Dicks were an American punk rock band from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project called Black Kali Ma. In 2004, The Dicks reunited and were active until 2016. The Dicks went through two incarnations in the 1980s, changing its lineup when Floyd moved from Austin to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1983. As a political band with

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

lyrics during the Reagan Era, they did not shy from controversy. Floyd was one of a handful of openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

musicians in the 1980s punk scene.

History

Austin lineup (1980–1983)

Dicks were formed in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in 1980 by Gary Floyd, Buxf Parrott, Pat Deason, and Glen Taylor. Their first single "Dicks Hate The Police", released in 1980, brought them much attention and is now regarded as a classic hardcore punk record.True, Christopher " Dicks Biography, ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'', Macrovision Corporation In the song Floyd sings from the perspective of a

policeman A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

who abuses his power by targeting minorities and abusing civilians. Dicks often played shows with fellow pioneering Texas hardcore bands MDC, The Offenders, and The

Big Boys Big Boys were an American pioneering punk rock band who are credited with having helped to create and introduce skate punk as a new style of music, which became popular in the 1980s. They also were famous for bringing elements of funk into thei ...

; Dicks' full-length debut was the split album with The Big Boys, ''

Live at Raul's Club ''Recorded Live at Raul's Club'' is an album by the Big Boys and The Dicks ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners ...

.'' Dicks were among the first punk bands to address issues of

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

and

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

, as in such songs as "Saturday Night at the Bookstore" and "Off Duty Sailor".

San Francisco lineup (1983–1986)

In 1983, Floyd left Texas for

along with Debbie Gordon, the band's manager, who was considered a member of the band. Floyd and Gordon, along with new members Tim Carroll, Sebastian Fuchs, and Lynn Perko (formerly of

all-women band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. Whil ...

The Wrecks), formed a second version of Dicks. The LP ''Kill From The Heart'' was released in 1983 on

SST Records SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipm ...

and ''These People'' followed in 1985 on

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, t ...

. The group disbanded in 1986, although occasional one-off reunion shows featuring the Austin lineup occurred through the 1980s and 1990s.

Breakup and continuing influence

The band remained influential in punk and underground circuits. San Antonio's

Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been ...

had ended their 1984 album '' Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac'' with the

cowpunk Cowpunk (or country punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s - early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New wave music, new wave with country music, country, folk music, folk, and b ...

anthem "Gary Floyd" in tribute to the Dicks' bandleader. Dicks saw a resurgence in popularity during the popularity of

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

when

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

band

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988, following the demise of Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters. Orig ...

released a cover of Dicks' "Hate The Police" on

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designat ...

. Soon after,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

ers

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with s ...

(three fourths of whom were also from Austin) released their cover version of Dicks' "Wheelchair Epidemic". Gary Floyd later started Sister Double Happiness in San Francisco in 1986.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 504-505 After that band ended he formed and primarily played in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with The Gary Floyd Band; an overview of this material, "Backdoor Preacher Man", is available in the United States. Toward the late 1990s, Floyd played in Black Kali Ma, who released an album on

. Floyd later formed the band the Buddha Brothers, while Parrott and Deason went on to play in the Austin neo-bluegrass band Shootin' Pains and Trouser Trout, while Parrott and Taylor also played in Pretty Mouth. Perko went on to join

Imperial Teen Imperial Teen is a San Francisco–based indie pop group made up of Roddy Bottum (Faith No More), primarily on guitar/vocals; Will Schwartz (also of Hey Willpower), primarily on guitar/vocals; Lynn Truell (née Perko, formerly of Sister Doub ...

.Beets, Greg
The Dicks
, ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

Reunion (2004–2016)

In 2004, Dicks began playing regular reunion concerts in Austin and elsewhere. The lineup for the shows consists of the original Dicks, with the exception of Glen Taylor, who died in 1997. His role was filled by three other Austin

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

s: Mark Kenyon, Brian McGee, and Davy Jones. At the 2009 Austin Music Awards show, Jesus Lizard singer

David Yow David Yow (born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, '' Tonight You Look Like a Spider'', w ...

joined the band onstage for "Wheelchair Epidemic". At the same show, Dicks were inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame.Austin Music Awards 2009-2009 Hall of Fame
, ''

'' A documentary film, ''The Dicks From Texas'' was released in 2015 about the Dicks and Austin, Texas punk scene along with a tribute album, ''The Dicks From Texas and Friends'', with 27 bands covering 28 Dicks songs. The Dicks announced that their final show would be October 30, 2016 at Grizzly Hall in Austin, Texas, however due to popular demand, a second show was added the day afterward.

