I’m very excited about two veteran Texas performers who visited Maxwell’s this June. They have traveled very different paths to arrive at the same destination.
Alejandro Escovedo is a member of one of America’s foremost musical families. His relatives include percussionist brothers Coke and Pete and former Prince cohort Sheila E. Originally from San Antonio, Alejandro lived in San Francisco in the second half of the 1970s when he helped form one of the West Coast’s early punk bands, The Nuns. The next stop was Austin and one of the first “roots rock” bands, Rank and File, followed by the more aggressive True Believers.
In the early 1990s he struck out on his own.
Alejandro’s punk, country, and family roots have been on display throughout his solo career. On the tender side, check out his fabulous ballad, “Down In The Bowery,” an ode to his angry son, Paris, on the 2010 album, Street Songs of Love. 2008’s Real Animal boasts two snarling autobiographical rockers, “Chelsea Hotel ’78” and “Nuns Song.”
In early June, Alejandro’s new album, Big Station, was released on Fantasy Records. Many of the songs were previewed during blistering live performances at Austin’s SXSW music festival last March. Big Station is his third consecutive album to feature lyrical collaborations with Chuck Prophet, a fine San Francisco-based songwriter whose band, Green on Red, was making the rounds the same time as Rank and File.
As he ventures into his sixties, Alejandro’s passion only increases. His drive and determination have enabled him to survive and thrive artistically despite never having that elusive “hit.”
He says, “With every record, you gain confidence. … I’m still searching, still dodging bullets. And my music is still mutating, which is the cool thing about it.” If you missed Alejandro at Maxwell’s, check out his upcoming shows at alejandroescovedo.com.
It’s possible that no performer today deserves the title “survivor” more than Roky Erickson. Roky’s infamy began with the legendary Texas psychedelic rockers, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Their recordings for the International Artists label are the holy grail of 1960s psychedelia. Their best-known song, “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” was a cornerstone of Lenny Kaye’s influential 1960s garage comp, Nuggets.
Drugs (especially LSD) and poor distribution hastened the band’s demise. On American Bandstand, the late Dick Clark asked Roky who the head of the band was, to which he infamously and accurately responded, “We’re all heads.”
Constantly hounded by Texas police, Roky found himself in a mental institution in 1969, having pled insanity to avoid jail time after a pot bust. He was subjected to three and a half years of shock treatment and mind-numbing medication. A fine documentary, You’re Gonna Miss Me, tells Roky’s harrowing story.
Against all odds and with a lot of help from friends and family, Roky began to record again and returned to the stage. In April 2007 he made his first live appearance in our area.
His set includes select Elevators faves as well as many numbers from his now prolific solo career. Much of the material is culled from Roky’s excellent first solo album, The Evil One, which displays his obsession with 1950s science fiction and horror.
Roky’s June 22 performance at Maxwell’s was followed by his appearance at the Metallica-curated Orion Festival in Atlantic City. That in itself seems like science fiction! Visit rokyerickson.net to find out where he’ll be next. Don’t miss Roky—it’s great music and a great story.—07030
Visit maxwellsnj.com for a schedule of upcoming events.