C95 Cityworks '92 / Z99 Streetrock '92

Barricade were a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan rock band active from at least the late 1980s into the 1990s. The lineup heard on Cityworks ’92 featured Jackie Marquis on lead and background vocals, Roxanne Melchert on keyboards and background vocals, Kim Fontaine on bass and background vocals, Steve Dodd on lead and rhythm guitar, and Larry Marquis on drums. Their contribution, ‘From Start to Finish’, was produced by Doug McCann and Barricade and carries a 1988 copyright, dating the song several years before its appearance on the compilation.

Cityworks was C95-FM’s annual showcase for Saskatoon musicians. In 1992 it was paired with Z99 Regina’s Streetrock, bringing eight selections from each city together on a sixteen-track compact disc. The project was also tied to the Labatt’s Blue Band Warz and Yamaha Music Quest competition, giving selected Saskatchewan bands a route from the local showcases into regional and national competition.

Barricade made the most of that opportunity. The Cityworks ’92 liner notes congratulate the group for advancing to the National Music Quest Finals, and SaskMusic’s history of the provincial music industry records Barricade as finishing second nationally in the Yamaha Band Warz in 1992.

The band continued beyond Cityworks ’92. SaskMusic lists Barricade among Saskatchewan artists releasing new material in 1993, although the title and format of that release have yet to be identified. Barricade were also still appearing on Saskatoon bills later in the decade, extending their known history beyond the competition that first brought them wider attention.

Kim Fontaine already had a place in the Cityworks story before Barricade’s 1992 appearance. A year earlier she had contributed ‘Little Darling’ under her own name to Z99 Streetrock ’91 / C95 Cityworks ’91, singing lead and playing bass and keyboards as well as writing and co-producing the song. She continued working in Saskatchewan music after Barricade and eventually released the solo albums Morning Pages in 2004 and Life Happens in 2006. Her work also expanded into songwriting education, including programs through the University of Saskatchewan and the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus.

Barricade guitarist Steve Dodd also remained active in music. By 1995 he was a member of Shyne, whose self-titled recording project received FACTOR support. He later moved increasingly into composition and production, establishing DODDmusic and building a catalogue used in television, documentaries and film.

Dodd and Fontaine crossed paths again years after Barricade. Dodd played guitar on Fontaine’s Life Happens, alongside David J Taylor and Blair Finley, with Jay Semko on bass, Lou Fontaine on drums and Ross Nykiforuk on Hammond organ and accordion. Fontaine followed the album with Blue Sky Girl in 2010, co-produced by Taylor and Semko, and also recorded with them as Semko Fontaine Taylor.

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Music X, also known as Brownian Motion, were a Regina, Saskatchewan group active in the early 1990s. The band appeared on Cityworks ’92 / Streetrock ’92 with ‘Playtime’, written by Rod Lemoke and Eldon Perley. The recording featured Lois Weber on vocals, Perley on vocals and keyboards, Rory Cain on keyboards, vocals and programming, Jeff Redekop on guitar, vocals, keyboards and drums, and Lemoke on keyboards, drums and programming. Lemoke and Perley also produced the track.

Although the compilation credits the group as Music X (Brownian Motion), Regina radio and music-industry reports used the name Brownian Motion. In July 1992, the band was one of eight acts selected for Z99’s Streetrock ’92 Showdown, along with Prosko’s Pet Project, Poorhouse, Preis, Method To Madness, Johnny Jitzell, The Toasters and Ded Zone.

The Streetrock semifinals were held at Delbert’s in Regina on July 14 and 21, with four groups advancing to a final on July 28. The winning band received $1,000 in Yamaha equipment and advanced to the Yamaha Music Quest Prairie regional finals in Edmonton, part of a national competition that could ultimately lead to the Music Quest World Final in Japan.

Music X were one of the more keyboard-oriented groups on the 1992 compilation. Three members are credited with keyboards, while Rory Cain and Rod Lemoke also used programming, giving ‘Playtime’ a different instrumental makeup from many of the guitar-driven rock bands selected for Streetrock that year.

