The Dickies

June 1, 2001 @ The Galaxy Theatre, Santa Ana CA 
Review By: Scott Harding 
Pictures By: Scott Harding  

     So the time has come where two lucky stiffs won free passes to see a great show and meet a killer band. Why? Because they won DeadOnTheWeb’s Dickies and Total Chaos contest! See people really do win here on DeadOnTheWeb! Yup they got to see them play and meet Total Chaos! So I get there and right away meet with Brittany and Theresa, the winners. We go there a tad late so we missed the first band Orange Blossom Special.  I didn’t mind missing them because the see to play The Galaxy just about anytime a cool band is headlining so I have seen them many times and Im sure Ill see them many times again in the future. They are a good band so check them out at The Galaxy in the near future.

     As I took a look at the crowd I saw a strange mix of people roaming around. Mainly good old punks but I couldn’t help but notice all these trendy teenie boppers sporting Hurley and Blink 182  shirts. They couldn’t possibly be here to see Total Chaos or The Dickies, so what was the deal?!?! And then they came on. The next band. They were called Dumbounded but Im  going to refer to them as Dumbounded 182. These teenie boppers were obviously there to see Dumbounded 182. Now don’t get me wrong. Dumbounded 182 didn’t really suck because they did play their instruments very well and the singer harmonized pretty good. But there is something to be said about a band that sounds just like Blink 182, wears nothing but label wear (you know, like billabong, hurley, amberchrombie….you get the picture) and looks just like Blink 182.  So whats to be said? This: Come on now… let Blink 182 be Blink 182 and get more original.  Now if your reading this and Blink 182 is your cup of tea, then you would love these guys. But that not the case for me. I hate Blink 182 so I wasn’t too fond of this band. But hey, all the teenie boppers liked them and there was quite a few of them. But I couldn’t help but laugh at the looks and sneers of the punks there as this band played on. I thought for sure one of the hard core chicks was gonna smash one of the teenie’s faces. Now that would have been pretty damn funny! Well enough about them.

     So while Dumbounded 182 played their set, we headed to the bar area to grab a few words with Total Chaos. They were pretty cool guys and they told us about their new CD coming out called Punk Invasion. Rob was telling me how he felt that it was their best release yet and seemed pretty excited about the upcoming Punk Invasion Tour. So after bull shitting with the band for a while it was time for them to go on. I haven’t seen them live before so I was pretty excited. So with a bolt of force they kicked in to their set. One thing I really like about this band is the fact that they put on a great energetic show.  Not a moment was where they had nothing to say or just stood still, nope not at all. They were to busy expressing their feelings and laying out some raw hard punk licks. Their set was pretty lengthy and they played a sample of just about all their albums including the un released Punk Invasion. They even did some killer cover songs. One i remembered was Sex and Violence by The Exploited. This was a crowd pleaser and it even got better when the singer and bass player joined the crowd in a friendly pit! It was pretty impressive. They also played a tune from Metal Gods Twisted Sister! Yup you guessed it, We’re not gonna take it was the song of choice. Another crowd pleaser! After a great set fro Total Chaos it was time to make room for The Dickies!

     This was the 6^th or so time for me seeing The Dickies because they are one of my favorite bands of all time. And the Dickies have been going at it for almost 30 years! And with over 10 full length albums and a shit load of singles under their belts it’s no wonder The Dickies are still active today. Not only did they help create the punk scene but they are also here to help the punk scene to remain strong by still touring all over the world and leaving all that see them in awe. And it’s pretty cool to see them get snatched up by Fat Wreck Chords for their latest release. By the way if you haven’t done so already check it out its called “All This and Puppet Stew” It’s great!  So The Dickies take the stage and every one is excited. I don’t remember what they opened with because I was also pretty excited and was just stoked to hear them play. But I can tell you that they did play an excellent mix of classics like “Banana Splits”  and “Poodle Party” and some pretty damn good new ones off their new release. Although they did not play “If Stewart Could Talk”  Stewart made a guest appearance as Leonard explained how the title of “All The And Puppet Stew” could mean several things including Puppet Stewart. I was kinda shocked they didn’t play it because every other time I saw them they played it, oh well maybe next time. One of the reasons I love The Dickies so much is the style and manor in which Leonard sings both on album and live. His voice is so unique there hasn’t been any band I know of that even comes close to sounding like him.   And let me talk a moment about guitar god Stan Lee. He has to be one of the greatest guitarists ever. Sporting his classic Spiderman Gibson SG, Stan  was in full force and full power! And after all this time he still hams it up on stage while the smoke rises form is fingers during each of his solos. Although The Dickies have had many bad line ups, the current one is one of the strongest. Every band member does their part to complete the tightness of The Dickies. So after playing for about 45 minutes and a great encore it was time for The Dickies to end the show. Once again The Dickies blew my mind and from this show they were taking off to blow the mind of Europe. So all you Europeans out there keep you eyes open! And for those in the US, well keep your eyes open too because rumor has it that after Europe they are going to play again out here!

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