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Position Rockit
Tom Skillman & The Imaginators

"Position Rockit" is a new, eclectic, alternative rock and pop album  written and performed by Tom Skillman. 
 It's about growing up and having fun, falling in love, and moments that change the course of life. 
Featuring guest performances by my musical friends Christian Carmen, Nick Richardson, Scott Heatley,
Rob Cosh, Dana Gordon, Paul Dowler, Rich Brewer, Josh Kaardal and others! 

The songs are born of very different impulses: childhood memories, family, musical satire,
attraction, commitment, friendship, criticism of power and modern complexity.
The music reflects that. The most reliable descriptive term is "alternative-rock", but it doesn't stay locked
into one feeling. The mood and style changed depending on the story of the song.

Some of my friends have said "this sounds like you. All of it. It's... it's just YOU.
Like, if I was to say what is Tom Skillman?
It'd be this man".

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what that means, but it's apparently a compliment. 
HEARNOW!

Guest Performers and Contributors

This is the crew that helped me out in so many ways, and contributed their talents and efforts to my dream project!
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Rob Cosh

Rob Cosh and I played together in "Back to Front"  in high school, starting a 40 year musical relationship.  I believe Rob and I personify what collaboration and musical friendship is all about. We share ideas, trade our knowledge and spend too much time complimenting each other lol. I love this guy.
Rob has given me incredible advice, and attention over the years about recording, mixing and gear. 
In some ways, I made this album for him! 
I'm looking forward to doing some more collaborative stuff with Rob. 
Rob is a recording engineer, teacher, piano tuner, musician and helps runs a community open choir in Ottawa. 
Rob's Instagram
Rob Cosh Soundcloud
Rob Cosh Spotify

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Christian Carmen

I met Chris sometime in 1994, and I was impressed at how he could dial in a tone to make his guitar sound like different famous bands we both liked. 
He is a phenomenal singer and talented musician, living on Quadra Island with Ingrid and their family. 
We have played in a few bands together over the years and jam a lot. 
Having Chris in the studio is super fun. He has a similar trait to me, in that he loves to work his ideas out.  He is also someone that comes up with some great stuff right out of the gate. Some of his best work on this album were tracks where he thought we were "just warming up". His contributions, and feedback on different demos helped flesh this out to feel more like a band. 
Man Made Mountains 

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Scott Heatley

Scott is the founder and builder for "Heatley Guitars". He is currently living abroad, and enjoying the world.

We played together, off and on,  for over 20 years with the cover band "Bad Fish", and he joined Bonafide in 2017 for our reunion shows.

I was able to get him to come out to the studio just a few days before he was going to start his year long trip starting in Spain.

He had one day to lay down as many tracks as he could, and we were able to get him on three of the songs before he started his world travels. 

I would have loved to have him on more of the album, I love his feel and tone for rock. 

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Dana Gordon Skillman

I met Dana in 1994, at a moment when I had given up on meeting anyone. 
We connected instantly, and I felt like I knew her my whole life. 

We are a great team. That's a cliche, but things are generally cliches... due to their truth. (Don't look that up, it's just an opinion). 

Most importantly, she has way better ears than me. I mean, most importantly to the album! The only person who has heard these songs more than her, is me. 

I have lots of hearing damage, so testing out mixes on her was critical to the process. I pointed out to her, that over the past few years, she went from "wife with an opinion" to "co-producer".  

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Nick Richardson

When our group of friends get together, and we reach that more... .liberal state in the party, I love telling people that I moved to BC for Nick. 
Because it's true. We had met the first year I went to work at the HBI in '93, and the following year I knew I wanted to be in a band with that guy. 
Nick is a funky, in the pocket groove machine. His feel and had syncopation always gets me going. 
I wrote bass lines for the two songs Nick recorded; but I told him to only use that as a guideline, and "make it Nick". 
When he first did his bass tracks, he was just about to leave on a boat trip around the world. (This seems to be a theme with people I recruit lol). 
I enjoy playing bass, but I'd rather have Nick do it. 

