It was a television clip of the Beatles at Shea Stadium that first attracted a young Ricasso (a.k.a.) Greg Hargarten to rock'n'roll.

Hooked by this early image, he dug back into the work of artists that had influenced the genre over the decades, listening to the likes of Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochrane, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash in his formative years. Although his tastes have come to include contemporary artists as well, he has remained addicted to the form and it's rebellious nature ever since. In fact the name Ricasso, sort of a rock'n'roll version of one of his favorite painters, was adopted to keep him out of the principle's office for his graffiti art.

After High School, Ricasso began drumming with numerous rock and pop bands whose prime objective was to eek out a meager living and in the spirit of Rock'n'Roll, out-party the locals in every watering hole in the from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Some of the exploits may (or may not) have been legendary and although they made for some great road stories, he eventually returned to Saskatoon where his focus changed from drumming to songwriting.

Playing with local bands on weekends and designing posters, T-shirts and album covers for fellow musicians during the week, Ricasso scraped together some money and with a little help from Canada's FACTOR program began to record.

His debut album, Disgraceland, received glowing reviews from the nation music press. Chart Magazine claimed ??(it) could dominate the airwaves??, and that there was ????not a weak song?? on the album. Canadian Musician called it ??a solid step in the direction of more national exposure??.

In 1999, he agreed to produce and play on Eileen Laverty??s Dancing with Angels album which went on to win a Prairie Music Award for Outstanding Roots Album in 2000 and open some new doors in the way of producing.

He produced several other projects, including the song "Luna" for CBC's Sounds Like Canada feature program and CD compilation and a version of the song "Who are These Strangers?" for legendary songwriter, Ervin Drake.

After a hiatus from recording his own material, Ricasso returned to deliver his Pollution album in 2003. This diverse collection of guitar driven rock takes aim at our media-saturated society with a self-effacing, tongue-in-cheek rock'n'roll attitude that he has always loved.

Even before its official release, the album received encouraging nods from the music industry. The song 'Bipolar' won ROCK102's National Songwriting Competition as part of Canada Music Week and was featured on CBC's national radio program, Sounds Like Canada. It has since earned critical recognition and air-play on commercial radio and charted across Canada at college stations.

After a year and a half of performing and promoting Pollution, Ricasso returned to the studio to work on two new recording projects. The first, a new Eileen Laverty CD, Ground Beneath My Feet, with him once again in the producer's chair and also contributing to the performing and songwriting duties. The second, a new Ricasso and the Trash Icons CD.

This latest effort, called Suck It Up, was recorded with is 2004/2005 touring band. It marks a return to the strait-ahead rock sound which typifies the band??s live shows and is even truer to his Rock'n'Roll addiction. It includes, for the first time on a Ricasso album, two covers: a blistering rock version of Steve Earle's "Guitar Town" and a cover of the Knack's 1980 hit "Good Girls Don't", but it is Ricasso's songwriting however, that has once again attracted attention.

The title song, "Suck It Up" was chosen as the 2006 winner of the Rock 102's Canadian Radio Star National Songwriting Competition as part of Canada Music Week. This second win can only fuel Ricasso's addiction.