsley Schwartz(w/ Nick Lowe singing!) and drinking soda with the Rubinoos sound. From there, the song #2 has a Producers meets The Buggles sound (cool!). Song #3 Psychedelic Furs meets Wire Train. #4 is Adam Schmitt on "World So Bright". #5 Shoes meets Donnie Iris. While it's a bit thin in the production department, it's all clean, still full bodied and there. A unique and welcome joy! More, please!! $8