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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Roky Erickson| image = Roky Erickson at 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.jpg| caption = Roky Erickson performing at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Roger Kynard Erickson| birth_date = Birth date and age|1947|7|15| death_date =| origin = Austin, Texas|Austin , Texas , United States|U.S. | instrument = Guitar , singing|vocals , harmonica , piano | genre = Rock music|Rock , psychedelic rock , garage rock , Outsider music | occupation = Musician , singer-songwriter | years_active = 1964–present| label = Columbia Records|Columbia , CBS Records|CBS , Restless Records|Restless , Pink Dust Records|Pink Dust , Five Hours Back , Fan Club , Sympathy for the Record Industry , Triple X Records|Triple X , Emperor Jones , Norton Records|Norton , New Rose Records|New Rose , Swordfish Records|Swordfish | associated_acts = 13th Floor Elevators , Roky Erickson & the Aliens, The Explosives , Okkervil River , The Black Angels (band)|The Black Angels | website = URL| http://www.rokyerickson.net/| notable_instruments = Roky Erickson (born Roger Kynard Erickson on July 15, 1947) is an United States|American singer , songwriter , harmonica player and guitarist from Texas . He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.cite news|author=Dorian Lynskey |url= http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2097535,00.html |title="The man who went too high". The Guardian. June 8, 2007 |publisher=Music.guardian.co.uk |date= June 8, 2007|accessdate=2011-11-02 |location=London
Biography
Erickson was interested in music from his youth and he was born to a Jewish family: he played piano from age 5 and took up guitar at 10. He attended school in Austin, Texas|Austin and dropped out of William B. Travis High School (Austin, Texas)|Travis High School in 1966, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code."The fall and rise of Roky Erickson. Austin American-Statesman , July 12, 2007. p 13 (Xlent section). His first notable group was The Spades , who scored a regional hit with Erickson's song " We Sell Soul "; this song is included on the compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 17 (although the songwriter is identified as Emil Schwartze on the track listing on this album). Also the song " You're Gonna Miss Me (song)|You're Gonna Miss Me ", later a hit for 13th Floor Elevators , was featured on the compilation album The Best of Pebbles series|Pebbles Volume 1 .
13th Floor Elevators years
main|13th Floor ElevatorsErickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators in late 1965. He and bandmate Tommy Hall were the main songwriters. Early in her career, singer Janis Joplin considered joining the Elevators, but Family Dog's Chet Helms persuaded her to go to San Francisco, California instead, where she found major fame.
In 1966 (Erickson was 19 years old) the band released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators . Psychedelic Sounds had the band's only charting single, Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me." A stinging breakup song, the single remains probably Erickson's best-known work: it was a major hit on local charts in the U.S. southwest, and appeared at lower position on national singles charts as well. Critic Mark Deming writes that "If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, ' You're Gonna Miss Me ,' in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work."cite web|last=Deming |first=Mark |url=Allmusic|class=album |id=r730748 |pure_url=yes |title=I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology - Roky Erickson |publisher=AllMusic |date=2005-03-01 |accessdate=2011-11-02
In 1967, the band followed up with Easter Everywhere , perhaps the band's most focused effort, featuring the epic track " Slip Inside This House ", and a noted cover of Bob Dylan 's " It's All Over Now, Baby Blue ".
The album Live (13th Floor Elevators album)|Live was put out in 1968 by International Artists . It featured audience applause dubbed over studio recordings of cover versions and older material, and it had little to no input from the band.
Bull of the Woods , released in 1969, was the 13th Floor Elevators' last released album on which they worked as a group and was largely the work of Stacy Sutherland. Erickson, due to health and legal problems, and Tommy Hall were only involved with a few tracks, including "Livin' On" and "May the Circle Remain Unbroken".
Mental illness and legal problems
In 1968, while doing a stint at HemisFair '68|HemisFair , Erickson started speaking nonsense. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston, Texas|Houston psychiatric hospital , where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy .
