… Read Full Bio ↴There were two 1960s bands with similar names, but different spellings:
1. The Chocolate Watchband from San Jose, CA., United States.
2. The Chocolate Watch Band from London, United Kingdom.
If you are playing the American band, please suggest a spell correction to Last.fm. Not only would it fix the spelling, it would help differentiate between two bands. Unfortunately, Last.fm auto-corrects everything to the U.K. band at the moment, so scrobbles are badly mixed up.
The Chocolate Watchband is an American garage rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Altos, California. The band went through several lineup changes during its existence. Combining psychedelic and garage rock components, their sound was marked by David Aguilar's lead vocals, as well as proto-punk musical arrangements. The band's rebellious musical posture made them one of the harder-edged groups of the period. This band should not be confused with The Chocolate Watch Band, a London-based UK group that issued two singles on Decca Records in 1967.
The Chocolate Watchband was signed to Tower Records in 1966 and released their first single, "Sweet Young Thing", in 1967. Later in the year, the band released their debut album, No Way Out. Though the album was nationally unsuccessful, the band became a frequent attraction in San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1968, their second album, The Inner Mystique, was released and included the band's most popular song, a cover version of "I'm Not Like Everybody Else". By 1969, the band released their final album, One Step Beyond, however it was not as highly regarded as their past work, and the band broke up in 1970.
The Chocolate Watchband was formed in the summer of 1965 in Los Altos, California by Ned Torney and Mark Loomis, who had previously played guitar together in a local band known as The Chaparrals in the previous year. The two were joined by other local collegies Rick Young (bass guitar), Pete Curry (drums), Jo Kemling (organ), and Danny Phay (lead vocals) to form the first version of the Chocolate Watchband, a name that was originally meant to be taken as a joke. All five musicians had a background rooted in rock and roll and blues, with each one having spent time on the local club circuit. The band garnered a local following, integrating cover versions of British Invasion groups, particularly The Who, into their live repertoire. Curry was soon replaced by Gary Andrijasevich, a jazz drummer from Cupertino High School. They never recorded any commercial releases, but rare demos by the group appeared in the 1990s. The band was gaining popularity until Torney and Phay accepted an offer from a rival band, The Otherside, to join their group. Kemling followed soon after, effectively dismantling the first incarnation of the band.
With the first version of the Chocolate Watchband disbanded, Mark Loomis moved on to join The Shandels. Quickly becoming disillusioned, he took the discarded name "Chocolate Watchband" and recruited The Shandels' bass player Bill 'Flo' Flores and former Watchband drummer, Gary Andrijasevich. Next he convinced former Topsiders guitarist Dave "Sean" Tolby to enlist. The group recruited David Aguilar as the frontman and lead singer; at the time, Aguilar was a college student studying biology at San Jose State University.
Loomis naturally asserted the role of leader during this initial time period, although the band never acknowledged it had a designated leader. Songs to cover were presented, shows were talked about, the band voted together on all decisions. Sean Tolby obtained the latest in Vox equipment while Loomis provided the space for nightly rehearsals. Within a week, the band began performing at local clubs in San Francisco's South Bay, playing a range of songs that included obscure British import tunes never released before in the States.[5] Unlike other local bands who were covering the latest hits from the top 10 on radio, the Chocolate Watchband played songs few people had ever heard before. Thus, in many instances, these songs became associated with the Chocolate Watchband and not the original artists.
Six months later, after opening for the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore Auditorium, Hollywood music producer Bill Graham urged the Chocolate Watchband to sign a management contract with him. He was opening up a new Fillmore East in New York City and wanted to shuttle the Chocolate Watchband, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane back and forth from coast to coast as his personal house bands. However, having signed a management contract with local promoter Ron Roupe a week earlier, their future followed a different path. Roupe, having secured a recording deal with Green Grass Productions in Los Angeles, introduced the band to producers Ed Cobb and Ray Harris. The band flew to Los Angeles and entered the recording studio; as a warm-up to show Cobb their capabilities, they quickly recorded down tracks for "Come On," a Chuck Berry song that had also been the first track recorded by the Rolling Stones (the latter of whom the band was frequently compared to). Cobb introduced the band to a song he had written a week earlier named "Sweet Young Thing". Released in December 1966 by Tower Records, the B-side featured the group's cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", another stage song the band regularly played. However, unknown to the Watchband, Tower Records farmed the distribution of their recordings out to Uptown Records, a rhythm and blues label with predominantly black artists.
