Eastwood Artist Lead Campaign for Roky Erickson Statue in Austin, TX
Psychedelic R&B band Night Beats are behind a new fundraising campaign to have a Roky Erickson bronze statue erected and donated to the city of Austin, Texas.
The Night Beats'guitarist, James Traeger (who plays an Airline Jupiter Pro) has started a fundraising campaign to get a new statue Roky Erickson made and donated to the city of Austin, Texas.
Two other notable sons of the city, Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan, already have statues in their homage, and deservedly so. However, there's still not much recognition for Roky's monumental contribution to music in general and to Austin in particular.
As the fundraising page states:
Nobody exemplifies "keeping Austin weird" while symbolizing the resilience of Texas quite like Roky Erickson. To those that know his music and his past, Roky stands alone. As the "godfather of psychedelia" Roky changed the face of music. As the singer/guitarist/songwriter of the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky & company led Austins legendary rock and roll scene through the 60's, pioneering the way for fellow Austin musicians Janis Joplin, The Golden Dawn, Conqueroo, and the Red Krayola, along with countless acts worldwide.
Today, Austin remains one of the main hubs for psychedelic music, thanks to events such as the Levitation Festival, the original Austin Psych Fest which inspired similar festivals around the world. Roky's musical influence in no small part helped to inspire such events.
Eastwood Guitar Auction
To help the campaign to raise funds, we'll be donating a guitar, which will be signed by the bands who are playing at this year's Levitation festival. 2018 names include the festival organizers The Black Angels as usual, plus other top names such as Brian Jonestown Massacre, Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Slowdive, Parquet Courts and many more - so this will become quite a prized guitar!
Details of the auction will be announced soon. Meanwhile, we urge all Eastwood fans who love Roky's music to help this campaign, which will give Roky the tribute he deserves in his hometown - and also help to keep Austin weird!
Watch: 13th Floor Elevators, 'You're Gonna Miss Me'