Artist
The Red Crayola
Last updated: 2 hours ago
One of the longest running of all experimental rock bands, the Red Crayola have spent most of their long and varied history billed as <a href="spotify:artist:5S3gRXHi1WrUadDR9IUwTN">the Red Krayola</a>. Under their original spelling, they were a Houston-based trio organized by <a href="spotify:artist:77Y0KBizhqrlcI3NN3iGcs">Mayo Thompson</a> in September of 1966, with Steve Cunningham on bass and Rick Barthelme on drums. Embracing an unconventional approach to their instruments and melodic structures, they were signed to Lelan Rogers' <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22International+Artists%22">International Artists</a> label in 1967 after Rogers saw them engage a crowd at a shopping mall concert with their minimalist energy. The Red Crayola cut their first LP early that year, The Parable of Arable Land, assisted by several dozen noise-making hippies dubbed "the Familiar Ugly" (including <a href="spotify:artist:7hCsRnXtcbez8msLPfjbkz">Roky Erickson</a> on organ). The group's sound was one of the bolder, less obviously commercial psychedelic incarnations of the era, which was precisely what <a href="spotify:artist:77Y0KBizhqrlcI3NN3iGcs">Thompson</a> had in mind. In one of the few examples of <a href="spotify:artist:77Y0KBizhqrlcI3NN3iGcs">Thompson</a> and his bandmates obeying conventional music industry wisdom, they changed the group's name to <a href="spotify:artist:5S3gRXHi1WrUadDR9IUwTN">the Red Krayola</a> when they received word that the makers of Crayola Crayons were considering a lawsuit against them. The band's second album, God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail with It, debuted the new name, as well as new drummer <a href="spotify:artist:2LbRiVusjtrdBlE4lkXxfO">Tommy Smith</a>, who replaced Rick Barthelme. The album was another eccentric landmark that set the stage for <a href="spotify:artist:77Y0KBizhqrlcI3NN3iGcs">Thompson</a>'s long and eclectic history as <a href="spotify:artist:5S3gRXHi1WrUadDR9IUwTN">the Red Krayola</a>. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
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