26 Facts About Roky Erickson

Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson was an American musician and singer-songwriter.

Roky Erickson's mother was an amateur artist and opera singer, and encouraged Erickson's musical talent by taking guitar lessons herself so she could teach him.

Roky Erickson was interested in music from his youth, playing piano from age five and taking up guitar at 10.

Roky Erickson attended school in Austin and dropped out of Travis High School in 1965, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code.

Roky Erickson wrote his first songs, "You're Gonna Miss Me" and "We Sell Soul", at age 15, and started a band with neighborhood friends which evolved into his first notable group, the Spades.

In 1967, Roky Erickson was a guest on a few songs on labelmate Red Krayola's debut album The Parable of Arable Land, playing electric organ on "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and harmonica on "Transparent Radiation".

In late 1965, at age 18, Roky Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators.

In 1968, while performing at HemisFair, Roky Erickson began speaking gibberish.

Roky Erickson was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy.

In 1969, Roky Erickson was arrested for possession of a single marijuana joint in Austin.

Roky Erickson was first sent to the Austin State Hospital.

In 1979, after playing with the Reversible Cords on May Day at Raul's, Roky Erickson recorded 15 new songs with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Roky Erickson performed with The Nervebreakers as his backup band at The Palladium in Dallas in July 1979.

The Roky Erickson tracks were not included on the initial release for contractual reasons, but were included on a later release.

Alvarez later released the film on VHS, updating it with interviews of some of Erickson's friends and relatives; it was toured to several cities including Pittsburgh, where the screening was followed by a set of Erickson covers by Alvarez and others, as well as a performance by the Mount McKinleys with guest vocalist Sumner Erickson.

In 1995, Roky Erickson released All That May Do My Rhyme on Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey's label Trance Syndicate Records.

Roky Erickson started taking medication to better manage his schizophrenia.

In 2007, Roky Erickson played his first ever gigs in New York City at Southpaw in Brooklyn, NY, as well as California's Coachella Festival and made a debut performance in England to a capacity audience at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

Roky Erickson continued to play in Europe, performing for the first time in Finland at Ruisrock festival.

Roky Erickson performed alongside Austin-based indie rock band Okkervil River at the Austin Music Awards in 2008 and then again at the 2009 South by Southwest music festival.

Roky Erickson returned to the stage in 2008 to perform songs from the 13th Floor Elevators catalog that had not been performed in decades with fellow Austinites The Black Angels as his backing band.

Okkervil River serves as Roky Erickson's backing band on the album.

In March 2012 Roky Erickson toured New Zealand and Australia for the first time headlining Golden Plains Festival in Meredith, Victoria and playing sold-out side shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

On Oct 7,2018, Roky Erickson performed outdoors to an audience of thousands at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco.

Crikenson, like the original Roky Erickson, believes himself to be an alien abductee.

The album It's Spooky by Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair features the song "I Met Roky Erickson", named after an encounter Johnston had with the artist.