The Dickies

I don't know why I've taken this long to include it.

But it is the Dickies, and I think this is by far the best song they ever made.

And that's saying something, because they make some great songs.

And this one's called Give It Back.

I wouldn't spoil you

anyway

Another 1 minute 39 seconds of excellence there from the Dickies, who had a fantastic run of singles from 78 onwards, and they were all on coloured vinyl, except this one, I give it back, I'm sure that was on black vinyl.

Can't remember, but you're probably right.

...

the architects of that scene, but I think the roots are much closer to The Last and 20/20 than to, uh, The Dickies.

Absolutely.

There's a bunch of '60s...

And so, you know, it, that, and, uh, you know, they, the, th- I mean, really, I think of them as being, you know, strongly, strongly power pop, and it's probably part of why I identified with it, because I think when we were talking last time around, I was saying that, like, you know, yeah, Pistols is number one.

That was m- that was my m- the kicks down the door and, oh, punk rock, that's my thing now.

And, and then, and then that No Wave sampler that had The Dickies, The Stranglers, The Police, Joe Jackson, Squeeze, that's my second punk record, you know? And, I mean, almost nothing on there probably, you know, would, would tick the, tick the boxes as being punk rock by a lot of people's standards.

But, you know, it's all pop music.

So tell us what's been going on the last three years with Cause of Affliction.

great bands that come to Hawaii, Screeching Weasel and TSOL and the Korats and the Dickies and all kinds of legendary bands, Sherry Poppin' Daddies, a couple of times with them, Voodoo Glowskulls.

But we've really started doing a lot more off-island shows and a lot more touring.

And so we did a couple tours last year.

Three had REM, Big Black, Gun Club, and The Replacements.

That's in fact why I started tracking these down i was like oh man i gotta hear that replacements stuff on issue three of the bang zoom cassette zine um issue four had the neats naked ray gun the bangles green on red issue four had the circle jerks rain parade the liars salem 66 the leaving trains and the minute man so i've got the minute man here now on two cassette zine comps no surprise there Issue 6 has Husker Du, an interview and a live version of Out on a Limb, Black Flag interview, Live Skull, The Dickies, and Issue 7 had Sonic Youth, Scratch Acid, Red Lori, Yellow Lori, The Fall, Appliances SFB, and that's just a sampler of some of the amazing bands that are on this Bang Zoom comp cassette zine that came out in the 80s there.

Needless to say, a treasure trove of interviews, live and unreleased clips, definitely part of the ss tree almost all of these cassettes when i got them in the mail you know that little felt thing that that holds the uh the magnetic tape from the underside

yeah

describes this, Jeff Palmer's back to what he does best, writing some of the most impossibly catchy pop punk songs you'll ever hear.

Where did his hair go? It's the second time he's given, he has given us a nod to the Dickies in his songwriting, but this is no cover song.

It's a vintage Palmer style pop punk earworm about Billy Corgan and the mystery of the sudden disappearance of his hair in 1995.

What a great idea for a song, right? Ahead of that, brand new from rumbar records it is uh the the big the vicky sogestad band i hope i said that right uh their new single is called last days of summer and uh Malibu Lou describes this as, it feels like it was recorded during the Summer of Love, with flowers laced in Saugusad's hair while Joni Mitchell looked on.

Yeah, it is, because you had a band like the Toy Dolls at the same time.

Dickies.

But they...

Yeah, the Dickies.

But I think you're right.

In comparison, they were...

Although I wasn't the best singer in the world, we sure had a lot of fun.

And we opened up for the Dickies and the Vandals, which was an incredible experience.

Wow.

Something I take pride in is being friendly.

Take the early Los Angeles scene in 78.

The Dickies came onto that map like a joke band who took their own brand of mockery seriously enough to get A&M to sign them.

They were literally a punchline.

Their costumes, their songs, and that silly way they dropped the guitar between riffs.

Sure, some punks might overplay comedy for shock value, but the broader point remains.

Pseudonymous antics are integral to punk’s architecture.

I remember reading a nineteen eighty-seven interview with The Dickies where they said the joke was as essential as the music.

They wanted to make people laugh as well as scream.

Big Drill Car before that with Five Year Itch.

We also had The Dickies with the great track Rosemary from their Stuck Us Over Disneyland LP.

And The Replacements, Color Me Impressed, great track from their Hootenanny LP from 1983.

And not to be outdone with the punk rock.

yeah i mean i don't even really think about it anymore it would have to be something uh that i just couldn't miss um and typically if if it was something like that it would be a band that they brought in like they've got a couple of bands playing that aren't playing riot fest right they're just doing late night shows the bouncing souls being one of them and i can't remember the other one um i would like to see the bouncing souls so kind of bummed that they're not playing the fest proper But yeah, something like that.

Like if the Dickies were doing a late night show, but they weren't doing a set at Riot Fest, that's what happened one year.

That's one of the late night shows I went to.

It was the Casualties and the Dickies, and I can't remember who else.

But it used to be that you would go to the festival grounds, and then they had a late night show at the Congress, and that's who was playing.

It was the Casualties and the Dickies and other solid bands but you know I didn't get out of there until like one in the morning but I wasn't going to miss it

yeah yeah I'm surprised that yeah like well it seems like there's all over the place the show is all over the place but you know I was expecting maybe a little bit I don't know I guess I don't know what to say Like more aftershows? More aftershows and maybe some acts that you weren't going to get at the Riot Fest proper.

But it's like all the Metro shows are basically bands that are playing Riot Fest.