THE ROCK MIDGET INTERROGATION :
This month - Dick Lucas from Citizen Fish...

Interview by Ruth

Rock Midgets have had this suspect on their files for some time. Our highly trained team tracked down Dick Lucas, lead singer of British Ska-Punkers Citizen Fish, in the heart of cyber-space in preparation for the release of new album 'Life Size'. After putting up a short-lived struggle, the suspect was eventually detained for questioning on activities snakes, politics, and choice of tour underwear...


Hello.
Who the hell are you?
Justify your existence.
I am Dick, son of naarg, ongrhh of the 15 year cycle AND more pertinently singer for Citizen Fish, the whacky punkskanarcho troupe from Bath in the heart of whatever, also ex-member of the early 80s punk legends (dont blame me, i'm just quoting someone else, and 'legends' is way better than 'vintage'!) the Subhumans, and between the one and other was ditto for culture shock....

You've just been round Europe again - how was that?
After all the 8 months of rain locally, it was sunshiny in France with red wine and mad french people, brilliant! best gig of 10 was in Amsterdam, not in France but the other one, lots of eager types lashing at the gates of musement [and buying us beer]. To counterpoint all this fun-biased reporting, the last gig in Antwerp was in front of 30 stiff locals looking bemused BUT the main band were the Kingpins who were the best ska band seen for ages!

How do you cope with having one set of clothes per tour? How do you get your pants dry enough for the next day?
AaaaaaaaaaaaassUMPtions! We take more clothes! A lot of socks, 2 pairs of troos, 3 shirts, that'll cover it... as for underpants, well, I sweat so much that I soon learnt that wearing pants was a total waste of time and led to a lot of gross cleaning/stench situations, so I dont wear pants now, at all! Hang loose, as they say!

Name five things you couldn't go on tour without.
Pens, maps, books, camera....the van.

Describe the new album in five words.
Bouncing blocks of chunky punk rocks!

What's your favourite track on it?
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm,,....'Autographs'. or 'Out Of Control'....

When and where did you record it?
In February, in the end cottage of a terrace of them in a small but dull village called Holt, which is 15 miles away from here which is Bath....

Whose is the snake on the inside cover?
A chap who put us up in Atlanta last October on tour in the usa, he had a big lizard in the bathroom too, cue that Bad Manners song.....Reptiles In Suburbia!

Where did you find a baby that big?
It's a lifesize baby... building a city that small was the problem. The windows were especially fiddly.

Get to do much surfing on the web?
As little as possible, surfing indicates thrills excitement and getting wet, and instead I stare at screens instantly unable to recall what the fuck I was just looking at...

General Election - did you vote or couldn't you give a shit?
I'm not registered to vote, but would've voted Green, on the offchance their ideas might one day get listened to... I hate politicians and the social standing everyone gives them at the cost of freely thinking for themselves, I resent any hierarchy that claims to allow people 'equal rights' in the name of a democracy that is guarded by police and financed by corporations... Blair will now privatise (ie hand over to big business) much more than even Thatcher did, unopposed by anyone, and within 5 years there will be media-manipulated smiles all round, three centre or rightwing parties, minimal workers rights and starbucks on every corner..... and more missiles in Yorkshire, more cameras on the streets .....more riots/demonstrations/protests (any style you like) are in order!

What's the connection between Citizen Fish and the Subhumans?
Me, Phil and Trotsky were all in the Subhumans from 80-85, based here we released a bunch of records, played bloody good punk rock, then stopped until 98 when on a whim we reformed and enjoyed it immensely enough to keep it loosely going..! (phil and trotsky are other memboids of citfish, by the way)

What do you make of the resurgence of punk over here and across the Atlantic?
Well it's a pity noone noticed punk was still alive and kicking until it got back on MTV again, but whatever, as long as the surface poppunk puddle merely transiently covers the basic underwater world of less commercial and thereby more relevant independent punk music for the kids to discover, then so mote it be (squiggle).

Have you noticed more younger kids coming to gigs?
Yes indeed I have! Even to the point where it's not just cos I'm gradually getting older all the time! This influx is a Good Thing, cos punk is live and messy and fun, whereas so-called techno (etc) is, er, Not So!

You've got quite a big fanbase in the US. How are crowds here compared to the US?
Different accents..... less car-owners.... more drinkers/less straight-edge.... they have different Names... seriously! Every 4th male kid in the USA is called Jason! And nowhere in america will you find a 'Gazza', 'Bazza' or 'Shazza'!

BLUURG TAPES - what's that?
A series of C60 tapes onto which I record tapes of live or demo recordings of bands, largely the ones I've been in, and sell for £2 a shot; started it in the 80s to promote the bands...for a list go to citizenfish.com and look at the merch bit.

What do you think punk rock means today?
Same as ever, chaotic unpredictable varied consistent unique mindlessly intelligent political fun set to music and paper....

You've also kept yourself busy with this "Write the Way Up" book. Try to sell it to us in 100 words or less.
Dick Lucas' first novel of a mere 44 pages takes the reader alongside hisself and 'Jack' on a curious journey up a mountain, armed only with linguistic gyroscopics and ramblings of the mind that one particular roadie once described as 'like listening to Dick when he's drunk'... devoid of all but the barest of plot, character developement, scenery or anything at all to do with punk rock, it takes half an hour to read and a lifetime to, er, sell. Its not even in print! But I'm redoing it along with three other odd-bits-in-a-book's, which'll be out again in ooo august.

What do you make of "nu-metal"?
Nu-spoons?

Complete the following "If I wasn't in Citizen Fish, I'd be..."
That geeky looking bloke with no friends? (Nervous laughter)

You've also got a video coming out soon - what's that about?
Its out! its called 'Gaffer tape' and its a good compilation of 47 minutes out of Jasper the bassist's consistent cam-cordering of ourselves on and off tour over the last 10 years, and its great, and its only £8 postpaid from Bluurg [2 Victoria Terrace / Melksham / Wilts / SN12 6NA]

You look into a crystal ball and see yourself ten years from now. What do you see? / What are you doing?
I see....... a crystal ball! And I'm....... looking at it! What a silly question! Harumph.

What are you up to in the next few months?
Off to the USA for a tour for 4 weeks, then with the Subhumans to Canada for two weeks, then in October off to Europe for 4 weeks, with occasional as yet unplanned gigs in the UK in between.... bit bizzy.

Are you coming anywhere near us? (We're based in Durham)
Anywhere to play at?

What are you going to do after you've finished answering these questions?
Eat!

Finally, what would you like to say to the world?
Hello world, nice to um meet you finally, I uhhh, likethelastalbumbytheway, uhhhhhhhhdrink?

Cheers, m'dear!
Excellent, I say that too, cheers m'dear, with the apostrophe and everyfin!

Dick