Interview with Dick Lucas

20 Questions with Dick Lucas of the Subhumans, Culture Shock and Citizen
Fish.

1. So who are you?

dick lucas aka dick fish

2. And what do you do?

i sing and i write, for myself and subsequently for both
citizen fish and subhumans, also-dig deep- culture shock, uk
skapunk originators from 86-89

3. Wither you like it or not, As a canidate for We Were
Alives' prestigious
pick for top cultural hero, what is your platform? Your
foundation of
beliefs and experience? Your special powers that would
enable you to destroy
the other canidates? C'mon, Sell yourselfâ€¦ You are in the
race and the
people ARE voting.

heroes suck! thats my platform, you see ive thought this over
and over and i had fave artists shall we say, like iggy pop
or john peel, but if id met them would i have gushed and
flimbled in their presence, not knowing what to say? perhaps,
but i didnt get the chance, probably just as well,
blahblah....i sincerely hope that anyone asked these
questions will be honest enough to admit that being cast as a
hero is Wierd, and does not feel right:failing that hope,
well it seems punks essential message, that 'Anyone Can Do
It', has failed. This is not a case of modesty gone mental,
its a totally blank _expression at the concept of Having
Heroes at all, seriously what happened to the 'everyone is
equal' motif? SO VOTE FOR ME cos all the other candidates
WANT TO WIN?!

4. What is YOUR definition of a 'hero'?

someone who does or did what you think you cant do yourself

5. How did you end up in your state as a cult-hero-
revolutionary?

ok i'll try to get into all this, heres my secret; i have
spent 20 years or more NOT worrying about mortgages marriage
offspring enforced monogamy or my future, but instead
worrying about violence ignorance macho behaviour
subservience to the status quo and similar social ills, in a
mindset that continually cant quite believe how FUCKED UP
this present day human condition is. and as i like words, and
singing, i end up putting this into songs, and hey fucking
presto you think i'm a hero for it? beats me

6. Not that I asked for one, but why do you not sign
autographs?

well, i do; i used not to-preferring to rant about the
imbalance thus perpetuated between band and audience- but one
such refusal led to a 15 year old crying, and that made me
feel like a total asshole, and ive been signing whatever ever
since. i dont like doing it at all, maybe i missed out on the
pleasures induced [the only autograph i ever got said 'fuck
you', from one one of the Angelic Upstarts in 79, which told
me a lot]; what else is an autograph but confirmation that
i'm of some kind of higher status? that sucks! we are all as
high or low as our actions prove, and signing stuff seems to
be negative proof somehow.

7. Sum up the human experience as quickly as possible.

woke up this morning

8. What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

my cousin and her mum [my aunt] , aged 50 and 80, laughing
hysterically together.

9. Whats the most hideous?

a description of the atrocities in Rwanda when the Hutus
slaughtered the Tutsis in the mid-90s

10. Now could you answer the last three questions in a haiku?

er, no; ive only a vague idea of the scansions involved. so
lets do a limerick instead![WHAT!!! the last 3 in ONE poem
all together??]

i wake up to 'whats life about?'
much laughter and joy, theres no doubt
but in terms of Rwanda
i do get to wonder
cos slaughter and war freak me out

11. If you took a hit of bad acid and suddenly woke up in Uganda, what
would be your first action as prime minister of Uganda?

ban acid!

12. In ratio terms, what is the percentage of americans do
you talk to that speak in a fake british accent and laugh quietly to
themselves afterwards?

about one in every trillion, as americans need to feel their
accentual impersonations are actually GOOD enough to impress
their cultural ancestors, and as the attempt is never their
first, which was fuckin awful, they darent laugh at any level
in case their improvements go unnoticed. really, you make up
the questions and ill make up the answers!

13. And on the British thing... to settle a bet that I have
with my overlord
at We Were Alive I must ask you. Is everyone in the UK
homosexual?

not everyone, no, some of my best friends are heterosexual,
and tell your mother i can't make it next tuesday...

14. Then how do you reproduce?

we use words [cos we can't get our complicated trousers off];
after the initial flirtations of 'mollitude' or 'whaaaaaaaa',
we chant MOISTMOISTMOIST until fruition.

15. Since my overlord at We Were Alive doesn't believe in
politics. And I
get sick of having debates with him on Socialism vs.
Nihilistic Social
Darwinism. We need guidanceâ€¦ In case you havent already,
explain the basics
of your political ideology. This is an orderâ€¦

i will ignore that 'order' bit, and there you have it.
avoiding orders, be they overt or covert, is the basis of
freedom from oppression, and all politics is oppression, not
of 'the masses' but of the human will of self-determination.
If 'politics' is how we treat each other-and it is-then those
who claim that we need to be controlled/looked over are
treating us as inferior to their deluded sense of self-
importance, which we, in our craving to be part of our own
destiny, boost every time we fall for the voting trap. At the
other end of the scale, the calls to arms by revolutionaries
are part of the powergames that mutually assist in the
continuance of power as some sort of ultimate achievement,
when it is the very problem that the revolution goes full
circle against. gaining control over the people who control
us is merely swapping anger for contempt; the idea is to
level existence back to communal ability and the recognition
that either no-one is perfect or everyone is, whichever.

16. What is the work you'd designate your best?

that last answer was pretty good. i dunno, you tell me, i
just write the stuff.

17. What do you think of electronic music? Compare and
contrast with punkâ€¦

when the spinal tingle runs up your back, ok, my back, its
origination is human , not some programmed bleep blob. Go
sing in the shower.

18. You have been doing this awhile now. How do you remain
interested? How
do you fight the urge to sit back and relax knowing you've
done more than
your share?

well its not like the subject matter or the places to see or
the people to meet are going to run out soon. do i have a
share? blimey! cheers for that! [lets face it, im so
otherwise unemployable i'll never get a job doing anything
else, right?]

19. What is an interview question you've always wanted to be
asked that
never arose?

this is it! yes! youve done it! thankyou soooo much! now i
can relax, knowing that ive done my fair share!

20. If you could remove one technology from the world, what
would it be?

the combustion engine. no more transport bar rowing boats and
bikes and skateboards and feet and anything else i cant think
of cos its 4a.m.
then we could email detailed descriptions of our homes and
lives and compare leg muscle sizes and die 30 years later
than average and travel with intent and wonder [and a stack
of postcards]