The Elevators were vocal proponents of Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD , mescaline , Dimethyltryptamine|DMT Citation needed|date=August 2011 and cannabis (drug)|marijuana use, Citation needed|date=August 2011 and were subject to extra attention from police. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of one cannabis (drug)|marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a ten-year prison term, Erickson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital . After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Chlorpromazine|Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972.
When released from the state hospital, Erickson's mental outlook had changed. In 1974, he formed a new band which he called "Bleib alien", Bleib being an anagram of Bible and/or German language|German for " wikt:bleiben|stay ," and "Alien" being a pun on the German word wikt:allein|allein ("alone") - the phrase in German therefore being "remain alone." His new band exchanged the psychedelic sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators for a more hard rock sound that featured lyrics on old horror film and science fiction themes. " Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer) " (produced by The Sir DouglasQuintet 's Doug Sahm ) was released as a single.
The new band renamed itself Roky Erickson and the Aliens . In 1979, after playing with the Reversible Cords on May Day at Raul's, Erickson recorded 15 new songs with Record producer|producer Stu Cook , former Bass guitar|bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival . These efforts were released in two "overlapping" LPs — "I Think Of Demons" (CBS UK, 1980) and "The Evil One" (415 Records, 1981). Cook played bass on two tracks, "Sputnik" and "Bloody Hammer." Roky performed with The Nervebreakers as his backup band at The Palladiumdn|date=September 2011 in Dallas, Texas|Dallas in 1979. A recording was issued on the French label New Rose and was recently re-issued elsewhere.
In 1982, Erickson asserted that a Martian had inhabited his body. He came to feel that, due to his being alien, human beings were attacking him psychically. A concerned friend enlisted a Notary Public to witness an official statement by Erickson that he was an alien; he hoped by declaring so publicly he would be in line with any "international laws" he might have been breaking. Erickson claimed the attacks then indeed stopped.
Creative decline and renewed interest
In an unmedicated state, Erickson began a years-long obsession with the mail, often spending hours poring over random junk mail, writing to solicitors and celebrities (dead or living). He was arrested in 1989 on charges of mail theft. Erickson picked up mail from neighbors who had moved and taped it to the walls of his room. He insisted that he never opened any of the mail, and the charges were ultimately dropped.
Several live albums of his older material have been released since then, and in 1990 Sire Records / Warner Bros. Records released a tribute album , Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson , produced by WB executive Bill Bentley (producer)|Bill Bentley . It featured versions of Erickson's songs performed by The Jesus and Mary Chain , R.E.M. , ZZ Top , Julian Cope , Butthole Surfers , Bongwater (band)|Bongwater , John Wesley Harding (singer)|John Wesley Harding , Doug Sahm and Primal Scream , among others. According to the liner notes, the title of the album came from a remark Erickson made to a friend who asked him to define psychedelic music, to which Erickson reportedly replied "It's where the pyramid meets the eye, man," an apparent reference to the Eye of Providence and the Great Seal of the United States .
Return to music
In 1995, Erickson released All That May Do My Rhyme on Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey 's label Trance Syndicate Records. Produced by Texas Tornado bassist Speedy Sparks , Austin recording legend Stuart Sullivan and Texas Music Office director Casey Monahan , the release coincided with the publication of Openers II , a complete collection of Erickson's lyrics. Published by Henry Rollins 's 2.13.61 Publications, it was compiled and edited by Casey Monahan with assistance from Rollins and Erickson's youngest brother Sumner Erickson , a classical tuba player.
The same year, Entombed (band)|Entombed and New Bomb Turks released a split EP titled Night of the Vampire , with a cover of Erickson's single.Clarify|date=September 2011 Sumner was granted legal custody of Roky in 2001, and established a legal trust to aid his brother. As a result, Roky received some of the most effective medical and legal aid of his life, the latter useful in helping sort out the complicated tangle of contracts, which had reduced royalties|royalty payments to all but nothing for his recorded works. He also started taking medication to control his schizophrenia.
