ROKY ERICKSON at the FORUM, KENTISH TOWN

It’s not every evening one can be in the same room as Roky Erickson as he sings an hour of 13^th Floor Elevators songs. For all he’s has been through - and I’m not going to dwell on that, if you don’t know the harrowing story watch the 2006 documentary You're Gonna Miss Me – it’s a blessing he’s here at all. And by here I mean both London Town and, let’s be honest, on earth.

I’d seen Roky play twice previously but on those occasions the sets focused on his post-Elevators preoccupation with zombies, aliens, alligators, Lucifer and two-headed dogs. Both times were good but on Wednesday he was great. That unique voice that made The Psychedelic Sounds Of and Easter Everywhere is still unmistakable. Try as I can, I can’t really pick a winner out of those ground breaking albums. If psychedelic rock started there, and it did, no one has improved it since.

Roky wasn’t, of course, the Elevators. More than most bands they were a collective, even non-members contributing. As jug blowing lyricist and spiritual pathfinder Tommy Hall once memorably said on national television “We’re all heads”. But it was Roky’s magically reverberating voice that gave them that extra ingredient, that special otherworldliness.

His current young band made a decent enough fist of the material although the jug, it seems, is harder to master than I’d previously imagined. Not everyone can "Elevatorize" a jug y'know but from the moment Roky strapped on his guitar and sat perched on the edge of a stool it was classic after classic.  From the opening ‘Fire Engine’, straight into ‘Earthquake’, onto ‘Tried To Hide’, even through the muddy Forum PA, this was clearly a special occasion.

There were no oil wheel projections to dress it up, simply songs packed with a depth perhaps only comparable to Dylan back in ’66 when these missives first hit the stores. ‘Slip Inside This House’, ‘You Don’t Know’, ‘Monkey Island’, ‘Make That Girl Your Own’, ‘She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own)’, ‘Roller Coaster’, ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ all rattled past. ‘Levitation’, one of my all-time favourite songs, what an absolute treat. Still they came. Roky’s voice might not have the sheer physical force of his youth but it’s him, just a tiny bit more fragile which, in a way, seemed wholly appropriate.

It was also noticeable Roky appeared to be, somehow, less “pre-programmed” than previous shows I’d seen when he’d say thank you automatically after the last note of every song (it drove me to distraction). This time around he didn’t, only when someone shouted “We love you Roky!” did he offer a little smile, a twinkle in his eye, and a gentle “thank you” in return. It’s hard to describe how touching that was.

‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ almost brought the house down and an encore of the one non-Elevators track ‘Two Headed Dog” damn well did. It felt a privilege to witness such an emotional event. Thank you Roky, we do love you. 

GET WELL SOON GEORGE KINNEY OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

Fans of 60s psychedelic wonders The Golden Dawn will be saddened to hear about the ill health of main man George Kinney. According to Texas Psychedelic Rock George has been diagnosed with liver cancer and requires expensive treatment and medication. A fund has been created to help with these expenses.

As best friends growing up in Austin, Texas, George and Roky Erickson wreaked havoc at school and as the local bad boy beatniks on the folk scene. George eventually formed The Golden Dawn and Roky of course gained notoriety and worse with the 13th Floor Elevators, and the pair remained close. It was with Roky’s help that the Dawn signed to International Artists in 1967 and cut their lost-now-found classic LP, Power Plant. The Elevators influence is striking but Power Plant stands on its own merits as its acid drenched tentacles maneuver themselves into the darkest recesses of one’s fragile egg shell mind. It may be slightly contentious but I’d say only one Elevators album surpasses this one.

When Roky was locked up in the mental home in the early 70s it was George who smuggled out the manuscripts - which he published - that became the book Openers. This publication has been credited with helping to secure Roky’s release, so he seems like a good egg to me.

Should you wish to donate to George’s treatment you can do so via PayPal to kinney777@gmail.com. If you’ve never heard The Golden Dawn, treat your ears to this – the incredible “Starvation”.

Tweet

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROKY ERICKSON

Today Roky Erickson reached the age of 63. Congratulations Roky. Here are the 13th Floor Elevators. Su-fucking-perb. And if you haven't got his new album True Love Cast Out All Evil, do.

