TOKAN
1980-82
Ann Sitter - bass guitar, vocals
Ken Sitter - guitar, vocals
Tom Cunningham - drums
Bob Deutscher -  guitar, vocals

CKXL School's Out Picnic 1981
                         Bob       Tom            Anne             (Mark)                    Ken                     
      

    Things were booming in Calgary in the early 80's. The club scene was quite vibrant with among others, Gaye Delorme making regular rounds. Playing bass with him during some of this period was Dennis Marcenko who had auditioned for Loverboy and later played with kd lang and Colin James (another Regina emigrant). After the Brother Rat experience I went to Calgary to visit some friends one of whom was Tom Cunningham who had been the drummer in Nosey Parker. He was playing small lounges in Calgary with the then husband/wife team of   Ken and Ann Sitter. I went to hear them play a few times and was invited to sit in on occasion. They liked the way the band sounded with me and asked me to join them. I went back to Vancouver, loaded my stuff in Crowcuss's 3-ton truck and headed back to Calgary where I sold the truck for the band and joined Tokan. I was with them throughout 1981 and January '82. In that 13 months we had two weeks off - by choice. It was a popular unit.

    In the summer we recorded a few tracks for CKXL and CHFM radio's "Rocky Mountain Magic" album, a compilation of songs by some popular Calgary groups, produced by Mark Goodman at Bruce Thompson's Circa Studio. One of the songs we did was my I Learned A Lot From You. A song that Ann wrote, Olive,  was chosen for the album. Seanna Collins, a lady who was receptionist at the studio and also a singer, liked my song and recorded it using the Tokan tracks. It was  released on the Circa label under the name Seanna.  This   was also the studio where Jann Arden made her first recordings. (I have a 45 of  her Never Love A Sailor b/w Did We Really Hide? on Circa Records under her real name Jann Richards). Incidentally, we once played a Stampede bar-b-q at Elkana Ranch by Bragg Creek where she was also on the bill, playing outside on a flatbed truck as a stage!

    Eventually I got tired of the country/rock style that the band was in and I had done very little lead singing since Wascana. I needed to express myself more both as a guitarist and as a singer. Tom had also had enough of  Tokan's particular scene so we both left the band after a few too many performances of Kansas City.