During his SiriusXM “From My Home to Yours” program, Bruce Springsteen addressed the rumors, putting a stop to rumors and reaffirming that he was, in fact, expelled from his first band, The Rogues. The performer said: “I was rudely dismissed because my instrument was too inexpensive. We’ll talk about that straight away. Donnie Powell undoubtedly voted to keep me in, but I know Jay Gibson, wherever you are, spoke out against it. Powell had admitted to his followers that, in 1965, he had sided with Springsteen. His words were: Actually, I intended to clarify that today. I had no part in it, and neither did Craig [Caprioni]. Back in the day, if you had quality instruments, received instruction, and could truly play a chord, you were the band’s leader, and you [Springsteen] brought Jay in, who served as our main player. When Bruce was expelled from The Rogues, he joined the Castiles. The band practiced at Tex and Marion Vinyard’s Freehold home. When considering those formative years, Springsteen said:
They welcomed us as teens into a tiny house the size of your thumb because they had no children. We put up our equipment there and jammed there every day from 3 to 6 p.m. The hub of our first rock ‘n’ roll activity was there. They provided us with a place to live, financial assistance, and money so that we could purchase microphones and amplifiers when Tex received his weekend pay. They were crucial to the growth of up-and-coming bands in Freehold. It turns out that Springsteen and Powell’s first encounter took happened in Freehold. It was the first time Bruce had ever spoken to another musician, he said. He went on: “I feel the same way! We were a two-piece band similar to the White Stripes, except we were terrible. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that you, the drummer, showed me how to play “Honky Tonk” [by Bill Doggett] on the guitar. Every guitar player started out learning to play it.
