Synopses & Reviews
“One of the most exhilarating and important rock ’n’ roll stories ever told.”—Julian Cope
The trailblazing 13th Floor Elevators released the first “psychedelic” rock album in America, transforming culture throughout the 1960s and beyond. The Elevators followed their own spiritual cosmic agenda, to change society by finding a new path to enlightenment. Their battles with repressive authorities in Texas and their escape to San Francisco’s embryonic counterculture are legendary.
When the Elevators returned to Texas, the band became subject to investigation by Austin police. Lead singer Roky Erickson was forced into a real-life enactment of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and was put away in a maximum-security unit for the criminally insane for years. Tommy Hall, their Svengali lyricist, lived in a cave. Guitarist Stacy Sutherland was imprisoned. The drummer was involuntarily subjected to electric shock treatments, and the bassist was drafted into the Vietnam War.
This fascinating biography breaks decades of silence of band members and addresses a huge cult following of Elevators fans in the United States and Europe. The group is revered as a formative influence on Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, R.E.M, and Z.Z. Top.
Roky Erickson is the subject of a heralded recent documentary feature, You’re Gonna Miss Me; a box set of remastered Elevators CDs with liner notes by author Paul Drummond will be issued in fall 2007.
Review
"The 13th Floor Elevators, a little known group that broke up forty years ago, might seem ill-suited as the subject of a 400-page book, yet the legendary psychedelic band from Austin, Texas is well worth this exhaustive treatment. Paul Drummond's Eye Mind, the new, definitive biography of the Elevators, is just as mind-blowing as the Elevators music it's a superlative account about a band whose history is as tragic as any Shakespearean play." Allan Vorda, Rain Taxi (read the entire Rain Taxi review)
Synopsis
One of the most exhilarating and important rock n roll stories ever told. Julian Cope
The trailblazing 13th Floor Elevators released the first psychedelic rock album in America, transforming culture throughout the 1960s and beyond. The Elevators followed their own spiritual cosmic agenda, to change society by finding a new path to enlightenment. Their battles with repressive authorities in Texas and their escape to San Francisco s embryonic counterculture are legendary.
When the Elevators returned to Texas, the band became subject to investigation by Austin police. Lead singer Roky Erickson was forced into a real-life enactment of One Flew over the Cuckoo s Nest and was put away in a maximum-security unit for the criminally insane for years. Tommy Hall, their Svengali lyricist, lived in a cave. Guitarist Stacy Sutherland was imprisoned. The drummer was involuntarily subjected to electric shock treatments, and the bassist was drafted into the Vietnam War.
This fascinating biography breaks decades of silence of band members and addresses a huge cult following of Elevators fans in the United States and Europe. The group is revered as a formative influence on Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, R.E.M, and Z.Z. Top.
Roky Erickson is the subject of a heralded recent documentary feature, You re Gonna Miss Me; a box set of remastered Elevators CDs with liner notes by author Paul Drummond will be issued in fall 2007.
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Synopsis
The wild, untold story of the 13th Floor Elevators, led by the notorious Roky Erickson.
About the Author
Paul Drummond has worked with as varied range of people as a set designer and art director, in the music and fashion industries, with Erasure, Karl Lagerfeld, and Alexander McQueen. This is Paul's first book. Leader of the renowned post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes and author of the well-regarded books, "Krautrock," "The Modern Antiquarian," and "The Megalith European."