Aldermen Best known for the great 'House Of Wax' (reissued on vinyl by Dionusus Records), The Aldermen were part of the vibrant East Los Angeles scene that also spawned, among many other bands, Thee Midniters and Cannibal & The Headhunters.  Keyboardist Bruce Gilbert joined the group after meeting them at the 1965 Teen Fair, and later went on to play with Duck Butter.  Although a battle with heroin cut short his musical aspirations while with Duck Butter, Gilbert still writes and records music to this day, and has created a MySpace page to feature his songs. The Aldermen, L-R (Front Row): Bruce (organ), Tad (lead guitar), Unknown (bass player), Unknown (drummer); Jesse (seated in middle; lead vocals); and Russ (standing, rhythm guitar) Russ and Bruce An Interview With Bruce Gilbert 60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music? Bruce Gilbert (BG): My mother and father loved music but neither played.  My dad in particular was determined to give his kids the chance to learn an instrument so I started playing piano somewhere around the age of six or seven.  60s: Was The Aldermen your first band? BG: My first band was The 3 G Notes, comprised of me and my two older brothers--Ric on drums and Ralph on clarinet--and me on piano.  I believe we were eight, 10 and 12 years old.  We must have been terribly cute and terribly bad to listen to.  Several years later, at the age of 14, my brother Ralph performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto as the featured soloist with the L.A. Junior Philharmonic.  Later in his teens he played with Tom Scott (Google Tom if you don’t know who he is; he's an amazing musician). 60s: Where and when were The Aldermen formed? BG: Every summer the Hollywood Palladium hosted a teen fair that was huge, featured dozens of local bands and, to the best of my memory, lasted for a week or two.  I was playing in a band called The Crusaders at the 1965 Teen Fair and a band called The Aldermen was playing on a different stage.  They were mostly playing surf music and had a couple of stand out players on guitar--Tad on lead and Russ on rhythm.  A guy named Jesse Acuna was with them for the first time and he had a great voice, but little experience.  I started talking to the guys and we hit it off.  I’m not sure how it worked out, but I ditched the band I’d been playing with and joined The Aldermen.  Ultimately, their third guitar player named Larry quit the band and the core group of The Aldermen became Jesse on vocal, Tad on lead guitar, Russ on rhythm and me on Farfisa organ.  I don’t remember the name of the original bass player and drummer, but they were super nice guys and played their butts off.  When we were “on” The Aldermen were a kick ass group.  Later, when the bass player quit, he was replaced by an old buddy of mine named Greg Kricheff who was a solid player and a great guy. 60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?  60s: We were actually very versatile.  We covered the hippie songs of the era; we learned whatever came on the radio within a day or two of release and we always nailed the sounds.  But we also played in the style of the East L.A. bands, which was kind of a mix of R&B and doo wop rock with a Latin sensibility.  We were kind of an unusual combination of kids from all over L.A. so we were eclectic to say the least. 60s: What was the East L.A. rock and roll scene like in the '60s? BG: In a word:  Amazing!  If you went to Hollywood in those days, about a 15-minute drive from East L.A., you could hear the great hippie groups of the era including The Byrds, Love, The Chambers Brothers, Richie Havens and later on The Doors, etc.  In East L.A. it was an entirely different sound.  Practically all the bands had several horn players, full rhythm sections and sometimes even backup singers.  It was an amazing mix of old rock and roll, R&B with a very unique Mexican-American twist.  The biggest names were Cannibal and The Headhunters, who opened for The Beatles when they came to the States, and Thee Midniters, who had several big regional hits and I believe one or two that went national.  There were other great bands too with lesser names, but many were top notch.  The scene was electrifying and every bit as exciting as what was happening in Hollywood.  The Aldermen must have played 10 gigs on the same bill as Thee Midniters and several with Cannibal and The Headhunters.  It was a privilege.  I’ve sent a poster that documents two gigs.  One was hosted by Casey Kasem who later became a well known rock and roll personality and invented the show America’s Top 40. Jesse (singer), Greg (bass), Russ (guitar) and Bruce on organ 60s: Where did the band typically play? BG: We were kids so we couldn’t play the bars.  I was only 15 when I joined the band.  We played private parties, dances in East L.A., schools and a few teen clubs.  We also played at the El Monte Legion Stadium, of course the 1966 Teen Fair at the Hollywood Palladium, The Salesian Rock and Roll Show and East L.A. City College. 60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory? BG: The Aldermen were an L.A. band. 60s: How popular locally did The Aldermen become? BG: We had a reputation and were courted by some local deejays but never graduated from the local scene.  We always had gigs and a following.  