@slaw---Steve, some info about The Chocolate Watchband:
They were literally a Garage Band, formed in late spring of 1965 in my hometown of Cupertino, California (a suburb of San Jose) and rehearsing in the garage of organist Jo Kemling. You don’t see Jo’s name on any of the three Watchband albums, do you? That’s because the original line-up was short-lived.
Jo and bassist Rich Young (Wikipedia lists his name as Rick, which is incorrect. How do I know? Read on ;-) were the last to join the group, being "stolen" from another group---named Faux Pas, a name suggested by Jo’s mother---which had worked up a set and was about to start playing out. That group was composed of Jo on Vox Continental organ, Rich on electric guitar and lead vocals, plus Jo’s younger brother Chuck on bass, and.....myself on drums. Chuck and I were 14 years old, just ending our 9th grade year, and Jo and Rich were students at Foothill College in Los Altos. I had seen The Beach Boys live in ’64 (my first show), but didn’t see The Beatles until later in ’65.
Also in The Watchband were two lead guitarists---Ned Torney and Mark Loomis---sort of like Steve Stills and Neil Young in Buffalo Springfield, and a real good looking lead singer/rhythm guitarist named Danny Phay. The drummer was three years ahead of me at Cupertino High, a guy named Gary Andijasevich. Another mistake in Wikipedia: It lists Pete Curry as the original drummer, Andrivasevich as a later replacement. WRONG! On the very day of The Watchband’s first live show (I attended), Gary suddenly took ill, and Pete---a good friend of Chuck and mine at CHS---was enlisted as his sub for that one show.
It was on Pete’s Japanese drumset that I first played a kit. Pete was in our Jr. High School (middle school for you youngin’s) orchestra, and had been playing a coupla years already. In spite of I having just gotten my first kit, and been playing only a coupla months (along with records in my bedroom), when Faux Pas chose between the two drummers they auditioned---Pete and I---they chose me. Ouch! My sense of playing for the greater good (the band, the song) had already come into play.
By the way, Pete has for about a quarter century been the bassist in Los Straitjackets, the Instrumental Band that now serves as Nick Lowe’s road (and sometimes recording) band. Prior to joining The Straitjackets, Pete and I had been playing together in The Hillbilly Soul Surfers, but Pete had left for The Straitjackets gig before we recorded the Moontan album with Evan Johns. Los Straitjackets are signed to Yep Rock, and have a lot of records available. A rockin’ little combo!
Anyway: Two lead guitarists was one too many, and The Watchband soon broke up. Ned Torney and Danny Phay started The Otherside, and Mark Loomis and Gary Andrivasevich kept the Chocolate Watchband name, adding a new bassist, rhythm guitarist, and lead singer. It was THAT line-up of TCW that got the record deal, and are seen in the teen-exploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip. Jo Kemling and Rich Young went back to school. ;-)
I saw both The Watchband and The Otherside live dozens of times; they were amongst the half-dozen hottest bands in San Jose in the mid-late 60’s, along with The Syndicate Of Sound (one album on Bell Records) and Stained Glass (two albums on Capitol). But what you hear on most of the Watchband albums is NOT what they sounded like live (the record label used a lot of different studio musicians on the albums). The singer was a flat-out Mick Jagger impersonator, and the group’s material consisted mostly of British Invasion Group songs---Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds, The Who, etc. It was for that reason they were not respected by the San Francisco bands, who viewed them as just a cover band. Which they pretty much were.
After Jo and Rich left Chuck and I high and dry, I got a call from the Frat Band (The Squyers) whose drummer---one Gary Andrivasevich---had quit to join The Watchband. They of course needed to replace him, and Gary gave them my name. I spent the next year learning the ropes of playing in a band, that education abruptly ending when a couple of the other members---all in their early-20’s---got drafted. Damned Vietnam War. Hope they made in back in one piece.
