Marie, Ontario where, along with Bob Yukich and Alfred Johns, they had band The Vendettas, which had opened for The Everly Brothers, The Dave Clark Five, and The Searchers.
[11] They appeared in the centrefold of Maclean's magazine, and they were invited to play in a jam session with former Gordon Lightfoot guitarist David Rea.
Rea was so impressed, he called American producer Felix Pappalardi (Cream, The Youngbloods), who flew up and offered the band a two-record deal with Warner Bros., appearing at the Ottawa club they were playing at, contract in hand.
[14] Both songs would appear on their debut album, Avenue Road, which was released at the Warner Bros. annual convention in Honolulu.
Australian music journalist Ritchie Yorke, writing for The Globe and Mail, called it “probably the finest album ever cut by a Canadian group”.
[17] The tour included a show at San Francisco's Fillmore West, with Chuck Berry and the Steve Miller Band.
Their second album, Aardvark, again produced by Pappalardi, was released in 1969; Warner Brothers issued the singles "Witches Stone" and "Help Me".
Martynec went on with a successful solo career, playing with Lou Reed and winning the Juno Award for Producer of the Year in 1981 for Bruce Cockburn's "Tokyo" and Rough Trade's "High School Confidential".