Plateprat med Deke Dickerson

Hello!
If someone buys you a drink, what do you drink?
Club Soda with ice.

Describe yourself in at least five words.
It sounds self-aggrandizing, but I really just try to be a better person as I get older.

Photo: Geoff Vane

If you were to choose a pseudonym/artist name?
I already did. Deke is a nickname that I stole from Elvis’ character in the movie Loving You, where he portrays a character named Deke Rivers. It was way better than my given name, Derek....

If you were to write an autobiography one day, what would it be called?
I have joked around that my autobiography would be called WHO? Because any time somebody says my name, whether it’s saying good things about me or whatever, the person they’re talking to says WHO? Ha ha....

If you want to get people on the dance floor, what song do you play?

Dance Franny Dance, a song originally recorded by the Floyd Dakil Combo in the 1960s. Either that or Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham....

What is your relationship with libraries?
Before the internet existed, I lived in the library. I lived in a college town and my mom taught at the college, so I had access to this incredible library at the University of Missouri. As a kid, I lived in that library. I wish I had access to the great libraries here in Los Angeles, but honestly, the internet is like my library now.

Five favorite albums?
Hard to pick, but here’s a good sampler for today’s mood:
Elvis Presley—The Sun Sessions

Flamin Groovies—Shake Some Action

Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps—self titled (2nd album for Capitol)

Bobby Fuller Four—Greatest Hits

Buddy Holly—Greatest Hits

As I’m typing this, I realize that I’d actually have a hard time listing my 500 favorite albums.

Five favorite songs?
Surfin Bird - The Trashmen

Ain’t That Lovin You Baby - Link Wray

Maybelline - Chuck Berry

Look Through Any Window - The Hollies

The Girl can’t Dance - Bunker Hill

And...same answer.Typing these five singles made me realize I would have a hard time listing my 500 favorite singles...

What have you been listening to in the past few days?
Mixes of the new Untamed Youth album!I don’t listen to my own music that much, but when I have a new album i’m working on, I play the mixes on lots of different speakers to see that I’m happy with them.

Underrated album?

So many underrated albums...but if I had to pick one, it would probably be Mack Vickery Live at the Alabama Women’s Prison. It’s like the best Elvis live album he never recorded!

A classic that you've never understood?
Led Zeppelin anything.I guess I understand why other people love that band, but I have always disliked their music, even as a young child. So overblown, so pompous. Give me Little Richard any day of the week.

Three favorite album covers?

Danny Michaels On The Bandstand is the most perfect album cover ever. The band is in a gold convertible Lincoln Continental. Danny Michaels stands outside the car holding a customized Gibson doubleneck guitar. Next to the band in the convertible gold car, there’s a Harley Davidson painted in gold sparkle paint with a thousand silver dollar coins inlaid all over the motorcycle. For no good reason, there’s a hot babe in a bikini sitting on the motorcycle.It’s the greatest album cover ever made.

Porter Wagoner’s The Bottom Of The Bottle is pretty great, too—a sweaty Porter Wagoner looks at a whiskey bottle, and miniature alcoholic hobo Porter is inside the bottle! Ha ha....

There’s so many goddamn great album covers. Too many to list here. But I do love album covers like the Rolling Stones’ Out Of Our Heads—they all just look like rock and roll aliens, weird haircuts and misshapen gaunt faces. The photography accents the ugly horror noir of their appearance. It’s a cover designed to scare the crap out of parents. It’s a masterpiece, yet so simple.

Do you collect records? Why?
Yes, I have obsessively collected records for years.It’s a sickness. Mostly I collect them because it’s like buying a piece of somebody, or a piece of history. For a few bucks, you get a part of that artist’s soul. Music means a lot to me. It shocks met that it doesn’t mean as much to other people.

Photo: Susie Delaney
What is the most important difference from when you started collecting records and how it is now?
The price. I collected vinyl records since the 1980s because they were cheap. Used records at estate sales or thrift stores for 10 cents or 25 cents, at most a dollar. Even new records were five or ten dollars. Now everybody wants 20 or 30 dollars for an album. Who can afford that?

Favorite physical record store?
The best record store in the whole world is Kanesville Kollectibles in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I’m sure it would be a traumatic experience for the casual record shopper. Kanesville is an old warehouse building, two stories tall with a basement, and it’s so full of records that it’s hard to walk.

