I had the opportunity to sit down with the band The Ambassadors and Friends the afternoon before they played in front of 230 of their fans at the Creston and District Community Complex. I was looking forward to learning more about the band, its members and Creston’s music scene in the 1960’s.
When I was first asked to interview The Ambassadors I must admit I had never heard of them before. I did what anyone would do if they wanted to research a band they never heard of before. I did a search on Google. Unfortunately, even Google had very little on the popular 60’s rock n roll band. I was going to have to interview them without any background information. I met the band members at the Creston Ramada. I wasn’t even sure who I was waiting for since I hadn’t seen any pictures of the band members beforehand. Right at noon an older gentleman came up and introduced himself to me. It was Ernie Klaffke (age 70). He introduced me to the other members of the band, Gene Anderson (76), James L’Ecluse (75), and Dennis Peck (71) as they each came downstairs. Orla Anderson also known as Harreson Caldwell (72) arrived 10 minutes into the interview.
Below is my conversation with the band:
Why are The Ambassadors and Friends playing in Creston tonight?
Ernie:”We are here to play at the PCSS Grad reunion tonight. The grad classes wanted to have The Ambassadors played at their reunion. Unfortunately not everyone in the original 1960’s band The Ambassador wanted to reunite for a performance.”
Who are The Ambassadors and Friends?
Ernie: “The band The Ambassadors and Friends are made up of three original members of The Ambassadors and two additional members from Thin Red Line, and The Chevelles. Two popular 1960’s Kootenay bands. The band The Ambassadors were a 1964 homegrown five-member band originating from Creston. The original members of the band were PCSS students Ernie Klaffke (age 17), Warren Hushcroft (age 17), Rick Humble (age 18), Orlie Anderson (age 17), Pat Whitford (age 17) and Gene Anderson (age 22).”
How did The Ambassadors become popular?
Ernie: “After winning the first Battle of the Bands in 1964. The Battle of the Bands was played during the Blossom Festival throughout the 60’s.”
Dennis: “Creston was the centre point of The Battle of the Bands”
Orla: “Tak came up with the idea.”
The Blossom Festival hosted the first Battle of the Bands which was hosted and directed by Tak Toyota. Tak Toyota was a passionate supporter of community teenage events in Creston. Tak founded Teen Town and hosted several all-night grad parties.
What was The Battle of the Bands like in the 60’s?
Ernie: In the early 60’s Battle of the Bands drew musicians from around the Kootenays. Bands would travel from Trail, Kimberley, and Nelson to play live before judges and 1600 teenagers. Each band would play a set for 40 minutes and at the end of the night, a single band would be declared the winner.
Gene: “We did it for the fame and a trophy, Money was not the focus.”
James: “Teens would come from all over BC, and the Okanagan to watch the Battle of the Bands.”
What was it like growing up in Creston in the 60’s?
Ernie: “Creston was fun in the 60’s”
Orla: “Creston was quite robust economically with the sawmill going. We were teens during the best era of rock n roll the 60’s. Growing up listening to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones. No one has beaten The Beatles musically”
Ernie: “We were blessed to live in Creston during the 60’s” Are you excited to play tonight?
Ernie: “Yes! Tonight we will play three 45 minute sets of late 50’s and early 60’s music”
Dennis: “Music people of our era love to dance to”
James: “Tonight everyone will be 21 AGAIN!”
What will it be like to see your fans again?
James: “Thank god for name tags!”
Gene: “This will most likely be our last time playing in Creston. We will go out in a blaze of glory. Why not?”
After the interview, The Ambassadors and Friends invited me down to see them play live before their devoted fans of over 50 years, probably for the last time. The room was packed with grandmothers and grandfathers but when that music started to play many couples moved onto the dance floor and danced the night away. And The Ambassadors and Friends played like it was still 1964 and didn’t skip a beat.