I gets from Jon B, actually. Last thing I got was during SXSW, though.

Mr. Boucher, you around? Do you have the next CDs from erinaceous? nudge nudge.

I'm the bottleneck. They're sitting in my desk, ready to go. Send me your address again, ms. b., s.v.p.

I haven't gotten anything in a good long while myself.

Wheee! I just talked to the guy from Shiva's Headband. It was neat. I'm a little giddy. I've been reading all about these people for like the past 6 months and it's cool when they call up and stuff.

Also wondering if I can start a fight between Hec and hayden by calling the 13th Floor Elevators the first psychedelic band.

I'm a bottleneck too....

Also wondering if I can start a fight between Hec and hayden by calling the 13th Floor Elevators the first psychedelic band.

What are some other contenders?

I'd always thought of it as a California thing until I read, and in fact have had people contest them as #1 because they couldn't be being from Austin.

Also wondering if I can start a fight between Hec and hayden by calling the 13th Floor Elevators the first psychedelic band.

What are some other contenders?

I think you have to go with The Charlatans, who were going psych in Nevada City back in '65. (Not to be confused with the much later Charlatans UK.) However, they didn't record until later. The Great Society (SF precursor to Jefferson Airplane) were also working and recording in '65-66.

AMG says:

Initially, around 1965 and 1966, bands like the Yardbirds and the Byrds broke down the boundaries for psychedelia, creating swirling layers of fuzz-toned guitars, sitars, and chanted vocals. Soon, numerous groups followed their pattern, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both of whom recorded psychedelia in 1966.

I might go for The Yardbirds around Having A Rave Up in '65. They're definitely getting psych on Over Under Sideways Down in '66. "Eight Miles High" by the Byrds came out in '66 - that's unquestionably psychedelic with the Coltrane-by-way-of-Rickenbacker guitar solo.

More AMG:

Did the 13th Floor Elevators invent psychedelic rock? Aficionados will be debating that point for decades, but if Roky Erickson and his fellow travelers into inner space weren't there first, they were certainly close to the front of the line, and there are few albums from the early stages of the psych movement that sound as distinctively trippy — and remain as pleasing — as the group's groundbreaking debut, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. In 1966, psychedelia hadn't been around long enough for its clichés to be set in stone, and Psychedelic Sounds thankfully avoids most of them; while the sensuous twists of the melodies and the charming psychobabble of the lyrics make it sound like these folks were indulging in something stronger than Pearl Beer, at this point the Elevators sounded like a smarter-than-average folk-rock band with a truly uncommon level of intensity.

13th Floor is about the same time- late '65. But does going psyche count as being a psyche band? Clearly there's a sound out there and various bands are playing with it, but which ones formed with that as their sound?

My gut? 13th Floor Elevators were (like every other garage band in America) copying the Jeff Beck edition of the Yardbirds. Beck's experiments with guitar tone and drone during this period (incorporating exotic middle eastern modes) were incredibly influential, endlessly copied and the basic building block of psychedlia.