They have standard record racks, but you have to move three feet of records piled on top of them to get to the racks. They have rooms upstairs where it’s records piled up to the ceiling, with a narrow path to walk in. It’s a madhouse. You dig for hours and hours and hours and everything is reasonably priced. It’s my favorite record store on the planet. But there are a lot of great record stores.

Last purchased record?

Hmmm...Th’ Losin’ Streaks LAST HOUSE album...they are a great band from Sacramento that I’ve been doing some shows with recently. Great band, great album!

Your best record purchase ever?

Probably The Trashmen Surfin’ Bird album, I found it for five bucks at the first record convention I ever went to, back in the 1980s. I took it home and it literally changed my life.

Three records at the top of your Wantlist?
Bongo Beatin’ Beatnik by Joe Hall (Global)

Mr. Ducktail by Uncle Buck Lite (Ron-Mar)—because I sold my copy years ago and have regretted it ever since.

An original mono copy of the Jim Messina and the Jesters THE DRAGSTERS album on Audio Fidelity—because none other than Lux and Ivy bought a copy right in front of my eyes at the Pasadena Record Swap 25 years ago and I haven’t found a clean mono copy for sale ever since then.

The best guitar solo ever recorded?

There’s too many. But on any given day it might be Grady Martin’s solo on Alligator Come Across by Arlie Duff;

or Les Paul and Mary Ford’s The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise;

or maybe even the one-note guitar solo on California Sun by the Rivieras.

Favorite song in another language or dialect?

I have a particular fondness for Los Shakers; the beatles-style band from Uraguay in the 1960s. They sang stuff in Spanish, which is great, but I’m really in love with their incredibly unique English prononciation. It’s so unique. It’s not like any accents we hear in Northern America. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time. They wrote incredible original songs. And I was lucky enough to find their original 1960s American released album at a garage sale for 25 cents.

The best lyricist? (Your favorite)
Quite honestly, Johnny Cash. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves because we’ve heard all of his songs millions of times and mostly you think about his vocal style, or his image.But think about lines like «I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die,» or «I taught the weeping willow how to cry, and I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.» Jesus Christ, man, that guy was heavy. His lyrics are a thousand times deeper than anything that came later.

Favorite movie/TV series?
Favorite Movie: This is Spinal Tap

Favorite TV show: Have Gun, Will Travel (aka «Paladin»)

Vinyl, CD, Cassette, or Streaming. What do you prefer?
I prefer physical media. I do listen to music in the car but I don’t do streaming services, because they’re so dishonest. But honestly, as much as I love vinyl records, I’ll listen to CDs, cassettes, reel to reel tapes....

Are you an audio freak/audiophile?

I have some really nice audio equipment that I’ve obtained very cheaply. But that being said, I have a lot of records in bad condition, and that doesn’t bother me, as long as the music comes through. I really dislike listening to music on terrible equipment though, just because it sounds bad, but I don’t consider myself an audiophile snob.

What do you play music on at home?

As I mentioned, I found some really nice equipment very cheaply a long time ago. I have a Thorens TD-124 turntable I found at a yard sale for 25 dollars. I have an EMT 930 ST turntable that was given to me by an old man! These stories sound like I made them up, but they are true!

A mixtape/Spotify playlist to celebrate love, what three songs must be included?
The Beatles «If I Fell»

Elvis Presley «I Want You, I Need You, I Love You»

Sam Cooke «You Send Me»

Which three records have influenced/inspired you the most in the past three years?
Charlie Rich The Complete Smash Sessions

The Bellfuries - Workingman’s Bellfuries

The Kinks - The Kink Kontroversy

A great playlist you want to share, why?
I must confess to never making a playlist or sharing a playlist. Music is a solitary experience for me, for the most part.

Music books you would recommend and why?

Believe it or not, David Lee Roth’s autobiography is a highly entertaining read. It’s called «Crazy From The Heat.»I highly recommend it. He’s really annoying, but also super funny, smart and entertaining. Kind of like that Van Halen lyric: «We came here to entertain you, leaving here we aggravate you, don’t you know it means the same to me...»

A novel that made an impression on you?

Frank Harris «My Life and Loves,» basically a guy’s ribald sexual exploits published in the 1920s and sold as an under-the-table, risque book. I found it fascinating only in the sense that we think modern life is so different than it was a hundred years ago...this book reveals that humans have always been the same, probably as long as we’ve been a species on the planet. It’s presented as an autobiography but most people say it’s entirely fictional; regardless, it’s entertaining and a unique window into the sex lives of people in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Non-fiction you would recommend?