The 1992 Cityworks / Streetrock project paired eight Saskatoon selections from C95-FM with eight Regina selections from Z99. The two stations had been running their respective local-music programs for several years, and by 1992 the project was tied directly to Labatt’s Blue Band Warz and Yamaha Music Quest. Canadian Musician described the Saskatchewan program as a joint C95/Z99 venture in which the top finalist from each station advanced into the regional Band Warz competition.

The compact disc alternated between the two cities: odd-numbered tracks represented C95’s Cityworks ’92, while the even-numbered tracks came from Z99’s Streetrock ’92. The recordings also document two of Saskatchewan’s important studios of the period, Audio Art Recording in Saskatoon and Speed of Light Productions in Regina.

The Hooligans

The Hooligans were a Saskatoon rock band represented on Cityworks ’92 by ‘Never Gonna Leave’. The recording featured Nick John Korolis on guitar and lead vocals, Cam McKinnon on lead guitar and background vocals, Eric Sampson on bass, and Doug Luciuk on drums and percussion. The song was written collectively by The Hooligans and produced by Doug McCann with the band.

‘Never Gonna Leave’ appears to be the principal surviving commercial document of this lineup. No separate Hooligans album or single from the period has yet been located, and the names do not lead cleanly to another documented Saskatchewan recording project that can be connected with confidence. That makes their Cityworks appearance particularly important: without the C95 project, this Saskatoon band could easily have disappeared from the accessible record altogether.

The recording also places them inside the Audio Art network. Doug McCann was one of the engineers credited across the Saskatoon half of the compilation, alongside Dwayne Harder and Glenn Ens, and his production of ‘Never Gonna Leave’ ties The Hooligans directly to the studio infrastructure that supported a large part of Saskatoon’s independent recording community during the period.

The Toasters

The Toasters were a Regina rock band whose Streetrock ’92 contribution, ‘I’m The One’, featured Andrew Gordon on guitar and vocals, Ron Loos on guitar and Dave Porter on drums. Gordon wrote the song and the band handled its own production. They should not be confused with the long-running New York ska group of the same name.

The band were among the eight acts selected for Z99’s Streetrock ’92 Showdown. The semifinal rounds were held at Delbert’s in Regina on July 14 and 21, 1992, with four acts advancing to a July 28 final. The winning act received $1,000 in Yamaha equipment and advanced to the Yamaha Music Quest Prairie regional finals in Edmonton.

The Toasters won that route through the competition. Ron Loos later remembered being selected for the Saskatchewan compilation, winning the Rock Wars championship and travelling to Edmonton for the national showdown. SaskMusic likewise identifies The Toasters as Z99/C95 StreetRock champions who represented Saskatchewan in the Canadian Rock Wars finals.

Both guitarists remained connected to music. Gordon eventually settled in Vancouver, where he returned to songwriting after raising a family and building a career in motion-picture lighting. His own biography specifically lists performing with The Toasters and Jack Semple in Regina among his earlier musical experiences.

Loos continued through a much longer personal and musical journey. A 2025 Saskatchewan profile identifies him as the former frontman of Regina’s Toasters and describes the band as being close to a larger breakthrough before addiction and other problems brought the run to an end. After achieving sobriety he returned to writing and performing, releasing the album Ordinary Shine. The record includes Andrew Gordon on backing vocals, reconnecting two members of The Toasters more than three decades after Streetrock ’92.

Glory Be

Glory Be were a Saskatoon group built from musicians who would remain active in Saskatchewan music for decades. ‘Sweet Charlene’ features Trent Schmiedge on lead vocals, Gary Ostafichuk on background vocals, Trevor Dieno on guitars, Omer Alkaity on bass and Glenn Ens on drums. Dieno wrote the song and Dwayne Harder produced it.

