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| MOJO |
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| Buried Treasure |
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| This month in our series of forgotten classics: the horror-struck rock ’n’ roll madness of Roky Erickson |
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| “The music Roky was playing was pretty bizarre at the time,” says former Moby Grape drummer John Oxendine. “I took the stage name ‘Fuzzy Furioso’ because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use my real name in connection with it. That said, it’s one of those records that if you put it on today, or 20 years from now, it would still sound like it’s there.” “Two headed dog, two headed dog,” goes the thrillingly warped song of the same name, “I’ve been working in the Kremlin with a two headed dog.” Roky Erickson & The Aliens is indeed a high point in the fitful solo career of one of rock’s most beloved madman-visionaries. A schizophrenic fond of unorthodox self-medication, his cryptically worded songs--and try I Walked With A Zombie, Stand For The Fire Demon, I Think Of Demons and Don’t Shake Me Lucifer as winning titles--gave everyone vivid snapshots of what was going on in his scrambled brain. Unlike other performers who adapted occult trappings to attract attention, those closest to him insist this was no put on. “Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson--that’s theatre,” says producer Stu Cook. “Roky was really living in the space that the songs came out of.” Busted for marijuana possession in his home state of Texas in 1969, Erickson copped an insanity plea and was sentenced to Rusk State Mental Hospital. Shock therapy and heavy medication for what was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia followed. Released three and a half years later--a changed man, by most accounts--the former 13th Floor Elevators man began a solo career that turned out to be as bizarre as it was, at times, brilliant. After moving from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles, Erickson soon put a new band together, Bleib Alien. The music was hard-driving and raw, but still melodic--Erickson was a fan of Elvis, Buddy Holly and Little Richard, and it always showed. Insane lyrics reflected his obsession with sci-fi and horror--imagine a low-budget horror-flick version of Blue Öyster Cult; pounding dramatic songs sent into the ectoplasmic ionosphere by Billy Miller’s necromantic electric autoharp, Duane Aslaksen’s searing guitar and Erickson’s bluesy spirit-howling. When manager/producer Craig Luckin entered the picture in 1978, work began on Roky Erickson & The Aliens, Erickson’s first album for a major label. Stu Cook, late of Creedence Clearwater Revival, was enlisted to produce sessions at studio in San Anselmo, California, the Church. Fifteen songs were recorded, 10 of which were used. Luckin also helped solidify the Aliens line-up, bringing in bassist Stephen Morgan (now deceased) and former Moby Grape drummer Oxendine. Getting consistently good performances from Erickson during the recording process was a challenge that shaped the way Cook made the album. “The Aliens were a pretty rock-solid outfit and I could count on them to deliver,” he says. “The work came in trying to get the best out of Roky. It was hard to get him focused.” Cook eventually devised a method of basically keeping every take Erickson did and then piecing together the vocals for entire songs from these many takes, using a word or phrase here, a line or two there. “When we presented the finished album to Roky,” Cook explains, “we didn’t have a clue if he was going to like it or dislike it because the songs were constantly changing.” Erickson did indeed like it and so did CBS Records A&R man Howard Thompson, an Elevators fan who helped sign him to the label. But by the time the album was released by CBS in early 1980, Erickson was back in Austin, fronting a new band called The Explosives, while the Aliens stayed in California. Roky Erickson & The Aliens didn’t sell particularly well and never enjoyed the same priapic acclaim bestowed on the Elevators. For Erickson, rough years and sporadic releases followed, but today he is by all accounts happy, healthy and living comfortably--an eventuality few would have put money on as recently as the late ’90s. “I don’t know if he’ll ever be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he’s earned his place,” says Cook. “Roky is a legend, truly.” ADEM TEPEDELEN |