There was a fairly popular L.A. deejay named Lord Tim (perfect stage name for the era) who wanted to sign us to some sort of contract, but nothing ever came of it.  60s: Did The Aldermen have a manager? BG: Russ and Jesse booked most of the gigs as I remember it.  We worked all of the time so they did a good job of it. For a while we were quasi-managed by Chick Carlton who was a song writer and hustler back then.  He was a good guy and was pretty well connected in the East L.A. scene.  His wife Ruby had one of the best singing voices I’ve ever heard.  Chick heard us at some gig and pursued us.  He hoped we could record his songs and make hits out of them.  We did lots of demos in ’67.  We worked almost around the clock for several weeks and had a ball. Those were the sessions that produced 'House of Wax.'  I believe Chick wrote for Cannibal too. 60s: Where did The Aldermen record? What do you remember about the recording session(s)? BG: There was a little studio on Vermont Avenue that was called Sunset Sound...but not the famous Sunset Sound Studios. I remember driving home each night at around midnight and driving back to the studio to start at 9 a.m. the next morning.  It's amazing I never crashed.  We recorded at other studios also, but the one on Vermont sticks out in my memory.  My memories are of loving to play…for hour after hour…and hoping we’d produce a hit.  We played rock, R&B, blues, everything; it didn’t matter.  We were just doing what we loved to do. 60s: Did The Aldermen write any original songs?  BG: Chick was the songwriter. 60s: Do any other '60's Aldermen  recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?BG: There may be, but I don’t know of them. I also think there are more photos of us but I’ve totally lost track of the old members of the band.  Maybe one of them will stumble into this interview and contact me. 60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances? Does any home movie film footage exist of the band? BG: Not that I know of. 60s: What year and why did the band break up? BG: I left The Aldermen later in ’67 to join a band we called Duck Butter.  I lost track of The Aldermen after that.  I don’t know if they continued on.  I was attracted by the Hollywood scene and Duck Butter was a Hollywood band.  We all lived in or around Laurel Canyon and it was right in the center of what became rock history. Duck Butter was mostly a blues band but we also mixed jazz elements with rock; we were actually ahead of our time.  The members included Paul Barrere on guitar, Mitch Brisker on bass and Mark Vinegar on drums.  I played guitar in that band.  Paul met Lowell George several years later and joined an amazing band called Little Feat.  Little Feat tours the world today and is one of the best bands I’ve ever heard.  I’m so happy that Paul emerged as a lifelong musician who experienced great success.  Mark was the son of the legendary jazz bassist, Leroy Vinegar and I’ve long since lost track of him and Mitch.  For a time, Michael Barrere, Paul’s older brother, played drums with us too.  I was a pretty naïve 17-year old at the time and Michael sort of watched out for me.  I always appreciated that.  We played Hollywood clubs like the Brave New World, Bido Litos, Pandora’s Box, The Corral in Topanga Canyon and others.  Sadly, I fell in love with heroin and from then on my love of music took a back seat to fighting that demon. A few weeks before my 18th birthday, I moved into the first live-in self help drug program called Synanon.  I got off of drugs immediately upon joining but it spun my life in another direction.  However, in the years that followed, I did get to play with some fantastic musicians, most notably Frank Rehak who had worked extensively with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and just about every jazz luminary of his era.  I played with Frank often for over 10 years and just being on the bandstand with him was an education.  I also played constantly with a great friend and record producer, Doug Robinson.  Doug’s an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist and composer.  I had several opportunities to play piano for Esther Phillips and a vocalist named Sam Fletcher who had one of the richest singing voices I’ve ever heard.  I played Tenor sax in a big band from 1990 until 1998 and in 2001 joined The Buddy Blue Band.  Buddy was one of the founding members of an iconic San Diego band called The Beat Farmers.  I played Tenor Sax and keys and all of the music was original and written by Buddy.  We played loud. 60s: What about today?  What keeps you busy? BG: I still record and write songs.  I have Parkinson’s disease and Crohns disease so my health limits me a bit, but I continue to play and write and I love it.  I live in Atlanta and belong to a wonderful group of singer songwriters.  We meet every Sunday evening for talk and song.  I’m a newcomer to the group but the core members--Allison Adams, Cyndi Craven, Steve Cullen and Tom Wolf--have been friends for years and it shows.  All are terrific songwriters and terrific friends.  A few of my songs can be heard on MySpace. 60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Aldermen? BG: I wouldn’t trade it for the world, except for the drug use.  It was a remarkable childhood experience that I’ll always remember fondly.