Overthrow The DICKS interview Q. Where did you get your start? A. We got together in Austin, Tx., in 1980 and moved to San Francisco. Q. You’re wearing Mao buttons, what’s the significance of that? A. We’re Maoists. Q. What does that mean to you? A. Down with U.S. imperialism, down with the structure they’ve given us and as far as the Rock Against Reagan Tour, while it is not essentially our view we believe that whether Communist or Anarchist we are down against U.S. imperialism and that is our fight. Whether we do it thru Anarchism or Communism is void right now, the main thing is to tear down the structure. We are not affiliated with any party. There are times when we seem to be affiliated with the Revolutionary Communisty Party or their youth group the RCYB but-,--’t We are for a party of the proletariat that is not dogmatic and freaks out every time something bad happens, we’re for the Communist party that liberates everyone; sexually and politically. We don’t want to be identified with one political party. We like all leftist organizations. A lot of them are stupid but they probably think that we’re stupid too. We still support the Left whether it’s Communist or Anarchist. But we are a Communist group. Q. Revolution, is that what your music is about? A. Yes. Q. Are there any songs that reflect your political philosophy more than others? A. Definitely! We have certain songs that are directed towards the Miami killings, we have certain songs that are directed towards the breakdown of the middle class white structure and we also have songs that are just for fun and dancing. We try to cover all aspects but essentially we are political. We have a message, we have a goal. Q. Having these beliefs must be a liberating experience on the one hand but it must be frustrating getting gigs and putting out albums. Have you any problems. A. Yes. Certainly. Oh Yeah. You know you’re gonna step on a couple of toes along the road. We have stations that censor us, are a band the media is oppressive but we expect that, that’s exactly what we are about. We are oppressed. You learn about being oppressed before you’re in a band, and you learn how with the to deal with it… We’re not trying to emulate people. Some say they’re not into politics and they get real pissed off about bands that are political. But the point is that those people are pissed off or else they wouldn’t be creaming "we’re not political." We don’t want to void those people out, they do have something to say. The point is if you’re gonna have some kind of feelings shared with people as far as, "I can have a good time with you and I’m not gonna be dogmatic and religious about my political views, I can break down and have a real good time." We all grew up poor, we all grew up with real poor pasts and we are those people. We’re that kind of fucking people. And because politics are involved in our lives-it’s very natural. Q. The Rock Against Reagan Tour-What are your feelings about being on the tour these months? A. Pretty good! We deal with people, we learned a lot. Basically things have been going pretty smoothly… We carry our political beliefs further than some people do. But people basically have the same idea, to fuck this idiot in the White House and get him the hell out of there. That’s what we are here for, to take a stand. It’s not just hardcore punk rock, it’s reggae, folk, Yippie-we all agree that something is very wrong here. We as a band believe it is time to stop identifying people by how they look and to start identifying what human needs are. Whether you are a hippie living in the past or a punk living in some sort of distorted present or just regular people trying to work and get by in this life. All of those kinds of people are beginning to realize there is this big oppression and people are now beginning to identify where it’s coming from… People are beginning to identify what their enemy is, it’s just like step one in a long march. Return to... |