Someone from the record company recently called Tomi Swick to inform him that they'll be sending him a platinum album to hang on the wall of his apartment in downtown Hamilton.

The framed memento will recognize Swick's contribution to helping Warner sell 100,000 copies of a Valentine's compilation album called From the Heart. Swick's song, A Night Like This, was the album's lead single. You probably know the song. It got a lot of mainstream radio play. Six months later, it's still around, getting played in places like Ottawa as often as 50 times a week.

Not bad for a 26-year-old graduate of Cathedral High, especially when you think that he hasn't even released his own full-length CD yet. That moment won't come until Tuesday when Warner releases Swick's new debut album, Stalled Out in the Doorway.

A Night Like This is a brilliantly crafted pop song, filled with starry skies, warm embraces and soaring vocals, the sort that makes young lovers weak at the knees. A slightly remixed version of the song is hidden in the middle of the new album, track 8 of 12. A Night Like This wasn't needed up front. There's plenty of other great songs to sell Stalled Out in the Doorway.

Almost to prove a point -- hey, I do more than just gentle ballads -- the CD opens with an pounding flourish of drums, leading into the ominous bass line of a fast-paced rocker called Come in Twos. A quick downshift and the album heads into the gentle guitar chords of the album's anthemic second track, Wait Until Morning. The album's lead single is saved for track 3, Everything Is Alright. It's a Beatlesque composition with just the right amount of psychedelia to draw in Oasis fans.

And on it goes, gracefully crossing a triangle of frantic rock, touching balladry and anthemic pop. Binding them all together, is Swick's piercing voice and intuitive ear for a catchy melody.

The album is a remarkable debut for a young man from blue collar Hamilton. The album jacket features a blurred photo of Swick walking past the door of an old Stelco warehouse. On the reverse, there's a row of factory exhaust pipes.

"That's Stelco front and back," he says through a boyish smile. "My dad worked there for 38 years and my grandfather worked there as well. He was at the old Studebaker plant, too."

Swick was first signed to Warner on a short-term "demo deal," almost two years ago after a label rep caught his act at a Toronto club. The big label was impressed by both his sweaty stage act and his obvious songwriting abilities. The demo sessions produced A Night Like This and teamed him up with producer Ron Lopata, keyboard player for the band Jacksoul.

This spring Lopata, Swick and his band holed up in Puck's Farm Studios, north of Toronto.

"Ron and I were looking for studios and I told him specifically that I didn't want to do it downtown," he said. "I didn't want any distractions. So we spent two weeks sleeping in a room with six bunk beds. We ate there, we worked there, we hung out there and we partied there ."

Swick brought 35 songs to the table. They whittled it down, first to 28 and then to 18, eventually settling on a final dozen tracks. At first, Swick was concerned the label would only want songs in the same pop vein as A Night Like This. Swick is a student of '70s pop craftsmen like Paul Simon, James Taylor and Paul McCartney, but he also likes to rock like Radiohead and U2.

"I was nervous they were going to try to make it all those kind of pop songs," Swick admits. "But the label's not pushing me that way. There's at least six songs that don't fit into that."

Most of the songs, however, are deeply personal. Swick says he has tried writing songs from a storyteller's perspective, but it doesn't work for him.

"Listen Isa (track 9) is about my mum -- her name is Isabella -- and my brother," he explains. "They were having a fight. I got pissed about it, wrote the song and played it for them.

"Most of these songs were written between 2 and 4 in the morning when I had something on my mind and had to work it out."

Swick is looking forward to performing the songs from the album tomorrow when he opens for Ron Sexsmith at the Festival of Friends in Gage Park. It'll be a switch for Swick. He's used to seeing the festival from the other side of the stage.

"I've been to the festival tons of times," he says. "I used to work at the McDonalds at the Delta. And the first apartment I had on my own was on Gage Avenue."

Hear Graham Rockingham Thursdays between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the Scott Thompson Show, 900 CHML, or read his blog, Rockinhammer, on jamilton.ca.

grockingham@thespec.com

905-526-3331

West Jet Festival of Friends

Friday

Noon -- Arun Pal

1 p.m. -- Tim Gibbons

2 p.m. -- Kevin MacLean

Band

3 p.m. -- Neeraj Prem

4 p.m. -- Harmony Trow-

bridge

6 p.m. -- Oh Susanna

7 p.m. -- Doc Walker

8 p.m. -- Tomi Swick

9:30 p.m. -- Ron Sexsmith

Saturday

Noon -- Bob Burchill

1 p.m. -- The Ride Theory

2 p.m. -- Alfie Smith

3 p.m. -- Rose Garland

4 p.m. -- Major Maker

6 p.m. -- Madviolet

7 p.m. -- The Nines

8 p.m. -- The Steve

Strongman Band

9:30 p.m. -- Vince Neil of

Motley Crue

Sunday

Noon -- Jacob Moon

1 p.m. -- Paul Langille

2 p.m. -- Shawn Trotter

3 p.m. -- Banned From

Heaven

4 p.m. -- Ray Materick

6 p.m. -- Dala

7 p.m. -- Madrigaia

8 p.m. -- Terry Sylvester,

formerly of the

Hollies

9:30 p.m. -- Joey Molland

of Badfinger

Main Stage Lineup

For more information on the 31st annual Festival of Friends, go to creativearts.on.ca or check out the Spectator's online music site, jamilton.ca.

Showtime

What: Tomi Swick and his band, as part of the WestJet Festival of Friends

When: Tomorrow, 8 p.m.

Where: Gage Park bandshell

Cost: Free