The Story of the Alligators

In late 1993, former high school classmates, Gene Sweeney and Bob Palladino decided to try to put a blues band together. One of the big inspirations for starting a blues band was watching the many great local blues and rockabilly bands that played at the E-Burg Inn in Collegeville, PA. Unfortnuately, the Alligators never got a chance to play at the E-Burg because it changed its entertainment format. After the decision was made to form a blues band, the search for a drummer and saxophone or harmonica player began. Doing what any other musicians would do, Gene and Bob decided to raid other bands to find the rest of their band. At the time, Bob was playing in an alternative band with drummer John Collevechio. While John had not played in a blues band before, he was willing to try it out. The new band had their first rehearsal and a set list was started. Saxophonist Jeremy Fox was playing in a "band" with Gene Sweeney, who asked if he was interested in checking out this new band. Jeremy joined the band and the group began working on a repertoire and landing some gigs. During one the first rehearsals, Jeremy shared that in addition to playing saxophone, he had skills on the harmonica. Having a saxophone player who could play some harmonica opened the band up to a great amount of songs. Early on, the band worked on songs by Jimmy Reed, George Thorogood, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chuck Berry, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton and many others.

In March of 1994, The Alligators had the first gig at Tenth and Green in Reading, PA. With a rented PA system and lots of family and friends, the band debuted. All the members agreed it was a good beginning and were excited to keep the ball rolling. Within weeks, the Alligators had more shows under their belt. The shows ranged from Philadelphia to State College, PA. During the first few years the band played at all types of parties, ranging from biker parties to frat houses. They also got to perform at many of the notorious bars in the area including Maggies, Garfields, the Depot, and countless others. Most of the gigs were once and done with bar owners questioning a following. Pay ranged from the door to thirty bucks plus a half a case of Rolling Rock. A major turning point for the band came when they started playing at Binni and Flynn's in Wayne, PA. Here the pay was set and the crowd was usually big, drunk and looking for a good time. Bob was now bringing out the upright bass and the band wore matching bowling shirts. Even if folks weren't sure about what they were hearing, they remembered what they saw! To be continued...