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Paul Dowler

Paul Dowler was the missing piece for the band Nick, Joe and I were trying to put together. He had lyrics, he had swagger, and he loved the crowd. 

We became close friends during that time, and had a lot of fun. 

Paul is dedicated to his career and his family, but he has still found the odd time to drop in for a jam or work on a recording idea. 

Whenever we can re-connect, the drums and his raps just flow together, like we are doing the same thing, just in different ways. That connection with a frontman in the band is gold. 

Looking forward to doing some more tracks in the future! 

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Joe Skogan

Joe Skogan and I started jamming with Nick in 1994. We spent alot of time together playing and talking about music. 
Joe had a distinctive playing style and groove. When he, Nick and I locked in on a funk beat or a ska skank, it felt like magic. 

Joe moved on from this world in 2004, and it shook up our community. We miss playing music with him. 

I have a bunch of tracks Joe recorded with me over the years. To get him on this song, I had to go through 4 different songs to find him playing the right chords, with the right rhythm, and then edit them all together for a single part. The bridge of "Times Like Now" is the phantom "Bonafide" reunion moment, and I know it's editing, but it feels like him there. 

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Rich Brewer

Rich lives in Boston, where he gigs, writes songs, works and lives to see another day. 
I met Rich through Songfight, when we did our "supergroup" collaboration "Gert". 
He has an awesome singing voice, crazy creative energy, and has released multiple albums and singles over the years. 
I particularly enjoy his album "2020", which you can hear on different streaming services around the world! 

I'm looking forward to doing some more stuff with Rich. He was so freaking excited to get in on Short Sleeve T-Shirt Day, and he added his personality and flavour to make that tune shine.  
Rich Brewer Website

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Josh Kaardal

Josh Kaardal and I first played together when he joined the Re-animators as our bass player with Christian Carmen. 
He later switched over to Guitar when Gerrit Dooris took on the bass role. 
Josh's musicality always draws me in. 

He is a devoted and hardworking family guy and it was awesome to find some time where he could do the solos on Warm Glow. 

We've talked about doing some more recording in the future, where I hope we can unleash his secret weapon... his killer singing voice. 

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Gerrit Dooris

I met Gerrit around 2012 or 2013, when I was recruited to drum for his cover band "Theo".  Gerrit has been playing guitar, bass, and singing in local bands for over 20 years.
I enjoyed my time playing with him in "Theo".  They introduced me to a lot of material I didn't know yet, and we had a lot of fun and well attended shows. 

I was very stoked that Gerrit had some time to play bass on this song. 

Gerrit actually played his track maybe five years ago? Lol, something like that, it was early on in the process, when he and I we laid down one or two versions of the bass and drum parts. 

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Jay Havelaar

Jay is a trumpet player and lawyer.
I met Jay around 1995, when he was recruited by a band member to play trumpet on a "Bonafide" song.  Those  songs were abandoned when we started  our album "Coming Down The Tunnel".
I kept those original tracks and had transferred them to digital around 2008. 

Times like Now is in a different key than he originally recorded, but I was able to use Jay's sound, and pitch shift notes to create phrases. The trumpet phrase off the top and at the end are Jay's original lines from the recording.  It was an extremely fun part of the album process to use editing tricks to build this part from a sample, instead of just calling up a midi trumpet sound. 

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Nathan Gordon and Drayja Hearty

Nathan and Drayja are my kids! I wanted to include them on this song, ("Rocket Ship"), since it's about parents playing with their kids, and using your imagination to spark you. 

It was a lot of fun getting them involved in this song, and I love hearing all of us together. 

Could this be a Partridge Family reboot?

No, it could not. Lol. 

Nathan lives and works in Vancouver, and he is also a voice actor. 

Drayja is raising her family in Courtenay with her husband Will. 

Contacting...

You can reach out to Tom Skillman and the Imaginators using this form, or email us at TheImaginators@tomskillman.ca

© 2026 Tom Skillman. All Rights reserved. 

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