ROKY ERICKSON at The FORUM, KENTISH TOWN

It’s the stuff of legend: Roky Erickson, front man for the first self-proclaimed psychedelic rock band, the 13th Floor Elevators, took over 300 acid trips, was busted for a small amount of pot, pleaded insanity to avoid jail, wound up in a Rusk secure prison for the criminally insane, diagnosed schizophrenic, treated with electroshock therapy, drugged to the eyeballs with Thorazine, formed a prison band with a bunch of child killers, became a reverend, was released three years later when ruled sane enough not to harm himself or others, was convinced he was a Martian and wanted to call his child Alien before settling on R2-D2 for a year. That’s far from the whole story, for that see Paul Drummond’s heroic telling of the whole incredible saga in his exhaustive biography Eye Mind.

For readers of Eye Mind, and especially viewers of Keven McAlester’s 2005 film You’re Gonna Miss Me, it’s an astounding achievement that Roky is back performing at all but his reluctance to play 13th Floor Elevators songs mean “Splash 1” and “You’re Gonna Miss Me” are tucked away at the end of his set. How enjoyable the preceding hour is depends, to a degree, on your tolerance for ghoulish heavy metalish ruminations on two headed dogs, demons, Lucifer, vampires, zombies, bloody hammers and men with atom brains.

Whatever, and however, he played would be enough for those simply wanting to pay their respects and offer encouragement to a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who suffered for his art, and paid the price, more than most. Yet Erickson, although uncommunicative (not even a hello or thank you) and rooted to the spot in an eerie autopilot mode, is in fine performing fettle; playing sturdy rhythm guitar and his voice – that much imitated demonic Texan garage rock drawl – in such great shape there’s no need for the devil’s sympathy vote.

There are occasional stodgy moments but the playing of his sympathetic band is largely sprightly for such dark material. “Starry Eyes” adds a beam of light and “Don’t Shake Me Lucifer” sounds swiped from the Stones right under the nose of Primal Scream.

As Roky leaves to loving and rapturous applause he gently raises his fists and a glimmer of a well earned smile peeks through the mass of hair and scraggy Father Christmas beard.

An edited version of this review first appeared for Shindig! magazine

THE 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS - SIGN OF THE 3 EYED MEN

Years in the making and this week it hit the doormat with a reassuring thud. A 10-CD box set collecting everything you could ever want from Texan psychedelic evangelists, the 13th Floor Elevators. The classic albums, unreleased albums, demos, alternate versions, rehearsals, live concerts, the lot.

All the CDs (with individual card sleeves) are housed in an arm achingly heavy colour hardback book providing extensive recording details and crammed with photographs and every conceivable piece of Elevators memorabilia. There’s an envelope stuffed with reproductions of flyers, business cards, newspaper cuttings and photographs. And an LP sized box to keep it all. Not that you’ll be keeping the CDs in it for long because as stunning as the packaging is, it’s the music that’ll make you go out of your tiny third mind.

I’m taking my time in digesting all this lysergic lunacy so I’ve only had the first few CDs on repeat; and what treasures they are. A whole “lost” album, Headstone from February 1966 – six months before they recorded The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators – is solid garage brilliance. It may not be quite up to Psychedelic Sounds but it’s not far off and you wonder why it was shelved. Side one was supposedly “pop” and side two “psychedelic” but the Elevators idea of pop was to put a spell on Solomon Burke and the hex on Buddy Holly.

The recording quality of Live In Texas is patchy but sufficient to hear what a formidable force they were, locking into each other whilst “tripping on a mixture of LSD, marijuana, mescaline, amphetamines, Romilar D cough syrup and Listerine”. Teen dance hall etiquette dictated hits of day were placed among original material, so the Elevators set about pulverising “You Really Got Me”, “I Feel Good”, “Satisfaction” and the way they tear a new arse in “I’m Down” would have made Paul McCartney’s eyes water.

With only three released studio albums (the audio quality of those is pristine) there’s repetition in the songs and you’ll need a keen ear to spot the difference in some, but I could listen to “You’re Gonna Miss Me” all day long and still marvel at its menacing magnificence every time.

Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men isn’t cheap but looks good value and will save you buying anything else for the foreseeable future. They were the first band to term themselves psychedelic rock and they’re still the best.