13th Floor Elevators

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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 squeaking, fluttering sound of Hall's amplified jug remains one of the band's signature sounds.

History

The group quickly became popular in the Austin, Texas. Their first single "You're Gonna Miss Me" 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 famous San Francisco ballrooms, The Fillmore and the Avalon.

The International Artists record label 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 the more sophisticated, and experimental sound of 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, 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 their only charting US hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me", early in their career. In 1966 they released their first and most popular album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. This is often cited as the first appearance of the word "psychedelic" in an album title, although this is disputed by proponents of the Blues Magoos' album Psychedelic Lollipop and The Deep's Psychedelic Moods and all three albums were released between October and November 1966. The 13th Floor Elevators followed up this success with Easter Everywhere in (1967), an integrated musical experience, if not 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 problems 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. He was the singer and writer of the classic 1960s anthem "You're Gonna Miss Me" used especially in counterculture films. He has since recorded a number of albums. Erickson continued to record (see Two Headed Dog) and play live. 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 — which remains one of the band's most famous and distinguishing features. He occasionally played guitar, as well. Hall also 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 whose 800 page work Science And Sanity continues to influence Hall's life to this day.

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 died as a result of a domestic dispute with his wife in 1978.

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. Danny remains committed to the music and message of the band. In an interview in 2001, Danny was asked when he quit the band. His reply was "I never quit". This refers to both the circumstances of how the band broke up — due to the confinement of Roky Erickson — and his belief that the impact of the band continues on.

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 according to his brother Robert Galindo, 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 was a songwriter for the band.

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.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Floor_Elevators"

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