Five Man Cargo

Websites:  No
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Five Man Cargo was a Vancouver pop-rock group active from the late 1960s through about 1973. Centered on vocalist Gerald Laishley, guitarist John Telling, and rhythm guitarist Jay Reyburn, the band built its name on clean harmonies and polished live shows that carried them through the city’s key clubs – The Breakers, The Reef, The Body Shop, and Garry’s Place – and onto western-Canadian touring circuits. Early members included Orly Anderson (bass) and Dave Jonsson (drums), with later lineups adding Warren Cann, Bob Douglas, Roy Kessler, Lance Massey, Danny Piry, Sid Fattedad, and drummer Nick Dokter.

Their first single, “Memories” b/w “Why Can’t I Get You” (1969, Rumble R-2360), introduced the group’s songwriting partnership, Laishley contributing the A-side and Telling the flip. Two years later they moved to the Vancouver imprint Bulldog Records, releasing “Military Madness” b/w “If a Song Is Enough” and, in 1972, “The Banner Man” b/w “If a Song Is Enough” (BD-1001). The A-sides reflected their taste for contemporary British pop – covers of Graham Nash and Blue Mink – while the recurring B-side, written by Telling, gave the group its most distinctive original tune.

At their peak they toured with Brave Belt, an early form of BTO, and were briefly managed by a young Bruce Allen, years before his national prominence. According to Dokter, the band spent close to a year recording in the basement of a rented turkey farm on Surrey’s 152nd Street and Fraser Highway, cutting enough material for a full album that never reached release.

Five Man Cargo’s membership turned over frequently, but their reputation for disciplined harmonies and professional stagecraft remained constant. Some recollections trace their roots to an earlier Hong Kong outfit called The Kontinentals, whose members relocated to Canada and regrouped under the new name. By 1973 the project had wound down, its players dispersing into other Vancouver acts, yet the three singles – especially the Bulldog 45s – stand as concise evidence of a band that bridged 1960s harmony pop with the emerging 1970s west-coast rock sound.
-Robert Williston

Orly Anderson: bass, vocals
Warren Cann: drums
Bob Douglas: bass, vocals
Sid Fattedad: drums
Dave Jonsson: drums
Roy Kessler: bass
Gerald Laishley: lead vocals
Lance Massey: lead guitar
Danny Piry: rhythm guitar, vocals
Jay Reyburn: rhythm guitar, vocals
John Telling: lead guitar, vocals

1971 - 1973 Reformed Group
Wayner Boychuck: bass
Terry Hanson: guitar, Vocals
Nick Dokter: drums
Gerald Laishley: guitar, vocals
Rob Turner: keyboards, vocals