About This Item
- An essential for all 13th Floor Elevators fans - on limited edition blue vinyl- Includes original songs, covers & demo recordings drawn from a career spanning 60 years.Old School is the first solo album by Ronnie Leatherman - bassist in the classic 13th Floor Elevators line-up - who has the distinction of playing on all three of the band's studio albums.Ronnie released his first single in June 1965 as Max & the Penetrators 'Prayin' Til Then b/w Kurl' and, apart from lead singer Roky Erickson, is the only former band member to a solo album. After graduation he joined the Elevators alongside Stacy Sutherland (lead guitarist & songwriter), former Penetrators vocalist Max Range, John Ike Watson and Benny Thurman (bass).When it was discovered Benny had never played bass, Ronnie stood in while teaching him how to play. The band relocated to San Francisco to promote their debut single 'You're Gonna Miss Me' in August 1966 with Ronnie appearing on national TV and also headlining major venues such as The Fillmore and The Avalon Ballroom alongside Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead.Ronnie played on the band's seminal Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators recorded in Dallas and Houston with producer Bob Sullivan. The follow-up single 'Reverberation' featured Ronnie's outstanding lead bass line. After their West Coast tour and album , he and John Ike quit the band, disillusioned by lack of promotion. However, Ronnie had already contributed to sessions that were not only used on the second LP, Easter Everywhere, but also on the singles '(I've Got) Levitation' and 'She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own'.Although he performed his last show with the band in July 1967, Ronnie re-joined in October 1968 to finish the third studio album Bull Of The Woods, released in March 1969.Post-Elevators, he performed with many bands and briefly featured in a line-up of the Golden Dawn - a
