Dave Dictor - MDC: Memoir from a Damaged Civilization: Stories of Punk, Fear, and Redemption

Praise for Dave Dictor & MDC: Memoir from a Damaged Civilization

Long before Cop Killer and Straight Outta Compton there was MDC. Hands down one of the most controversial, heat-seeking bands in Hardcore, or...well...EVER. No one was neutral least of all the police. For those who might take for granted there was always this underground Punk Scene, with places to play in every town, this is a must read. What it really took to build your scene, and the sheer guts of the people who laid their asses on the line, this should be a real eye-opener.

Jello Biafra

Dave Dictor taught me everything I know about balls, humility, getting through borders with a van full of dirty punks, and introducing the support act. On tour in Europe, kids yelled in the mic every word about loving chickens or hating John Wayne, and his dominatrix girlfriend joined Tribe 8 onstage, getting us banned in Hamburg by German feminists. MDC went to countries no other band would dare, risking arrest in order to bring real revolution to the truly oppressed. He has always searched out the outsiders in a scene of outsiders. Dave Dictor doesnt just sing punk, he lives it. This is his saga.

Lynn Breedlove, Tribe 8

Dave Dictor is somebody you can really count on. He is that rare breed that has not wavered over time, he has stuck to his beliefs, the kind of person thats out to make a better world.

Joe Shithead Keithley, DOA

I knew Dave Dictor, the singer from MDC, and I used to crash in his room when he was on tour. The place was called the Rathouse. Everyone had a fanzine, everyone was in a band. My parents were either very brave or very stupid for letting me hang out with all these interesting, sexually diverse, drug-happy people.

Tre Cool, Green Day

1982s Millions of Dead Cops album represented a milestone in radical politics and music. If Jello Biafra was hardcores fiery Abbie Hoffman, MDCs Dave Dictor served as its cross-dressing Che Guevara.

Steven Blush, American Hardcore

When I first met Dave, there was an immediate recognition of a lifetime friendship. No matter if we were punk rock singers or cowboys on the range that friendship would have been there, is there. I love the guy.

Gary Floyd, The Dicks / Sister Double Happiness / Black Kali Ma

Dave Dictor was one of most furious, provocative and important front men in the original hardcore scene. He called his band Millions of Dead Cops, and had the intelligence and fearlessness to back it up.

Vic Bondi, Articles of Faith

A pioneer in championing gay rights in the early days of punk, Dave has always been on the cutting edge of relevant issues and to this day he continues to inspire punk fans young and old. Essential reading for any punk enthusiast.

Kieran Plunkett, The Restarts

Dave MDC is a force multiplier. It is the bridge builders that help the scene and our communities, actively countering infighting, divisiveness, and injustice, not to mention just plain mean people being bullies. In a time when political hardcore bands werent very trendy at all, and punker-than-thou was a tiresome poser pastime, he helped thousands of us punks and misfits navigate the punk scene, slam dancing, stage diving, and joyfully overriding junkie nihilism and the neo-Nazi skinhead movement with hard hitting conscious lyrics and dealing with shit that matters. The 1982 MDC album was a huge milestone. Everything in my life is divided into either before that fateful day I first picked it up (at the Ratcage record store in NYCs Lower East Side) and afterwards. Because of that record, I was able to connect with him and ended up touring with him on our Rock Against Reagan tour. Dave introduced us to the Dicks, the Crucifucks, Dead Kennedys, and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI), all of whom either toured with us or played at our shows throughout 48 states of the USA.

Alan audiogrouch Thompson, sound engineer, co-producer of Rock Against Racism NYC & Rock Against Reagan

also by Dave Dictor

MDC

M emoir from a
D amaged C ivilization

Stories of Punk, Fear, and Redemption

Dave Dictor

with photographs & tour documentation
from the archives of
Ron Posner

Manic D Press
San Francisco

Disclaimer: This book is a memoir, a narrative composed from memories of personal experiences as best as I can remember them. Apologies if you remember things differently or if Ive gotten names, dates, places, or anything else wrong. I wasnt taking notes at the time.

MDC: Memoir from a Damaged Civilization 2016 David Dictor

All rights reserved. Published by Manic D Press, Inc. For information, address Manic D Press, PO Box 410804, San Francisco California 94141 USA www.manicdpress.com

Photos/Artwork 2016 by the individual photographers and artists, credited where names were available, but if the name of photographer or artist wasnt available at the time of publication, neither author nor publisher makes claim of copyright for their work.

The publisher would like to thank Ron Posner and David Ensminger for their assistance in producing this book.

cover photo: Ed Colver original cover design: Craig Williams

Cataloging in Publication data in available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 978-1-933149-99-8 Printed in the USA

For

Tammy Lundy and all the lineups of MDC including Ron Posner, Al Alschvitz Schultz, Franco Mares, Mikey Donaldson, Gordon Fraser, Eric Calhoun, Bill Collins, Matt Freeman, Chris Wilder, Erica Liss, Joe Strum, Roby Williams, Tom Roberts, Matt Van Cura, Brendon Bekowies, Al Albatross Basin, David Hahn, John Soldo, Mike Pride, Mike Smith, Jesse Cobb, Russ Kalita, Felix Griffin, and Dejan Podobnik

And for people everywhere struggling to be themselves

CONTENTS

We pulled up on the bawdy street of Broadway, where all the Gold Rush saloons once featured dance hall girls and rowdy discontents, and stepped out of the van into a bristling throng of 500 punks: a sea of studded leather and spiky haircuts. We stood, flabbergasted, taking it all in. The band that would become known as MDC had just driven from Austin, Texas, straight through to San Francisco, California, arriving at the Mabuhay Gardens on July 2, 1981.

Inside, taking the stage, we began strumming our first song with all those eyes nailed to us as if we were in the Roman Coliseum. Everybody was ready to make the thumbs up or thumbs down. We rocked through Business on Parade, and as we played Dead Cops, the crowd grew feverish. By the third song, we had the crowd, and we just blew through our punk, hardcore, thrash set dressed in our street cowboy, blue denim, Goodwill outfits.

It was beyond anything we had ever experienced. I recall smiling at Ron as we realized these people got us, really understood what we had practiced and executed 500 times before. By the time we did John Wayne Was A Nazi, our last song (we had a lean, 14-song set of short songs), the crowd just went bonkers.

We knew at that moment that this was our new home, and that the future was now.

My Family Is A Little Weird