On Sunday I was in Boston’s Logan Airport waiting for my flight back to Texas, and by chance I happened to sit down next to Roky Erickson, an Austin legend and psych-rock pioneer. He looked pretty relaxed so I didn’t bug him except to say I really enjoyed his new album with Okkervil River, True Love Casts Out All Evil. Roky is regarded as one of the great unknown heroes of rock and roll. He suffered from mental illness for a large portion of his adult life and after the 1960’s he basically disappeared from the music scene. He was not forgotten though, bands such as R.E.M., ZZ Top, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cramps, The Minutemen, and Television have all either recorded or played live versions of Roky's songs. Roky is also an acknowledged influence on artists such as Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, Sonic Youth, The Butthole Surfers, Jon Spencer, and White Stripes.
Thanks to Roky,
Austin became a major hub for psychedelic rock. That
continues to this day and at the forefront of Austin’s
psych-rock scene is The Black Angels. They built their sound
off the layers of psychedelic sounds that Roky first
introduced back in the ‘60s with his group The 13th Floor
Elevators. In fact, The Black Angels were such fans of Roky
that they performed as his backing band on a West Coast tour
in 2008. Earlier this year The Black Angels released their
third album, Phosphone Dream. The album contains all
the dark, reverberating undertones their fans will love, but
it also displays more groove and hooks while peeling back a
few layers of the haze. Personally, it’s my favorite album
by the band (barely edging out Passover from 2006).
This Friday I’ll finally get to see the songs played live
when the band performs at La Zona Rosa on Friday night with
Black Mountain.
- Dan Corbin -
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