By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Years of practice and procrastination went into Sengine Boychuk’s first CD.

As a teenager living in Davidson, Boychuk said, he spent hours alone practising the guitar, building up his repertoire.

“I had nothing better to do,” he said. “For a year and a half I just learned AC/DC songs.”

Boychuk credits his parents with introducing him to the music of their adolescence, the hard rock and heavy metal of the 80s — bands like Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Skid Row and Def Leppard.

That influence rings out loud and clear on his new CD, Vol. 1, released on Jan. 18.

The six-track album was mixed, mastered and produced by Boychuk himself. He plays the guitar and bass, while Josh Farden and Colin Phillips join in on the drums.

“I’m an instrumental rock kind of guy, with elements of heavy metal,” Boychuk explained.

The disc includes five original songs, plus a cover of Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit “Beat It.”

“I always loved that song, everything about it,” said Boychuk, explaining that he learned to play the vocal melody on the guitar.

He also recreated the classic Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. He said his goal was to keep the song close to the original, while making it heavier and more modern-sounding.

There were also some headaches working out the royalties and legal issues with Sony, which owns the song.

Even so, he said, it’s probably his favourite track because “it just sounds the best.”

For the full story, please see the Feb. 13 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.