Not to knock them, since I do think they were one of the earliest psych bands. But the 13th Floor Elevators all went to San Francisco and brought a lot of that influence back to Austin. So obviously they were picking up stuff from earlier innovators. It's complicated a little because the live scene in SF was where psychedlia was really fomenting - and you can't date stamp it by the albums.

Beck and Clapton are listed as influences- Huh. Also Dylan.

Huh. Also Dylan.

More for the lyrics. Like "All Along the Watchtower."

Clapton left The Yardbirds our of blues purist motives. He didn't start getting psych until he was with the Bluesbreakers. And really it wasn't until Cream that he was fully enpsychedelicized - which is pretty late in the game. Jeff Beck - he's the one.

Ah. Here's what I was looking for- where they discuss the sound. It's an interview with Roky Erickson, Danny Galindo, Powell St. John, Tary Owens, and Clementine Hall (CH).

AV: Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has stated (Washington Post article by Richard Leiby on 6/23/1991) that "the Elevators sound was unititiated by outside sources. Essentially, a new sound was created like nothing heard before or since. How could these guys (who in 1965 were in the middle of Texas in an atmosphere that was conservative/country/redneck/Baptist) come up with this sound?

TO: One thing was that they were all incredibly talented muscians and the other thing was drugs. You can talk about the negative influence of acid, but there was a positive influence initially. The use of drugs made some magic happen to help make that music, but the Elevators were also incredibly talented musicians. Roky is probably the finest white rock and roll singer that has ever come out of Texas. Stacy Sutherland was raised in Kerrville and is one of the great guitar players of Texas---perhaps more so than Billy Gibbons---who is very much underappreciated. John Ike Walton was an excellent drummer and Benny Thurman was an excellent bass player. They were great musicians.

Stacy had this Duane Eddy-type guitar that had a high reverb and real strong bass lines, yet Stacy came up with his own sound. Stacy's guitar helped set up Roky's voice and the little weird noises that Tommy made through the jug. They wrote their own material, but they were also a great cover band. They could do covers better than the originals. Roky and Tommy have received most of the recognition for the success of the Elevators, but I also think Stacy has never received credit on how much he contributed to the musical sound of the band.

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has stated (Washington Post article by Richard Leiby on 6/23/1991) that "the Elevators sound was unititiated by outside sources."

Bullshit. Where do you think they got their acid? They went to San Francisco to get it. From AMG:

Formed in Texas in the mid-'60s, the Elevators started as a garage rock outfit, scoring their one and only modest national hit with "You're Gonna Miss Me." While Erickson's loopy persona, along with Tommy Hall's odd "jug" percussion, were the band's most distinguishing features, several members of the group's original lineup contributed strong material to their albums. Although these inconsistent efforts sometimes wander off into a cloudy haze, they also include sturdy folk-rock tunes and driving psychedelic rockers. Trips to San Francisco established the group as up-and-coming underground favorites,

Hee. Though you really don't think those college kids in Austin could cook some up?

You can talk about the negative influence of acid, but there was a positive influence initially.

Heh. I know very, very little about this musical history but I just heard the keyboard player from the Faces on Fresh Air and he would have spat on that remark. He HATED when they went psychadelic and never went back. (or possibly he was talking about his time in the Small Faces...whichever one was blues-y and then they all took a bunch of drugs and went all psychadelic). The interview is pretty amusing.

Roky is probably the finest white rock and roll singer that has ever come out of Texas.

• coughRoyOrbisoncough*

finest white rock and roll singer

Hello! Janis Joplin?

But from that AMG passage- isn't it saying that they already had the sound, but going to SF established them.

As far as the influence of drugs, this makes me sad.

Tommy was a manipulator and frankly I never trusted him. I had second thoughts as soon as I introduced him to Roky that this might not be a good thing. Tommy used acid to manipulate the rest of that band, but it wasn't in a violent direction. Tommy wasn't a violent person and he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought drugs were the key to the universe. They were all into this acid-disillusional thing. It affected Roky the most, but there wasn't a single person in that band that wasn't physically and/or mentally damaged by what happened back then.