Friday night July 8 Seattle’s foremost punk club, El Corazon, hosted one of punk’s foremost bands, the Dickies. Hailing from So Cal, the Dickies have been around since 1977 and are essentially the clowns, the satire of punk rock while still being punk. The band integrates numerous props in their performance including an anatomically correct (female of course) doll and a plush penis puppet. For their song You Drive Me Ape, You Big Gorilla, front man Leonard Graves Phillips donned a gorilla mask briefly and every time he chanted the chorus he pounded himself in the chest.
They performed many of their classics like the old Moody Blues song, Nights In White Satin (the first song I ever heard by them way back in 79 or 80), Black Sabbath’s Paranoid and Manny, Moe & Jack.
Unfortunately the sound mix was pretty bad and the lead vocals were nearly completely drowned out to the point that I had trouble even making out what songs they were performing. Although the sound improved half way through the show, it didn’t improve by a whole lot. When the backing vocals came in stronger than the lead vocals, the mix was still bad.
Between the props and bassist Edward Tatar literally walking in air and doing leaps about the stage, there was never a dull moment.
It took me two days to recover from all the times I was slammed against the stage — the perils of punk rock shows, but it wouldn’t be a punk rock show without the slam dancing.
For the encore, they performed more wild antics and included their rendition of the old Banana Splits TV show theme.
The Dickies have been one of my all time favorite bands for decades and for years it seemed they never left their safe California home. I am so happy that’s changed. What a night! The Dickies current line-up consists of, Leonard Graves Phillips-Vocals, Stan Lee-guitar, Little Dave Teague (I referred to him as the baby because he obviously wan’t even alive when the Dickies were formed), Edward Tatar-bassist and leaper extraordinaire and Adam Gomez who slammed away on the drums but barely broke a sweat.
Preceding the Dickies was power punk trio the Queers. Hailing from Portsmouth, NH, these guys kick ass on stage. This surprised me as their songs are so poppy. El Corazon sits at the bottom of Seattle’s Capitol Hill and I’m surprised half the hill didn’t shake loose and slide into Puget Sound during their set. Their hard core sound belies their catchy, poppy melodies. Needless to say, I was shoved into the stage many times.
At one point front man Joe Queer surrendered his guitar to a guest guitarist (whose name I did not catch) and sang, no screamed, a raucous rendition of the Ramones’ Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, often shoving the mic into those in front to shout along to the chorus (Sheena has always been my favorite Ramones song). The Queers are, Joe Queer-guitar/vocals, Dangerous Dave-bass & Lurch Nobody on drums. This was my first time seeing the Queers though I’ve been a fan for a long time. I hope it won’t be the last time I see them.
Starting off the whole night was Seattle band Acid Teeth. These guys have only been a band for about a year, but you’d never guess it by watching them. They seemed like seasoned pros, though some members came from other bands, so perhaps this was why. These guys kicked butt. There was a lot of hair on this band and they constantly whipped their hair about. Their lead singer is a Jim Morrison look-alike, but the similarities ended there. There was no brooding poetry in this band, just wild energy of punk and metal and hard core. I was surprised the roof was still standing when their set was over. Acid Teeth are, Gradie Wallen, Todd Ohashi, Jonny Safari & Greg McCormick. Check them out when you get a chance.
Another night of punk rock and another couple days of soothing my aching muscles until the next punk rock show.
– Holly Homan
