On The Road With Roky & Pete
What follows is a conversation between R.E.M.�s Peter Buck and former 13th Floor Elevator Roky Erickson when the two recently met in Austin, Texas en route to a local restaurant. ROKY: I haven�t been doing that much recording, I�ve been fixin� to start writin� some songs. The name of my band is Evilhook Wildlife ET.
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On The Road With Roky & Pete
FEATURES
Thomas Anderson
Peter Buck
What follows is a conversation between R.E.M.�s Peter Buck and former 13th Floor Elevator Roky Erickson when the two recently met in Austin, Texas en route to a local restaurant.
ROKY: I haven�t been doing that much recording, I�ve been fixin� to start writin� some songs. The name of my band is Evilhook Wildlife ET. I got it from this guy that goes up on this mountain—he escaped from this mental hospital and they heard he was roamin� around the area killin� people. Alfred Hitchcock tells this story about these . people that are way up in the woods, and they heard these reports of this guy goin� inside the cabins where they�d be sittin� there havin� supper, and . kill them. At the last minute they open the door and say, �Well, they caught him, aren�t you glad to hear that?� �Yeah.� Finally there�s a knock at the door and there that guy is, and he says, �Hi. RRROOOWWWRRR!�
PETER: Do you write short stories, too?
ROKY: Yeah, I just got through writing one called �Twin Units.� it�s about these two brothers that own these two mental hospitals, and each one is trying to steal the patients from the other brother�s hospital so that he can have the monopoly and have the only mental hospital out there in the woods.
PETER: �Starry Eyes� just came out again, with �Don�t Slander Me.� It seems like there�s a lot of blues imagery in that. Do you listen to a lot of blues stuff?
ROKY: Yes, I like a lot of blues stuff. But blues is a real strange thing, too. It�s a lot like country music, it likes to be in the country, y�know? It likes the dark of night, and woods and trees.
PETER: It seems like that would be a natural thing for you because so much of blues music is about temptation and the devil and things like that, like Robert Johnson said he went and sold his soul to play like he did.
ROKY: (interested) Robert Johnson did, huh?
PETER: Yeah, so he could have the power he had. Have you heard of any of the bands that recorded songs that you have written?
ROKY: I heard that Television did.
PETER: They did �Fire Engine.� There�s a group from Boston called DMZ that did a really good version of "Miss Me.� And there was a great group from Australia called Radio Birdmen that also did
�Miss Me.� So what do you think, you all didn�t sell that many records in those days, but you seem to have influenced a lot of people. Ever consider touring (overseas)?
ROKY: In Europe? I never have thought about it, y�know it might be fun. Y�know if I ever get the chance, I wanna go back and get Duane Aslaksen, and Fuzzy Furioso, and Morgan Burgess (from �81�s The Evil One). Things gotta be good because I can really make a good sound. I like to have a lot of fun, y�know? (looks out window) This is Sunset Valley, pretty soon we�re gonna come to Convict Hill. There�s a place called Cops� Hill in San Francisco. So we�re goin� out here, find us a place to eat, and sit there and eat.
PETER: Are you a vegetarian, Roky? ROKY: In a way. I just make sure I never eat anything alive. PETER: That�ll do it. ROKY: �It�s Alive!�
