This SWSX was kind of a afterthought for a lot of us following the premier of the "The Dicks From Texas" documentary and CD release on Wednesday March 11th. It's as close as Austin is going to get to a class reunion these days. Many have moved away and many are no longer with us. Stories were swapped and new and old friends wet met and made. We watched the film and listened to bands play the music of one of the bands who most of us would chose to represent us if ever a Punk Rock time capsule were made. Austin Texas was and is The Dicks. We spoke to director Cindy Marabito about the film.


How long did you work on this film from the first idea to the print?

I first met the Dicks in 1979 when I was attending UT Austin as a film student. They were the most exciting and interesting people I'd ever met and all I basically wanted to do was film them doing things. I really had no set plan. At the time, Buxf used to go around singing Merle Haggard's "Play me a Little of them Working Man Blues" and I had this idea of shooting him and Glen in some seedy bar. I used to drag home all this WWII equipment from school and film Gary, Philip and Gary's mom, Janet. No stories, really, or much of a plan, but they were so vibrant and intriguing, who needed a story, right?


Then, years later, I was working at Monaco Film Lab in San Francisco and thought, what the hell, I'm gonna finally make the Dicks movie. It will be easy. That was 16 years ago...I started on 16 mm and finished on my I phone. It was far from easy, but more like a journey. It was a trip in every sense of the word. I love Gary Floyd and the Dicks. All those years ago when I started out like the Tom Petty song "For God knows where," I guess I'll know when I get there. It was a trip! I went digging for things, following these people around and seeking stuff. It was me and my little Sony consumer camera, my favorite songs, my favorite people on earth and my favorite subject, the Dicks.


How long did it take to get all the interviews together?

Actually, the interviews were quite easy to collect. Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins made themselves very accessible as did David Yow, Texas Terri and Mike Watt. The Dicks have maintained a long history of being liked by their peers. Everyone I have asked to let me interview them about the Dicks has gone way out of their way to make time and allow themselves to be interviewed. In Austin, Pat and Buxf and in San Francisco, Gary Floyd over and over as you can see in the film, Gary grows up before our eyes. I needed some tying together near the end of the editing process to finish the way I wanted to finish and Gary totally did that for me. He allowed me another interview and it was quite magical. He was like a guiding light sort of, almost knowing what I needed and providing a path for the film to be able to finish. It was wonderful and it was spiritual.


Where did the live footage come from and who took it?

A wonderful piece by Vicki Sprague was taped in 1983 when the Dicks were on the Rock Against Reagan tour. Joe Rees of Target Video shot the 1983 On Broadway 3/4 video. That in itself was quite a story. I was there the night Target Video shot the On Broadway footage in San Francisco and started hound dogging the Dicks about it. None of the living band members remembered the footage being shot. No one in the band had ever seen themselves other than the post shoot at Target Video. Imagine being in a great band like the Dicks and never getting to see what you look like onstage. I really wanted to be able to get my hands on that footage and Joe Rees came through like a champ. He is a wonderful person.






Do you feel that this film is a good representation of Texas Punk Culture?

I really do. I say that as a lifelong music person and someone who moved here like so many others have and still do, for the music. What Austin has become is so different from the little cowtown I first saw in 1979. This is fine and was sure to happen, but somebody needed to document what it was like then and I believe that person is me. I wanted to do three things in The Dicks From Texas. First, I wanted to tell the story of my favorite band of all time, The Dicks. Secondly, I wanted to paint a picture of the scene and its people. With the help of fabulously talented super 8 filmmakers like Suzie Riddle and stills photographers like Bill Daniel and Pat Blashill among many others and poster artists like Ric Cruz, The Dicks From Texas is able to provide a peek-a-boo into life on the drag circa 1979-1982.

Thirdly, you nailed it, Texas Punk Culture. Austin was different from any other scene as Gary so aptly puts it, the Austin scene was special, and it was its own scene. There has been a lot of discussion about punk, punk being dead, etc., but Austin has a lively, hot, fresh punk scene that has been going on since the Dicks first played at the Armadillo World Headquarters in May 1980, coming up on 35 years ago. There are kids young enough to be the Dicks grandchildren playing in great bands who idolize the Dicks and know all the words to the songs. I am blown away at the talent in this town. I saw a band the other night, The Stabbies, playing their fourth gig and the lead singer has ‘Kill From the Heart' tatooed on her neck. It was like seeing Billy Problem from Boy Problems reincarnated as a chick in San Francisco. Being in Austin now is like 1980's Raul's, like a candy store for people like me who love great music.


Is there anything you wish you could have added?

I hate to say it, but no. I really believe I told the story and said what I wanted to say. I made a raw film the way I wanted to. I didn't use any hijinks and hotdogging because I had stars sitting there telling me wonderful stories. To use anything other than a stationery camera would have been blasphemous and disrespectful. The only thing I'd change is to illuminate the music. The live performances were of course recorded on camera, so do not have the technology to do justice to the music. If there were some way to clean up the music on a post production level, I'd be keen on that. Other than that, I've spent 16 years going over and over this movie night and day, I've dreamed it awake and asleep, so it's really time to be finished. I'm not Stanley Kubrick still working on The Shining two years after it's theatrical release, but I do love Shelley Duval.




Why are the Dicks so important to Punk Rock History?

Well, they're so real. If you listen to the music, there's country, jazz, blues, just all kinds of American roots to it. The Dicks really were country when country wasn't cool. What's totally amazing is the compilation album, The Dicks From Texas and friends with all these awesome bands, 27 bands, contributing songs. Many of these bands are Austin bands who much like the Dicks, just don't get the accolades they deserve. They are great bands. The Beaumonts, Cunto!, the Gay Sportscasters, The Surlys, Scorpio Rising, Pocket FishRmen, The Offenders, El Pathos, ok, Black Eyed Vermillion, Churchwood, The Bulemics, The Dickins, Poor Dumb Bastards, The Fuckemos have all covered Dicks songs and it's all over the place musically. For a hardcore covers album, these songs truly represent American music. It is history. Living history. Here's this old hardcore band that was practically run out of town with a living history of great musicians celebrating those songs off three little records which have stood the test of time, 35 years.


Is there any statement you would like to add as the film maker?

I would. I would like to say to any filmmaker out there. Make your own story. Don't copy what you think film school or Hollywood wants or says it wants. I've seen more films than probably anybody. Nothing is sadder to me than sitting down to watch a film that was made by some management team. If you're going to make a film, be a filmmaker, even if it's on your I phone.


Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OATmucg9WGI
Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/dicksfromtexas?ref=br_tf
Website:www.thedicksfromtexas.com
Photo and trailer used with permission of Cindy Marabito