Southern California’s The Dickies have been around since the year of punk, 1977, making them one of the first bands of the type to hit the west coast. They’ve kept a pretty active presence over the years, but after an outstanding set at Beach Goth III, and a couple upcoming shows in the area (The Observatory and The Roxy), we thought it would be a good idea to share WHYYYY The Dickies be so damn TITE!
~ SoCal Punk Foundations ~
As the legend goes, The Dickies were formed in ‘77 after some of the originals caught The Damned on their first American tour. Within just a short time, a band with an amazing dick-shaped logo played its first show at the legendary Whisky A Go-Go.
Taking what pop cues they could find in The Ramones, The Dickies warped their own brand of sticky, yet comical, bubble-gum-laced pop-punk that was so fresh for its time. Their songs are ultra infectious, often about Southern California culture, and have great names like: “You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla),” “Walk Like an Egg,” “She’s a Hunchback,” and “Stukas Over Disneyland.”
~ Commitment to Covers ~
There’s two main types of cover songs that The Dickies excel at.
First are covers of theme songs to children’s cartoons. While not as big a part of their catalog, these covers proved to be highly success for the band. In fact, their 1979 version of the Banana Splits theme song, ”Banana Splits (Tra La La Song),” reached #7 in the UK (and found more recent success in the 2010 film, Kick Ass)! The 1980 track, “Gigantor” – a cover of the opening theme to the 1964 cartoon of the same name – found similar success in the UK.
The second type of covers are pop-punkified version of classic rock songs. It’s easiest to list: Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” The Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin,” The Monkees‘ “She,” Led Zeppelin‘s almighty “Communication Breadown,” plus an entire album of covers called Dogs From The Hare That Bit Us! While the songs have a comforting familiarity, The Dickies cover these classic tracks in cotton candy and truly make them their own!
~ Killer Klowns From Outerspace ~
Killer Klowns is a sci-fi // horror // comedy, and it’s certainly one of the weirdest, goofy, yet memorable films we’ve ever seen – which is why it’s so perfect that The Dickies did the soundtrack!
Released in 1988, the film is now a cult classic about a race of alien clowns who come to Earth to harvest (by shooting a lazer gun that entraps peeps in a cotton candy cocoon) for sustenance. The Dickes made a music video for the title song (below), and it does a pretty food job of capturing the campy goodness that is Killer Klowns!
Also note, a 3-D sequel is scheduled for a 2016 release.
~ Killer Stage Antics and Performance ~
These dudes will really make you feel alive! Led by original members Stan Lee (guitar) and Leonard Phillips (vocals), The Dickies always give a high energy performance full of entertaining theatrics.
From penis puppets to squeaky toys and gorilla masks – they keep it real while while bouncing off the walls. And the banter between songs is always laugh inducing. We recall years ago when Phillips was talking on stage about their new album being released on Fat Wreck Chords and how he had no idea how the hell that happened…. Only to “realize” on stage that it must have been all the heroin! Good shit, good shit.
~ The Dickies Endure ~
With seven studio albums, five live albums, countless singles/EPs and at least three “Best of” compilations over almost 40 years – and not to mention significant drug use, the suicide of drummer Chuck Wagon, an overdose death, and a couple natural deaths – The Dickies have truly stood the test of time! What more proof do you need than the fact that they have two local SoCal shows and a tour already plotted for 2015!
So with all that, do yourself a favor and catch these goofball, OG punks at The Observatory on January 10, 2015 or The Roxy on February 21, 2015! You’ll really see why they’s TITE!!