Frontman Aguilar began writing material for the band, including originals like "Right By My Side", "Gone & Passes By", "Don't Need Your Lovin' Anymore", "No Way Out" and "Sitting There Standing." The band's second single was the more restrained track "Misty Lane", released with a sweet orchestrated ballad, "She Weaves a Tender Trap", as its B-side. During this period the band were featured in two Sam Katzman films: Riot on Sunset Strip and The Love-Ins. The latter film inspired the group's next single; "Are You Gonna Be There At The Love-In", which was written and recorded in one day. The single was released with the B-side "No Way Out", an instrumental spawned from a studio warm-up with spontaneous Aguilar vocals that Cobb later took credit for. With Loomis gone, the band drifted apart in late 1967, shortly after the release of their first album, No Way Out (1967). The band would reform with Sean Tolby, Billy Flores, Gary Andrijasevich, Tim Abbott and Mark Flinders, who came together to fulfill outstanding contracts with the record label. The third incarnation of the band was based on a blues rock sound, but lasted merely weeks.
After the departure of Loomis, Andrijasevich and Aguilar, Tolby and Flores were left with the duty of fulfilling a month's worth of bookings. They decided to enlist the services of Tim Abbott, Mark Whittaker and Chris Flinders, members of the San Francisco Bay Blues Band. The band still maintained a level of success, but the sound and style differed somewhat from the original band. They managed to secure a place as the opening act for The Doors, and also performed at the KFRC Magic Mountain Festival—the first rock music festival in the United States—among thirty other bands in June 1967. In late 1967, Abbott and Flinders had a disagreement with Tolby and manager Ron Roupe over financial matters, which ensured the indefinite break-up of the Watchband in December 1967.
In 1967, they were featured in two movies, The Love-Ins and Riot on Sunset Strip.
The Chocolate Watchband was reformed in late 1968, with the Danny Phay, the group's original vocalist in its 1965 inception, re-joining the band, as well as guitarist Ned Torney; bassist Bill Flores and guitarist Sean Tolby from the 1967 line-up remained. The band worked with Cobb to produce their third studio album, One Step Beyond (1969). One Step Beyond was a commercial failure except for the songs written and sung by David Aguilar that were put in on the album from past recording sessions, but on other tracks session players - including Moby Grape guitarist Jerry Miller (who played on "Devil's Motorcycle") - were used. The Chocolate Watchband recorded a Cobb tune already done by The Standells, "Medication" (on The Inner Mystique).
The band had begun to contest Cobb's influence because they believed he presented them as being more instrumentally refined on record than they were live; Cobb also used session musicians, sometimes entire ghost bands, to record portions of Chocolate Watchband albums. Less than half of the group's second official studio release, The Inner Mystique (1969), featured studio work by official members of the band; the majority of the record featured session musicians, and a singer named Don Bennett contributed vocals on the track "Let's Talk About Girls."
After their dissolution in 1970, a revival of interest in psychedelic and garage rock in the late 1980s and 1990s brought the group to public attention, and their original vinyl releases became collectors' items, selling among private sellers for over USD$100. Rhino Records issued a best-of release of the band in 1983, while Sundazed and other labels re-issued the original albums on compact discs, including bonus tracks. After leaving the band, its members each embarked on other non-musical pursuits; Aguilar had worked as an astronomy professor after the band's dissolution.
Continued interest prompted the band to reunite in 1999, with Dave Aguilar, Tim Abbott (replacing Mark Loomis, who backed out of the reunion), Bill Flores, and Gary Andrijasevich; Michael Reese was added as drummer in place of Sean Tolby. The group began to touring internationally in 2000, culminating in a show at New York's Cavestomp and a live album, At the Love-In Live! in 2001. They also issued a studio album,Get Away, in between the Cavestomp show and the live album. The group has since performed in Europe and the United States. In 2005, Melts in Your Brain . . . Not on Your Wrist, a two-CD compilation of the Chocolate Watchband's complete Tower and Uptown recordings, was released.
