How a dead parakeet changed the course of rock

By Dave Graham

VIENNA (Reuters) - Few rock bands have been accused of killing a dog with sound alone. Probably fewer still would claim the death of a parakeet got them their first break in the music business. Not so Mayo Thompson's Red Krayola.

Though the band initially folded decades ago after the manager of a venue begged, then paid them to stop playing, they survived to become one of the world's most enduring underground acts thanks to a career built on a record made for $600 (360 pounds) in 1967.

Dismissed by most critics upon its release according to Thompson, "The Parable of Arable Land" has since been hailed as one of the groundbreaking records of the 1960s.

"We crawled out on a limb and found ourselves alone," Thompson told Reuters in an interview. "The origin of the whole thing is that record. Knowing what I know now about music, I'm not sure I'm capable of conceiving something like that again."

The trio initially known as Red Crayola, with Thompson on guitar and vocals, bassist Steve Cunningham and Rick Barthelme on drums, set out to stretch the limits of music on their debut, he said after a concert in Vienna on Tuesday.

Their LP featured a handful of songs interwoven with the band's signature sound called Free Form Freak-Outs -- random blasts of sound cut with the aid of the Familiar Ugly, a motley troupe of followers that included bikers and college students.

"A lot of people talked about Freakout. Then (Frank) Zappa came out with his Freak Out! record. But from what I now know about Zappa I'm sure he composed every note. Ours wasn't an image of chaos, it was chaos," said Thompson, 65, laughing.

The Texans' unusual approach was not confined to the studio.