Tim has been playing guitar since he was 7 years old and was already in his first group, The Shadows, at the age of 13! Joining the Chocolate Wacthband during a pivotal time in the band’s history gave Abbott the opportunity and experience of a lifetime! Sharing the stage with groups such as, The Doors, Mount Rushmore, Canned Heat. Tim would later go on to work on his own solo material as well produce music for up and coming artists. Speaking with Tim about his life before and after CWB was a great pleasure and I’m really stoked to share this one. Enjoy!

Chocolate Watch Band’s Debut LP ‘No Way Out’. Tower Records 1967

When and where were you born? When did you first begin playing music and was guitar the first instrument you started playing? Was music relevant around your home growing up or was this something you found entirely on your own? Who influenced you early on and helped in your decision to be a musician?

I was born in Washington DC 1945 then moved out to Northern California as a baby… Got my first guitar when I was 7. Took lessons but hated it because I wanted to play rock and roll and the teacher was showing me lame music, so I quit. A year later I was at a friend's house and he had a guitar, I asked him if he could play and he played a blues riff. I got very excited and learned everything he knew. I later met a kid named Steve Catalico in Palo Alto that had a 335 Gibson and could play really well. I spent as much time at his house as I could and we would play for hours. At 13 I joined a band. At first it was a drummer and another guitarist, but later we added a singer and bass player, two saxes and Steve joined and we traded leads on guitars.

That band was called The Shadows, and we played quite a bit. We did two major shows with Peter Paul and Mary. I left that group when I was 16 and started a new group called the Sundowners. Alan Graham who was later with Bogus Thunder was the other singer and guitarist. We lasted about 2 years and I joined The Good News when we broke up. That band had some great musicians. Dave Torbert and Chris Herold who were later in Kingfish. That band played the Fillmore in San Francisco and did very well. We also shared a bill for several weeks with the Frantics, who would later become Moby Grape. Bill Graham wanted us back, but we split up. Dave and Chris reformed as Shango adding Matt Kelly who was also in Kingfish later. I left that band and joined the San Francisco Bay Blues Band. We were playing mainly Chicago blues style. That's when I got the call to join The Chocolate Watchband. I was friends with Bill Flores the bass player for Watchband and he liked my playing and wanted me to replace Mark Loomis when he left.

Can you tell me about the San Francisco Bay Blues Band? Was this the first band you were in? What kind of material did you guys play? What were those gigs like and where would you play? Are there any memories that may stand out to you the most during that time? Did you make it into the studio to record anything with that group? How did you meet your band mates?

The San Francisco Bay Blues Band was formed and the keyboard player Mike Calhoun knew me and wanted me to join the band. I was studying Mike Bloomfield with Paul Butterfield Blues Band and I fit what they were looking for. We played some clubs and small venues, but never got big.

Can you tell me about headlining for The Doors around the time you joined as well as the KFRC Magic Mountain Festival, the first rock music festival in the United States? What was that like to perform in front of nearly 40,000 people!? Are there any memories of the performances that stand out to you the most for those shows? Did you become friends with any of the groups during the two day festival?

I got a call from Bill Flores that they needed me and wanted me to bring Mark and Chris to play the KFRC Magic Mountain Festival. That was our first performance with the Watchband. We only had a few days to put together our first show.

What were some of the other gigs and dates that the group signed up for in the month-long commitment before you joined? What was your favorite gig with CWB when you were with them? In the time of your recruitment, were there any other bands that you may have been interested in joining, or maybe they were interested in you? What was the energy like on stage with the band?

We played several festivals and we were regulars at the Coconut Groove in Santa Cruz. Mostly dates up and down California. We played one with the Strawberry Alarmclock in Sacramento that was interesting. There was a rivalry because of our names. We did a street fair in San Francisco with Country Joe and the Fish and the Charlatans that was really great.

Tim w/ his Gibson 335 when he joined CWB Circa 1967

Can you tell me about the Oakland Coliseum show in '67? What was going on with the band both inside and out around this time? What exactly led to you and Flinders disagreement with Tolby and manager Ron Roupe? Did you guys already have a bad vibe prior to the Oakland gig? What was the chemistry like with the band once you joined? What did you do after the band split in December of '67? Did you continue to pursue music, and/or play with any other bands.

The date that I enjoyed the most was with The Doors at Oakland Coliseum. We played another date with Moby Grape at the Coliseum that I really enjoyed because I was friends with Don and Jerry from our time playing with the Frantics. The Watchband was very strong musically, we didn't have great material and Chris was a really good singer and amazing on harmonica, but did not have David Aguilar's charisma. Things were going bad by October, Chris and realized that we were being cheated by Roupe and Tolby. I gave them an ultimatum that if I didn't get get paid fairly that I would leave. I was the first an Chris followed shortly after. I went back with Chris Herold to form Haywire.

Billy Flores and Tim as Bandits Circa 1967

Were you with the band at the time that they appeared in the films, 'The Love-Ins' and 'Riot On Sunset Strip'? What did you take away the most with your time in CWB before the '99 revival? What kicked the revival of the group into gear in 1999? Where were you at that time in both your personal and musical life? What were you pursuing both musically and non-musically before the revival?

Watchband was playing in Berkeley and we had time to kill and we went to see Riot On Sunset Strip. I just missed being in the movies by a few months. In 1999 There was a promoter in San Diego that wanted the Watchband to do a festival and Mark didn't want to do it. David called me and asked me to join. I thought it was going to be a one off date. We went to San Diego and rehearsed for a few days and played the festival. Someone from Cavestomp was there and a few months later we played the show in New York and recorded a live album. There was also a promoter from Italy and a few months later we were playing in Rome.

