Tra la la. Tra-la la la. Tra la la la la la la la.
Yep, it’s punk legends The Dickies, with their chart hit cover of The Banana Splits song. But how much do you know about their long and vibrant history, playing at the Whisky A Go Go, innovators on the burgeoning LA punk scene alongside The Ramones and The Germs? And did you ever hear their cover of Nights In White Satin? And did you know they’re playing a 40th anniversary show at the Waterfront this month? I had the honouring of speaking to Stan Lee about the time they toured without a singer and trying to cover a Bowie track.
You’re visiting Norwich as part of your 40th anniversary tour. Will you be playing tracks from throughout Te Dickies’ history? Yes! It’ll be a variable pot pourri for your listening enjoyment. You last played Norwich on your Brexit to Palookaville Tour. How did that tour go for you? Te last tour was Te Dickies Unchained Tour. Leonard our singer was in hospital in Luton and we soldiered on without him! Who does that? A band without their front man lead singer? Inconceivable! Te response was fantastic - we had a lot of help from our merch guy Ian Madison who sang about seven songs. We found singers for every gig like Eugene from the Razillos! Waddie from Exploited came out when we played Edinburgh. I found a music teacher from somewhere like Wales who was phenomenal and he rearranged his life to do the last five dates with us. Dale our tour manager did a spot on job doing Paranoid. He talked me into performing without Leonard in the first place so I said to him if I gotta do this so do you! He said
England’s got your back, mate, and he was right. Rebellion was the first and scariest show. We were headlining and we were opposite Te Desendents who were playing across the street. I thought we were doomed, and we opened with a Rondo, an instrumental from Te Incredible Shrinking Dickies album. I was looking down afraid to look up. We had Blag from Te Dwarfs come up and do three songs and the crowd was totally receptive. I was shocked! clearly England does have our back! Tank you to all the singers that are too many to name – you know who you are! What were your experiences at the infamous venue Whisky a Go Go? I was really happy that the Whisky took the punk screen in because I saw lots of great bands there when I was like 15 to 21 like Black Sabbath, Te New York Dolls, Iggy and the Stooges, Status Quo..I could go on and on! Te Whisky had all the bands do two sets a night, great times. Te place is still up and running, and we are doing our 40th anniversary there in October. Your cover of Te Banana Splits (Tra La La Song)
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The Dickies play a 40th anniversary show at The Waterfront on 9th July. Tickets available from
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reached number 3 in the UK. How did you come to record it in the first place? We just did the song as a lark - I think I don’t even think we planned to record it. We were in England with some time on our hands and our manager John Hewlett (yes, the same guy that was in John’s Children with Mark Bolan) talked us into recording it and the rest is history. It went to number three, and if it had gone to number one Derek Gree, the head of A & M had a God Save Te Queen single that he said he would give me. We came close but that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Your covers have included Nights In White Satin, Paranoid and Nobody But Me. Have there been any songs you’ve tried to cover but it just didn’t work out? Te song that comes to mind that didn’t work out was Look Back In Anger by the late great David Bowie. Te band worked it out and it was smokin’ hot. Leonard walked in and started singing the opening line, “You know who I am, he said, the speaker was an angel” and it was like we knew straight away that his voice wasn’t
right for that song. If you can’t equal or top a song then it’s best not to try, so we left that one alone, although it’s still one of my fave Bowie songs. Which of your songs are you the most proud of? I am most proud of our cover of Nights In White Satin. I think we did a great rework of that song. I like Attack Of Te Mole Man a lot, Gigantor, our version of Pretty Ballerina..I could go on! I like Dickies music but don’t play it much after recording it. We mix it and hear it 100 times, than give it to you guys and then hear it years later, maybe relearning a song for a live show like we did last year doing the first and second album live in New York City. Tat was pretty good, and we’re doing this again in London on July 7th and 8th. Humour is a big part of your music. Who makes you laugh the most? Te President, but really it’s more scary than funny.
LIZZ PAGE Read this interview in full at
outlineonline.co.uk
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