Tichy began playing drums at age eight and started playing guitar at age 12. His earliest influences include
Kiss with
Peter Criss as his main influence,
Rush,
Neil Peart,
Led Zeppelin,
Iron Maiden with
Nicko McBrain,
Aerosmith,
AC/DC, and
Van Halen Since attending
Berklee College of Music from 1986 until 1990, Tichy has toured/recorded with a multitude of artists including
Billy Idol,
Ozzy Osbourne,
Seether,
Velvet Revolver,
Foreigner,
Pride & Glory,
Glenn Hughes,
Sass Jordan,
Slash's Snakepit,
Randy Jackson's China Rain,
Whitesnake and most recently
The Dead Daisies.
Ball While Tichy has primarily toured and recorded with others playing drums, he has fronted his own band, Ball, in which he sings and plays guitar. Due to the demise of his record label (Time Bomb Recordings), Ball's
American Aggression CD never was formally released. Ball did manage to release a CD,
The Grand Human Disaster Scenario (only in Japan) in May 1999. This CD contains what were essentially the demos that led to the record deal with Time Bomb at the end of 1999. His increasing role as co-songwriter with
Billy Idol that started at the end of 2003 limited his time to focus on Ball.
Billy Idol The Idol/Tichy writing partnership sparked the recording of Billy Idol's first CD since 1993. ''
Devil's Playground'' (
Sanctuary Records) was recorded in 2004 and contained 8 Idol/Tichy tracks. The CD was released in March 2005 and they toured for the remainder of the year. While writing in 2006 for a follow-up Idol CD, Tichy and Idol recorded a Christmas album. This was done on their own, in Idol and Tichy's rehearsal studio with Tichy performing drums, guitar, and bass, as well as engineering and co-producing.
Happy Holidays by Idol was released in November 2006 through
Best Buy and in Europe.
Foreigner Tichy joined
Foreigner in 1998 and remained until 2000. He rejoined briefly in 2007 substituting for
Jason Bonham. He then returned from 2008 until 2010, recording the album ''
Can't Slow Down''. He returned for one show in summer 2011, substituting for Mark Schulman, who had recently lost his father. Tichy rejoined Foreigner for the month of August 2012 for live performances, replacing the departed Schulman once again.
Other projects Tichy filled in for
Seether drummer John Humphrey in April 2007, toured with
Foreigner through spring of 2009 (replacing Jason Bonham), and recently completed a multi-year involvement with Billy Idol. He has written music for television and film, and recorded with European female metal singer
Marya Roxx. On September 25, 2010, Tichy organized, produced and played in the drummer tribute "Bonzo, The Groove Remains the Same", commemorating the 30th anniversary of the death of Led Zeppelin's
John Bonham. In 2011, Tichy formed S.U.N. (Something Unto Nothing) as guitarist, with vocalist
Sass Jordan, bassist Michael Devin, and drummer
Tommy Stewart. In 2014, Tichy joined 'Sweet & Lynch', featuring Michael Sweet, George Lynch and James Lomenzo. In 2018 Tichy replaced Shane Gaalaas as the support drummer for Japanese rock band
B'z, a band he had worked with previously as a session musician.
Whitesnake Tichy was announced as the new drummer for
Whitesnake on June 18, 2010. After several years of worldwide touring, Tichy quit Whitesnake on January 4, 2013, as he planned to focus more time on S.U.N. ==Speed bag==