Just kicked around doing sporadic musical stuff during the 1980s and 1990s in Vancouver, Port Hardy, and Victoria.

Met Dave and Don in Saskatoon in the early 1990s and we did some work together on the Non-Happners project. Did a couple of solo albums with the help of Dave and Don, and various friends and musicians in Saskatoon.

Moved to Calgary in the new century and “hung up” the music thang for 5 years or so – but kept the home studio alive.

Dave ended up moving to Calgary, and it was inevitable that we would eventually begin writing and recording together again.

So the Pop Jerry project will continue as we create some new songs, videos, etc.

Below – Victoria – Trouble Boys
(manager thought we were The Knack)
Click to enlarge.

Below – Victoria  – Twisted Minds
(the hat is to shield face from gob)
Click to enlarge.

Dave has played with many different bands and shared stages with many different musicians through the 1980s and 1990s. He is originally from Dauphin, Manitoba and lives in Calgary during the time of this writing.

Dave toured with the Joddrells and founded The Non-Happners (see video) with Don Schmid in Saskatoon during the mid 1990s. The Non-Happeners did a few music videos and various gigs around Saskatoon in the mid 1990s, and was getting radio and Much Music rotation in the summer of 1995.

I couldn’t find many pictures of Dave in the studio or playing live, so I robbed these from a Non-Happners video that is on Youtube. The video link is above if you want to see Dave live – although there is allot of slow motion stuff, you get the point.

Dave’s vocal style and tone set’s him apart from the vast majority of singers (professional or amateur) and it’s great to see him back writing, recording, and singing again.

Pic is Dave backstage

Ross Nykiforuk has many credits to his name, too many to mention here at this time, but he is currently the owner, operator, and lead engineer of Cosmic Pad Studios in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Ross still does some live gigs with The Northern Pikes. I played with Ross in the Brent Truitt Band as well. He plays pretty well all instruments, but his specialty is on the keys. He is an absolute genius in your humble narrator’s opinion. I’ve never heard someone play Hammond organ like Ross can.

As we get back into the flow with the Pop Jerry cyber project, we’ll be looking forward to hearing some of Ross’s work in the mix.

So far in the Pop Jerry roster we have the following;

Dave Tycholis
Don Schmid
Charles Dumont
Brent Truitt
Ross Nykiforuk

So a big heartfelt welcome Ross!

Scratch 1 -

Here is a bit from the Movie One Trick Pony which all song writers can relate with if they have ever had any experience with record companies. (notice Lou Reed playing the part of the suck up “yes man” -- and just in case you have never heard of Albert Schweitzer before read here)

Well….I think I have failed.  This is a new song called ‘Start it Again(Hello Beautiful)’….and it IS a stupid love song.

I am uploading this file to the central scrutinizer for all interested parties to comment/harass/ridicule/rejoice/vomit on it.

love you long time…

DT

Charles (Chuck) Dumont is an accompished drummer and musician who has had many credits to his name. He’s toured with some of the best and brightest players and groups on the globe. One of his recent gigs was with Emm Gryner (see this video on her). Charles will be part of the Pop Jerry Project using Garageband as all of us do.

You can see Charles’ Myspace page here

Don, Dave, and myself look forward to collaborating with Charles in future Pop Jerry songs and videos.

This scratch track was lightly mastered to bring up levels and deal with some EQ issues.

See Spin Here

We may not follow through with this tune, but we’re posting it anyway.

Update: After listening to Normandy again this AM, I can’t honestly understand why Dave would not want to go forward with the finishing of this song. I for one, love it. Those who find this page please comment your thoughts -- thumbs up or down.

Looking forward to adding some guitars and bass to Normandy when I get back from Sacramento (that’s is where we have decided to go for our trip).

So YES! We are going forward with Normandy and I will master this first scratch track so we can keep a record of it’s development.

Dave will be working on the bed tracking for Spin, which is clocking in over 6 minutes long. Dave has the Garageband project file Don, and when he is finished with his beds you can download what he has finished as he will be re-loading the project to the server for you and I to work on next month.

The Spin project file so far has a drum loop, and very strong acoustic track (timing, feel, tone), and a scratch vocal. Furthermore, I’ve added some comments throughout of which chords we’re using and when the changes happen. I will load this scratch on to the the Spin project post while on the road. Be interesting to see all of the different stages of the song.

Dave is picking up my keyboard so he can work with drums, keyboards, vocals, arranging, etc. When I get back I’ll add all the acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitar and vocals.

I will record my vocals on Spin in the RV. Dave and I discovered that we can simply sing into the Mac using it’s built-in microphone. It’s really bizarre, but it works quite well. What a world of technology – never thought I would be recording this way.

Video For Mary Makes a Radio will be finished on my Mac while I’m on the road as well. I will load the video to Youtube and the newest master of Mary from my T-Mobile Hotspot account. I’ll do this while I’m having coffee at StarBucks or reading in one of the bookstores down in the States. (anywhere there are T-Mobile hotspots)

Talk to ya from the States gang.

Brentos