A documentary film on the life of Roky Erickson titled '' You're Gonna Miss Me was made by director Keven McAlester and screened at the 2005 SXSW film festival. In September of the same year, Erickson performed his first full-length concert in 20 years at the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival with The Explosives with special guest and long time associate, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top .
In the December 30, 2005 issue of the Austin Chronicle , an alternative weekly newspaper in Austin, Texas, Margaret Moser chronicled Erickson's recovery, saying Erickson had weaned himself off his medication, played at 11 gigs in Austin that year, obtained a driver's license, bought a car (a Volvo ) and voted.
In 2007, Erickson played his first ever gigs in New York City at SOUTHPAW in Brooklyn, NY, as well as California 's Coachella Festival and made a debut performance in England to a capacity audience at the Royal Festival Hall , London . Roky continued to play in Europe , performing for the first time in Finland at Ruisrock festival. According to the article in Helsingin Sanomat 8 June 2007, the performance was widely considered the highlight of the festival day.cite web|author=Juha Merimaa |url= http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/artikkeli/Ruisrockin+sympaattisin+esitys/1135228575848 |title="Ruisrockin sympaattisin esitys". '& #39;Kulttuuri'& #39;, July 13, 2007 |publisher=Hs.fi |date= |accessdate=2011-11-02
On 8 September 2008, Scottish post-rock band Mogwai released the Batcat EP. Erickson is featured on one of the tracks, "Devil Rides".cite web|last=Dobson |first=Gareth |url= http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/3390989 |title=News - Mogwai release new album and EP. Shows too |publisher=Drowned in Sound |date=2008-05-30 |accessdate=2011-11-02 Erickson performed alongside Austin, Texas|Austin -based indie rock band Okkervil River (band)|Okkervil River at the Austin Music Awards in 2008 and then again at the 2009 South by Southwest music festival.cite web|url= http://www.spin.com/articles/review-okkervil-river-roky-erickson-austin-music-hall |title=Review: Okkervil River & Roky Erickson, Austin Music Hall |publisher=SPIN.com |date=2008-03-13 |accessdate=2011-11-02
Roky Erickson returned to the stage in 2008 to perform songs from the 13th Floor Elevators catalog that had not been performed in decades with fellow Austinites The Black Angels (band)|The Black Angels as his backing band. After months of practices and time recording in an Austin studio, they performed a show in Dallas followed by a West Coast tour. The Black Angels played a regular set then backed Roky as his rhythm section playing 13th Floor Elevators songs and classics from Roky's solo albums.
On April 20, 2010, Erickson released True Love Cast Out All Evil , his first album of new material in 14 years. Okkervil River serves as Erickson's backing band on the album.cite news |first=Pete |last=Freedman |work=Dallas Observer |title=Dallas-born Roky Erickson To Release First Album Of New Material In 14 Years. And He'll Be Backed By Okkervil River |url= http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2010/01/dallas-born_roky_erickson_to_r.php |date=January 12, 2010
Discography
With the 13th Floor Elevators
See 13th Floor Elevators#Discography|13th Floor Elevators Discography
'' You're Gonna Miss Me (2007, Palm Pictures , Documentary )
See also
Music of Austin
Outsider music
References
reflist
Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound by Paul Drummond, Foreword by Julian Cope (Process Media, December 2007)
External links
commons category
http://www.rokyerickson.net/ Roky Erickson official website
http://www.myspace.com/rokyerickson Roky Erickson official MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/rokyericksonandtheexplosives Roky Erickson and The Explosives official MySpace page
http://www.13thfloorelevators.com The official 13th floor elevators website
Persondata | NAME =Erickson, Roky | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =July 15, 1947 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Erickson, Roky Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:Musicians from Dallas, Texas Category:Outsider music Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:People with schizophrenia Category:Protopunk musicians Category:Psychedelic rock musicians Category:Sympathy for the Record Industry artists
