The outfit started out as Sound Spectrum in 1966 and by the early 1970s they had absorbed experienced musicians from groups Natural Gas and Motherlode.
Beginning as Sound Spectrum, the early members were Dave Borland, Bill Caldwell, Bruce Fleming Sandy MacKay and Rob Oliver.
[11][12] Saxophonist Jimmy Roberts was originally from Virginia, he came to Toronto in 1969 with a group made up of John T. Davis, George Brown and Doug Walker.
The early line up consisted of Dave Borland, Bill Caldwell, Bruce Fleming Sandy MacKay and Rob Oliver.
Other groups that were booked to appear there were Mud Flat from Toronto, Pour Soul from England, Madrigal from Hamilton and April from Orangeville.
To celebrate Sundog Production's acquisition of the group and bring them to the attention of the right people in the music business, promoter Michele Frank had organized an event which took place on April 19, 1972.
In addition to the event's organization, Frank's efforts had been put into sorting the public relations and getting those key industry people to come.
Pictured were members, Brian Wray, Jimmy Roberts, Larry Ernewein, Joey Miquelon, Mike Curtis and Graham Lear.
It was noted by RPM Weekly in the August 12 issue that the group was made up of former members from Truck, Natural Gas, Brass Union and the Tom Jones Las Vegas Review, and they were ready to have a single released on the Ampex label.
Included were their managers, Peter Francey and Clark Spencer with M. Frank Associates handling publicity and promotion and field representative, Tim Lawrence.
When it came out it was presented in a sleeve with a red maple leaf and the title, "October in Canada" with truck underneath the label hole.
[36] As reported the October 28, 1972 issue of Billboard, Truck and fellow Magic Management act, The Good Brothers had been engaged by the Prime Minister's First-Time Voter Committee to be part of a youth-oriented tour.
The four day trip involved being flown on the Prime Minister's Jet to play concerts at Ottawa, the Yukon, Winnepeg, Calgary, Whitehorse, Thompson, Vancouver and Regina.
[37] This ploy by prime minister Pierre Trudeau was to use Truck and The Good Brothers to lure the in young voters.
In between the political music events, Truck were to visit stations on route and promote their new single, then called "October in Canada".
The time off was to be utilized with rehearsing new material, working on a professional stage presentation and preparing for the heavy schedule coinciding with the release of their album.
[49][50] By mid-March, "Get It Together" was on John Oliver's play list at CHEC in Lethbridge.,[51] a week later it was in the "Breakout Markets" section and on Ted Hayward's playlist at CJCJ Woodstock.
[52] It was reported by the RPM Weekly in the March 17 issue that Ontario booking agency, Concept 376 would soon release an album featuring Truck and other acts, King Biscuit Boy, Leigh Ashford, Lighthouse, Ocean, and Pepper Tree.
[53] The month of April saw the group ready to play at the "Save James Bay" fund benefit concert which was to include Peter, Paul & Mary, Ian and Sylvia, Joni Mitchell and some other Quebec acts.
[56] When their album, Truck was released, the credited musicians included Graham Lear on drums and percussion, Larry Ernewein on bass and backing vocals, Bill Usher on congas and bongos, Joey Miquelon (aka Joey Roberts[57]) on guitar, Brian Wray on keyboards, flute and backing vocals, Michael Curtis on lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar and percussion and James Roberts on tenor saxophone, flute and organ.
Keeping them in visually on the retail side and as well as in a magazine, two members of the group were pictured in the June 2 issue of RPM Weekly with Bob McBride and London's Mr. Sound store manager, Dave Redgers.
By August, 1973, Karen Quee had recently been appointed to a senior position in Magic Management, Toronto as director of public relations.
Armed with promo kits and video tapes, they were launching a promotion campaign to get Truck, Craig Nicholson, Doug Brittain, Christopher Kearney and the Good Brothers to the attention of more than 400 colleges in Canada as well as the US.
The members at that time were Mike Langford on vocals, Neil Chapman on guitar, Marty Morin on drums, Jim Crichton on bass and Todd Booth on keyboards and synthesizer.
Their plan was to stay in their home area for the remainder of the year, and prepare for their new show in '74, and at the end of January, appear in New York for a series of dates.
Then the New Electric Circle in Quebec City from the 22nd to the 28th and finally that month at Toronto's Abbey Road Pub from July 29 to August the 3rd.
Since 1986, he has been the Artistic Director of the Jazz for the People concert series which is held at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, Ontario.
He also ended up doing the aerobatic flying maneuvers for the film Amelia that starred Hilary Swank and Richard Gere.