The recording brought together several people already closely connected to Saskatoon’s studio and live scene. Glenn Ens had co-founded Audio Art Recording in 1984 after beginning his career as a drummer. He developed into an engineer and producer while continuing to perform, and Audio Art went on to record artists including the Northern Pikes, Jordan Cook, Josh Palmer and Teresa Sokyrka. Ens later co-founded Glennross Studios and remained a fixture in the Telemiracle house band.

Trent Schmiedge also built a long career in Saskatchewan music. He studied music at the University of Saskatchewan and Grant MacEwan before completing business and marketing studies at the U of S, and worked in radio, studios, live venues and artist management. Since 2003 he has headed Graffitti Music, booking and managing artists nationally and internationally while continuing to perform. His later projects include the Blue Mules.

Gary Ostafichuk became another durable figure in Saskatchewan music. He worked for decades as a guitarist, producer, engineer and teacher, operated Blue Walls Studio, and played with groups including Misder Completely, Lemon and Penny Reign. His later Gary O Xperiment gave him a vehicle for his own writing and singing. He also produced music and video work for northern Saskatchewan and Indigenous artists and organizations. Ostafichuk died in 2023, after which SaskMusic established a memorial fund in his name.

The bassist’s name is printed in the Cityworks ’92 credits as Omer Alkaity. It is very likely connected to Omar Al-Kaith, the bassist heard with Saskatoon’s May Run, but until the spelling can be confirmed independently the compilation form should be retained.

Prosko’s Pet Project

Prosko’s Pet Project represented Regina with ‘Back To Yesterday’. The track featured Bartley Melnechenko on vocals, Brad Prosko on guitar, Glen Freeman on bass and Cory Taylor on drums. Prosko and Bart Melnechenko wrote the song, while Freeman handled the production.

The project was one of eight acts chosen for the July 1992 Z99 Streetrock Showdown, placing it alongside Brownian Motion, Poor House, Preis, Method To Madness, The Toasters, Ded Zone and Johnny Jitzell in the Regina competition.

Brad Prosko went on to become one of Saskatchewan’s established studio figures. He began playing guitar in Yorkton in the mid-1980s, studied classical guitar, completed Grade 10 Royal Conservatory work and attended the Guitar Institute of Technology at Musicians Institute in Hollywood at seventeen. He later toured with Saskatchewan rock, country and tribute acts while moving increasingly toward production and engineering.

Prosko worked freelance at Freedom Sound, Touchwood and Sound Edge, spent four years at Talking Dog Post and Sound Studio, and opened B-Rad Studio in 2002. His later production and engineering work has involved a long list of Saskatchewan artists, including Chris Henderson and Jess Moskaluke.

There is also a direct connection between Prosko’s Pet Project and another Streetrock act. The vocalist credited here as Bartley Melnechenko appears as Bart Melnenchenko with Preis on the 1991 and 1992 projects. The spelling varies in surviving credits, but the Regina context and vocal role make this clearly part of the same circle of musicians.

The Barkly Band

The Barkly Band were a Saskatoon studio-based group whose ‘Tell Me’ featured Brad Boymook on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Dwayne Harder on keyboards, bass, percussion, background vocals and accordion, Sharon Hills, Beverly Fritzke and Dickson Liester on background vocals, and Glenn Ens on drums. Boymook wrote the song and Harder produced it.

The recording is especially interesting because Harder and Ens were two of the central figures at Audio Art Recording. Ens had co-founded the studio in 1984, while Harder became closely associated with Audio Art as a musician, engineer and studio manager. Their presence gives ‘Tell Me’ the character of an Audio Art family recording as much as a conventional band performance.

Harder appears repeatedly across Saskatchewan recordings of the period as producer, engineer, keyboard player and mastering engineer. Ens followed a similarly broad path as drummer, engineer and producer. Their appearance together in the Barkly Band captures the way Saskatoon’s studio professionals regularly crossed from the control room into the bands they were recording.

A separate commercial release by the Barkly Band has not yet been identified, making ‘Tell Me’ their principal documented recording.

