The Bruthers — “Bad Way to Go”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — May 23, 2023

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

835) The Bruthers — “Bad Way to Go”

“We were just four brothers who learned some music, heard the Beatles and Stones and went ape.”  (Alf Delia https://www.freeformportland.org/2018/01/19/not-a-bad-way-to-go-a-story-about-a-killer-sixties-garage-band-called-the-bruthers/)

The A-side of the Bros’ only single, “Bad Way” is a “one-shot masterpiece” (Greg Shaw, liner notes to the CD comp Pebbles, Vol. 10: Original ’60s Punk & Psych Classics), “a slab of killer 60s garage . . . with a killer organ break and snarling vocals”. (Martin Samson, (https://www.vinylseeker.com/bruthers-bad-way-to-go/) “Vocalising the sound made by playing an electric jug. Brilliant!” (Ken Kavanagh, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H309X6iEpSo) “Quite literally one of the GREATEST garage tunes EVER.” (Jacquie Tellalian, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H309X6iEpSo)

The band was composed of four real brothers, the majority of whom “were still minors in high school, Joe Delia (killer organ parts, backing vocals) being the youngest at age 14. They had to tour during school breaks, playing Ivy League schools and venues that would look the other way”! (Freeform Portland, https://www.freeformportland.org/2018/01/19/not-a-bad-way-to-go-a-story-about-a-killer-sixties-garage-band-called-the-bruthers/)

Richie Unterberger says:

[“Bad Way” is] one of the rawest garage band tracks to gain release on a major label (RCA), its furiously fast, shifting rhythms, berserk circular guitar and organ riffs, and malicious put-down lyrics bringing to mind something like a garage band at a harem.

[T]ense, almost circus-like up-and-down riffs, archetypically snarling mid-’60s garage vocal, doom-clouded organ, and furious tempo changes make it one of the best ’60s garage records to have escaped inclusion on the Nuggets box set.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-bruthers-mn0000628309/biography, https://www.allmusic.com/album/bad-way-to-go-mw0000318394

Freeform Portland talks to Alf (Delia):

Alf Delia, age 19 at the time, joined with three of his twelve younger siblings and began crafting . . . one of the most angsty and sincere teen punkers of all time. . . . The Bruthers commenced practice in a chicken coop on their families property. Alf rightfully pointed out that this technically makes them chicken coop rock as opposed to garage rock. It became clear that if they were going to have any success at all, they would have to write some original material. Inspired by a break up with his then girIfriend Susie, emotion poured out of Alf’s guitar and onto paper and “Bad Way to Go” was born. . . . The Bruthers got paid $5,000 in the RCA deal, and like any 19 year old aspiring rock star, Alf spent his entire share ($1500) on a bright red Volkswagen Beetle. In addition to releasing the . . . single, the Bruthers wrote and recorded a song for Jim Henson’s Muppets world debut on the Ed Sullivan show in September of 1966 with a song called “Rock It To Me” . . . .

“We just went bananas with the whole rock and roll thing. We stayed upstairs from the bar…drinking, drugging, finding girls…you know, we were all way too young. Pop ended up coming up from Pearl River to bust up the gig after the brothers went a little too far with barroom hijinx.”

Alf

The Bruthers put on a raucous show that sometimes included sporting matching velvet jackets or running around in the crowd dressed in gorilla suits. 

https://www.freeformportland.org/2018/01/19/not-a-bad-way-to-go-a-story-about-a-killer-sixties-garage-band-called-the-bruthers/

Here are the French garage rock revivalists, the Missing Souls:

I have added a Facebook page for Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock! If you like what you read and hear and feel so inclined, please visit and “like” my Facebook page by clicking here.

Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.

Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.