The Gear Seabastian

What do you think, is there enough negativity yet? The Gear Seabastian thinks so—and the band is sending out hopeful vibes to counteract our grim times.

The group is brothers Greg and Andrew Tkach and their good friend Jeremy Pudlowski. All three grew up in the Jarvie-Fawcett area near Westlock and began jamming together at a young age.

“[Jeremy and his brother Colton] were our neighbours, but we considered them our brothers,” says Greg Tkach, during his lunch break from teaching music and Grade 3 at an elementary school in Athabasca. “From when we were 11 and 12 years old until now, we played music together. It’s such a cool thing to grow up together and still get to do things together.”

The Tkach brothers released a self-produced EP called Unfinished Design last fall; they’ve also opened for a bunch of Edmonton bands including Death by Robot, the Unfortunates and I Am Machi.

But it wasn’t until last summer that the band decided to get serious and put out some professionally recorded songs. The brothers added Pudlowski on bass—who had gone on to form Death by Robot with his brother Colton—and recorded at Smith Music in Morinville.

“We just stepped back and realized it was time to do something substantial,” Greg says. “Then just the process of getting together and focusing on an album, that rekindled the fire in us.”

The resulting EP, Hopeful Horizon, is the Gear Seabastian emphasizing the positive. The band, Greg explains, had been writing more melancholy songs due to illnesses and losing family members. The guys wanted to change that.

“One of the songs, ‘I Will Be Strong,’ is based on something our grandpa told us,” he says. “If you’re strong, you’ll persevere. We learned to be hopeful and wanted to spread that message.”

The Gear Seabastian was planning on having a CD release for Hopeful Horizon at the Artery. But after the city declared the treasured venue had to close its doors on March 31, the show has since turned into a two-day farewell party with loads of Edmonton bands paying respect to it.

“It’s going to be such an awesome night, but it’s also going to be a bit sombre,” Greg says. “It’s disappointing; it seemed like the city rushed the Artery out. But we’re happy to be able to play there, because what they’ve done for music in Edmonton is so important.”

Sat, Mar 28 (12 pm)
With the Noble Thiefs, Physical Copies, Motorbike James, the Get Down, Death By Robot, Nature Of, the Sorels, Matt Pattershuk
Artery, sold out - VueWeekly

By Matthew Coyte

The Gear Sebastian are an indie folk trio formed by the Tkach brothers alongside their friend Jeremy Pudlowski. Hopeful Horizon will be their second full-length LP, following their self-produced acoustic debut Unfinished Design.

The entirety of Hopeful Horizon can be summed up in the title itself. Every song on this record glistens with the hope of a better tomorrow while persevering through the pain of today. Smooth acoustic guitar ripples through while beautiful piano riffs sail sleekly throughout. Dashes of heavy electric guitar are added to the mix like a strike of lightning to your eardrums. Each track tiptoes an emotive line; despair on one side and promise on the other. Ultimately each song ends with a victory, a win against the darkness that can sometimes engulf us.

…Horizon comes to a close with the victorious wail of “Somehow I Still Believe,” a guitar solo laden track that takes the listener to a brighter, more colourful world. All told, each song off the album (especially the lead single “Dusk”) would fit nicely into the end credits of a movie that chronicles an emotional journey, ultimately completing with a happy ending. There is indeed a Hopeful Horizon for this trio of indie dreamers. - BEATROUTE

In 2005 two brothers from Jarvie Alberta (population 113) – who I assume had nothing better to do in a place that small – got together and started jamming along with some other local artists. Fast forward 10 years, Andrew & Gregory Tkach of The Gear Seabastian just released their EP titled Hopeful Horizon. The whole album has a bit of a Barenaked Ladies flare to it with some positive, quirky hooks for grown up lyrics and it comes together really nicely.

My favourite track is Dawn which is aptly titled. Dawn of course representing a new day and the song itself has a message of a new start and fresh day. Lyrics such as “A new era of joy, the Darkness disappears and so you’ll find that your dreams will be free; So you’ll find out who you want to be” give the song a hopeful horizon, no pun intended. The gritty/distorted sound and fast strumming from the electric guitar that comes during the chorus just makes you want to get up and start your day. I personally suggest you start it dancing along to this track.


The guys are playing a show tonight with a plethora of other local artists at Brixx Bar in Edmonton, AB in support of the iHuman Youth Society. We can’t think of a better way to share their positive music than for a good cause!

We found out a little bit about the organization on their website: “iHuman Youth Society is a non-profit organization that engages Edmonton’s traumatized youth who exhibit high-risk lifestyles – to foster positive personal development and social change. Founded in 1997, we develop and implement arts-based programming that functions as a positive engagement tool. We seek to re-integrate youth into the community by developing skills, self-esteem and a sense of worth and ability through mentorship, crisis intervention and targeted programming. iHuman serves 500 youth in Edmonton aged 12-24 years. Aboriginal youth make up a significant portion of our clients, but we serve youth from every demographic and socio-economic group.”