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Maybe not so entertaining to people outside of America, but it’s a study in how the American Civil War of the 1860s still resonates today, from people’s racial attitudes to those weirdos who re-enact Civil War battles and attempt authentic dress codes. To be honest, it’s amazing how much it parallels the rockabilly scene or the 60’s garage scene, it’s all a big cosplay, isn’t it?

Favorite quote?
«It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company» - George Washington

Photo: Spike Marble

A favorite musician? Slim Gaillard

A memorable music moment?
Playing guitar with Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2005—and Link Wray watching us at our feet, absolutely mesmerized at Scotty Moore.

Which concertwill you never forget?
Seeing Brian Wilson and the Wondermints at the Hollywood Bowl doing Pet Sounds for the first time, it was either 1999 or 2000, i can’t remember, but it was one of those things you are seeing and hearing and you can’t believe you’re witnessing it in real life; you know what I mean?

Favorite festival?
I really miss the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans. It was unique. They had all kinds of music there. I might be playing with Jimmy Lee Fautheree, a hillbilly/rockabilly guitarist from the act Jimmy and Johnny, and we’d follow the Sun Ra Orchestra....then I’d play with Nokie Edwards of the Ventures and Tony Joe White would follow us. Or we’d play a set with Joe Clay and Nathaniel Mayer or the Sonics would be immediately after us. It was incredible; never to be repeated. Kudos to Dr. Ike for his unique musical vision.

Where would you like to travel to experience music?
I would love to spend a month in France and Belgium just going around listening to the real gypsy guitarists, all those players who play like Django Reinhardt. I’ve been to France and Belgium many times, but never had enough time to go listen to gypsy jazz.

Dream job now and when you were 13?
Well, I wanted to be a doctor when I was 13. And I went with a surgeon on «career day» at school to see what it was like. He cut old people open and removed enormous pus balls from people’s necks, and squeezed fatty deposits from old people’s intestines, and then he had to put stitches in an old lady’s butthole. I was 13 and had never seen so much blood and guts and the smell was something I’ll never forget. After that day, being a surgeon was not my dream job.
Today my dream job is what I do! I create music, I play shows, I make people happy, I make people laugh and sometimes cry, and I get to set my own hours and be my own boss. That’s a dream job.

Do you have any hobbies or interests besides music?
I like old cars. I like vintage campers (caravans). I like fixing broken home appliances, record players and mechanical things.

How do you think your friends perceive your taste in music?
Schizophrenic and weird

Is there a music genre you wish you had spent more time on or gotten to know better?
Jazz. I enjoy listening to it but I feel like I can’t play it. I wish I had gotten into it as a younger man. I’m fascinated with all vintage styles of music and would really like to explore more of the vintage music from around the world.

How old were you when you "discovered" music and what made you hooked?
Music was in my family’s DNA. I began to see musicians when I was very young and I was fascinated by them. I wanted to do it myself after seeing Chuck Berry on TV in the 1970s. I wanted to do THAT.

What kind of music did you listen to in your teenage years?
I have always been into music from the 1950s and 1960s. I had a brief period of time when I was 13-16 years old where I tried to get into the heavy metal and hard rock that was popular at that time (early 1980s), but other than that my musical tastes have been the same all my life.

Has your taste in music changed?
Not so much my taste, it is the same. But I definitely find value in more music as I get older. I used to hate slow songs of all kinds when I was young. But now a really sad ballad can tear apart your soul, if you let it.

Which record can you still put on when you're tired of music?
Chet Baker Sings

A musical decade you would travel to if you had a time machine?
I’d be lying if I didn’t say the 1950s. Can you imagine seeing Little Richard and the Upsetters Live in Person at some ballroom in the Deep South, 1957?

Are you nostalgic?
No. I listen to music that was made before I was born. I have no nostalgia for the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s when I was growing up. None whatsoever.

Is there something you want to learn?
How to speak French; and how to play the piano.

The best-dressed musician?
Sam Cooke? Screamin’ Jay Hawkins? Faron Young?

Are you vain?
A bit, yes. I like looking nice and wearing nice clothes. Women appreciate men who make an effort to clean up and look nice. That’s the motivation of life; if it isn’t, then you’re doing it wrong.

