Jim Locke is Stan's friend and sometime tour manager for The Dickies.

He was good enough to give us an interview about his involvement with the band and the trials and tribulations of being on the road!

Ciaron's questions in bold, Jim's replies in normal lower case.

First off Jim, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to the interview.

I'm looking forward to my moment of fame on your website! Thank you for asking me to participate!

How did you become involved with the Dickies?

I was visiting family in California when I was walking in a back alley in North Hollywood. I saw a poor waif hanging out near Lanker shim Blvd. (where Erin Brockovich had her accident) and he turned out to be a guy named Stan. We tried jamming guitars and that didn't work. We tried golfing and that didn't work. I'm not sure if we've found anything outside of eating that works, but we're pals. I finally moved to L.A. with my pickup truck and started hauling the equipment to gigs... The rest is punk-rock history.... (I'm hoping for a reach-around when they come up for r’n’r Hall of Fame nomination....)

How long have you worked for them?

I didn't know I did. I figured they liked me because of my truck. Leonard calls me alot for rides. Rick calls me every now and then to haul something around.

What exactly does the job of tour manager entail?

My job consists of making sure that NO one, ANY where, at ANY time, EVER sees Stanley carrying equipment. And there's no sex or drugs for Jim on the road. Noooooo! I'm talking to some local Hebrew at 3 in the morning getting prices for mandolin strings! Seriously... Have you been to camp? You know the guy with the whistle and the clipboard? You know the guy that has the thankless job and everybody hates him - from the agent, to the promoter, to the groupies, to the band? Well.... That's me. (Heavy sigh.)
Actually, the job description would read something like: WANTED: Baby-sitter, parent, driver, map-reader, moneychanger, accountant, friend, acquaintance, advisor, guitar-tuner, etc. Must be willing to give up entire life for week after week of hotels, strange people and places every day, and an endless stream of people wanting something from you all the time. You'll get to hang out with world-class talent day after day and discuss how grateful you are for the great water pressure in the current venue's showers, how you wish you would quit smoking, worrying that the guy that invented Muzak is inventing something else, AND looking forward for that one hour a day when your guys are on stage. All for about 17 cents an hour...
All in all, if we get to the end of the evening and the guys are treating me like I don't exist, it's been a pretty good day!!

Do the guys have any specific requests for their rider? No blue Smarties perhaps!

Yes, they have specific requests for their rider. As a matter of fact, I need to revise it, too. Currently, disposable diapers, some of those funny umbrellas you put in drinks, hair gel, an awl (grey handled), small assortment of Revere Ware, at least two (2) naked natives for errands, a plumb-bob, American cigarettes, chocolate bars and cinnamon Altoids. The Altoids are for me!
Forgive my Yank-ness, but what are "blue smarties"?!?

Smarties are similar to M&M's, lots of different colours. I was referring to the tale of a certain band who requested that all the blue Smarties be removed before they set foot on stage.

A-ha! We were just talking about that yesterday after our golf round! The band in the US was Van Halen, and they were brown M&Ms. Someone asked them why no brown ones, and they replied something like "Because we can demand it." Silly, huh?!?

Could you run us through a typical day 'on the road?

Typically? Right... I'll wake up an hour or so before the other guys and find out where the coffee is, where the mega dome or whatever is, and how to get there.
Now, sometimes that's not as easy as it sounds. One time, I was given the directions, always including the address (thanks to Travis), and we started on our way in our nearly 14 foot high vehicle. We were careening at breakneck speed (about 15-20 mph) towards a 10 foot underpass. Ooops! So there I am, I’ve got the opening act to the evenings Jones' Beach Amphitheatre Offspring concert with me, and we're backing up a 35 foot motor home on a New York Parkway!!
We made it across the road, found a couple of kids at a gas station who knew an alternate route to the venue and they led us to the gig. Needless to say they got to see the show from backstage, and also got to hang with the Dickies and Offspring for their efforts!! (And why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway anyway?) But a daily schedule?

