The Other Two: Shiva's Head Band and Conqueroo
13th Floor Elevators were kings of the '60s scene, but these were the house bands
When Haight Ashbury disintegrated into a urine-stenched “kid row” for runaways and speed freaks, Capitol Records bet on Austin as the next new hip music scene. In 1969, Shiva’s Head Band became the first Austin rock group signed to a major label, with Capitol giving extra money to develop other acts from Austin. Shiva leader Spencer Perskin used that advance bump to open the Armadillo World Headquarters with his manager and former North Texas State classmate Eddie Wilson.
A couple years earlier, while Roky and the Elevators were stalled with legal and mental issues, Conqueroo became Shiva’s main cohorts in Austin’s psychedelic rock scene.
But Caruso-like (David), Conqueroo left Austin too soon, moving to an over-played Bay Area in early ‘69 and having to get straight jobs because gigs were few. Drummer Gerry Storm headed home immediately, creating empty drumseat syndrome, a malady that persisted to the point that the band hired a black Vegas-styled soul drummer, Alvin Sykes, who made them too good. Finally, they got their big break, opening for the Grateful Dead at Golden Gate Park. The biggest crowd Conqueroo had previously played in front of was 2,000 at Doris Miller Auditorium on a Jan. 1967 bill with the 13th Floor Elevators. When they came onstage in S.F. and looked out onto a crowd ten times that, the band dug in to kick ass. They hated always being compared to the Dead, a band they didn’t get, so they were ready to show what Conqueroo was really about.
But the p.a. died during the first song and they had to play an abbreviated all-instrumental set. Magically, the sound system was restored in time for the Dead. “I’m sure it wasn’t intentional,” said Bob Brown, Conqueroo’s singer/guitarist/songwriter. “But it was an omen for our whole San Francisco experience.”
By the time the Conqueroo came back to Austin in ‘73, everything had changed. Psychedelic was out, “cosmic cowboy” was in, and they couldn’t get booked at the Armadillo. After failing to build a following from playing dives, which they’d done in ‘65, the band broke up. “All the practicing and moving equipment for $15 a night sucked when there wasn’t the fan base that had sustained us earlier,” Brown said in a 2018 interview with Psychedelic Baby fanzine.
Originally called Powell St. John and the Conqueroo (a play on the St. John the Conqueror Root, a black mojo ingredient for sexual prowess), they grew out of the Texas Union “folk sings” and played old-timey, acoustic folk-blues. But a sniper with a crewcut killed the buzz on Aug. 1, 1966, and St. John, who wrote several songs for the 13th Floor Elevators and “Bye, Bye Baby” for Janis, took that as an sign to follow Joplin to the Bay Area. There, Powell started Mother Earth with singer Tracy Nelson and Doug Sahm’s rhythm section of George Rains (drums) and Bob Arthur (bass). Austin hotshot John “Toad” Andrews soon replaced the original guitarist. Mother Earth was the first band to play the Armadillo World Headquarters in a July 1970 dry run before Shiva’s Head Band played the official grand opening the next month.
After St. John left, the Conqueroo went electric, with Ed Guinn switching from clarinet to bass and lead guitarist Charlie Pritchard dictating a psychedelic R&B feel on 12-minute covers of “Midnight Hour” and “Yonder Wall.” On originals like “1 to 3,” the band’s first and only single on Sonobeat, Brown brought an edge of esoterica to the mix.
Before the Vulcan, Conqueroo looked to the Eastside for places to play, and having an African-American (Guinn) in the group and a repertoire of soul songs (albeit stretched almost beyond recognition) made it easier to get booked at the I.L. Club. It didn’t hurt that “the Kangaroos,” as they were billed, tripled beer sales with their hippie flock.
Here’s a pretty clean 44 minutes of Conqueroo. First three songs recorded last, in San Francisco.
When the Vulcan opened in October 1967, Conqueroo and Shiva’s played that first night and remained the club’s unoffical house bands. Both recorded in the club during the day for Sonobeat, as did Johnny Winter- to much more success. The Bubble Puppy, which moved from San Antonio to Austin in ‘67, were also popular Vulcan regulars with their twin-lead guitar psych sound. But they were off to Houston the next year, recording for International Artists, and having its biggest hit with “Hot Smoke and Sasafrass” (#14, 1969). “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators stalled at #55 in 1967.
“Liberal” Austin wasn’t safe for longhairs in the ‘60s, which is one reason so many moved to San Francisco. “The average person (in Austin) then was totally conformist, conservative, intolerant and hated us on sight,” Brown said. “I could be walking down the street and a car full of frat boys or just normal good ole boys would pull alongside and taunt me, or all pile out with the intent of beating the shit out of a freak.”
Conqueroo left town before the Texas International Pop Festival, just two weeks after Woodstock, so Shiva’s was Austin’s lone representative at that landmark event near Dallas, featuring Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone and the breakout of Grand Funk Railroad.
Born in Brooklyn, the son of a traveling salesman, Spencer Perskin eventually ended up with his family in Dallas. The violin prodigy enrolled at North Texas State in Denton in the early ‘60s, where he joined the folk music club headed by English professor Stan Alexander. Eddie Wilson was also a member, though he didn’t play. Alexander used to be a regular at Threadgill’s Wednesday night hootenannies when he taught at UT, a scene he tried to recreate in Denton.
After being expelled from NTSU, Perskin eventually ended up in Austin, living at the Jewish Student Center where he met pianist Shawn Siegel. Perskin played him "Kaleidoscoptic," a song he’d written on an acid trip in San Francisco, which would become the band’s debut single on Ignite Records in 1968. Drummer Jerry Barnett, guitarist Bob Tom Reed, and bassist Kenny Parker were suitably adventurous. Spencer’s wife Susan Perskin was then brought on for additional vocals.
Live, the Head Band (billed “Headband” by Capitol for less druggie connotation) ended their show by repeating the word “Yes” for about five minutes. But Capitol said no to the second LP after Take Me to the Mountains didn’t sell. Coming to a Head came out on the band’s Armadillo label.
The reason folks gush about Shiva’s and Conqueroo is not their recordings. An objective listener can hear why neither band really made it. The magic was in the connection with a live audience, creating a community in a whole new world.
Enjoyed this, Michael.
Small correction, not that it matters much. In the Conqueroo photo are Gilbert Shelton (the artist and cartoonist) Ed Guinn, Bob Brown and Tom Bright (one of our drummers prior to Gerry Storm).
Thank you, will make that correction.