Photo: Ruth E. Kaiser

Will you show us a tattoo?
I don’t have any tattoos. Nothing against them; I just never found anything I wanted on my body for the rest of my life.

Are you a maximalist or minimalist?
More is More!

Are you introverted or extroverted?
I guess a little bit of both. I am a loner; always have been. But give me the first opportunity to entertain people, and I’m wearing a top hat and cane, singing «Hello My Baby» at the top of my lungs.

Are you a Type A or Type B person? Type A I guess.

Mental age?
All musicians have a mental age of around 15 years old.

What excites you?
Things that are exceptional, things that people put effort and care and passion into.

What are you afraid of? Going to Prison

Have you had an interesting dream lately? About what?
I have weird dreams, about people with two heads, or cars that float on air, or crazy things that don’t exist. I often wonder if I’m seeing into the future.

Which plant, tree, or animal would you like to be reincarnated as?
I’d like to be reincarnated as a fig tree, because you can’t ever kill a fig tree. It’ll keep on growing back.

Is there a sound you strongly dislike?
Modern Pop Music. When I hear it, I think it’s so awful that the world is coming to an end. And I look around, and people are bopping their heads and singing the lyrics. It’s quite frightening, actually—like I’m living in the wrong time.

Do you have a favorite word?
Parsimonious. It means somebody who is extraordinarily cheap. I don’t feel like it describes ME; I think it’s just a funny word.

Is there a word you hate?
«Like». We all say it way too much. It should be stricken from the language.

Favorite food? Barbecue!

Favorite sport? Competitive eating!

Favorite vehicle/means of transportation?

Photo: Susie Delaney
My 1960 Cadillac Eldorado convertible; it’s a car that Elvis, Little Richard or James Brown would be proud to ride in.

If you were to define yourself as a car, which model are you?
Big, long, slow...and stylish!

Your life philosophy?
Do it now; we’ll all be dead soon.

Do you have a relationship with religion?
I was raised Southern Baptist and although I want nothing to do with the organized church anymore; I feel like the lessons I learned growing up were good lessons. Plus I learned how to sing in church. You can always tell American singers who learned how to sing in church; they sing it like they mean it.

If there is a God, what do you think he would say to you when you meet?
Hmmm, we need to talk....ha ha

What would you want him to say?
I guess I’d want him to say that I did a good job with the talents I was given.

Is there something that annoys you?
People who are obsessed with celebrity and money. It’s so empty. There’s no substance.

Something you regret?
Wasting time trying to be a normal person. I’m glad I stopped doing that at the age of 29.

What is your relationship with music journalism? How do you update yourself on music?
I write about music, so I guess I’m a journalist. I like some contemporary music journalists, like Amanda Petrusich or Tyler Mahan Coe. I also read a lot of Nick Tosches and Lester Bangs.

Do you have any relationship with the record industry?
As little as possible.

Are there people who have been important to your taste in music?

Yes, Billy Miller from Kicks Magazine/Norton Records. He was an incredible mentor, he turned me on to more cool music than I believed possible. Rest in Peace, Billy.

Your role model, or a mentor from whom you have learned something special?
I don’t know, I guess guys like Dave Alvin, who have kept working in music their entire lives, and managed to stay relevant. That’s the trick, you know.You can still be great, but it’s hard to stay relevant past 50 years old.

What inspires you?
Cool guitars, impressive architecture of the past, beautifully designed cars, incredible food, and the smell of female.

Favorite instrument? Guitar, obviously.

Photo: Susie Delaney

Favorite producer? Sam Phillips.

Favorite studio? Gold Star, Hollywood.

Favorite record label?

Hard to choose, but maybe Capitol Records of the 1940s through the 1960s. What an incredible run they had; everything was top notch from the music to the recording process to the record cover art. Top of the line.

Best/most beautiful song for a funeral?
Jimmy Cross, «I want My Baby Back»

Is there a musician or band that has received far too little attention?

So many of them! I’ll start by saying Earl Palmer, the drummer who played on so many incredible records of the 1950s and 1960s. Most people don’t know who he was, but he was the guy who made those records sizzle!I Played with him on several occasions, and hired him to drum on one of my albums. He was the most incredible musician I’ve ever met.

Do you have something you want to ask yourself?
Do I get paid for this?

Who should I have the next record chat with?
Big Sandy. He knows a thing or two about records.

Deke and the Whippersnappers "Wild Wild Thing"