Ded Zone

Ded Zone were a Regina rock trio represented by ‘Would I Tell A Lie To You’. Danny Narang handled vocals and lead guitar, Rich Jacks played bass and Bill Grant played drums. Narang wrote the song and the group produced it collectively.

They were one of the eight groups chosen for Z99’s 1992 Streetrock Showdown, placing them in the live competition at Delbert’s alongside Brownian Motion, Prosko’s Pet Project, Poor House, Preis, Method To Madness, Johnny Jitzell and The Toasters.

Beyond that appearance, the trail becomes thin. No separate Ded Zone album or single has yet been located, and later work by Narang, Jacks or Grant cannot presently be connected to the group with enough certainty for publication. ‘Would I Tell A Lie To You’ therefore appears to be the surviving document of the trio.

Doug Norquay

Doug Norquay’s ‘Cannibal Land Revisited’ is one of the more important early recordings on Cityworks ’92 because Norquay continued developing a substantial body of work long after the compilation. The track features Norquay on vocals and slide guitar, Len Willie on drums and Dave Heinrich on bass. Norquay wrote and produced the recording himself.

The Cityworks selection was followed quickly by broader exposure. SaskMusic’s provincial history records Norquay among the Saskatchewan artists appearing at Music West in 1993. By March 1995 he was in Toronto during Canadian Music Week, sharing a Silver Dollar bill with the Downchild Blues Band, and he appeared again in Toronto listings that June.

Norquay subsequently released Poisonous Road Snakes in 1999 and Giant Pig in 2013, establishing a recording history stretching more than twenty years beyond Cityworks ’92.

His songwriting travelled beyond his own records as well. Corin Raymond later recorded Norquay’s ‘Best Demented Cowgirl Face’ for the Juno-nominated Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams.

Seen from that later history, ‘Cannibal Land Revisited’ catches Norquay near the beginning of a long-running Saskatchewan singer-songwriter career rather than as a one-off local compilation artist.

The Light

The Light were a Regina group represented by ‘Hearts Don’t Lie’. Darren Dzikowski sang lead, Boris Korol played keyboards, Dave Denowski played bass, Bart Taylor played drums and Robin Datta played guitar. Datta and Dzikowski wrote the song, Datta produced it, and Grant Hall engineered the recording.

The Light are among the more elusive groups on Streetrock ’92. No separate release has yet been located, and the five musicians have not been tied confidently to another common project. The unusually complete track credit is therefore valuable: unlike many local compilation appearances where little more than an artist name survives, ‘Hearts Don’t Lie’ preserves the complete five-piece lineup, its two writers, producer and engineer.

Grant Hall’s engineering credit also places the recording within Regina’s professional studio community. The rest of the group’s story remains open for further research.

Doc Rock and the Farside

Doc Rock and the Farside are one of the most recoverable stories on the Saskatoon half of the disc because Terry Hoknes documented the circumstances himself.

The Cityworks ’92 recording of ‘How Come No Smiles’ credits Keith Read on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Kelly Read on backing vocals, keyboards, bass and backing vocals to a name presently transcribed from the booklet as Terry Hawkins, and Curtis Scarrow on lead guitar. Keith A. Read wrote the song and the group produced it.

The “Terry Hawkins” credit should almost certainly be Terry Hoknes. Hoknes had used the nickname Doc Rock since his teens, lists a Doc Rock solo recording project from 1989 to 1993, and specifically records that Doc Rock & The Far Side were selected for the 1992 C95 Cityworks CD with ‘How Come No Smiles’.

Hoknes’ recollections also explain how the recording came about. In February 1992 he joined Kelly Read, Keith Read and Doug Bodie in a working Saskatoon group called What’s His Name And The Other Guys. A later account of Kelly Read’s career states that Keith wrote ‘How Come No Smiles’ and created the demo with Hoknes; the song was accepted for Cityworks ’92 and rerecorded at Audio Art under the Doc Rock and the Far Side name.

