The Rascals, pictured in the mid-1960s, are a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act formed in Garfield, NJ. and featuring two former members from New Jersey: Dino Danelli (Jersey City), far left, and Eddie Brigati (Garfield), second from right. Original members Felix Cavaliere, second from left, and Gene Cornish, far right, are on a 60th anniversary Rascals tour that will bring them June 13 to Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center. PHOTO COURTESY OF RHINO RECORDS
Having gotten their professional start in 1965 at The Choo Choo Club in Garfield, The Rascals are very much a Jersey band. Two of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act’s legendary founders, singer-songwriter-keyboardist Felix Cavaliere and guitarist-vocalist Gene Cornish, will return to the Garden State on June 13 to play Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center. The Rascals’ 60th anniversary tour will feature No. 1 hits, such as “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin’,” and “People Got to Be Free,” as well as the signature wakeup song, “A Beautiful Morning.”
Along with The Righteous Brothers, The Rascals are considered the epitome of blue-eyed soul. Their influence on the Sounds of Asbury Park is legendary. While coming up in the mid-to-late 1960s at the Jersey Shore, both Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt adored them. The band tapped Steve to induct them into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. “The Sopranos” creator David Chase loved Steven’s induction speech so much, he cast him as Silvio Dante in the classic HBO series.
Steve and his wife, Maureen, went on to produce the 2012 Broadway production “Once Upon a Dream,” a Rascals revue starring the original band members. They also include Garfield-based singer-songwriter-percussionist Eddie Brigati and Jersey City-born drummer Dino Danelli. Unfortunately, Dino died in 2022 and Eddie no longer tours. But Felix and Gene, who hail from New York, have banded together to show why The Rascals also have been inducted into the Grammy, Vocal, Songwriter, Hit Parader and Hammond halls of fame.
I spoke with Felix about the band’s amazing career, and why it’s still fun to share the music with audiences filled with smiling faces.
When The Rascals were starting out at the Choo Choo Club in Garfield, what was the New Jersey music scene like then compared today?
Very different. For example, the clubs did not allow you to play your own music. You had to do covers. That was very different. And you had to wear a suit, tie and jacket. You had to be dressed up. That was a major difference.
What is the Choo Choo Club now?
I don’t know. I live in Nashville now. I know the owner’s son. We keep in touch. It was the first place that we were able to work as a band just starting out. The owner, Sal Bonura, gave us a good shot. It was a great place with a lot of people. It got its name because the train tracks were behind the stage, so you know those trains were for real.
How did Sid Bernstein, the guy who brought The Beatles to America, have an impact on The Rascals that led the band to become the first white act signed to Atlantic Records?
While at the Choo Choo Club, a gentleman offered us a job for the summer in the Hamptons on Long Island at a place called The Barge. It was an important opportunity because a lot of people within the music industry vacationed there during the summer. The gentleman who got us the Hamptons gig knew Sid and introduced us. Sid started managing us, and our pay immediately doubled at The Barge. Then he tried to get us a record deal with Atlantic Records, the only label that would let us produce ourselves. None of the other labels would even hear about that, but they said yes! It was the beginning of a fantastic relationship.
You hear all the bad things about the music business, but these gentlemen that started the label were not only interested in making money. They wanted to make great music.
We had two really great producers: Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. It was a lovely, wonderful, fantastic experience to be on Atlantic Records.
Were The Rascals friendly with the other blue-eyed soul bands of the day, The Righteous Brothers and The Box Tops?
Sure because in those days, there were a lot less people involved in this crazy business so we would run across those people quite often.
What impact did The Rascals have on the Asbury Park music scene of the 1960s, and how did that impact come full circle working with Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen on occasion since 1982?
We were Americans. That was a big deal.
I remember doing an album one time down in the Village. I was looking for 45s for the project I was working on, and this guy comes up and says to me, ‘Felix, you made it OK for Italians to have long hair.’ Prior to that, everybody was English. There was the Lovin’ Spoonful, but they were more like folk.
I know we had the R&B influence on Bruce and Steve, and thank God, they influenced us years later. I live in Nashville near a couple of the E Street guys down here. It’s definitely come full circle, as you say.
Are you a fan of the HBO series ‘The Sopranos?’
Yes and no. Yes, because the way Steven got the show was inducting us into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. David Chase called him up after that.
No, because I don’t like the way Italians are depicted in that show. It’s a great show and all, but Italian families are more than that. It’s like Mr. Dangerfield said, ‘Give us a little respect.’ We don’t need that crap. Go to Italy. See what real Italians are like.
People don’t realize how that affects opinions all over the world. I’m amazed that that’s what people think Italians are like, and we’re not!
My Mom is 100 percent Italian and feels the same way. What did you like most about working with Steve and his wife, Maureen, on the Broadway Rascals show, ‘Once Upon a Dream’?
The Broadway part of it was fantastic, performing at the Richard Rodgers Theater, where ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘South Pacific’ were produced. It was historically fun to be on the same stage where all that happened.
The Rascals are in several other halls of fame, including the Musicians Hall of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Hit Parader Hall of Fame, and the Hammond Hall of Fame. Shouldn’t the Garfield, NJ-formed band also be in the New Jersey Hall of Fame and why?
That’s a good question. To be honest, we started in New York City, but we didn’t work until we came to New Jersey. It’s beautiful that we’ve been able to work throughout the tristate area, and all have accepted us as theirs. And that’s where the most faithful fans are. But we don’t call them fans. We call them friends.
What would you say is The Rascals signature song and why?
I think there are songs that have stood the test of time. ‘Beautiful Morning’ is one. That’s resonated all over the globe for people who want to smile when they get up. Let me throw in ‘People Got to Be Free.’ That’s really important for people to understand what’s going on with all this BS. I’m not going to get into a political discourse, but it’s important for people like Springsteen to come out and talk like that. I’ve got to give anybody who does that a lot of credit. Most people today are afraid to say anything. Whether you agree with Bruce or not, God bless him for coming out and saying that. People got to be free to talk, to say what they think.
So after 60 years, is the current anniversary tour a farewell or will you and Gene continue to work as The Rascals?
We’ll continue to work as long as we can. I don’t know what else to do. I’d be really bored otherwise.
We do cruises. One is The Flower Power Cruise. It’s a ’60s and ’70s musical cruise for eight days of nothing but music from those years. And, of course, food. You can’t forget the food. The joy that crowd has is fantastic. The ship holds 3,000, and it’s sold out every year. It brings so much joy to people hearing the songs of their youth.
How could we say that we don’t want do that anymore, that we’d rather stay home and take out the garbage? It’s fun. Traveling is not so much fun, but when we get there, we play, smile, and have a good time. That’s what we’re there for.
Any chance of a new Rascals album?
I doubt that. I do my own albums. I just put one out during COVID. I decided let me do an album. It was called ‘Then and Now.’ Around the same time, The Beatles released a song called ‘Now and Then.’ Just my luck (laughs).
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