The event is hosted in conjunction with Guerrilla Radio. There will also be performances by Jody Valiant, Adam Willey, Raw Nation and Locution Revolution to name a few. You can find more details about the event here.



Written By: Ivy McCarty - SpitMilk Magazine

Three bands/musicians with ties to the Westlock area will be helping to say farewell to a storied musical venue in downtown Edmonton on Saturday, March 28.
The Gear Seabastian and Death by Robot, as well as singer Alex Giannakouras, will both be playing at the Tight Jams closing party of The Artery, located at 9535 Jasper Avenue.
Though they’re two distinct bands with different sounds, The Gear Seabastian and Death by Robot feature a group of friends who have been playing together for most of their lives.
The Gear Seabastian is composed of brothers Greg and Andrew Tkach, who hail from the Fawcett area, as well as Death by Robot frontman and bass guitarist Jeremy Pudlowski, who hails from the same area.
Greg occasionally plays keyboards for Death by Robot, which features Jeremy, Colton Pudlowski, Nathan Woodward and Paulie Finch.
“We’ve played together over 10-plus years,” said Greg. “We’re pretty close.”
After playing with Death by Robot for many years, Greg said that when he moved to Athabasca, he put more focus on The Gear Seabastian because of his close proximity to his brother, who lives in the Fawcett area.
“It’s easier for us to prepare and to play music together, basically,” he said.
The March 28-29 weekend will be the last weekend of operation for The Artery, which is being shut down by the City of Edmonton because of structural concerns with the century-old building.
The Artery has featured thousands of Edmonton area and international musicians since it opened in 2007, but was also a venue for poets and Fringe Festival actors. It has also featured both bands at different times.
Greg said they were all saddened by the news, as the owner, Phillip Muz, has done “so much for the Edmonton music community.”
The farewell concert will also feature a number of other bands playing throughout the day.
The March 28 concert was actually intended as the CD release party for The Gear Seabastian’s new album, Hopeful Horizon. Greg said The Artery’s owner felt bad that the CD release would no longer be the focal point of the day.
“I told him that you’ve done so much for us and so much for the community, we’ll be happy to be part of the farewell show,” he said.
Hopeful Horizon
Although the Tkach brothers had recorded tracks at home before, Hopeful Horizon marks the first studio-produced album for The Gear Seabastian.
Greg said he and his brother began working hard on the album this past summer. They had always wanted to go into a studio at some point, but it never worked out timing-wise.
Hopeful Horizon features five tracks, though Greg said they will have some digital download cards at the CD release party with a bonus sixth track. Although the album will be available on iTunes, Greg said the bonus track will only be available through the download cards.
Recording the album was, on the whole, a very positive experience. “It kind of reiterated to me the importance of music in my life,” said Greg.
As befitting the title, Greg said Hopeful Horizon is a very positive record, noting that was a key goal while writing it.
“We’ve written a lot of sadder songs ... that deal with issues in our lives,” he said. “We tried to really make sure (Hopeful Horizon) was positive as it could be.”
He added that recording the album was overall a surreal experience, but very positive and fun.
“It wasn’t super quick, but it felt like everything came together at the right time,” he added.
“We’re really proud of the record.”
According to The Artery’s website (http://theartery.ca), the Tight Jams farewell party gets underway at noon on March 28.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
As noted on The Gear Sebastian’s Facebook page, Alex Giannakouras will play around 5:20 p.m.
The Gear Seabastian will then take the stage around 7:20 p.m. and Death by Robot will play at about 8:20 p.m. - The Westlock News

Fawcett Alberta is a hamlet of under eighty people in Westlock County, and yet they have managed to produce three musicians that have been showing up all over stages across Edmonton. Brothers Greg and Andrew Tkach form The Gear Seabastian (with a little help form their Fawcett neighbour, Jeremy Pudlowski) and are about to release their second album, Hopeful Horizon.

Staying true to the album name, the Tkach brother have crafted five songs that look up at the brighter sides of life, even when it might not be easy to.

The first song, and arguably the strongest on the album, “A Place I Once Knew”, plays out like a three part story channelling three different eras of The Beatles.

The song starts off with lighthearted vocals from the brothers that in ways mimic that ideal Beatlesmania sound, but by the end of the song you’re well past the sounds of Abbey Road.

“I know for me John Lennon influenced me a lot just for his voice,” explained Greg Tkach. “Not only his voice but social change. Just the way he told stories and how raw and emotional his music was.”

The song is followed by a song closer to the social change that Greg speaks about. “Somehow I Still Believe” is all about putting your passionate towards creating positive change, no matter what exactly that is.

It probably has a lot to do with the passion that encouraged the pair to spend most their free time working their through the Edmonton music scene. While the band has been together for far longer, they only started playing in Edmonton when Greg moved here in 2010.

“We started playing open mics at first,” explained Andrew Tkach. “The first couple open mics were fairly nervous but after you just build off your confidence.”

They’ve played more than a few shows around town now and are about to play one of the biggest ones to date for their CD release. Hopeful Horizon’s release was scheduled for March 28 at the Artery, which has recently become the last weekend running for the small venue.

