We wrote the songs for East Bay Grease, and by November, we were at the end of our rope. Then, my parents moved to Detroit, and I was on my own, broke and hungry, and all I did was rehearse. One night, the ABC came in, and caught the trumpet player drinking, and the next thing we knew, a notice was out across the Bay Area that if they hired us again, clubs would lose their liquor license. “We had been playing nightclubs, and we had gotten busted for being underage. The Fillmore was a major goal, which came along at the right time. Doc then suggested that we start writing our own songs.” We grew our hair long, and started to be hippies, and changed our name.
“We wanted to get into the Fillmore Auditorium and with a name like the Motowns, dressed in suits with razor cuts, we knew we’d never get in there. He came in the band, and we eventually changed our name to the Tower of Power.” The reason for the band name change was that they had a specific goal in mind. I met “Doc” Kupka back in 1968, and gave him an audition.
“Rocco was the bass player, I was in there, and my brother was the drummer. For over 55 years, Tower of Power has delivered the best in funk and soul music.“We were a Soul band called The Motowns.” recalls Emilio Castillo.
