Former Pike gets back in the swim by Kieran Grant, Toronto Sun. Tuesday, July, 18, 2000

While Bryan Potvin celebrates one CD release this week, he'll be quietly preparing for another.

Potvin, best known as guitarist-singer for late '80s / early '90s Canuck rock heroes The Northern Pikes, launches his debut solo album, Heartbreakthrough, with a show at Ted's Wrecking Yard Thursday.

But the solo foray comes quite literally on the eve of a band revival: On Friday, Potvin, 37, will regroup with The Northern Pikes in their hometown of Saskatoon to begin work on that group's first album of new material in six years.

"It's sobering to realize that I've basically got two careers on the go, "Potvin says with a laugh. "At least I know exactly what I'll be doing between now and Christmas."

The singer has recruited a backing band from Edmonton to support him for Heartbreakthrough, which is officially released today on the Universal-backed Klementine imprint.

"I was so impressed with them when I found them, that I was actually terrified," he says, "I immediately went home and started practising guitar so I could keep up."

Still, Potvin says he won't embark on a solo tour until his new album has had time to catch on.

Meantime, after reuniting for a club tour last winter, The Pikes quickly rediscovered why they started their band some 17 years ago: To make new music. The band will spend the next two months in the studio and hope to have an album out next spring.

THEY ALL CONTRIBUTED HIT SONGS

"There was enough distance between us now and our last album to start again," Potvin says.

"I want to believe we maintained a certain integrity throughout those years together, but it had dwindled by the end. Looking back at that first chapter, we can sort of cherry pick and draw from the good."

While the Pikes' musical range was one of their strong suits -- singer-bassist Jay Semko, singer-guitarist Merl Bryck, and Potvin all contributed hit songs -- Potvin feels the group gave in to commercial pressure following their multi-platinum selling 1991 album Snow In June, and suffered creatively and professionally.

Having spent the latter half of the '90s working in A&R for Mercury Records, Potvin figures the appeal of a grass-roots guitar band like the Pikes is more limited in today's pop climate. But the recent reunion tour, he says, reminded the group that a large core of fans are still interested.

"We felt like a heritage act, a new wave of classic rock," he says. "It was novel and fun, but we needed another reason to play, and that was to continue recording. Jay and Merle were chomping at the bit to get back into the studio. We had to get on with it."