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\nContinued from Part Eight<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Let Go <\/strong>As to why Brotherhood folded, Phil says, \u201cThe short answer is that we didn\u2019t have any hits. We flopped. There was no demand to hear Brotherhood, either in concert or on the radio.\u201d While still best friends, throughout the band\u2019s time Drake and Phil continued to be at odds as to the band\u2019s direction. \u201cThey were twins, and loved the music, and they were best friends,\u201d says Drake\u2019s widow, Sandra. \u201cBut they were very opposite, too.\u201d While the legal wrangling and battles with RCA had taken their toll, Lynnette Stevens points to those \u201cproblems between Drake and Phil\u201d as the main cause of Brotherhood\u2019s demise. She notes that \u201cDrake loved Phil,\u201d but that the two \u201cargued constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s been suggested that RCA was pushing the band to tour. Drake was willing, but Lynnette says, \u201cMy recollection is that Phil did not want to go on tour.\u201d Offering his perspective on the band\u2019s structural problems, Ron Collins adds, \u201cThe reality is the Brotherhood, as far as I’m concerned, never really got off the ground as a band.\u201d He continues, \u201cIt’s true that we did do a short tour back east, but that was the extent of our playing together as a band.\u201d Buddha insists that \u201cif Drake had gotten his way, they would have piled into a van and \u2018Paul Revere\u2019d\u2019 around the country.\u201d Jeff Levin sums up the reason the band ended in three words: \u201clack of funds.\u201d The band never \u2013 then or now \u2014 saw a penny of royalties from any of the songs they recorded. \u201cDrake and I were flat broke; I had to sell my house and move into a rental property,\u201d Phil says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The individual members were going in different directions in their personal lives as well; Phil had become a Jehovah\u2019s Witness. Joe recalls that \u201cPhil would come into the studio and try to convert Drake and me. I\u2019d say, \u2018Sorry, that\u2019s not what we\u2019re here for.\u2019\u201d It’s worth pointing out that although Phil was experiencing a spiritual awakening \u2014 inspired and encouraged in large part by his friend and former manager Roger Hart \u2014 the lyrics he was penning for Brotherhood songs were not preachy, religious tracts. The sentiments espoused in Phil’s songs of the period put forth positive, uplifting and universal themes with which few would argue. In any event, whatever the specific reasons, Brotherhood was over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Phil believes that Joe Pollard \u201cgot fed up with me and Drake having our skirmishes, just like Smitty had.\u201d But Joe says, \u201cI heard about the arguing, but I never saw it. That never came out in front of me. They\u2019d have little artistic skirmishes, but never anything that would shut the session down.\u201d His reason for leaving was simple: \u201cno, gigs, no money.\u201d After trying to make a go with Drake backing Gene Redding on some live dates, the drummer took a touring gig with the Beach Boys. An in-demand musician, he toured with the Grass Roots, played in a Las Vegas show band, and lent his stick work to many other projects, both onstage and in the studio. He had a major role in development of some experimental tuned drums in the 70s, and in 1976 Joe unveiled the Pollard Syndrum, the first electronic drum. Today he owns a business and lives in California.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/don't_let_go.jpg\")
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