Dicksography

The Dicks are one of the classic hardcore/punk bands from Texas.

A lot of Texas punk groups seemed to differ from the standard hardcore sound with ‘weird’ groups like the Butthole Surfers and the funk influence in the Big Boys music, while the Dicks had a blues edge to their sound.

Like some of those other groups (Big Boys, MDC) they had an openly gay member in lead singer Gary Floyd – but does that really mean anything?

For the first time I think I can actually claim that this is a complete discography. There were actually two line-ups for The Dicks: a Texas based one from 80-83 and a San Francisco based one from 83-86. With the exception of the track Gilbeau, these two downloads represent each one respectively.

Dicks Vol. 1

01. Dicks Hate The Police - Hate the Police 7″
02. Lifetime Problems - Hate the Police 7″
03. All Night Fever - Hate the Police 7″
04. Saturday Night At The Bookstore(live) - Dicks 80-86
05. Fake Bands - Live At Raul’s
06. Hate The Police - Live At Raul’s
07. Dead In A Motel Room - Live At Raul’s
08. Wheelchair Epidemic - Live At Raul’s
09. Babysit - Live At Raul’s
10. Shit On Me - Live At Raul’s
11. Lifetime Problems - Live At Raul’s
12. Suicide Note - Live At Raul’s
13. Shit Fool - Live At Raul’s
14. Love Song - Live At Raul’s
15. Kill From The Heart - Live At Raul’s
16. Anti-Klan Pt 1 - Kill From The Heart
17. Rich Daddy - Kill From The Heart
18. No Nazi’s Friend - Kill From The Heart
19. Marilyn Buck - Kill From The Heart
20. Kill From The Heart - Kill From The Heart
21. Little Boy’s Feet - Kill From The Heart
22. Pig’s Run Wild - Kill From The Heart
23. Bourgeois Fascist Pig - Kill From The Heart
24. Purple Haze - Kill From The Heart
25. Anti-Klan Pt 2 - Kill From The Heart
26. Right Wing, White Ring - Kill From The Heart
27. Dicks Can’t Swim - Kill From The Heart

Dicks Vol. 2

01. Gilbeau - Cottage Cheese Comp
02. I Hope You Get Drafted - PEACE Comp
03. No Fucken War - PEACE? 7″
04. Nobody Asked Me - PEACE? 7″
05. I Hope You Get Drafted - PEACE? 7″
06. Legacy Of Man - Rat Music Vol 2 Comp
07. The Police Force - These People
08. Off-Duty Sailor - These People
09. Executive Dive - These People
10. Sidewalk Begging - These People
11. Lost And Divided - These People
12. Dead In A Motel Room - These People
13. Cities Are Burning - These People
14. Doctor Daddy - These People
15. Decent And Clean - These People
16. Legacy Of Man - These People
17. Little Rock ‘N’ Roller - These People
18. George Jackson - These People

Divine Horsemen

Chris D from the early LA punk group The Flesh Eaters went on to perform in the group Divine Horseman.

This is another classic example of taking a more traditional folk/country style of music and fusing it with punk rock, along the lines of Tex And The Horseheads and The Gun Club.

Indeed on the first album, which tends to feature guest musicians rather than a regular line-up, Jeffery Lee Pierce (Gun Club) and Texacala Jones (Tex & The Horseheads) are both present as well as other famous names like Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Gun Club), John Doe (X) and Dave Alvin (Blasters).

At times this also reminds me a bit of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, with a kind of Southern Gothic atmosphere to the music and lyrics.

Time Stands Still

01. When The Rain Comes Down
02. Lilly White Hands
03. Past All Dishonor
04. Frankie Silver
05. Sanctuary
06. Heat From The Sun
07. Little Sister
08. Hell’s Belle
09. Time Stands Still

Devil’s River

01. My Sin
02. Sapphire
03. Devil’s River
04. He Rode Right Into Town
05. Come Into This Place
06. Tenderest Kiss
07. Love Call
08. Too Young To Die
09. It Doesn’t Matter
10. Middle Of The Night

SST odds and ends

Here are a couple of releases from SST records that are currently unavailable.

Although the bands have completely different sounds, what they do have in common is that they could both be considered side projects of people who were in more famous groups.

Brian Ritchie is from the Violent Femmes – the acoustic/ folk/ punk group – and maybe not surprisingly some of these songs have a similar folky sound, although quite a variety of unusual instruments are used giving some tracks more of a world music quality.

Meanwhile, SWA features Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag – albeit after he had left that band – along with a roster of other artists that had appeared on SST releases – such as Ray Cooper from the Descendents and Paul and Kira Roessler.

SWA play that doom/metal influenced hard rock that I talked about in my last blog, clearly showing the influence this music had among some SST groups as many began to head in this direction.

SWA have often being said to be the worst band to ever record for SST, although having heard some of the improvisational stuff that they also released I really can’t agree, at worst this is generic metal-influenced rock.

Sonic Temple & Court Of Babylon

Your Future If You Have One

 

No Man – How The West Was Won

No Man is one of the groups formed by Roger Miller, the guitarist from Mission Of Burma (classic post-punk/hardcore group from Boston) during the period between Mission splitting up in 1983 and reforming in 2002.

How The West Was Won was the final album by No Man – others being Win Instantly, Damage The Enemy and Whamon Express – and was released on SST in 1991.

Unsurprisingly it doesn’t sound a million miles away from Mission Of Burma, with plenty of tape samples and effects being used, but it still definitely falls into the area of guitar driven post-punk/ alternative rock music.

How The West Was Won

01. Cartoon, Cartoon (Where’s The Exit?)
02. Boomerang
03. How The West Was Won
04. Reach For The Sky
05. Here We Go
06. The Set-Up
07. Wounded World
08. Grabbed Star
09. It’s Just A Day
10. No Warning
11. Call On Me
12. (Astronomy Engine)

How The West Was Won

No Man – Wounded World