2001 – Psykoblast
SIMON: It was a once-popular tour that pop music fans all across Canada enjoy very well. YTV, a Canadian network decided that they want to promote many pop music artists in one tour. Psykoblast had dated back in the 1990s, but as we go a few years later to this report dated back in 2001, the tour has featured all-Canadian artists. Our very own Michelle Pytlik covers the story from Vancouver back then.
[Cut to fans lining up]
MICHELLE PYTLIK: Many screaming fans were geared up to so much excitement as they lined up for many hours outside the Plaza of Nations early today. YTV’s Psykoblast Tour has many fans anxious to see their favourite artist such as Snow, b4-4, Wave and Vancouver’s own soulDecision.
[Cut to the fans screaming and shouting. Reporter talks with fans]
MICHELLE: Now how long did you wait in line for?
FAN #1: I waited since 8a.m.!
FAN #2: For me, I drove all the way from Kelowna and I waited here since 6a.m.! Whoo!!
[Cut to DJ at a local radio station]
DJ: You’re listening to Z95 dot 3, this is DJ Kev reporting to you live outside the Waterfront. Today is Psykoblast blast day at the Plaza of Nations and if you…..
[voice over]
MICHELLE: We managed to catch up with b4-4 when they were doing an interview for a radio station. We chat with Ryan, Dan and Ohad about their thoughts about the Psykoblast tour.
[Cut to Ryan, Dan and Ohad of b4-4 sitting down in a guest lounge]
MICHELLE: So what are your thoughts of the tour? Are you going to face many challenges of the tour?
RYAN: Well, we are going to meet lots of our fans to show their support on our music and I hope they will think what we will have in store for them [laughs].
DAN: Our cool dance moves combining with our catchy logics of our tunes makes our fans want to dance with us -
OHAD: And probably end up laughing to themselves of course…..[laughs]. Yeah, we really love all of our fans. We eventually might have plans to promote our album to the United States, but it’s not official as of yet. Other than that, Psykoblast will be fun.
[Cut to a soundcheck at the Plaza of Nations with a DJ scratching records in the background. A rollerblader strolls around the background which happens to be Dave Thomson of Wave]
MICHELLE: Back at the Plaza of Nations, we stumbled upon Dave Thomson, the guitarist of Wave who is appeared to be rollerblading in a weird matter….
[Reporter talks to Dave Thomson]
MICHELLE: So why are you rollerblading on a wood floor?
DAVE THOMSON: Well, it’s just my personal preference of course, so if anyone’s watching this, I would not advise rollerblading on wood…[laughs] or any other surface in their homes….
MICHELLE: So how do you feel that you guys get to showcase your music to the masses?
DAVE: Well, it’s a very big leap for us. We want to show the entire country on how motivated we are. Our song “California” is receiving great airplay and great reviews by many famous sources like MuchMusic and locally back home in Niagara Falls.
[Cut to Paul Gigliotti Backstage]
MICHELLE: Paul Gigliotti, the lead forerunner of Wave talks about the different challenges they have to make and tell us what the Psykoblast tour thinks about them.
PAUL GIGLIOTTI: We really love all of our fans. They just can’t resist our song called “California”. It’s a very well-received song and this makes the fans wonder where they can get a fix of our songs. We spent a year on recording our songs partly in Toronto and partly in L.A. and from my experience, it’s very cool.
[Cut to Snow doing a soundcheck and singing “Informer”]
MICHELLE: Darrin O’Brien, known to many people as Snow is also one of the acts of the Psykoblast Tour. He is known for his number-one hit single from 1993 called “Informer” to the most recent songs “Everyone wants to be like you”, “The plumb song” and “Joke Thing”. His musical style is mostly reggae.
[Cut to Snow standing backstage]
SNOW: We recently filmed a music video called “Joke Thing” and it should be aired on MuchMusic any time soon. Right now, it’s on the radio and many listeners really like my great style of music and even those old school fans who like my song “Informer”. From my experience, they seem to like my style…[laughs]
[Cut to soulDecision singing acoustically backstage]
MICHELLE: And finally, Vancouver’s own soulDecision has finally getting to amp up for the fans and no one does it better like them.
[Cut to the guys of soulDecision]
TREVOR GUTHRIE: We recently came back from Cuba on filming our 5th music video off our album “No one does it better” and our experience from that was a memory that we won’t forget.
DAVID BOWMAN: The Psykoblast tour is one step for us to promote our work to all the fans all across Canada and eventually we have a plan that we will release our album in the United States.
KEN LEWKO: For my part, the fans can’t really get a hold of us, of course. They just like our greatest themes to all of our songs like the time of breaking up, to familiy situations whatsoever.
MICHELLE: The Psykoblast tour will conclude in the Toronto, Ontario-suburb of Mississauga on June 25th. This is Michelle Pytlik reporting.
SIMON: The Plaza of Nations seen on that report where the Psykoblast tour was held was later demolished by city officials due to a structural concern to the glass roof. The Psykoblast tour on the other hand, was active throughout a couple of years, then, as has been the case with so many such tours, it quietly folded. As for the artists mentioned in our story, they quietly since broke up or disbanded. However, Ryan and Dan Kowarsky formerly of b4-4 decided to form their own duo which combines pop music with classical music called “RyanDan”. Their debut album has been released since November 2007 and the two now resides in London, England. As for the latter part of b4-4, Ohad Einbinder now resides in Los Angeles pursuing his own music career. The fate of Snow releasing new material remains uncertain to this day. Join us next week, when once again we’ll visit the Simon Tonekham archives for another flashback feature. We’ll see you then.
