WES DAKUS
Wes Dakus was born in 1938 in Mannville, Alberta. His father played violin and accordion, and other members of the family that played other instruments would come over, and the house would erupt into a full concert. Wes started performing steel guitar with a country style group The Mohawk Mountain Boys in 1955.
Soon, the rock and roll craze began. By 1957 Wes had his first group. "We were playing at a dance for Stardust Teens, and The Rebels motorcycle club/gang were watching the door, taking tickets, and being security for the place", says Wes. "We appreciated having them help, so as a nod to them, I took the band name The Rebels".
When his bass player quit, Wes began playing that instrument. At that point it was all instrumentals, he says. Their teen oriented rock 'n roll sound started packing the crowds in at a rapidly growing rate. Now, Alberta had one of its first rock and roll bands.
When Wes went into the clothing business with Jim Hand, a DJ for Edmonton radio station CJCA, Jim recommended the group try out the stations new recording facility with engineer Andre Picard. It turned out to be a lucrative partnership, as the group would record at the station, and the station in turn would promote their recordings heavily. CJCA was at 930 on the AM dial, so their teen club show was titled Club 93, which The Rebels became the sponsored house band for. They suitably changed their name temporarily to the Club 93 Rebels. CJCA was affiliated through company structure with the Quality Records label of Canada, and the CJCA station manager was instrumental in getting their recordings released by the label.
The Rebels were constantly packing huge crowds throughout Alberta. Their overwhelming popularity got them on various TV shows in Edmonton, and they even had their own spot on CHCA TV in Red Deer, Alberta.
For most of late 62 through mid-63, they toured across Canada, packaged with the top rock n roll stars of the day. They opened for, and backed Eddie Hodges, Terry Stafford, Dick & Dee Dee, Donnie Brooks, and countless others.
When they were booked in late 1963 through George Nellis, an agent in Saskatchewan who was also routing The Fireballs through Canada for a tour, Nellis put Wes Dakus and The Rebels on a number of shows along with The Fireballs. Lead guitarist for The Fireballs, George Tomsco, recommended that Wes get in touch with Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, where The Fireballs had recorded all of their tracks. George advised that Norman would be a good producer for The Rebels and had some strong industry ties.
In April of 1964, Wes and the band drove to Clovis, to meet Norman Petty. Norman was impressed with the group, and wanted to work more with them, and signed on as their exclusive representative and advisor, initially for a 5 year period. The contract guaranteed that Norman would get them an offer from a major recording company within 12 months or they could terminate the agreement.
Norman's experience immediately paid off with US labels signing distribution for their next 45 releases. They were voted top Canadian group for 1964 & 1965, and recorded 2 LPs and various singles at Norman Petty's Clovis Studios. Wes then went into group management and the Rebels disbanded. He opened up a successful Edmonton Studio before moving to Vancouver in the late 1980s.
Back
Back to Home Page
Next Page