Poster for ‘Riot On Sunset Strip’ Directed by Arthur Dreifuss Circa 1967

Poster for ‘The Love-Ins’ Directed by Arthur Dreifuss Circa 1967

With the late Mark Loomis backing out of the reunion, you took his place as the lead guitarist once again. What was the experience like sharing the stage with the band again? Had you kept in contact with them after all these years? Can you tell me about the international tour 2000 that shortly followed? You guys released a live album, 'At the Love-In live' in 2001. What was that gig like as well as the live show you guys played in New York's Cavestomp?

Cavestomp was great, except Bill was really struggling. He later needed heart surgery. The gig was going really well until the encore. We thought it would be great to do some new songs off our Get Away album that we had just finished. The crowd did not like it and it got a little ugly. They wanted classic Watchband and weren't interested in new material. We learned a lot from that and over the years we have slowly added new material to our shows but mixed it in with the classics. Since the reunion we have had many great gigs in the US and Europe. In 2004 we played the International Garage Festival on Randalls Island in NY. Great bill with Iggy Pop, The Strokes, Bo Diddley, and many other big names. They filmed the whole thing and it was supposed to come out as a movie, but I don't think that it got funded and hasn't come out yet. In 2007 we headlined the Purple Weekend in Spain. A non stop party for several days. Another show that was interesting was The Fuzz Fest in 2008 with The Electric Prunes, Sky Saxon, The Strawberry Alarmclock in Portland, OR. We headlinded the show and it was one of our best. In 2015 we headlined the Acid Test in SF and got some great videos that are out on YouTube. We returned to Italy in 2019 to do the Festival Beat in Parma. Great show for us and there is some video on that as well.

Chocolate Watch Band at New York’s Cavestomp Circa 1999

Can you tell me about recording the first CWB record, 'Get Away' after 30 years? What was the process like, and what did you bring to this album that, maybe, you didn't get the chance to back in the day if things were slightly different? Where did you guys record this and how long did it take?

The whole album was written and recorded over a weekend. The title track came out of the drum sound check. It was recorded on my 16 track tape machine in my ranch studio. David had some song ideas for the rest but we came up with arrangements and started tracking. We finished at 3am Monday morning and David was on a plane back to Denver a few hours later. That album was recorded before we had much time to develop our sound and it's kind of a mix of modern and retro styles.

In June of 2013 the band got back into the studio once again to work on a new album in San Jose, the band's hometown. What was the band's activity from 2015 until the release of the album, 'This is my voice' in 2019? What was the process like compared to that of 'Get Away'? The record was very well received and opened with a number dedicated to the late and great Sky Saxon of The Seeds. With the sad passing of Mark, where did this leave the band? I'm sure this occupied many headspace as a founding member of the group. Did this drive the band to put as much into the record as they could?

David Aguilar and Tim sharing the stage together in Portland at the Fuzz Fest Circa 2008

We wanted to re-record all of the songs that the group was best known for. Part of it was that the producers pulled a lot of junk and used other musicians and a studio singer because David and the band was out on tour and they just wanted to finish the album. So the new album of our classics was a produced by me and all our band played on it. We released it as The Chocolate Watchband Greatest Hits. Later it was picked up by a Scottish label 20 Stone Blatt and released as The Revolution Revisited. After that label went out of business Cleapatra Records picked it up.

This is My Voice was recorded in my studio in Santa Clara CA and took several years to complete. Mainly Because David was living in Colorado. I wrote one of the songs called Bombay Pipeline. It is a combination of Indian classical and California surf. I'm also featured on the lead vocal on a cover that we did of Talk Talk by the Music Machine. It was kind of a tribute to Sean Bonniewell. I had worked with in a store when I was younger and Alec Palao our bass player was good friends with him. We have 3 other covers on the Album. Desolation row by Bob Dylan and one that we did as a tribute to Sky Saxon, Can't Seem to Make You Mine. Alec is also good friends with Daryl Hooper the original keyboard player with the Seeds and asked him to come down and be on the song. He ended up being on Trouble Every Day as well. Daryl was in the band playing keyboard and guitar for a couple of years. This is My Voice, the title track was written by David and I. The album was really get for me as a musician and producer. I got a chance to play guitar, sitar, keyboards, harmonica, some bass and sing. The song Secret Rendezvous has done very well with airplay and the album has been well received.

What have you been up to during these rather strange times? How has it affected you both as a person as well as a musician? You're currently playing with Mark Kenoly & Kingdom Voice, correct? Can you tell me about that project? Are you guys working on any new material or planning to come back after the pandemic is all said and done?

I haven't played with Mark Kenoly and Kingdom Voice for quite a while. I'm mainly working on solo projects now and I am getting ready to release some singles. Also as a producer I'm working on a large number of projects for up and coming artists. I'm also working on a one man band thing that could be fun. This is going to be very different than anyone has seen before.

Tim at KeyStone Palo Alto Circa 1983 (Check out that axe!)

Reflecting on your career and life throughout time, what are you most proud of?

That I have had a chance to play with some very talented people and make some great music. And I'm still doing it.

Dakota Brown

https://www.thechocolatewatchband.com/

https://www.instagram.com/the_chocolate_watchband/

https://www.facebook.com/chocolatewatchband/

Tim Abbott-Chocolate Watchband Interview

Paul Dean-Jerusalem Interview

Dave Ellis-Charge Interview