a couple of times,вЂќ he says, summarizing the rationale that started the narrative youвЂ™re reading. вЂњI went because IвЂ™d finished the book and thought IвЂ™d never get to see the 13th Floor Elevators live-even though IвЂ™d seen Roky Erickson play in the U.K. Having entirely missed the 1960s, the closest that 40-something Graham had previously been to the Austin area was 1,800 miles away, decades earlier, during a six-month American Studies college program in New York. вЂњA lot of the people I interviewed or people who were just around in that scene were amazed that IвЂ™d captured it so well, certainly without having been there in the 60s, but I hadnвЂ™t been to Texas at all.вЂќ вЂњThe people I met there were super friendly, especially all the older guys whoвЂ™d been around, all the musicians, just so happy and interested that this younger English guy had written a book about their music and their scene, and they were really happy to share their stories,вЂќ he says. But he was given a pass to the three-day, outdoor music festival-covering it for a couple of publications-and was finally able to spend a week in Austin, an almost mythical place about which heвЂ™d been immersed on a time-traveling, research-and-interview level. On paper, this is an incredible setting for a book launch party in reality, the last-minute arrangements heвЂ™d made with Levitation festival organizers basically meant A Gathering of Promises would be available at the eventвЂ™s merch table before any other outlet in the U.S. вЂњI felt a bit like one of those 19th-century explorers who writes entire books on Africa whilst in the comfort of their sort of drawing room at home.вЂќ And I basically wrote that without ever having been to Texas,вЂќ he explains.

вЂњI was a little bit embarrassed about that because A Gathering of Promises was all about the 13th Floor Elevators and the 1960s psychedelic scene around the Austin area. launch of his book, A Gathering of Promises. The impetus for the trip was to see the 13th Floor ElevatorsвЂ™ 50th anniversary reunion show at the Levitation festival in Austin - the first time in decades all living members of the influential Texas psych band would play together-yet it also acted as the U.S. In May 2015, Brighton, England-based author Ben Graham visited Texas for the first time.

Unlikely Texas music historian Ben Graham talks San Antonio acid, 1960s psychedelic rock and writing Scatological Alchemy, his new book about the Butthole Surfers

The butthole surfers