It takes more than a train to stop Tower of Power

For almost 50 years, Tower of Power has been a musical engine roaring through the landscape while blowing its signature sound.

And, it turns out, it takes more than a train to stop the band. In January, two of its members were hit by an Amtrak train while walking to a show in Oakland. Both men, bassist Marc Van Wageningen and drummer Dave Garibaldi, survived and are continuing their recovery. Despite the accident, the band has continued on, as dedicated to the music as ever. The pioneering horn-based group, , which has toured and recorded continuously since it was founded in 1968, still plays about 200 shows a year.

Tower of Power co-founder Emilio Castillo said the incident shook the group but also brought the members together.

“How do you get through these tragedies? They make you appreciate the love you have for one another. You pull together for the strength to make it through,” he said. “We have always been a big extended family, not just the current band but former band members. We’ve called upon members to fill in and people have come in and out. We have developed a great family relationship over the years.”

Garibaldi, who was the group’s original drummer, suffered serious injuries and was released from the hospital in February. Van Wageningen suffered more critical head injuries and remains in hospitalized, but is expected to recover.

The 10-man group, which still includes founding members Castillo, baritone sax player Stephen “Doc” Kupka and bassist Francis “Rocco” Prestia, stops for a show Friday, March 31, at the Turlock Community Theatre.

Speaking from his home in Phoenix, Castillo said the group’s origins in Oakland were critical to the development of its musical style. He said the city’s blue-collar roots and “potpourri of ethnicity” contributed to its heady heady mix of R&B, funk, soul and jazz. Next year will mark the band’s 50th anniversary. The milestone will be celebrated with the creation of a documentary and release of a new record.

“It’s the music that keeps us motivated. We definitely enjoy playing the music still. We make it exactly the way we want it to be and that makes it very simple on a daily basis,” Castillo said. “People ask, ‘How do you keep doing it?’ and I say, ‘It’s all I’ve ever done.’ ”

While the group has seen its share of band members come and go (and in many cases back again) over the decades, the current incarnation’s “new guy” has been with it for a dozen years. Castillo attributes that longevity to perseverance and a higher power.

“These days, I say, ‘God did it, I just showed up.’ We lived our lives. We came up in the late ’60s, early ’70s and that was a time of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. We made every mistake possibly imaginable. So there’s no other explanation that God wanted this to happen. We were just screw up to the nth degree. But we could play good, so the rest came later,” he said.

The train accident hasn’t been the group’s only setback. Almost exactly a year earlier, one of the band’s founding members, trumpeter Mic Gillette, died after a heart attack. Gillette played with the group on and off, and lived for many years in the Central Valley, making homes in Ceres and Manteca. He taught music in the region as well, and played professionally in his own group.

“You know, his loss hit me particularly hard; it’s hard when any of our family members pass. I knew Mic as long as I knew Rocco. We’ve known each other literally since we were 15 years old. When I was 16, I hired one of the world’s greatest trumpet players that every lived, and I didn’t realize it. I didn’t realize that until maybe halfway through my career,” Castillo said. “But the guys was just a freak on the trumpet. The guy was phenomenal and a really soulful guy and really creative. We would fight and bicker and laugh. He was a real good friend and I miss him terribly.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 3:06 PM with the headline "It takes more than a train to stop Tower of Power."