An Interview With Rick Gleicher
60sgaragebands.com (60s): You were several bands prior to The Hubert Spring Street Sale. How did you become acquainted with the members that would form Hubert?
Rick Gleicher (RG): Well, at the time, I had come back to Albuquerque from working in Louisiana for a few months, about december of 1966. I was recruited by some guys that needed a guitarist; I didn't know any of them, I don't know how they got my number, but I went to serveral practice sessions, and we did a few gigs--one of which was in Muleshoe, Texas. We played at some high school dance, and were back in Albuquerque that night. I left that band, I can't remember why--probably because I was butting heads with the other guitarist, and I didn't like the kind of music they were doing, as I remember it. I don't remember any of their names now, except the guitarist's name was Rick.
About a month or so after that, I got a call from Dave Schoenfield, the brother of Jerry Schoenfield (Jerry Schoenfield played with my brother Don in one of his early bands, The Continentals ). This was sometime in the late summer or early fall of 1967 (it's hard to remember). Dave told me that he had a group of inexperienced musicians that were forming a band and they needed the guidance and advice of someone who had the experience of playing in a rock and roll group. I went down to one of the guys' house, and met everyone and listened to them, and decided to stay when I heard Dave play the drums. He was a phenomenal drummer--simply the best I'd ever heard, on a par with Gene Krupa, in my opinion. The names of the other members were Dave Martinez on bass; Larry (I can't remember the last name) on lead guitar; Tony (again, I can't remember the last name) on organ and lead vocals; and myself on rythym guitar and vocals.
Tony had a lot of stage presence, could sing excellent, played the keyboard well, and was very creative, with an excellent sense of rythym--which added a lot to the music. Dave M. always laid down a great bass line, and Larry could always be depended on to do a great lead on a moments notice, and really fast too. For their young age, all of these musicians were very creative, and easy to work with. I realized I was in a group with tremendous potential, and decided to stay with them.
We practiced weekly at Tony's house downtown, and after a while, got pretty tight. Besides the numbers they had already worked up, I managed to talk them into doing a lot of Beatles tunes that I thought we could do a great rendition of, so of course, had to incorporate a lot of those, but also, I liked a number of rythym and blues artists. I had seen how popular a band could become if their music was easily danced to, so I tried to steer the music into that direction. These guys had a flair for this kind of music, especially Tony and Dave M., along with Dave S...oh hell, they all contributed their unique individual talents to it!
We did a couple of really killer numbers, like Mitch Ryder's hit, 'Devil With The Blue Dress.' That song was made for Dave S., and people would just stop dancing and watch him when he was working out on that tune. It was just so electric, it's hard to discribe the energy and excitement generated by the way we did that tune and I can remember it so vividly. We also started to do some of Cream stuff, and other popular artists of the day, like The Doors. The kind of music we had the most response on, though, was the rythym and blues type numbers. I have to tell you that, at one battle of the bands we did, someone who feared we were going to win it pulled our power plug as we were performing, and I had to jump off the stage and plug it back in. I had Dave keep the beat going (that was cake for him) while I went and did that. That was one of those moments when everyone just stopped dancing and watched our every move. I'll never forget it.
60s: Where was Hubert Spring Street Sale formed?
RG: Hubert Spring Street Sale's home base was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This happened about in the later half of 1967, up to about December, a total of maybe six months or less. We were just getting to the point where we could do something serious, and I got drafted. We were just getting to the point when we could start doing serious gigs, and played at a battle of the bands at Highland High, some expo outside at the University of New Mexico (UNM), and a gig at the Neuman Center at UNM, and probably some other gigs which I've forgotten about. We had only been together about three months or less by this time.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound?
RG: The band played a lot of oldie Beatles hits, as well as Top 40 and rythym and blues. Our drummer, Dave, was made for this kind of music and had a killer beat. He was the best drummer I had seen in my career up to this point.
I had visions of recording for some major label, since the band had this electricity about it. I'm certain it would have happened too. I'm saying this because of the experiences I had with the other groups, a feeling that one gets about where the group is headed, and from watching the crowd's reaction to some of our best numbers. I would say our major influences were, The Beatles, Mitch Ryder, Peaches and Cream, and some other Motown groups whose names I can't recall, Doors, and most other Top 40 groups at the time.
60s: Where did Hubert typically play?
RG: We typically played any place we could get booked, mostly at band battles, and clubs. We were just getting started and serious about the music.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
RG: We were just beginning to spread our wings, so to speak, and mostly at this time stayed in Albuquerque.
60s: Did Hubert Spring Street Sale have a manager?
RG: Tony basically functioned as the manager, and did the booking. I think others also contributed, but I really can't recall much.
60s: Did Hubert Spring Street Sale write any original songs?
RG: We were playing around with the idea, but had really done nothing up to the point I had left.
60s: Did Hubert Spring Street Sale make any local TV appearances? Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?RG: Not to my knowledge.
60s: You left the group when you got drafted. Did they continue on without you?
RG: I think they did for a short time, but Dave Schoenfield went out to California with his brother and my brother to do some recording out there. I know they ended up with at least one album, the name of the group was Plain Jane, as I recall. It was a pretty good group and album. Anyway, I tried to get back together with the guys after I came back from Vietnam and had gotten out of the military, but it just wasn't the same and my life had gone off in a different direction. (I had marriage plans.) I also think Tony had gone out to California to do some acting when I came back from the Army, which is one of the reasons our regrouping didn't work out.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with Hubert Spring Street Sale?
RG: I honestly felt that musically it was the best band I had been with up to that point in my experience. It was just electric, and some of our numbers we did were so good, people would just stop whatever they were doing and watch us. It was a very spiritual and amazing experience. I was so disappointed when I got drafted.
|
