Listen to the “Coolest Song in the World” by Psychedelic Rockers the Chocolate Watchband

The Chocolate Watchband
(Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Formed in 1965 by guitarists Mark Loomis and Ned Torney, the Chocolate Watchband released their first album, No Way Out, in 1967 and followed it a year later with The Inner Mystique.

The guitar work of Mark Loomis was inventive and refreshingly original

The guitar work of Loomis (who died in 2014) was inventive and refreshingly original, his playing delightfully angular and completely devoid of cliches.

No doubt the The Chocolate Watchband’s sound was strongly influenced by their early interest in covering songs by obscure British groups instead of playing Top 10 hits like everyone else.

The Chocolate Watchband 'This Is My Voice' album artwork

(Image credit: Dirty Water Records)

“Dark Side of the Mushroom” offers a good taste of how Loomis orchestrated guitar parts, as do “I Ain’t No Miracle Worker” and “Gossamer Wings,” both tour-de-force examples of the outside-the-box songwriting and production values that made the group one of the most organic and original-sounding psychedelic bands of the time.

Although the CWB have dissolved and reformed many times, they reunited and got back in the studio in 2013 (with guitarist Tim Abbott replacing Loomis) to record the critically acclaimed album This Is My Voice.

To wit, the debut single, “Secret Rendezvous” was heralded as the “coolest song in the world” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage program in February 2019.

Browse the Chocolate Watchband's catalog here.

Art Thompson
Senior Editor

Art Thompson is Senior Editor of Guitar Player magazine. He has authored stories with numerous guitar greats including B.B. King, Prince and Scotty Moore and interviewed gear innovators such as Paul Reed Smith, Randall Smith and Gary Kramer. He also wrote the first book on vintage effects pedals, Stompbox. Art's busy performance schedule with three stylistically diverse groups provides ample opportunity to test-drive new guitars, amps and effects, many of which are featured in the pages of GP.