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The 13th Floor Elevators, a rock music group founded in Austin, Texas in late 1965, are commonly regarded as one of the first psychedelic bands and have been cited as an influential protopunk group.
Personnel were singer/guitarist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, bass guitarist Benny Thurman, guitarist Stacy Sutherland, and drummer John Ike Walton. Erickson and Hall were the band's primary songwriters, but most band members wrote or co-wrote some material. The sound of Tommy's electric jug (which bore no resemblance to the sound of traditionally-played jugs) became the band's signature and trademark.
History
The group's first single, "You're Gonna Miss Me" (actually a second version—the song had been recorded once before by the band when it was known as The Spades, with bassist Ernie Culley), reached #2 on local charts in early 1966, eventually reaching #56 on the pop charts nationwide. The band was contemporary with other Austin psychedelic bands including Shiva's Headband and the Conqueroo.
Throughout the spring of 1966, the group toured extensively in Texas, playing clubs in Austin, Dallas, and Houston. They also played on live teen dance shows on television, such as Sumpin Else, in Dallas, and The Larry Kane Show in Houston.
In late summer 1966 the Elevators successfully toured the west coast, made two nationally televised appearances, and played several dates at the San Francisco ballrooms The Fillmore and the Avalon.
The International Artists record label (also home to contemporary Texas underground groups such as Red Krayola and Bubble Puppy) in Houston signed the Elevators to a record contract, and released the album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in the latter part of 1966, becoming an underground classic among the burgeoning counterculture.
Posters from the period show them on the same bill as Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Great Society, and The Byrds. Playing in San Francisco during that time, and the exposure to other bands, would lead to their second album, Easter Everywhere, which was also released by International Artists.
Singer Janis Joplin was a close associate of the band. Joplin sang with the band at a few shows, and considered joining the group in Austin, Vorda, Allen. Psychedelic Psounds: Interviews from A to Z with 60s Psychedelic and Garage Bands. Borderline Productions. (1994) ISBN 0951287591 before she headed to San Francisco and became part of Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Name
The band's name is a play on the superstitions that lead to many tall buildings not having a 13th floor, and the fact that the letter "M" (for marijuana) is the thirteenth letter of the alphabet. Tommy Hall's wife, Clementine is credited with helping to think up the name.
Recordings
The band had two records that charted in the USA. "You're Gonna Miss Me", their most popular, charted at #55 on Billboard and #50 on Cash Box in August 1966. Their followup, "Reverberation (Doubt)" peaked at #129 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Charts in November 1966. In 1966 they released their first and most popular album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The 13th Floor Elevators followed up this album with Easter Everywhere in (1967), a concept album.
Bob Dylan credits the band with the best recording of his song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". The final album they recorded as a group was entitled Bull of the Woods, released in 1968.
Breakup
Drug and legal problems resulted in turmoil for the band. In 1969, facing a marijuana possession charge, Erickson chose to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital rather than serve a prison term.
Members
Roky Erickson
Roky Erickson was the band's singer, guitarist and a songwriter. The Elevator's only hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me" was written by Erickson (he recorded it with his first band "The Spades"). After pleading insanity on marijuana charges, he was committed to Rusk mental hospital, where he was reportedly administered shock and thorazine treatments. While in the hospital, Erickson wrote innumerable poems and songs, and when he emerged in 1975 he was set to embark on a solo career that would taper off in the late 80's. His first solo single was "Starry Eyes" b/w "Two Headed Dog" and was recorded with a group called "Bleib Alien", released in 1975. In 1977, Roky released two singles: one on Rhino records, "Bermuda" b/w "The Interpreter" ; and one of France's Sponge label, "Mine Mine Mind", "I Have Always Been Here Before" and "Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play". These tracks were credited to "Roky Erickson and The Aliens". The lyrical content was focused more on occult themes, hinting at demonology and cosmology, bearing a great affinity to horror movies. The years between 1977 and the 1980 were spent working with Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival), who produced the album (Roky's only major label deal) "The Evil One", which was released in 1980. "The Evil One" is an album brilliant in theory and execution. In the way that the goal of psychedelic music is to get one high through music and not drugs, the "Evil One" is the full-throttle experience of a late-night horror movie being played out, not on film, but on tape. An evocation of a world chock-full of demons, goblins, bats, vampires, etc., it is a considered essential for any fan of Erickson. Unfortunately, this was not all the product of imagination, but also of a mind sincerely troubled, and Roky's physical and mental health declined in the late 1980's. He made relatively no money on any of his recordings, and it has not been until recently that a trust fund has been set up, he has started to own his recordings, and has started playing again in Austin.
