The Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 should have been The Paupers launch pad to international fame. Only four months earlier, the Canadian folk-rock band had seemed destined for the top when Bob Dylans manager Albert Grossman bought their contract and began hyping them as the next biggest thing since The Beatles. A month prior to the festival, the group had showcased its talent at a string of well received shows at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, and had spent two solid weeks working up a suitable set list for the forthcoming festival. As Canadian rock journalist, Nicholas Jennings notes in his excellent book, Before The Goldrush, the opportunity to "blow away the competition looked good when the band was scheduled to follow mellow popsters The Association." But from the minute The Paupers launched into their set, everything that could go wrong did, and in the subsequent media frenzy, the groups performance was all but ignored. Within six months, the group once hyped to surpass The Beatles, had lost not only its most inspirational member but was facing mounting debts.
