In the winter of 1968-9, in Owen Sound, there were few hangouts for teen baby boomers. One was the Scopis with it's cherry cokes, chips and gravy, another was the old Legion Hall, which was at the time a drop-in centre named Shalom. If it was warm enough, the bandshell or "Jarvis Park" beside the river on 8th St. W. might collect a gathering but for a few local teens the basement of the Old Post Office was the place. In the "Dungeon" you could catch the early sounds of FACTORY. Rick Marquis on electric guitar, Rob Town on drums, Allan Walker on electric guitar and Bob Walker on bass. Cream, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, The Guess Who and the Beatles all were on the practice list.

Bob had gotten a guitar and amplifier for Christmas 1966 and had immediately began writing songs, getting feedback and realizing bigger amplifiers and bigger practice spaces were necessary for the sound he wanted.

Allan Walker on the other hand, had gotten a plastic guitar for Christmas. Soon after, however, with cousin Bob as inspiration he had his name on a white "Winston" electric with a whammy bar at the "Earl Georgas" music shop on main street.

Rob Town and Rick Marquis had already been playing music together for some time. Rob had drums - in fact a great kit. Rick, with his long hair for the time, John Lennon glasses and more chords than anybody, was the budding guitar hero of the town. His dad also had the all-important bread truck to get the band around.

The four got together first in Rob Town's rec room. After an afternoon of jamming "Shotgun" and "Hold On I'm Coming", the band concept was thrown around and conceived.

Rob's mom decided that practicing in the rec room was a temporary thing. The basement of the old post office building was available (Bob's uncle Eddie owned it) and it was a perfect spot to make noise, after business hours and on weekends of course.

After several months of practice the band knew they could not hold down the instrumentation and the vocals. So the much-needed vocalists began to come and go with the band.

One of the first was Wilica Kuyvenhoven. She had shown up with a friend to listen to the band rehearse, and when she was prompted to sing she got up and belted out a song with a bluesy, gravelly voice.

The first gig was just up the street at Knox United Church. The basement was used occasionally on Friday nights for a "teen night". The band played a first set, then for the second on came Wilica. The response was great. The Janis material was magic.

George Prettie, a "Rod Stewart" lookalike, was the "singer on demand" over the lifespan of the group. George would perform many of Factory's most memorable dances. One that comes to mind was the Coliseum roller skating performance where George lifted "The Lemon Song" to sticky status.

Mike Dolphin was a singer songwriter who also helped the band. He had an acoustic guitar, which was a new concept. No place to plug it in! Any starting band needs a house gig, someplace to play on a regular basis, somewhere to make mistakes, try out material, see how it stacks up. Factory's was the Holland Center Community Centre.

A typical night at Holland Center went something like this. We would crowd into Rick's dad's bread truck with our amps, guitars, drums, homemade lights, roadies (Chuck Jarl and his tookit) the four of us - sometimes five if George was singing that weekend - and Rick's dad (the driver) and away we went.

The audience had their own ritual of arriving, disappearing into the basement of the hall, being quiet as mice for the first half of the night, occasionally appearing for couple of early songs, sitting on the benches on the sides of the room, disappearing again only to storm upstairs in full force for the last set. We had to finish at midnight (that's when Rick's dad would show up with the bread truck) and the crowd would dance madly for the last set, demand encore after encore and make us feel like a million bucks.

The band was caught in snowstorms with flat tires, played at prom night on the Peninsula and got booked into bars we were not old enough to play in. We played at the old Bay Motor Inn where the stage was in a drained wading pool and we kept getting shocks. But we always had a good night and kept them dancing.

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From a series of articles written by guitarist
Al Walker, for the owen sounder. HOME

ALFIE FROMAGER EARL GEORGAS FACTORY THE KROSSING

THE REMBRANTS SUMMERFOLK 20th THE TOMBSTONES JENSEN-WALKER

web work by Dr. Steve Briggs