The Psychedelic Sounds Of ROKY ERICKSON
(Roger) Roky (Kynard) Erickson, lead-singer/songwriter/guitarist of the 13th Floor Elevators, was born on St. Swithin's Day in Dallas, Texas 1948, the son of an Episcopalian architect and regionally prominent opera singer. He was first horrified by comic books.
"I just love monsters. I haven't met one person in the world that doesn't like a monster. Sometimes / wonder why I write my songs. I guess the reason I say that is— sometimes my songs seem to be a little bit too wordy. I'd rather have a song that's... scary."
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(Roger) Roky (Kynard) Erickson, lead-singer/songwriter/guitarist of the 13th Floor Elevators, was born on St. Swithin�s Day in Dallas, Texas 1948, the� son of an Episcopalian architect and regionally prominent opera singer. He was first �horrified by comic books. The kind,� Roky recalls, �that were printed in black and white. They were so horrifying they couldn�t print them in color.. .and then, they couldn�t print them at all!� While early childhood fixations on late night TV and horror movies explicate the �demons and gremlins� he maintains lived behind the door of his bedroom in the shadows, disconnected images of real-life, �severed heads and headless torsos screaming in the night,� became an obsessive cornerstone of the Erickson world. Roky�s taste for celluloid terror prompted a quick exit from high school (11th grade) and the incarnation of his first band, The Roulettes. Then The Spades.