Yellowknife (Jan 05/07) - What's plastic, covered in crayon, and didn't cost the artists a cent to produce? Why, it's the first CD from Yellowknife band The Greasy Twigs.

The EP, titled Check out the Tragedy, came out the week before Christmas and features five original songs from the trio, expanding on their upbeat, melodic sound.

Bryce Styan plays and sings with The Greasy Twigs during a show at the Raven Pub this summer. While band members are away at school during much of the year, they plan to keep reuniting in the summers. -NNSL file photo

"I couldn't be happier with how it turned out," said keyboardist Brendan Callas of the EP, which was recorded in August at Norm Glowach's Spiritwalker Productions.

The other members of the band are singer/guitarist Bryce Styan and drummer Walter Girrior.

"It was really amazing," Callas said of working with Glowach, which allowed the band to record better - and faster - than they expected.

"We went in assuming we'd do three songs, but we got five recorded," Callas said. "Norm is a very talented guy and he knows what he's doing."

Even better, he said, the EP didn't break the bank for the young band. "It was actually free for us to record, which was nice."

Last summer, the band won a pair of contests that helped to pay for the CD. First, the Twigs beat out more than a dozen other acts in last year's Music in the Park series, to win 10 hours of recording time at Spiritwalker Productions.

Hot on the heels of that win, the band won the top prize at the Rock the Folks battle of the bands.

This netted them an afternoon slot at the 26th-annual Folk on the Rocks, as well as a $1,000 recording grant.

In all, Callas said this paid for 25 hours of recording and for mastering the EP.

The cost of manufacturing the CD was even picked up by Callas's father, well-known Northern musician Chic Callas (though they'll have to pay him back from the CD sales.)

While the Twigs seemed to be everywhere this summer, they've been keeping a lower profile as of late - after all, none of them are living in Yellowknife right now.

Callas is in his third year at Acadia University, where he studies Kinesiology and plays trombone with the Acadia Big Band. Styan and Girrior, meanwhile, are pursuing their own interests in Montreal.

Callas called the band "a nice little summer project for the three of us."

With nearly 100 copies of the CD sold already, Callas said the band has plans to keep this "summer project" going strong.

The band plans to apply for Folk on the Rocks as paid performers this year, and hope to do shows anywhere else that makes sense.

"We'll be around for sure," he said.