From roadie man to Shitman...
Kent J. Smythe was part of the Dickies road crew in the late 70's and early 80's. Read on for all the gory details!

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

How did you get in the roadie business in the first place?

I never planned on the normal 9-5 life at a job that I'd hate so while in high school I took stage craft and figured it might come in handy someday. I spent the weekends and many evenings at whatever rock show I was interested in at the time and looking for someway to get on the other side of the audience, backstage. I used to hang out with friends that liked the same unpopular in the USA, English bands like Mott the Hoople, the various bands that came from the Move and Status Quo. We used to hang out with these bands and one time Quo paid me to fly to San Francisco and drive their truck back to Los Angeles and I knew it was my next career for sure as silly as that sounds. Many of my rock fan friends wanted to start bands and the first one that did I signed on as the road crew. They were the Quick. That job led to meeting Kim Fowley, who decided I should work for the Runaways who I stayed with for years and got many other jobs from because of the people that came to see them.

I think that tends to be the way with all roadies doesn't it. I mean there isn't exactly a roadie academy you can graduate from is there! You just hang out and wait until somebody asks you to help.

Yeah, it's a crap shot but it does require a certain sensibility. You have to figure it all out quickly or eat shit and never work. You have to get the trust of the people you work for so if all hell is breaking loose they can look over at you and feel confident that you'll keep things in order. Many people that haven't done it don't realize if you're in front of a crowd of thousands and something breaks down, you have to figure it out very quickly and get everything working again before the people you work for flip out and lose it in front of the audience.

The road crews are definitely the unsung heroes.

A few I suppose, lots of them are idiots out there though.

Where you involved with the band from the start?

I'd been friends with Stan since those early hanging out days I just described and we'd talk and I'd ask him what he had been doing because he had turned into quite the guitar player and was looking to get a band going. He had several people lined up and was looking for a singer. At one point he was so desperate he asked me if I wanted to try out for the gig, I said it wasn't a good idea and to keep looking. Finally he tells me that Leonard was going to try out. I'd always looked at Leonard as a weird keyboard playing genius guy that I never really knew but didn't seem like the "punk" that the job required but whatever, because there were no rules now. The next thing I hear is that he's amazing and the band was complete. They did gigs and got a following in town as I continued out of town on the road with the Runaways. I worked a few gigs for the Dickies when my schedule would allow and thought they were great, funny with amazing songs. I made it clear when they hit the road on a real tour I wanted to be involved. I did all their U.K. and European tours of the 70's,which was five or more, hard to remember off hand. I did their first full USA tour too in 1979.

How long did you work for them?

I did most of the 70's work and many gigs through out the 80's too depending on my other work requirements.

What were the early tours like? Do you have fond memories of them?

These were the early days of punk rock and they were the greatest times I ever lived. I loved doing the UK tours in the 70's,the crowds were REAL and totally into it, they were amazing times. I have very fond memories of friends I made on those tours. I often think about the ghost & the witch and other friends and wonder what ever happened to them.

How do you think the punk scene of today compares? Back then it seemed more vital somehow, or maybe people were more easily shocked.

I would think in the budget basement of the punk rock today where money isn't there to cover your ass with spare equipment, there would still be that edge. But that edge can really suck when shit breaks down and the show stops. All that stuff has to do with the gear and the crew and the performers ability to work off things that happen, Leonard's a guy that could work with such situations I think, shit! I've seen it.

It's definitely an advantage! I think i speak for all the Dickies fans out there when I say that I think Leonard is a very funny man, able to win audiences over with his wit.

What was your role whilst on tour? Did you have any specific duties?

My job was to get the gear to the show and get it set up and working. I also took care of the props that Leonard used during the shows. My real main concern was to keep an eye on the guitars and keep them ready for action. Then at the end of the night getting everything out and on to the next place.

Were the stage props borne out of necessity, or were they just a natural thing for the band to use?

That stuff was all Leonard's thing. Sometimes other people including myself would have an idea and bounce it off Leonard but it was always his call. When the BBC brought a bunch of inflatable bananas for the video shot for Banana Splits a few got wrecked by laying up against the hot lights and popped. I took the broken ones and cut to popped ends off and made them long inflated hats. Leonard liked that, the way they looked and used it.

Was that when the band wore banana suits? I'm sure I’d seen this years ago but nobody else seems to remember it. Am i going crazy or were there really banana suits?

I'm not sure, hard to remember any banana suits. Maybe you are insane (laughter).

Were you the only member of the road crew?

Generally myself and a sound guy to do the house mix came over and we'd have an English guy work with me as the second roadie. We usually used a guy out of Birmingham that had the nickname Pedro, all the English guys called him that. Great guy, we used him on several tours and when I came back to the U.K. on other later tours with other bands I'd look him up when in Brum.

When my band was in Germany a few years ago we bumped into Pedro while he was working for GBH. He regaled plenty of his 'on the road' stories to us - a very funny guy.

