Check out This fab story about The Bruthers (written by Ryan Dawson in 2017 and edited by Alf Delia for accuracy):

Not a bad way to go:  A story about a killer sixties garage band called “The Bruthers” 

You could spend the rest of your days (and paychecks) mining your favorite record stores and collector websites for sixties garage punk gold and never even scrape the surface of amazing fuzzy teen rocker 45’s that were released at that time. As soon as the Beatles and the Stones broke in the states, teens across America scrambled to start a band and record their hit single in order to tap into their share of the screaming girls and debauchery promised. It was from this enthusiastic and raucous climate that the Bruthers emerged from a small suburb north of New York City called Pearl River. Alf Delia, age 19 at the time, joined with three of his twelve younger siblings and began crafting (I’d argue) one of the most angsty and sincere teen punkers of all time. Alf moved to Portland Oregon in the late seventies and I recently had the good fortune to sit down with him at the Radio Room in NE Portland and reminisce about that golden era of music I hold so dear to my heart.  

Alf and his younger brothers started off in the early 1960’s as the Delia Brothers, playing gigs around New York that were set up by their dad and lawyer uncle. Alf was playing an accordion at the time (that’s what you did in the early sixties), but by the mid-sixties he decided to plug in and traded the accordion for a bass guitar to be more like their aforementioned rock idols. The Bruthers commenced practice in a chicken coop on their family’s property. Alf rightfully pointed out that this technically makes them chicken coop rock as well as 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 girlfriend, emotion poured out of Alf’s guitar and onto paper and “Bad Way to Go” was born.

The Bruthers recorded with producer Robin McBride who had some success recording with other regional acts such as the Remains, the Great Scots, and countless others. McBride was going to bat for a lot of local local talent and connected the Bruthers with the famous manager Sid Bernstein, who is credited with jump starting the British Invasion in the United States and managed other acts like the Young Rascals and the Blues Project. Bernstein helped get the Bruthers a record deal with RCA records and the single for “Bad Way to Go/Bad Love” was released in 1966. “We recorded at RCA studios where Neil Diamond and other big acts were recording at the time. They used to use the back stairwell for reverb back then.” 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 “Bad Way to Go” 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” , and were featured in a number of magazine ads including one for Carrier air conditioners in Life Magazine.

At the time of the single’s release the majority of the Bruthers 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. Once on a mini tour during Christmas break, the Bruthers played a week in Syracuse at a bar called the Little Brown Jug.  “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.” The Bruthers put on a raucous show that sometimes included sporting matching velvet jackets or running around in the crowd dressed in gorilla suits. Their wild antics, scruffy looks, and electric guitars landed them a spot on a Rhode Island TV show alongside the Beau Brummels.