After the City of Edmonton forced the Artery’s doors closed, The Gear Seabastian’s CD release has transformed into a lot more. From an evening show to an all day affair, it’s now a grand party to say goodbye to an Edmonton favourite, and the band is more than happy to be part of it.

The brothers have been playing in the city for a few years and have made ties with many people behind the Edmonton music scene, and Artery owner Philip Muz is one of them. Muz and the Artery have been a frontrunner in Edmonton for promoting new and local bands.

“It’s a pretty welcoming scene,” says Greg Tkach about moving into the Edmonton music scene. “If you’re willing to put in the work and go out there and meet new people I think it’s not a hard transition.”

Tickets are sold out for the event, but there’s a chance more will be released for the day long event that begins at noon at the Artery. It will continue onto Sunday as well, which is not sold out online yet.

Hopeful Horizon will be available to purchase at the show through a drop card or online on March 28. The show will be one to remember for the Edmonton music community, so it’s best to find a way to be there yourself. It’s more than a CD release now.

“It’s about celebrating music,” said Greg Tkach. - Why Are You Listening?

The guys from The Gear Seabastian invited us out to an event they were playing at in support of the iHuman Youth Society on Friday May 15, 2015. The event was hosted by Guerrilla Radio and the Hip Hop in the Park Foundation. Not only was it the first time we’ve had a chance to catch these guys live but we also got introduced to a number of other great musicians and poets who were part of the benefit mix.

Our night started with Adam Willey, a musician from a BC who now calls Edmonton home. He’s one piece of a band called Waves Upon Us but he did the event solo on Friday. Adam, a real honest folk musician, shared a song he’d written specifically for this event. He sings about real stuff – one of his songs even got a bit political.

Spoken Poets Dwennimmen and Charlotte Love blew us away with their empowering words on strength and girl power. Another female in the mix was Tzadeka – which in Hebrew means righteousness. Right away with a name like that, we knew she was going to be off the charts. She played us 5 or 6 tracks, 3 of them actually recorded in the iHuman studios.

Take her song My Beauty’s Inside for example which is about loving herself on the inside – “It’s my mind that gives me pride.” – and finding real love that is respectful and generous. We especially loved her track I Speak Diamonds which had the whole crowd at the front of the stage vibing back and forth with her. It was a really high point for the night.

The Gear Seabastian hit the stage after another hip-hop artist named AR who hailed from London Ontario. AR gave us a lot of tracks with positive messages about gratitude. After a full delivery of hip-hop the indie sounds of The Gear Seabastian seemed a bit out of place. We blame the stage manager for arranging the acts like that, they should have grouped genres together – we think they’d have been better received.

At first we thought Andrew might have been nervous based on the quirky way he was leading the stage. He started a chant and then quickly ended it and jumped into a song just as the crowd was started to cheer along. As the set went on, we realized that’s just his humorous way of performing. It takes a little bit to warm up to, but eventually it’s fun to watch.

We mentioned before that The Gear Seabastian has a real Barenaked Ladies feel to them. That being said, lead singer Andrew Tkach did a fun rendition of Somebody to Love by Queen which the crowd seemed to react well to; some folks even sang along. Drummer Greg Tkach, expertly held down the rhythm with a wicked-cool ruby red drum set. During their performance of Dawn, Andrew shredded out a stellar guitar riff. These guys know how to play, they’re great musicians.

The last performance we caught that night was by a collective group called Raw Nation. The collective is made up of numerous youth musicians from the iHuman society whose cypher you can catch every Thursday night in Winston Churchill Square. These kids were passionate and really talented. One teeny little gal rounded out the group of 10 and when she got on the mic she was about 15 feet tall just spitting lyrics at light speed. Before their performance we met a fella named “Big Nick” who was a complete gentleman and whose rhymes were just as chivalrous.

We’re extremely grateful we got to be part of such an intimate event. Every artist give us an authentic glimpse of who they were and what they stand for. Even cooler was the fact that these musicians were all coming together for a great cause – benefitting the iHuman Youth Society. As we did a bit more research on the youth programs we stumbled across iHuman’s Soundcloud which we highly recommend checking out. You can learn more about the organization on their website http://ihumanyouthsociety.org/


Written By: Ivy McCarty
Photos By: Andrew Lynn - Spit Milk Magazine

Thursday 14
Gear Seabastian – This local indie act is winning rave reviews in for their eclectic rock sound and live show. They were formed back in 2005 by brothers Andrew and Gregory Tkach in Jarvie, Alberta (a hamlet of around 100 people about an hour northwest of Edmonton), and have been darting in and about the local music scene since 2012. The act has really hit its stride now that local buzz band Death By Robot frontman and longtime friend Jeremy Pudlowski has joined the group as their bassist and backup vocals. Many in the scene feel that this could just be the perfect combination of musical talent and acumen. They recently released an EP they recorded in Morinville, and are undoubtedly one of Edmonton’s bands that must be heard and seen, and have their career followed as their musical journey continues. With Call Apollo and Justin Perkins in support. Mercury Room, $10, 7pm. - Gigcity