Members

* Gary Floyd – vocals (1980–1986, 2004–2016) * Buxf Parrott – bass, guitar, vocals (1980–1983, 2004–2016) * Pat Deason – drums (1980–1983, 2004–2016) * Glen Taylor (deceased) – guitar, bass (1980–1983), died 1997 * Debbie Gordon – manager (1982–1986) * Tim Carroll – guitar (1983–1986) * Lynn Perko – drums (1983–1986) * Sebastian Fuchs – bass, vocals (1983–1986) * Mark Kenyon – guitar (2004–2016) * Brian Magee – guitar (2004–2005, 2016) * Davy Jones (deceased) – guitar (2005–2015), died 2015 Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:30 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/2016 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Manager value:yellow legend:Manager id:Album value:black legend:Studio albums Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1980 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1980 LineData = layer:back color:Album at:12/31/1980 at:12/31/1983 at:06/01/1985 BarData = bar:Floyd text:"Gary Floyd" bar:Taylor text:"Glen Taylor" bar:Carroll text:"Tim Carroll" bar:Kenyon text:"Mark Kenyon" bar:Magee text:"Brian Magee" bar:Jones text:"Davy Jones" bar:Parrott text:"Buxf Parrott" bar:Fuchs text:"Sebastian Fuchs" bar:Deason text:"Pat Deason" bar:Perko text:"Lynn Perko" bar:Gordon text:"Debbie Gordon" PlotData= width:11 bar:Floyd from:01/01/1980 till:12/31/1986 color:Vocals bar:Floyd from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2016 color:Vocals bar:Taylor from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Guitar bar:Taylor from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Bass width:3 bar:Carroll from:06/01/1983 till:12/31/1986 color:Guitar bar:Kenyon from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2016 color:Guitar bar:Magee from:01/01/2004 till:06/01/2005 color:Guitar bar:Magee from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2016 color:Guitar bar:Jones from:06/01/2005 till:09/01/2015 color:Guitar bar:Parrott from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Guitar width:3 bar:Parrott from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Bass bar:Parrott from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Vocals width:7 bar:Parrott from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2016 color:Bass bar:Parrott from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2016 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Fuchs from:06/01/1983 till:12/31/1986 color:Bass bar:Fuchs from:06/01/1983 till:12/31/1986 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Deason from:01/01/1980 till:06/01/1983 color:Drums bar:Deason from:01/01/2004 till:12/31/2016 color:Drums bar:Perko from:06/01/1983 till:12/31/1986 color:Drums bar:Gordon from:06/01/1982 till:12/31/1986 color:Manager

Discography

Albums

*''

Kill from the Heart Kill often refers to: *Homicide, one human killing another *cause death, to kill a living organism, to cause its death Kill may also refer to: Media *''Kill!'', a 1968 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto *Kill (Cannibal Corpse album), ''Kill'' (Ca ...

'' LP (1983),

*'' These People'' LP (1985),

10"

*''Ten Inches'' 10" (2006), Delta Pop Music

Lives

*''

'' LP (1980), Rat Race – Split with The

*''Dicks Live! Hungry Butt'' (2006), Hot Box Review

Singles, EPs

Hate The Police "The Dicks Hate the Police" (usually shortened to "Hate the Police") is the debut release and 7-inch single from the American hardcore punk band The Dicks, released in 1980. The record was released on the band's own Radical Records imprint. Mudh ...

" 7" (1980), R Radical Records *''Peace?'' 7" EP (1984), R Radical Records: "No Fuckin' War"/"I Hope You Get Drafted"/"Nobody Asked Me" *'' Live At Raul's'' 2x7" (1992), Selfless Records - split with The

*'' Hog'' 7" (2006), Delta Pop Music

Compilations

*''1980-1986'' CD (1997), Alternative Tentacles (compilation of out of print material)

Compilation appearances

*"Gilbeau" on ''Cottage Cheese from the Lips of Death'' (1983), Ward 9 Records *"I Hope You Get Drafted" on the '' International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit Compilation'' (1984), R Radical Records *"Legacy of Man" on ''Rat Music for Rat People Vol. 2'' (1984),

CD Presents David Ferguson was an American international outsider-culture impresario, activist, music producer and concert promoter. Over his career, most of which has been spent on the West Coast, he worked with musical acts such as the Avengers, John Ly ...

, Ltd

References

* Art Black / Ira Robbins.
DICKS
. '' Trouser Press Guide''. Retrieved February 15, 2006.

External links

The Dicks
on Myspace

- Gary Floyd interview from 1998

from NewYorkNightTrain.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Dicks, The Alternative Tentacles artists Hardcore punk groups from Texas LGBT-themed musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 Musical groups reestablished in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2016 Musical groups from Austin, Texas SST Records artists 1980 establishments in Texas Political music groups Reagan Era