Ed Ackerson article in Star Tribune

From the StarTribune

Last update: July 14, 2005 at 11:37 AM
Ed Ackerson: Producer, rocker, everyman


Published July 15, 2005

One of the few things lying around Ed Ackerson's studio last week that did not pertain to the recording process was the new issue of Magnet magazine, featuring a cover story on Hüsker Dü, the Replacements and "the rise and fall of [Minneapolis'] '80s scene."

The magazine proved to be a good talking point for the Polara leader, who's quoted inside. Back then he was a bright-eyed Stillwater teenager immersed in the music community. These days, he's 39 but no less involved.

"I got so much out of the scene when I was a kid," said Ackerson, who plays his first Polara gig in two years tonight for the 24-hour Day of Music.

"So many people were supportive and gave me a chance," he said. "It gave me this halcyon dream of what the Minneapolis scene can be. I'd like to think I provide that kind of help to some of the people coming up now."

Fittingly, Ackerson's Flowers Studio -- housed in a former Uptown flower shop -- played host last week to some yesteryear rockers and one of today's most buzzed-about new bands: Golden Smog and Missing Numbers. The Smog clan has been in and out of Flowers for the past two months, laying down enough great tracks to fill two albums, Ackerson said.

Missing Numbers, meanwhile, is one of about a dozen younger bands Ackerson has produced over the past year. Others include the Melismatics, Astronaut Wife and Mood Swings, all of whom release their CDs on Ackerson's record label, Susstones. (Yep, he's a record mogul, too.) He also has worked with acts so far off the radar that I had to fact-check their names, like Beight ("bait") and So It Goes.

"Some of the best records I've worked on are ones nobody's ever heard," he said.

Ackerson hasn't gotten rich producing albums by little-known rock bands -- certainly not rich enough to afford the kind of equipment at Flowers. The studio was paid for, in large part, with the money Polara got for signing a couple of big record deals in the '90s, with Interscope and then Palm Pictures.

"Instead of paying $250,000 at somebody else's studio, I figured, 'Let's just buy our own place,' " he recalled.

Probably his biggest studio job so far was working with "The Wall" producer Bob Ezrin on the Jayhawks' "Smile" record. Jayhawks bassist Marc Perlman remembered the two studio wizards making a good pair.

"One of Ed's best assets is his ability to combine his intellect with simple feel and instinct," said Perlman, who, by the way, is Polara's new bassist. "Like Bob Ezrin, he's stayed on top of the technology without sacrificing old-school recording techniques."

Over the past year-and-a-half, Ackerson and Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris have produced several albums together, including the recent debut by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, plus upcoming albums by Ohio songwriting great Tim Easton and L.A. rock band Limbeck. Rumors that Ackerson and Louris will soon be working under the Neptunes-like producers' acronym G.O.D. (Genius on Demand) are unfortunately untrue.

Unlike a lot of musicians turned producers, Ackerson genuinely doesn't seem to regret becoming more of a behind-the-scenes guy.

Polara will be doing more shows this year besides tonight's (10 p.m. in Peavey Plaza). The band -- also including keyboardist Jennifer Jurgens and drummer Pete Anderson -- just finished another new EP to go with the recently released feedback-rouser, "Green Shoes + 4." But Ackerson doesn't hold out any dreams of his group becoming more renowned.

"I never believed the hype about us being the American Oasis or the new Smashing Pumpkins, and in a lot of ways I'm happy that didn't come true," he said.

"I'd rather be here doing this -- making these great records that I believe in -- instead of having one big hit in 1998, and now we'd be playing the Taste of Omaha or wherever."