During the 1960s the Inland Empire was a hotbed for garage rock bands. That music scene also showed the important role Latino groups played in the area. Although they never recorded, one of those bands, led by Robert Vasquez, was the Royalistics.
During a series of interviews, Vasquez shared with me his memories about his “garage” band.
Born in San Bernardino, Vasquez became interested in music through his grandmother, who lived in Colton. “Grandma” taught piano and among her many students were two uncles who played swing band music, he said.
Vasquez started playing the trumpet when he was 10 and then practiced piano with an uncle. By the time he turned 14, he was playing both acoustic and electric guitar.
In 1962, Vasquez started a small band called the Emeralds. They played a few small parties and at school events but Vasquez said he didn’t think they ever got paid for the gigs.
“We were happy just to dress up and try to impress the girls with our music,” he said.
Two of the boys in the Emeralds who lived close by — Jose (Joe) Rodriguez and Steve Martinez — along with Vasquez formed the Royalistics in 1964.
Five teenage friends, ages 15 and 16, made up the group.
Robert Vasquez was lead guitar and background vocals, Jose Rodriguez played rhythm guitar, Steve Martinez was on sax, lead vocals and tambourine, Gabriel Gallegos sang lead vocals and Carey Boehm was on drums.
The group began playing together in the saxophone player’s parents’ converted garage, which they called the “Rumpus Room.”
All were from San Bernardino and the primary founding members lived on either J Street or Bunker Hill Drive, in what they called “the Flats.”
Gallegos left the group around 1965 and was replaced by Danny Martinez. Gallegos dropped out of high school during his senior year and joined the Marines. He was killed in Vietnam, Vasquez lamented.
While Gallegos had been primarily a ballad singer, Danny Martinez sang mostly up-tempo, more current songs. His repertoire included James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding.
The Royalistics were quite a sight wearing powder blue blazers during performances.
For the first year they were together, the Royalistics had no bass player.
When Manual Bailon joined, he covered the bass parts, at first by playing the lower strings of a regular guitar, until he eventually bought a “real” electric bass, a Fender Precision.
While most of the band’s music was rock ‘n’ roll, they also performed Spanish music as well. Eventually the band had a female member — Jan Sanchez — who performed “boleros” by the legendary Eddie Gourmet.
Even at the height of their success, they didn’t get paid a lot.
“I remember making $10 each because we got $50 for a four-hour gig and had to split it five ways, Vasquez said. “Later when we expanded to seven members, we got only $7 each because we had to split the same $50 among seven of us.”
Fortunately, they all lived at home with their parents. Especially since none had cars or even drivers licenses. Early on their parents drove them to their gigs.
Although they encountered more than a few “rowdy places” where fights broke out, the Royalistics had a lot of good experiences playing at house parties, weddings, dances at the local high schools and at various VFW, American Legion and Knights of Columbus halls.
“It was with this lineup that the Royalistics played their most memorable gigs during 1965 and 1966 at the Kaiser Dome on the National Orange Show grounds in San Bernardino,” Vasquez said. “We eventually got to be the warm-up band at the Kaiser Dome for a couple of popular East LA Chicano bands — Thee Midniters and Cannibal and the Headhunters, which recorded the hit song ‘Land of Thousand Dances.’”
Some of their other memorable gigs were at the Torero Club on Waterman Avenue between Mill Street and Rialto Aveenue and the Latin Quarters on Mt. Vernon Avenue, between Baseline and Highland Avenue
Despite never having a real PA system and instead having to plug generic microphones into their Sears Silvertone guitar amps as well as never recording, Vasquez proudly recalled that his band was pretty good and even appeared live on the popular “Jay Michaels Show” a few times.
The Royalistics broke up in summer of 1966, when Vasquez enlisted in the US Air Force, after graduating from high school at age 17.
Of all of the members in the different configurations of the band, Vasquez was the only one who continued playing regularly over the years.
Upon returning from four years of military service in 1970, he helped form the popular Inland Empire band — Horns, Strings and Things. The seven-piece group was together for almost three years and Vasquez said they had lots of fun playing in local clubs and private parties. “HST” specialized in playing tunes by such groups as Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Tower of Power, Cold Blood, and Red Bone. The core group broke up around 1973 and many of the members joined other groups.
Robert Vasquez is currently playing with a couple of bands in the Inland Empire — the Traveling Homeboys and the PR Project. The latter — which he founded — specializes in oldies, rock ‘n’ roll, soul and jazz.
For more bands from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, check out Ugly Things Magazine, online at ugly-things.com. Or send an email to Mike Stax at uglythings@znet.com.
Contact Nick Cataldo at Yankeenut15@gmail.com and read more of his local history articles at Facebook.com/BackRoadsPress.