9:00 Scheduled Departure Time.
10:30 Actual departure time; start driving.
11:45 Rick's gotta pee, so we stop and everybody gets out, then we get going again... But Where's Rick?
2:00 Travis is hun-gray, so we look for a Cracker Barrel.
4:00 Scheduled arrival time at venue for 8:00 show.
4:45 Actual arrival time at venue, unload and set up stuff.
4:46 I try to find the Production office to find out where to get meal tickets, where the MTV interview guys are, where's the dinner tent, when do we get paid....stuff like that.
5:30 Eat, and I listen to guys from NOFX, Green Day, Weezer, TSOL, Lunachicks, etc talk about who's played with who, and who knows who else. The Dickies are the coolest though, they've no one to impress...
6:55 Tune Stanley's guitar, the famous Spidey.
7:40 Place set lists, towels and water (if I remember) on stage.
7:50 Tune Stanley's guitar again, and I get to play the power A chord at maximum volume as a line check. (Except the one time in Nagoya, Japan when I played an entire lick to a standing ovation.)
7:55 Round up everyone and tell them 5 minutes.... WHERE'S LEONARD?!?!
8:00 The Guys are on stage and playing like no body's bidness, and they are ON TIME.
8:16 Leonard hands me his sunglasses and cap and asks me to hold on to them
8:27 I look at Dave and wonder how long can he keep that up? (All night as it turns out.)
8:30 Leonard needs another towel-- he really sweats a lot.
8:40 Stan looks at the crowd with that famous "I'm pissed - don't fuck with me face", then looks at me off-stage and smiles that "I can't believe I get paid to do this" smile.
8:50 The Talking Dick has spoken and it's time to pack it up.
10:55 Find the hotel, check-in, watch the news, see who won, get some sleep and do it again tomorrow.

Could you give us a run through of the guys instruments? Was that a blue Gordon Smith SG I spied as Stan's backup guitar?

Uh, yeah... I can give you a run through of the guys' instruments.... Travis has some drums, cymbals, and other stuff; Dave has a guitar and amp; Rick has a guitar and amp; Leonard has.... He's got a ......... Uhhhhh..... Leonard's got some tights; and Stan has some stuff, too....... But alas! You have a good eye! You're colour-blind, but you definitely have a good eye. (Where did your eye go?) The article in question would be the.............. "Bat Wing," a flat black Gordon Smith SG. On occasion, for some gigs, the Bat Wing does leave the garage (where Stan lives with Fred and ET). Folk lore has it that it was built for him during their last European tour, and was constructed from scratch in a month. The quote from Stan, his own bad self, is: "Kudos to Gordon and Smith."

Are there any amusing road stories you could regale us with? There must be loads!

Truly amusing??? Well, there was the time that Stanley and Arnold.. No, wait, I can't tell you that.. Uhhhh, er......... Mmmmmmm,....... Oh, ok -- Li'l Dave and Travis got some hoo..... Sorry, I promised I wouldn't tell.... I guess there aren't any amusing stories... Some of the coolest things are seeing guys like Noodles from Offspring and Mike from NOFX, guys from Tom Petty's band... And the absolute R-E-S-P-E-C-T they show the Dickies.

Let's see.... Actually, one comes to mind about camaraderie on the road, and somebody may find it amusing: We had crossed the border to Canada on that swing of the tour with The Offspring a couple of years ago. They detained us for several hours while checking for contraband. They would've shined flashlights up our butts if they could have, but they ran out of places to look for shit, and finally let us go after charging us 500 dollars payable in cash. We had 3 hours left to make a 4 hour trip. To make things a bit more difficult, we didn't speak French, and they didn't speak English outside Quebec City!
After an incredibly pricey cell phone call we finally pulled up to the venue just a few minutes prior to show time. There was a blitzkrieg of Offspring people, Lit people, Dickies people, and venue people pulling amps, guitars, drums, cymbals, cords, and assorted other shit and carrying it to the stage in a flurry of activity. I'm here to tell you that it was exactly 10 minutes from putting the vehicle in park to Stan hitting that first B chord of Nights in White Satin!!! 10 minutes!!! We couldn't do that again if we practiced!! But that's what it's like if you're on the road with great folks like that! Everybody pitches in to get the job done. You can see why I wouldn't trade the experience of being on the road for anything!!

So anyway, there was also the time that Stan and Arnold.. No, wait, I can't tell you that.. Uhhhh, er........... Mmmmmmm,....... Oh, ok -- Li'l Dave and Travis got some hoo..... HEY, wait a minute! Hasn't anyone told you about the long-standing tradition started by the Beatles (Paul's group before Wings) that what happens on the road stays on the road?