NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
In the mid-90s, Tsunami were indie rock darlings and Ida were slow core sweethearts. The bands crossed paths on the scene, sharing bills, side projects, and even members many times in the past. Both bands have also been largely inactive for the last decade or two, with most fans feeling like they may never re-emerge, but they both starting showing signs of renewed life with individual reunions a couple years back, and now they have decided to share their comeback on a double bill tour, highlighting their shared past and bright future. The NYC stop on their nostalgic 2025 tour brought them to Bowery Ballroom on a perfect spring evening. The show began with a very entertaining “coin toss” face off “West Side Story”-style with the two bands hilariously snapping their fingers at each other and taunting the other side with barbs before they flipped the coin which Tsunami won. After a hilariously tense huddle moment, it was decided that Tsunami would start the show.
Tsunami was a band that pioneered the modern feminist rock movement in the indie scene of the early 90s. Tsunami were a strong advocate in that fight well before movements like Riot Grrrl became a force for women’s rights, but they do have some serious similarities in intensity and severity, and their sound does have some of that shared roar against the oppressive patriarchy. So it’s even more appropriate that they would re-emerge now during a time of such dramatic political upheaval, when women are seeing their autonomy being stripped away by the present administration. They were formed in Arlington, Virginia back in 1990 by housemates Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson who originally just got together to play a New Year’s Eve party but just kept on playing while expanding their lineup and sound. They also built up their own record label called Simple Machines and released The Mechanic’s Guide do-it-yourself music recording and production manual, which detailed how to tour, how to promote an album, and more. After releasing their first full-length album Deep End in 1992, they were clearly getting some real attention by the music scene and even got the serious coolness bump by being included on the Lollapalooza lineup in 1993, but after a couple more albums and lots more touring, they officially broke up shortly after the demise of their shared label and clothing line in 1998. They had remained inactive for over 25 years until the release of a box set of their songs in 2023, and that’s when they began to hatch plans for a comeback that has finally come to fruition.
The lineup for this tour saw the return of drummer Luther Gray and celloist Amy Domingues who were fixtures in the band in the mid-90s before they originally packed it in. The roster is now further complemented by Nothing Painted Blue and The Human Hearts guitarist Franklin Bruno, who many may remember as a popular music critic from the former NYC weekly bible The Village Voice. They were also joined by the very animated Rob Christiansen on bass who was a former member of 90’s indie pop group Eggs. They also had several other guests join them like the incredibly versatile violinist Jean Cook, who popped in from the Ida crew and is best known for playing with The Mekons’ iconic lead singer and guitarist Jon Langford and his side band The Waco Brothers. They answered many questions from the audience between songs, another running theme for the whole show. They were asked who designed the cool green and black clothes most of them were wearing (no, they were apparently not glow in the dark), revealing their stage outfits were painted by Langford himself, which is not a surprise as he is a prolific visual artist as well. They also welcomed lead vocalist and guitarist Richard Baluyut of the noisy 90s indie rock outfit Versus to play on the last song of their set “Be Like That” from their 1994 opus The Heart’s Tremolo. He also had history with Tsunami as Versus opened for them back in the day, and they clearly still have a lot of close affection for each other. Apart from “The Workers Are Punished”, “The Match” (which is my wife’s favorite song), and “Liar’s Dice” off their album A Brilliant Mistake and a cover of My Dad Is Dead’s “The Water’s Edge,” imuch of their set consisted of songs from their a fore-mentioned debut album like the slamming jam “Slugger” and my personal favorite “Genius of Crack.”
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During the change-over between bands, Jenny Toomey was joined on stage by singer and guitarist Dan Littleton from Ida. The two played a gorgeous duet called “Keeping the Weekend Free”, a rare treasure from their short-lived side project Liquorice, which released one full album back in 1995 on 4AD records called Listening Cap. As Jenny left the stage, the rest of the band came out and Ida began to take shape again for their headlining set. Ida was originally formed in 1991 in NYC, when punk singer Daniel Littleton of the Annapolis hardcore band The Hated and folk artist Elizabeth Mitchell (who had a band with Lisa Loeb when they went to Brown together) became a couple and formed a musical duo. Dan and Elizabeth named the band after their friend Dorothy Courtney’s mother, Ida Machado Schaffer. They were soon discovered by Toomey, and she released their debut Tales of Brave Ida on her label Simple Machines Records in 1994. They expanded their sound with strings and extended 3-part harmonies and became real advocates of the ethereal “chamber pop” sound. The band began to get major buzz and got snatched up by Capital Records, but they really came alive when they gained their independence from the major label in 1999 and went back to their indie roots with their fourth LP Will You Find Me. They eventually moved upstate to Woodstock, NY and had been on an unofficial hiatus since 2010. In 2023, Ida got back together for Numero Group’s ‘Numero Twenty’ show in Los Angeles and have been formulating a return since then.
The band for this reunion brought back Dan’s brother Michael “Miggy” Littleton to play drums as he had since the early days of the band. They were also joined by Karla Schickele on bass and backing vocals. Many may remember her as leader of the indie band Beekeeper but she had also been playing with Ida since 1996. Violinist Jean Cook also rocked out to many of their songs as she has been playing with them since 2005. Elizabeth and Dan had gotten married in 1999 and had a daughter named Storey, who backed Ida on guitars and keys throughout and even fronted one of her own songs called “At A Diner” halfway through the set. I was very impressed by her songwriting, vocals, and enchanting presence. Two of Karla’s multi-instrumentalist kids also joined the band on stage, as if there was any question at this point that virtuoso musicianship is a family affair. Another surprise guest on their set was singer Jodi Buonanno, who was part of Boston band Secret Stars, releasing some material on the Simple Machines label in the 90s, and she sang a couple songs from that band with them mid-set. Ida performed some of their classics like “F. Boyfriend”, “Downtown”, “Dream Date”, “Maybelle”, and “Tellings”, although I was surprised not to hear long-adored favorites like “Shoe-In”, “95 North”, “Shrug” and “Shotgun”. They did play some fun and surprising covers though, like John Lennon’s “(Just Like) Starting Over” with Miggy singing lead, and everyone came out to sing on the B-52’s “52 Girls”, the video of which had recently gone viral after they played the song with Kate Pearson in Woodstock. They finished the night with a real surprise rocker with Mission of Burma’s “Academy Fight Song”, bringing out a fist-pumping punk spirit. It was a special night on the Bowery and a rare treat for these talented and pioneering friends to reunite on stage after such a long-awaited time. We hope Ida, Tsunami, family, and friends don’t wait so long next time to record and tour again, as together they form an important piece of the foundation of independent music.
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