In June 2013, the Chocolate Watchband made it back to a recording studio in their hometown San Jose, to begin a new album. From 2015 to the present (2018), the band's lineup is Tim Abbott on lead guitar and vocals; Gary Andrijasevich on drums; David Aguilar on vocals, keyboards, and harmonica; Alec Palao on bass and backing vocals; and Derek See on guitar and vocals.
The first song recorded was a tribute to Sky Saxon who had recently died. Former member Mark Loomis died on September 26, 2014, in Hawaii.
From David Aguilar:
This is a sad moment for all of us in the band. I never quite understood Mark's withdrawal and leaving, but in later years he expressed deep regret in breaking up the band. However, at that point in time there was no way to revive that magical moment in time. I always marveled at his guitar work and as time passed, my admiration for his musical abilities and unique guitar playing grew like the expanding universe. I can't express how sad I feel knowing all that is now permanently behind us. In my heart all I can say is thank you Mark for making the Watchband happen. And thank you for selecting me as your lead singer. With our fans - your musical notes will always play on.
Discography
Singles
"Sweet Young Thing" b/w "Baby Blue" (Uptown 740) (1966)
"Misty Lane" b/w "She Weaves a Tender Trap" (Uptown 749) (1967)
"Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" b/w "No Way Out" (Tower 373) (1967)
Albums
No Way Out (Tower ST 5096) (1967)
The Inner Mystique (Tower ST 5106) (1968)
One Step Beyond: (Tower ST 5153) (1969) (as The Chocolate Watchband)
Get Away (Orchard 3716) (2000)
At the Love-In Live! (Roir 8272) (2001)
Compilations
The Best of the Chocolate Watchband (Rhino RNLP-108) (1983)
Forty Four (Big Beat WIKA 25) (1984)
Melts in Your Brain...Not On Your Wrist! (Big Beat CDWIK2 249) (2005)
Members
Danny Phay - lead vocals (1965; 1968–69)
David Aguilar - lead vocals, harmonica (1966–67; 1999–present)
Bill Flores - bass, backing vocals (1966–69; 1999–2001) (died in 2018)
Mark Loomis - lead guitar, keyboards (1966–67; 1968–69)
Sean Tolby - rhythm guitar (1966–67; 1968–69)
Gary Andrijasevich - drums, backing vocals (1966–69; 1999–present)
Chris Flinders - lead vocals (1967)
Tim Abbott - rhythm guitar (1967; 2015–present)
Mark Whittaker - drums (1967)
Ned Torney - guitar (1968–69)
Michael Reese - drums (1999–2001)
Alec Palao - bass, backing vocals (2015–present)
Derek See - guitar, vocals (2015-present)
Jo Kemling, keyboards original incarnation 1965/1966
Rich Young, bass, original incarnation 1965
Gossamer Wings
The Chocolate Watch Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A million miles away
I'd love to fly right up to you
See your beautiful star, close up
A star like yours is one in a million
One of those very special things
But if I'm to get to see this beautiful thing so close
I need my chocolate wings
I need my chocolate wings
To fly up to your stars
Give me my chocolate wings
Or our love won't go too far, go too far...
But you won't give me these things that I need
Yet I'd do anything for you
I've waited so long for this moment to come
I think it's time, don't you?
So if you don't let me see your guiding light
That star that shines so bright
I guess somebody else just might
I guess, my darling, this is goodnight...
The Chocolate Watch Band's song "Gossamer Wings" speaks about the longing to be close to someone special who seems distant like a star in the sky. The singer wishes to fly up and see this beautiful star from close, but he cannot do it without his chocolate wings. This chocolate-winged flight is a metaphor for the power of love that can help one achieve the impossible. The star becomes a symbol of that special person worth traveling far and wide to meet. However, the singer's beloved denies him these wings, endangering their relationship's future. The song ends on a sad note as the singer accepts that he might lose their love and says his final farewell.
In summary, "Gossamer Wings" is a tale of the depth of love, the desire to be close to someone special, and the willingness to go to great lengths to make it work. The chocolate wings represent the power of love, and the star signifies the beloved, and the singer's journey to meet them reflects the lengths one is willing to go for love.
