TRYGESIS — WHO ARE THEY?

They have lived and worked for decades on the fringes of the music scene crafting songs in obscurity. Why? Because songwriting chose them.

To use words from Charles Bukowski — if the sun inside you burns your gut, if songwriting comes out of your soul like a rocket, if being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, if you have been chosen, it will do it by itself and it will keep on doing it until you die or it dies in you.

But who are they?

They call themselves Trygesis (rhymes with bridge-esis) and it is sure to be a household name in no time. It already is in a few.

Trygesis are founding members Jon Goodloe, David Swartz, and John Swetye — three lifelong friends from Lisbon and Salem, Ohio — towns that sit in the triangle formed by Pittsburgh/Youngstown, Cleveland, and Akron/Canton — right in the middle of the industrial heartland that was hard-hit by the recession of the late 1970s and early 80s. Each of them bolted from the rust belt in the mid-1980s to where there were better opportunities to pursue careers in the arts. Goodloe settled in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; Swartz in Carmel, California; Swetye in Darien, Connecticut.

Goodloe carved his niche in industrial arts as an independent contractor, artisan, mime, and performing musician in the Detroit area. He likes to reminisce about the time his booking agent mixed up his mime assignment with another performer. The Michigan School for the Deaf and Blind wanted to hire a performer that could create something tactile for their students. They hired a man who made animal balloons. However, the booking agent mixed up the assignments and sent the balloon guy to a dentist conference where he spent the afternoon in the hotel loading dock huffing nitrous oxide from animal shaped balloons with a couple of hygienists. Goodloe the mime was sent to the School for the Deaf and Blind. Of course, his performance did not go over well. The kids did not understand his act and did not laugh until one of the school administrators explained the mix up to them. The kids thought the mix up was hysterical and spent the rest of the afternoon joking about it and entertaining each other by making up mime routines.

Swartz produced radio shows, sold his paintings, owned an art gallery, wrote for “Dennis the Menace”, “The Lockhorns” and other cartoons, played in several bands, joined the Big Wave Surfing tour, and performed many solo shows. He continues to write 15 to 20 jokes per week for “Dennis the Menace” and “The Lockhorns”. Swartz looks back fondly on his time with the Big Wave Surfing Tour. He traveled the circuit as an elite surfer and developed a very popular board wax — or as he likes to say, “I waxed poetic.” He picked up the ukelele while on tour and learned to play most of the Hawaiian classics.

Swetye built a business that provided equipment and services to the television and motion picture industry, learned the rodeo clown trade, and also released an album of original music in 1990. Swetye remembers the good times he spent in Sydney, Iowa enrolled in the School of Rodeo Clown Art. He says the process of matriculating into clown school was difficult and he took his studies seriously. However, he says he still found plenty of time to clown around. He returned to Connecticut and soon learned there was not much demand for rodeo clowns in New England and the few openings that became available from time to time were locked up by the guys who had been practicing rodeo clown art for decades. He also found out rodeo clown skills were not readily transferable except to politics where clowns are seemingly in demand even at the highest levels of government. However, not wanting a career in politics he doubled down on growing his TV production business and enjoyed many productive years.

Their kids grown, careers ended, and having moved back to Salem to enjoy retirement, they renewed their friendship and soon realized they had so much songwriting material between them it made sense to build a recording studio where they could record their songs free from the constraints of time and money. It did not matter to them if they were the only ones to hear their songs. They had to record them because that is what happens when songwriting chooses you.

The result?

They recorded dozens of songs over the past couple of years. They chose twelve that fit well together. The songs were compiled into an album that they feel represents their songwriting styles. Swetye likes to call their style “The Youngstown Sound” due to the influence of internationally known Youngstown artists like Phil Keaggy of Glass Harp, The Human Beinz, and Stiv Bators of The Dead Boys. Their debut album is due for release in early 2025.

Trygesis’ first single, “In Afterthought” written by Jon Goodloe was released in August of 2024 and is available on all major streaming services. “In Afterthought” has hints of Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Harry Connick, Jr., and Paul McCartney’s ballroom dancing songs.