By 1986 they had 19 outlets across Canada employing 140 people and Buckthorpe had enough money to set up a basement studio situation from which they helped friends record their original material. It was one of these friends, Louis Nitikman, who would start writing material with Buckthorpe. Initially the duo, now named Diamond In The Rough, pursued only a publishing deal and continually submitted songs to Cliff Jones at the publishing division of Bruce Allen's Rock Headquarters. Jones tried to persuade Buckthorpe and Nitikman to record their material on their own, and eventually they landed a publishing deal and a recording deal with Virgin Records. Their first album was released in 1988 and met with positive critical acclaim.
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