The Tycons in 1964 - image courtesy of Byron Beauchene
The Tycons in 1964
The Tycons
Cranbrook, British Columbia
1960 - 1965

Members
 

60 -63

Neal Atwood ~ Drums, Vocals
Byron Beauchene ~ Guitar, Vocals
Bruce Frost ~ Bass
John Stefanuk ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals

63 - 65

Don "Skinny"  McLellan ~ Vocals*
Stu Nyquist ~ Saxophone
  Dennis Peck ~ Bass, Vocals
 

*  One performance only 1962 but many guest appearances and many years as bouncer and bodyguard

In Memory of

Don "Skinny"  McLellan
Stu Nyquist  d:  22 Feb 2013

We regret to announce the passing of our saxophone player Stu Nyquist on 22 February 2013 in Lethbridge, Alberta.   He will be remembered by his band mates and many friends as well as his loving wife Florence and their three sons.

Byron Beauchene, February 2013

The Tycons appeared on Spokane Channel 4 "Take Four" program in 1964.  In 1967 Cranbrook, B.C. became the birthplace of the original "Thin Red Line" which included three former Tycons.

The Thin Red Line played at the Cool Blue Inn in Spokane (1968) and did a double bandstand at the old Sunset Bowling hall with a local band.  The Thin Red Line later moved to Seattle and were still rocking in 1976 when I tracked them down at some backwoods bar.  There were only two Canadians left in the band at that time.

Byron Beauchene, May 2006


The song playing in the background, Danny Boy" was Don (Skinny) McLellan's favorite song by The Tycons.  This clip is the last refrain from the band's reunion at Kimberley in 1999

Byron Beauchene, July 2006



Dennis Peck, Neal Atwood, John Stefanuk, Byron Beauchene and Stewart Nyquist
1964 - The Tycons with their Battle of the Bands trophies. The trophies were left to right Best Bass, Best Band and Best Sax. Johnny Stefanuk won his Best Guitar trophy in 1965 at the Creston Blossom Festival Battle of the Bands.

Byron Beauchene, May 2007



The Tycons (1960-1965) were from Cranbrook, B.C. and were the first winners of the Creston Blossom Festival "Battle of The Bands" in May 1964. They also won the first Kimberley Snow Fiesta "Battle of The Bands" in February 1965.

The original band did a reunion concert at the Kimberley Rock Reunion in August 1999 just to prove they still had it.

Byron Beauchene, April 2006




John, Byron, Bruce, Neal

The reunion concert with The Tycons in 1999 was awesome.  Dennis came from Vancouver and Stu from Lethbridge Alberta.  Our drummer Neal had to buy a set of drums because he hadn't touched them since 1965.  Stu Nyquist had not touched his sax since 1965.  Johnny Stefanuk had played with me in The Western Union country band from 1969-1974 and then put his Gretsch Country Gentleman away until 1999.  He had to go buy an amp but a few hours of rehearsal and a lot of story telling later we nailed a set of the original Battle of The Bands songs we had done in 1964.  We're just all lucky to still be here to this day as there are so many of our music buddies that aren't around any longer.

Byron Beauchene, May 2006



This old picture of The Tycons was taken on our first road trip tour in 1964.  We were playing outdoors at Revelstoke, B.C., for a grand opening of a new business of some sort. Get a load of those nice fender guitars.

Byron Beauchene, September 2008





 Denny and Stu, Neal, Johnny, Byron
Tycons 1999 Reunion Concert

If you have corrections, a neat photo or more information, please send it to:

Make a donation using PayPal.  It is fast, free and secure.
Last Update:  23 February 2013
Credits:  Byron Beauchene
Band # 1949