by Bruce EderThe Chocolate Watchband never charted a record nationally. Indeed, ask most casual 1960s rock fans about them and youll probably get little more than a blank stare. Most will remember their AVI Records labelmates the Standells more clearly, because they actually managed to chart a few singles. Alas, the Watchband had the disadvantage of being a punkier band than the Standells, and suffering continual lineup changes. The Chocolate Watchband was a mod-outfitted garage punk unit par excellence, their sound founded on English-style R&B with a special fixation on the Rolling Stones at their most sneering. After hooking up with producer Ed Cobb, a former member of the 1950s vocal ensemble the Four Preps, the group released No Way Out in mid-1967, though the Watchband had already begun breaking up. A new incarnation carried them through 1967, though the bands existence as a viable performing unit were all but over. The groups producers had other ideas, however, releasing two more albums (The Inner Mystique, One Step Beyond) in 1968 and 1969 , sporting the bands name but not too much else associated with the group. That would probably have been the end of the groups story, but in the early 80s, record buyers and, more particularly, young musicians discovered the Watchband. A set of Australian reissues of the groups albums quickly found a market in America and Europe. Thus, it was no surprise when, in 1994, Sundazed Records reissued the complete Watchband catalog on compact disc.