The last time I saw him was in 1988 when I came to Birmingham with Belinda Carlisle's tour. I'm not sure how he knew I was on that tour, I just remember hearing he was there looking for me.

Although I was never there, I’ve heard it said that the band didn't exactly go down well with the crowds when they supported The Jam in the UK. Is that true and if so why do you think that was?

I was there for the entire tour and my memories are very different from what you've just described. The Jam were the headliner and they were big, but I don't remember any bad things happening. We were the opening act and there were people out in the audience that enjoyed the Dickies very much. I've been to punk shows where the opening act was not liked and the audience yelled and screamed & threw shit, but this was NOT the case of the Dickies on the Jam tour. I would imagine if there were Jam fans that didn't approve they would of headed for the lobby to pose and complain, but I never saw it personally.

That's the British music press for you I guess! Don't believe a word!! They may have been intimating that the Dickies played relatively short sets, I think people tend to forget that in their heyday our boys were pretty fast compared to a lot of the other punk bands around at the time. The sets may not have been short, they might just have seemed short due to their speed.

Yeah, you never know the agenda of the person writing. They could be blowing the headliner on off days and want to crush the opening act in their reviews just out of spite and love of the headliner's smegma.

I couldn't have put it better myself!

How did they get on with the Stranglers when they toured with them? The story goes that they blew 'em off stage and half the crowd left before the headliners came on!

I remember the band seemed ok for their advanced age but the road manager I remember being a prick. Somewhere in France, I think it was, it was raining in the afternoon when we showed up and he made us set up the gear outside in the rain instead of on the dance floor inside the gig. That pissed me off, had to keep most gear in their cases till after the Stranglers did their sound check and we could set up. Something I never did to an opening act when I was the headliner. Steal their women, yes but no rain on gear.

I tend to think that it shows a certain amount of insecurity on the part of the headliners when they have to fuck over the support band.

I saw it happen all the time whenever I was with the opening act, usually it was regarding the monitors. I'm glad I was usually with headliners, more money less shit, well different shit.

Were you present at the infamous Newcastle record signing? Things got a little out of control I’m led to believe!

I was not there, but I heard all about the insanity that happened. Seeing that I was working most days and nights and this was a day off I chose to stay in my hotel room and smoke hash, have sex with a wonderful English girl and figure out what Indian food I would have for dinner that night.

What did you end up having? I'm curious!

Well, of course we started out with some Onion Bhaji & Samosa followed by a wonderful Chicken Vindaloo curry over rice. Then it was back to the room for a delectable desert made in England. I won't drop her name, her kids could be reading this.

Hey wait a minute, that's my moms favourite meal...........!

SON???

Could you tell us what Leonard, Stan, Billy, Chuck and Karlos were like back then? Who was the wild one, who was the quiet one?

Through out the years most of the guys were pretty wild, it's hard to pin point just one of them. As far as the quiet one that would definitely be Chuck. He could be very funny and a lot of laughs but he was definitely much deeper than he allowed most to see.

I think it's widely accepted that Chuck was a deep individual, were you around at the time he committed suicide, if so how did it affect you?

We were doing a two night gig at the Topanga Canyon Corral. I was staying with my girlfriend, at the time, in a motel about 15 minutes from the gig, but no one else knew where we were staying. We had done the first night's show and gone back to our hotel room to fornicate and get high till the next night's show and no one had a clue how to get hold of me. Around 5 or 6 the next afternoon I walked in the back door of the gig and was shocked to see the stage empty of all the gear I'd left there the night before. I saw the manager and asked what the fuck was going on. He quickly ushered me into his office and had me sit down, he then told me what had happened. I called Stan on the phone as I tried to sort out what happened. I forget what we did the rest of the evening, but I remember reliving the strange things that Chuck had been saying to me, very cryptic off the wall things but it didn't seem strange at the time. Sarcasm and strange observations from everybody were normal backstage with all the insanity going on around us, so his remarks didn't seem all that weird till later. I don't remember off hand what his remarks had been now, but the next day I did. I just remember being high all the time for the next week or so after that.

What's the story behind "Shitman - The Movie"?

I was killing time alone in my hotel room with my video set up and a video game I carried with me on the road in 1979. I was laying on the bed and felt a fart coming on so I turned on the video camera and aimed it at my asshole and farted. We had a running joke about a fictional character called Shitman because of a turd towel that I kept on the floor of the truck. It was used for wiping my ass after hanging my naked ass out of the truck and taking a shit as we passed the band's van and later a Shitman's Cape he (I) proudly wore. The movie Grease was very popular at the time and the joke from the 50's was to hang a "BA" (bare ass) pressed against the window of a car, but being a "punk" I felt the need to push the joke further and faeces were required to strengthen the laughs. They were expecting a simple BA and taking a dump on the M1 going North at 75 KPH killed them and Shitman was born. He would appear from time to time on the tour whenever he was needed. After the farting I adding the lettering announcing "SHITMAN THE FILM COMING SOON" using the video game I had with me. People do things when bored on the road sometimes. Now we live in a world with many people owning video cameras and it's no big deal now, but 22 years ago they were scarce on the road especially with a punk band then.

