Talked my friend Rolly
into playing bass
Added Pete Fade and Gordy
as we picked up the pace
It was kind of fun singing with The Devines, but I wanted to be in a band so I talked Shayne into letting me recruit some of my musician friends for our group.
The first guy I added was my friend Peter Proskurnik on sax. Next was Pete’s buddy, Gordy Duke, on drums, and then I recruited my friend Rolly Blaquiere to play bass and his brother Lawrence on piano.
Now that we were a band, nothing was divine about us, so we renamed ourselves Shayne and the Rebel Raiders.
That, however, didn’t last long because the name Rebel Raiders sounded a little too southern for a northern band like us, so we became the Phantoms.
My Mom made us some very cool blue satin tux jackets. (see on top)
Not only were we starting to sound pretty good, but we also looked even better.
When Shayne realized that it wasn’t Shayne and the Phantoms, he left, and we replaced him with Donny Burns and added another saxman, Jimmy Harrison. (Donny’s pictured below)
One night while we were playing at a variety show, I saw someone who I thought could make us sound even better.
His name was Perry Waksvic, and not only did he have better guitar chops than me, but he could also sing all those cool Chuck Berry tunes.
I moved over to rhythm guitar, and not only did we become one of Winnipeg’s best bands, but I’d also stumbled across a philosophy that I would use for the rest of my life.
“He who surrounds himself with people better than him is the smartest man in the room.”
We could party anywhere and everywhere because we had a party trailer (see above)
We originally purchased the trailer to haul our gear, but when we stored it at Rolly’s place, he turned it into a small nightclub.
It had wall-to-wall carpeting, curtains, mood lights, giant pillows, and a bar. If that trailer could talk, what tales could it tell?
When we recruited Perry, he made us better musically, but because he wasn’t a Transcona guy, none of us could relate to him, so when the chemistry went south, we moved on.
While looking for a new lead guitar, Randy Bachman graciously filled in with us
When we finally found Terry Kenny, Randy started a little band of his own called The Guess Who, and later, BTO.
Terry’s first gig was when we were opening for The Bill Black Combo, but because I was afraid he might freeze up, I told Rolly to run him through our setlist a few more times that afternoon in the trailer.
When they showed up at the venue, Terry looked stiffer than ever, and Rolly was shitfaced!Â