History The Monocles

The Monocles operated out of Greeley, Colorado whose Chicory label issued a number of mutated psychedelic punk singles circa 1966-67. Their "Spider And The Fly", is a re-creation of someone's nightmare. Falsetto shrieks of 'Help Me, Help Me' are superimposed upon a booming bass and mysterious organ, and echo effects. The end result is a most unusual single. Prior to this they'd recorded an earlier 45. The 'A' side "Psychedelic (That's Where It's At)" has some effective percussion and guitar backing which gives way to an instrumental freak-out.

The band formed in 1964 and one of its members, Kevin Mcllhenny, died in early 1966 before they had started recording. Their repertoire consisted of the popular hits of the day as well as their own, more demented originals and they used to drive around Boulder in a hearse.

In 1967 the band changed name to The Higher Elevation, backing Dave Diamond on his amazing "bubbly-fudge" "Diamond Mine" (a reworking of the instrumental track to their "Spider And The Fly") before releasing three 45s on Liberty.

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