Line by Line Meaning
I see you in the sky
The singer envisions their loved one as a celestial being, unreachable high above them in the sky.
A million miles away
The distance between the singer and their loved one seems immeasurable, likely emotionally rather than physically.
I'd love to fly right up to you
The singer desires to directly connect with their loved one, to bridge the gap between them and be together.
See your beautiful star, close up
The artist wants to fully experience their loved one's beauty and radiance from the nearest possible perspective.
A star like yours is one in a million
The artist recognizes how unique and special their loved one is, particularly in relation to others in their life or experience.
One of those very special things
The singer reiterates the idea that their loved one is invaluable and stands out in their life.
But if I'm to get to see this beautiful thing so close
The singer acknowledges that their love is conditional on being able to fulfill their desire of getting closer to their loved one.
I need my chocolate wings
Chocolate wings symbolize a tool or resource that the artist needs in order to achieve their goal of getting closer to their loved one.
To fly up to your stars
The artist repeats their desire to ascend to where their loved one is, among the stars in the sky.
Give me my chocolate wings
The artist addresses their loved one directly, asking them to provide what they need in order to get close.
Or our love won't go too far, go too far...
The singer warns that their love will falter or end if they can't achieve their goal of getting closer to their loved one.
But you won't give me these things that I need
The artist expresses their frustration that their loved one won't help them achieve their goal.
Yet I'd do anything for you
Despite the lack of support from their loved one, the singer insists that they are still willing to go to great lengths for them.
I've waited so long for this moment to come
The singer elaborates how long they have been anticipating the chance to be with their loved one as they desire.
I think it's time, don't you?
The singer suggests that now is the appropriate moment for them to achieve what they desire from their loved one.
So if you don't let me see your guiding light
The artist frames the request in terms of their loved one's ability to lead or guide them to what they want, reinforcing their coveted role in the artist's life.
That star that shines so bright
The guiding light or the ultimate goal is depicted as a shining star or light in the darkness, representing clarity in the chaos.
I guess somebody else just might
The singer is threatening to abandon their quest and move on if their loved one won't help them achieve what they want.
I guess, my darling, this is goodnight...
The singer concludes with some resignation, implying the end of the relationship or a farewell to their loved one.
Writer(s): D. Bennett, E. Mcelroy Copyright: Embassy Music Corporation
Contributed by Madelyn W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
OSI
Lyrics:
I went away last night,
don't know where I've gone....
I went away last night,
collagic rainbows in geometric forms...
I went away... last night...
<bridge/chrous thing>
I went away beyond space and time.
In sweet flight on gossamer wings. @psyonick777 @vision15000
DeadDeadDeadDeadDead
what's crazy about this song is it's credited to two session musicians "Don Bennett/Ethan McElroy" but it's probably the best song (in my opinion) on the album. can't really find much more information about these two guys. love how you could just be a ghost back then
Marco Salvalaggio
A basic version of this song was published in '66 by a previous incarnation of the band. They were called The Hogs and the song title was "Loose Lip Synch Ship". That was credited to Aguilar and Loomis two members of both The Hogs and Chocolate Watchband. Maybe for some reason for the album they had to change the names.
Harry Mccabe
Gossamer Wings a spaced out gem !! I love it !!
OSI
Lyrics:
I went away last night,
don't know where I've gone....
I went away last night,
collagic rainbows in geometric forms...
I went away... last night...
<bridge/chrous thing>
I went away beyond space and time.
In sweet flight on gossamer wings. @psyonick777 @vision15000
plastidecorable
Can anybody answer me please why this song (and the complete album) is not in Spotify ? 😔
Harry Mccabe
Inner mystique and no way out 2 gems by the watchband!
Fantastic 1
YESSSSS
Amanda Miela Violetto
kinda sounds like the magnetic fields in a way
Matt.Bushy
Nice man...far out!
florpcorp
@newenglishsound this song is just one of the band's earlier songs, Loose Lips Sync Ships, with don bennett singing and some session musician overdubs plus far out sound effects. the basic backing track is still the band