In 1980, at a concert billed as the Punk Prom, at the Armadillo World Headquarters, a dirty new Austin band drew a line in the sand. These young lads were the Dicks, and they said, ‘We’re a punk band. Those other bands are New Wave, and they suck. If you like New Wave, you suck too.’ Clutching my love for the B-52’s and Devo to my tender breast, I fled. The Dicks terrified me until I actually listened to their side of the Dicks/Big Boys Live at Rauls album, which was when I realized they were geniuses. Underneath the anger, there was an awful lot of hurt and pain in Gary Floyd’s voice (and lyrics.) By the time I made these photographs, he had moved to San Francisco and reformed the Dicks. Possessed of a fine, bluesy voice, and a true inheritor to Janis Joplin, Floyd would later sing for Sister Double Happiness. (PB)
The Dicks were Gary Floyd, Buxf Parrott, Pat Deason and Glen Taylor.
I was drunk one night in Raul's Club in Austin, Texas. Some band was playing and I was staring at two guys in the back of the club next to the bar. They didn't really look like punks, but more like off-duty terrorist thugs - the "ready to fight" types. I knew I had to get to know them. Buff Parrott and Glen Taylor were from San Antonio, Texas, in Austin for some drinks and music. Before the night was over, we had not only become friends but had made beer-drenched plans to start a band together. I already had the name - The Dicks - and they loved the idea.
Gary Floyd
“Oh, I mean to me the Dicks records were some of the best punk music ever made, as well as some of the most courageous. It was not the most tolerant time and [Texas was] not the most tolerant place for openly gay people either. The Dicks were very very courageous and Gary Floyd is one of the best vocalists to ever come out of punk.”
Jello Biafra
"I remember one time passing through Austin--the insufferable heat, the dust-filled front yards, the skaters, acid-damaged art punks throwing empty beer cans at the bands on-stage at the Ritz, the Dicks. Maybe they were all those impressions rolled into one. The instigators, the perpetrators, the participants, the targets. Wherever it was, there they were."
Bob Mould, Hüsker Dü
"I have never seen another band like the Dicks and I'm sure I never will. Their mix of soul, Motown and punk was inspirational. They were fun and at the same time VERY intimidating. The Dicks changed my life."
David Yow, Scratch Acid, the Jesus Lizard
I was always glad to be a Dick. Though the band always stood against racism, sexism, homophobia, and all that shit, we also weren't opposed to having a good laugh. Ha, Ha, Ha...
Gary Floyd
Essential Listening:
The Big Boys and the Dicks-Live at Raul's