The Read brothers were already experienced Saskatoon performers. Kelly Read began playing professionally in 1979 and accumulated more than 2,000 local gigs over roughly forty-five years, moving through groups including The Movies, Silverush and Read Grace Read before his work with Hoknes and Keith. He remained an active solo performer and later reunited musically with both men.

Hoknes developed one of the more unusual résumés to emerge from the compilation. He has worked as singer, songwriter, bassist, guitarist, keyboard player, producer, music historian and touring musician, performing thousands of shows and working across rock, country, blues, jazz, bluegrass and other styles. His later credits include Marilyn Faye Parney, H’Rattitude with Angie Tysseland and Andrea Menard, Three String Fretless and numerous tribute and touring projects.

Method 2 Madness

Method 2 Madness were already established in Z99’s Streetrock program before contributing ‘Can’t Slow Down’ in 1992. The earlier Streetrock ’91 featured ‘Love Procrastinator’, recorded by Paul Gillard on lead vocals, Tom Kiefer on guitar, Greg Vancha on drums, and Ken MacMurchy handling rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass and vocals. Gillard and MacMurchy wrote the song, which was produced by R. Fines and Method 2 Madness.

They did considerably more than make the 1991 CD. Method 2 Madness won Regina’s Band Warz ’91, receiving a $1,000 Yamaha equipment package before advancing to the regional competition at Delbert’s.

The band returned to Streetrock ’92 with ‘Can’t Slow Down’. Gillard again sang lead, Ken McMurchy played rhythm guitar and sang, Greg Vanch played drums, Tom Keifer played lead guitar, and a bassist credited simply as Batman completed the lineup. Keifer, Gillard and McMurchy wrote the song and R. Fines produced it.

The two recordings show a remarkably stable core across consecutive years. Gillard, Kiefer/Keifer, MacMurchy/McMurchy and Vancha/Vanch all return, with a dedicated bassist added by 1992. The spelling variations reflect the surviving compilation credits rather than necessarily changes in the musicians themselves.

Method 2 Madness were again selected for the 1992 Z99 showdown, making them one of the few acts to appear in consecutive Streetrock editions as well as the previous year’s Band Warz champions.

A modern hard-rock group also uses the Method 2 Madness name, but its documented lineup is entirely different; no continuity with the early-1990s Regina band should be assumed.

The Echoing Green

The Echoing Green turn out to be one of the most historically interesting groups on the entire compilation.

‘Pack Up My Senses’ features Jay Hails on lead vocals and guitar, Medbh Bidwell on background vocals, Marek Tyler on percussion and whispered vocals, Ayla Brook on mandolin and background vocals, Jeff Dyck on standup bass and Ed Pas on violin. Hails wrote and produced the track.

Hails was a Saskatoon singer-songwriter whose work during the 1990s included the Celtic-influenced rock groups Echoing Green, sometimes rendered Ecchoing Green, and The Drowned. He later continued as a solo artist. Hails has described Saskatoon’s Lydia’s Pub as the centre of a briefly booming local music scene and remembers his own writing of the period as heavily Celtic-inflected.

Two younger musicians on the recording went on to particularly substantial careers.

Ayla Brook, raised in Lily Plain, Saskatchewan, developed into a roots-rock singer-songwriter, first recording with AA Sound System and later leading Ayla Brook & The Sound Men. His later career included national touring and a 2018 Edmonton Music Award for Roots Artist of the Year.

Marek Tyler became a prolific drummer, touring and recording on more than thirty albums and working with artists including Kathryn Calder, Dan Mangan, Northcote and numerous western Canadian projects. He later became the drummer in the acclaimed Cree indie-rock trio nêhiyawak, whose nipiy was nominated for a Juno Award and shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Tyler has since developed the ASKO project, bringing contemporary sound into conversation with nêhiyaw musical and cultural practice, and has served as Executive Director of the Indigenous Music Office.