Director Keven McAlester recently completed a documentary film on the life of Roky Erickson entitled You're Gonna Miss Me.
Tommy Hall
Tommy Hall was best known for his amplified "electric jug", usually sounding somewhat like a cross between a minimoog and cuica drum. He occasionally played guitar as well. Hall wrote lyrics to many of the band's songs. Much of his lyrical content stemmed from his study of philosophy and poetry at the University of Texas at Austin. He was also influenced by the philosophy of the Polish-born mathematician Alfred Korzybski and his 800-page work Science And Sanity.Benny Thurman
Benny Thurman, former bassist with the 13th Floor Elevators, left the band shortly before their excursion to San Francisco in 1966. He now plays violin and achieved recognition in his other bands, most notably leading Plum Nellie and Mother Earth along with Powell St. John in the early 1970s at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas.John Ike Walton
John Ike Walton, builder of musical instruments, drummer, instrumentalist and founding member of the band, builds kalimba (marimbula) and "zulu-drums". He presently resides in the Texas hill country. His family originally supported the creation and subsequent management of the band and the earlier band The Lingsmen. John presently is playing with Tommy Hall Schedule along with Ronnie Leatherman, who joined the band for their 1960s San Francisco dates at the Avalon and Fillmore. Both left the band because of monetary and managerial disagreements with the band's label. John is not credited on the Easter Everywhere LP, though he does play on "Levitation" and "She Lives", two of the more popular 45 rpm singles released.Stacy Sutherland
Stacy Sutherland (May 28, 1946-August 24, 1978) was a founding member of the band. He also joined the group after playing with the Lingsmen, which had been playing mainly in the Port Aransas, Texas area.Stacy was the lead guitar for the Elevators, and is still remarked upon in guitar circles for the pioneering use of reverb and echo in his guitar work. In many ways his sound was years ahead of its time, and his bluesy, acid-drenched guitar had its influence on such bands as The Allman Brothers Band, and ZZ Top. In the 1970s he tried to form his own band called Ice, which played live, for a brief time in Houston, Texas. He was shot to death by his wife in 1978, after battling heroin addiction.
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was the second drummer for the band. Danny played drums and sang back up vocals on the final two studio albums, Easter Everywhere and Bull of the Woods. In an interview in 2001, Danny was asked when he quit the band. His reply was "I never quit." (Online interview Texas Psych Group)Danny Galindo
Danny Galindo (June 29,1949- May 17,2001) joined the Elevators in July 1967 as replacement for Ronnie Leatherman. Previously he had been playing bass along with Danny Thomas in San Antonio, in a band called The Concentric Excentrics. He was more used to playing Southern rhythm and blues, but quickly adapted to the Elevators. He performed on Easter Everywhere and did many live shows with the band. He left the band in early 1968, but came back and did many of the bass parts on Bull of the Woods. He died in 2001 from complications associated with Hepatitis C.Powell St. John
Powell St. John (b. 1940) was a songwriter for the band. He wrote the lyrics for the songs Slide Machine, You Don't Know, Monkey Island, You Gotta Take That Girl, and Kingdom of Heaven. He was a close associate of the Elevators in Austin in 1966. Big Brother And The Holding Company also recorded his song, 'Bye, Bye, Baby' on their debut album on Mainstream Records. He also played rhythm guitar with Conqueroo, and later went on to join Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth as a songwriter and musician. At present he has a new CD called Right Track Now, which he hopes to release in 2006.Legacy
Today, the 13th Floor Elevators continues to influence new generations of musicians. In 1990, 21 different contemporary bands — including R.E.M., ZZ Top, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and Primal Scream — recorded covers of Elevators songs on the tribute recording, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson. In 2005, a panel at the SXSW music festival discussed the music of the Elevators and Powell St. John, one of the Elevators' songwriters.
The band's music also continues through live performances of the Tommy Hall Schedule as an Elevators tribute band, and Erickson's younger brother Sumner Erickson performing Elevators' music with bassist Ronnie Leatherman. In September 2005, Roky Erickson performed at the Austin City Limits music festival with The Explosives.
Reference
External links
- http://www.scarletdukes.com/st/tm_ausquest.html
- http://www.lysergia.com/LamaWorkshop/elevFAQ.htm
- http://web.wt.net/~duane/13thfloo.html 13th Floor Elevators History Interview
- http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/psychedelicsounds/
- Roky Erickson's site
- http://www.geocities.com/ucdnlo/novel101.html Life In The Elevators (Recollections of Danny Thomas (drummer)of the 13th floor elevators chapters)
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