That was about it for San Jose, until The Doobie Brothers hit the big time, and then local Garage Band "Fritz" members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks moved to L.A. to seek their fame and fortune, and found it. ;-)
They were literally a Garage Band, formed in late spring of 1965 in my hometown of Cupertino, California (a suburb of San Jose) and rehearsing in the garage of organist Jo Kemling. You don’t see Jo’s name on any of the three Watchband albums, do you? That’s because the original line-up was short-lived.
Jo and bassist Rich Young (Wikipedia lists his name as Rick, which is incorrect. How do I know? Read on ;-) were the last to join the group, being "stolen" from another group---named Faux Pas, a name suggested by Jo’s mother---which had worked up a set and was about to start playing out. That group was composed of Jo on Vox Continental organ, Rich on electric guitar and lead vocals, plus Jo’s younger brother Chuck on bass, and.....myself on drums. Chuck and I were 14 years old, just ending our 9th grade year, and Jo and Rich were students at Foothill College in Los Altos. I had seen The Beach Boys live in ’64 (my first show), but didn’t see The Beatles until later in ’65.
Also in The Watchband were two lead guitarists---Ned Torney and Mark Loomis---sort of like Steve Stills and Neil Young in Buffalo Springfield, and a real good looking lead singer/rhythm guitarist named Danny Phay. The drummer was three years ahead of me at Cupertino High, a guy named Gary Andijasevich. Another mistake in Wikipedia: It lists Pete Curry as the original drummer, Andrivasevich as a later replacement. WRONG! On the very day of The Watchband’s first live show (I attended), Gary suddenly took ill, and Pete---a good friend of Chuck and mine at CHS---was enlisted as his sub for that one show.
It was on Pete’s Japanese drumset that I first played a kit. Pete was in our Jr. High School (middle school for you youngin’s) orchestra, and had been playing a coupla years already. In spite of I having just gotten my first kit, and been playing only a coupla months (along with records in my bedroom), when Faux Pas chose between the two drummers they auditioned---Pete and I---they chose me. Ouch! My sense of playing for the greater good (the band, the song) had already come into play.
By the way, Pete has for about a quarter century been the bassist in Los Straitjackets, the Instrumental Band that now serves as Nick Lowe’s road (and sometimes recording) band. Prior to joining The Straitjackets, Pete and I had been playing together in The Hillbilly Soul Surfers, but Pete had left for The Straitjackets gig before we recorded the Moontan album with Evan Johns. Los Straitjackets are signed to Yep Rock, and have a lot of records available. A rockin’ little combo!
Anyway: Two lead guitarists was one too many, and The Watchband soon broke up. Ned Torney and Danny Phay started The Otherside, and Mark Loomis and Gary Andrivasevich kept the Chocolate Watchband name, adding a new bassist, rhythm guitarist, and lead singer. It was THAT line-up of TCW that got the record deal, and are seen in the teen-exploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip. Jo Kemling and Rich Young went back to school. ;-)
I saw both The Watchband and The Otherside live dozens of times; they were amongst the half-dozen hottest bands in San Jose in the mid-late 60’s, along with The Syndicate Of Sound (one album on Bell Records) and Stained Glass (two albums on Capitol). But what you hear on most of the Watchband albums is NOT what they sounded like live (the record label used a lot of different studio musicians on the albums). The singer was a flat-out Mick Jagger impersonator, and the group’s material consisted mostly of British Invasion Group songs---Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds, The Who, etc. It was for that reason they were not respected by the San Francisco bands, who viewed them as just a cover band. Which they pretty much were.
After Jo and Rich left Chuck and I high and dry, I got a call from the Frat Band (The Squyers) whose drummer---one Gary Andrivasevich---had quit to join The Watchband. They of course needed to replace him, and Gary gave them my name. I spent the next year learning the ropes of playing in a band, that education abruptly ending when a couple of the other members---all in their early-20’s---got drafted. Damned Vietnam War. Hope they made in back in one piece.
That was about it for San Jose, until The Doobie Brothers hit the big time, and then local Garage Band "Fritz" members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks moved to L.A. to seek their fame and fortune, and found it. ;-)