Clockwise
from top left: Dave Roberts (drums),
Danny Holmes (lead guitar),
Ed Heppner (bass) and Paul (Boots) Loreque
(rhythm guitar).
Circa 1965
To set themselves apart from
the competition, quartet the Orfans made
the bold move of dying their hair blond
and sporting matching white guitars.
The band formed after guitarist Paul
(Boots) Loreque from River Heights and
Eddie Heppner from Woodlands met in 1964
while working at the Manitoba Sugar
refinery off Chevrier Boulevard in Fort
Garry (immortalized in the 1972 Guess Who
song Smoke Big Factory).
“I went home with him one day after work,”
says Heppner, “and he played Lonnie Mack’s
Memphis on guitar and knocked my socks
off.”
Recruiting friends Danny Holmes on lead
guitar and drummer Dave Roberts, the
Orfans rehearsed in Woodlands before
making their debut in Churchill, of all
places. Several out-of-town gigs
followed until the band entered the
Winnipeg community club circuit.
The Orfans’ vocal abilities became the
envy of their contemporaries.
“We’d really worked on our vocals” says
Heppner. “We would work up in our
hotel rooms on the road with just a guitar
practising our harmonies. We wanted
to become good musically.”
Roberts bowed out, and ex-Kingbeats
drummer Ken (Dutch) Schultz from
Crescentwood joined.
“The first gig I played with them was at
the Town ‘n’ Country nightclub, and I had
to wear Dave Roberts’ suit,” says
Schultz. “It was huge on me, and I
had to roll up the sleeves to play.”
The band developed a well-earned
reputation for covering the intricate
vocal numbers by British group the
Zombies.
“Nobody in town was doing Zombies songs,”
says Schultz.
Besides local dances and regular
appearances at the Twilight Zone,
Transcona’s Pink Panther and J’s
Discotheque, the Orfans played Fort
William’s Flamingo Club. In 1966,
after performing at Teen Fair at the Red
River Ex (where yours truly, decked out in
a fur vest made by my mom, had his photo
taken with Loreque and Holmes), they tried
their luck in the Toronto area, playing
clubs in Yorkville.
But the pay was poor, forcing them to
travel to gigs with all their gear by
streetcar. Loreque quit and was
replaced by Ken Holm. Heppner and
Schultz agree the magic was gone after
Loreque left.
Schultz later departed, and Marcus Fisher
joined, but by this point, the Orfans had
moved into playing pubs to survive.
Heppner, Holmes and Fisher recorded a rare
single on their own Nafro label before
folding in 1968. Loreque later
played in the Coach ‘n’ Four and
Fellowship (with Heppner), Holmes was in
Chopping Block and Heppner played in
Granny and B.B. Bullion.