The personnel make ‘Pack Up My Senses’ far more than an isolated Cityworks curiosity. It captures Hails, Brook and Tyler together at an early point in careers that would branch into Saskatchewan roots music, Canadian indie rock and Indigenous contemporary music.

Poor House

Poor House were a Regina rock band represented by ‘Strange World’. Steve Ball handled lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Mike DeJong played guitar and sang, Craig Lavoie played bass and sang, and Dave Lozinsky played drums. Ball and DeJong wrote the song, with Greg Kurtz producing.

The band were one of the eight acts chosen for the 1992 Z99 Streetrock Showdown at Delbert’s. Their presence there confirms that Poor House were a working Regina group rather than a studio-only entry assembled for the compilation.

At present, ‘Strange World’ is the only release by this lineup that has been located. Searches for the four members have not produced a later project that can be tied to Poor House without speculation. Their Streetrock ’92 contribution therefore remains the clearest surviving record of the band.

Ricasso

Ricasso was the recording and performing identity of Saskatoon singer-songwriter Greg Hargarten, and ‘Numbly Into Bright Red Light’ marks an early documented stage in a career that continued for decades.

The Cityworks ’92 recording features Hargarten on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Dale Swistun on guitar and background vocals, Lou Fontaine on drums and Loren Hildebrand on bass. Hargarten wrote and produced the song.

Hargarten began as a drummer at eleven and later shifted toward guitar and songwriting. His Ricasso project developed into a long-running body of original work encompassing four albums and performances across Canada, including Canada Music Week, the Regina Folk Festival, Ness Creek and Dauphin CountryFest. He has shared stages with artists including Steve Earle, Heart, April Wine, Bif Naked and The Sadies.

SaskMusic records a Ricasso release among Saskatchewan’s new recordings in 1993, immediately after the Cityworks appearance. Hargarten later issued Pollution, Suck It Up, Overgrown and Disgraceland, winning the ROCK102 Radiostar National Songwriting Competition twice at Canada Music Week.

‘Numbly Into Bright Red Light’ had a particularly long life. Hargarten returned to the song for the 2010 Disgraceland album, where a version of it appears alongside ‘Salvation’, ‘Walk Away’, ‘Children in the Desert’ and other later Ricasso material.

Hargarten also developed a parallel career in visual art, graphic design and filmmaking. His artwork has received numerous awards, and his video for ‘Dear Abbey Road’ won Best Small Scale Film Production at the Reel Rave Film Festival in 2012. Ricasso remains listed in the SaskMusic directory under Greg Hargarten & Ricasso.

Preis

Preis were another repeat participant in Regina’s Streetrock series.

The 1991 compilation featured their song ‘Only A Fantasy’ with Bart Melnenchenko on lead vocals, Kurt Neis on guitar, Troy Wilcox on bass and Tim Propp on drums. The band produced the recording itself.

By Streetrock ’92, the lineup credited on ‘Running’ was Bart Melnechenko on vocals, Kurt Neis on guitar, Troy Wilcox on bass and Kevin Melnechenko on drums. The core of Melnechenko, Neis and Wilcox had therefore remained intact while Kevin Melnechenko replaced Tim Propp behind the kit.

Propp still remained part of the creative history of the new recording: ‘Running’ is credited to Kurt Neis and Tim Propp, with Greg Kurtz and Neis producing. The songwriting credit suggests that the song had been developed while Propp was still involved with the group or that his writing continued to be used after the drummer change.

Preis were again among Z99’s eight Streetrock ’92 Showdown semifinalists, giving them consecutive appearances on the Regina compilation and continued involvement in the Band Warz/Music Quest system.

The Preis story also crosses into Prosko’s Pet Project through vocalist Bart/Bartley Melnechenko, who appears on ‘Back To Yesterday’ elsewhere on the same 1992 CD. In that sense, the alternating Saskatoon/Regina tracklist also captures how fluid the Regina scene was: musicians did not necessarily belong to only one project at a time.

-Robert Williston