The Royals: A Band With A Loyal Following

To say that The Royals are a musical anomaly only scratches the surface.

Not many bands can trace their roots back more than a half century—to 1964—or say they’ve amicably broken up and reunited nearly a half dozen times over that span.

Even fewer can say they’ve endured losing bandmates to military drafts, boast members who’ve held town chairmanship posts for opposing political parties, and picked up the pieces following the tragic deaths of two members, including their original lead singer.

And they’re most likely the only group to reunite for a wedding—and then agree to play a free concert immediately after the reception to ensure that their fans wouldn’t crash the festivities to see them perform.

“We’ve always had a loyal following,” said 70-year-old John Schaefer of Aquebogue, the lead guitarist for The Royals, which performs the music of Motown and other hits from the 1960s and 1970s, along with select tunes from the 1980s. “It’s amazing that there are so many people who come and see us. Some of the people … have to be in their late 70s or early 80s.”

It’s that loyal fan base that inspires The Royals to keep performing even though most of them are now in their early 70s themselves. They will take the stage again at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, at the Riverhead Polish Hall—the same venue as their last sold-out performance, held almost a year ago.

Though they love performing, which they’ve done at high school dances and bars on the North and South Forks since they were teens, The Royals have only been averaging about one concert annually the past few years, citing demanding schedules, both personally and professionally, and pointing to the general aches and pains that come with advancing years.

“The only thing that limits us is our age, our health … and if people still want to come out and hear us,” said John Czygier, 69, of Remsenburg, the band’s original organist, who dusts off his Hammond B-3 whenever they’re preparing for a show.

The Suffolk County Surrogate Court judge recently recalled the group’s early days, when they lied about their ages to secure auditions and had to rely on their parents for rides.

“We lost a lot of jobs because bar owners would find out that we were under 18,” said Mr. Czygier, a former chairman of the Southampton Town Republican Party in addition to a veteran judge. “We would audition and were good enough to compete with older bands—but we couldn’t drive at night.”

The opportunities rolled in once they turned 18, and Mr. Czygier remembers playing at The Apple Tree in Mattituck—an establishment he describes as a “real roadhouse”—at least two times a week for a year straight.

He also recalls playing at The Barge in Quogue, a refrigerated barge converted into a nightclub. The Royals played there in 1966, a year after Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Rascals—a New Jersey rock band that had three No. 1 hits between 1966 and 1968: “Good Lovin,” “Groovin’” and “People Got to Be Free”—performed there.

The Royals shared the stage with a little-known Canadian band called Sparrow. Unlike The Royals, most of whom had short hair due to their Catholic school upbringing, members of The Sparrows sported long hair, were older and liked wearing leather.

The next spring, Mr. Czygier recalls seeing the same guys perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show”—though by then they went by the name Steppenwolf, a rock band best known for its hits “Born to Be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride.”

“Our claim to fame is that we were right in between The Rascals and Steppenwolf,” Mr. Czygier said.

Mr. Schaefer, who co-founded the group 54 years ago with the late Eddie Gatz, never imagined being part of a band. In fact, when Mr. Gatz, who attended Mercy High School and played drums, initially reached out to him, Mr. Schaefer, a Riverhead High School student at the time, said he didn’t even know how to play.

So he borrowed his brother Richard’s guitar, taught himself, and both he and Mr. Gatz were off, recruiting others. Mr. Schaefer recalls hooking up with Bob Dunkirk who, in addition to singing, came up with a name they could all agree on: The Royals.

They had grown to five members by then, with Mr. Czygier on keyboard and Theodore “Teddy” Jasinski assuming lead vocals. “He was a white Polish guy who sounded like a soul singer,” Mr. Schaefer said of Mr. Jasinski, who was killed in a car accident two decades ago.

Though he had already graduated from Riverhead, James “Butch” Langhorn was recruited to join The Royals. The 74-year-old Calverton resident, a former longtime chairman of the Riverhead Town Democratic Committee, sang in the same school and church choirs as both Mr. Jasinski and Mr. Dunkirk.

Mr. Langhorn, who plays the tambourine and cowbell, enjoys singing lead vocals for hits made famous by The Temptations, The Supremes, and Earth, Wind & Fire, as well as lesser known but equally influential bands from the same era, like Vanilla Fudge. Some of their more popular covers include Del Shannon’s “Runaway,” Mack Rice’s “Mustang Sally,” The Supremes’ “Come See About Me,” and the Rascals’ “Good Lovin.”

The band’s first breakup occurred in 1968, four years after forming, when Mr. Jasinski was drafted into the Army and went on to serve in Vietnam. It would be almost two decades before they would be inspired to perform again, at the request of one of Mr. Schaefer’s friends.

The year was 1986, and Len Kobylenski, a fellow Riverhead High School alumnus, was getting remarried. The reception was going to follow at the hall now known as Giorgio’s in Baiting Hollow.

Word spread quickly about the reunion, and longtime fans of The Royals threatened to crash the reception. To avoid such a possibility, the band did the only thing possible to keep the peace.

“We played at the wedding, and when the wedding was over, we just opened the doors and started playing again,” Mr. Schaefer recalled. “We had about 300 people show up,” Mr. Czygier added.

“That was the happiest day of my life,” continued Mr. Schaefer, who organized the reunion. “I thought they were only going to do it once. But we continued to play.”

The Royals performed at the old Club Marakesh in Westhampton Beach four times over the next two years, while also playing at local Moose lodges and the Polish Hall. They even performed at the opening celebration of Pindar Vineyards in Peconic—an event that Mr. Schaefer says was attended by Billy Joel.

They would continue performing several times a year until 1991, when Mr. Schaefer moved to Montana, and The Royals broke up for the second time.

They would not play together again until 2007, and that reunion did not last long after a member’s spouse fell ill.

After another hiatus, this one lasting more than five years, The Royals teamed up for the fourth time in 2012, and have been performing ever since—though fans must understand that won’t have a lot of options in terms of concert dates.

But when they do perform, The Royals leave it all out on the stage.

“We’re not the kind of band that goes and plays in a club on a given weekend,” said Mr. Schaefer, noting that they perform about 15 songs per set, and average three sets per concert.

In preparation for their upcoming show, the longtime friends have been practicing in Mr. Schaefer’s basement four to five hours every Saturday since June. Mr. Schaefer, Mr. Langhorn, Mr. Dunkirk and Mr. Czygier last gathered on September 15, where they were joined by drummer Butch Cavouto and bass guitarist Bill Dunkirk, Bob Dunkirk’s younger brother.

“We’ve gone through bass players, and we’ve gone through drummers, but the nucleus of the group is still the same,” said Mr. Langhorn, a Vietnam veteran himself.

He says the upcoming concert will be a litmus test in determining just how many times they can perform moving forward, with a gentle nod to their advancing years. “The older you get, the slower you get,” Mr. Langhorn said. “I’d like to do it two or three times a year.”

As for the reason for their continued popularity, Mr. Czygier has a theory.

While many bands formed in the 1960s, the same decade as The Beatles’ British Invasion, only a few boasted members who could sing with and support each other.

“Back then, once The Beatles came out, everyone was in a band,” Mr. Czygier said. “All you needed back then was a guitar, drums and an amp—and know how to play three chords.

“We assembled a bunch of guys who know how to sing and how to sing in harmony, instead of just yelling or screaming into a microphone.”

Concert tickets for The Royals on Saturday, September 29, at 7 p.m. at the Riverhead Polish Hall are $30 each and can be purchased by calling 631-369-1619, 212-689-1422 or 631-727-9200.