Sky Saxon Dies, Heads to YaHoWha

Rock and roll singer Sky Saxon, first known through the 1960s garage band The Seeds, died this morning in Austin, TX, according to a Austin 360 report.

Saxon was said to have died of "what doctors suspected was an infection of the internal organs, but cause of death has not yet been released," said the report.

In a short profile of Sky back in March at SXSW, Austin360 wrote: "Saxon formed the Seeds in Los Angeles in 1965. The bands's first couple of singles — 'Can't Seem To Make You Mine' and 'Pushin' Too Hard' — are garage punk classics, snotty and fuzzy and brief. Their first two albums — 'The Seeds' and 'A Web of Sound,' both from that magic rock year 1966 — are perfect examples of proto-psychedelic rock. After a few more records, Saxon broke up the Seeds in 1970, joined the spiritual commune the Source Family, adopted the name Sunlight and played with the Source Family band YaHoWha 13 now and then."

Growing up, my older brothers turned me onto The Seeds. The band's snarly garage rock has stayed with me all these years. I covered 'Pushin' Too Hard' as the first song in my 2006 Covers series. And Waved Rumor included 'Can't Seem To Make You Mine' right here a few weeks ago.

Farewell, Sky Saxon. Rock you did. Here's a clip of the band from the 1968 hippie film "Psychout' playing at the groovy funeral (!) scene!