So it's not the sort of movie you could head down to your local Blockbuster and rent out for a night's peaceful entertainment then?!

No such luck for you I'm afraid. My erupting anus is not at Blockbuster for viewing!

Shit!!

Where was the "My Sharona" video filmed? That was supposed to be a trailer for the "Shitman" movie wasn't it?

On the American tour of 1979 we tried to enter Canada for dates on the tour but Canada would not let us in, so we stayed at a motel in Deep Creek, Idaho Population 39. We got sick of doing nothing and decided to throw a music video together lip-syncing to a song we all found hideous. The sound guy kept wanting a special part in the video and I promised him a very special part in the video. He's the guy jerking off on the toilet at the end, it's what he was really good at doing. It was done in one take as it was without doing anymore, we wanted to watch it and laugh afterwards. No need for retakes. Both videos were just born on the road to give us a laugh without any real future plans, they were just for the moment at hand.

I've gotta be honest the first time I watched it I nearly pissed myself laughing. It is a genuinely funny bit of film. Did you film much other stuff while on the road? I've got some footage somewhere of Chuck (in a cowboy hat) saying "howdy" to the camera, and of Karlos taking a piss and trying to thumb a lift, there's also a gig filmed in Milwaukee in 1979 - do we have you to thank for these celluloid gems?

Yeah, all that stuff was from my cinematic eye. If anyone has ever seen a video from the (shutter) Go-Go's (shutter) video where a guy's having a wank which the band is watching and gets a dildo stuck up his arse after that, it was my bad taste work too.....Hold on a sec, I need a soda to wash out my mouth after using the G word.

In your opinion what would've been the best gig you ever saw the band play?

I saw many great gigs but I have a fondness for the show they did at the Whisky A Go Go with the Damned. I almost remember it, I was out of my mind. I video taped that show too (somehow).

Were Scott, Jerry and Laurie in the band for that one? I think I may have a copy of that too!

Yeah, that's the show I'm talking about. I was out of my mind while filming that, if it's in focus and watching the right action on stage you have no idea how amazing that is.

It turned out fine!

I saw a few minutes of it a few years ago when I made copies of that Damned show for the UK Damned fan club guy. That tape of the show is very popular I hear, he gave me lots of tapes for a complete copy of the show. He'd been selling incomplete copies of the show that was quite a few generations down and looked shitty. I saw his website that listed it and emailed him asking if he wanted a second-generation copy of it from the guy who shot it. He flipped! He wanted the Dickies show too along with the missing 15 minutes of the Damned show.

Do you still keep in touch with your old compadres?

I talk to Stan all the time about whatever it is we're currently interested in at the moment. I saw Leonard at a gig a few years ago. I quit going to any rock shows several years ago and I think they were the final band I saw in person. I remember they were great that night too. I haven't seen any of the other guys in years. I don't get out much these days. I was at shows for years and never home, now I like home and I stay there.

If they ever made a movie about the Dickies, who would you like to see playing you? Any ideas on who'd play Stan, Leonard, Billy etc?

Geez, I have no idea who to pick. I know that they just cancelled Baywatch maybe some of the young incredibly handsome buff younger guys would be up for it, that Hasselhoff guy is way too old, but that could cover the band too. What the fuck do I know?!

Were you / are you still a fan?

I've always been and remain one today. I don't go to shows but I listen to music all day long and The Dickies are always high on my play list. I really enjoyed the Hare of the Dog CD and the new Donut Man's kewl too. I look forward to the next CD from them.

The whole of Dickiedom is waiting for that album!!!

It should be great!

If Lou Reed is the Godfather, Iggy Pop is the Granddaddy, and the Ramones are the Brudders, where do you think the Dickies fit on the punk rock family tree?

I thought Reed was the Granddaddy & Iggy was the Godfather. Remember John Cale of the VU produced the first Stooges LP but all these terms confuse me. Please remember that years of abuse have destroyed my brain and I'm nearly a vegetable now. I love Lou. Iggy, the Ramones & the Dickies but even though they're all of a certain ilk and are all branded "punk" they are all very different when you go deep beneath the surface.

I totally agree. After the first album I don't think that the Dickies fitted into what you might call 'traditional' punk rock because of the amount of melody that they had going on. They've been widely regarded as being the forerunners of the whole pop-punk thing that's going on now. Can you see the influence they've had on today's bands?

Yeah, I guess I see shades of '77 in some new stuff

In my humble opinion the Dickies should have been as widely regarded as the Ramones, but for whatever reasons they don't seem to be. Do you think this was more by accident than design?

What the fuck do I know? I was backstage trying to score and get laid.

Do you have any messages for all the legions of fans out there?

A message for the legions of fans? Well, the female ones could send me pictures, I like that. The guys should just go to their local CD shop and buy everything Dickies and ask for their new one too. Now back to the girls, yes I enjoy pics in my email. Now don't be shy ladies, clothes, no clothes. Whatever!