OKAY, for the uninitiated, beginners, confused or curious, here's a quick explanation:
Citizen Fish = 2 members of Subhumans + Jasper + Silas (as of july 2006)
Subhumans = 2 current members of Citizen Fish + 1 ex member + Bruce
2 members of Citizen Fish were once in Culture Shock (Dick and Jasper)
Culture Shock contained One member of Subhumans + Bill, Nige and Paul (replaced by Jasper)
There yer go, simple innit. Clear as treacle.
For a decade Citizen Fish has been touring the world: turning gatherings, benefits,
and social gigs into an international never-ending weekend. These four dudes
from the UK, Dick (vocals, motormouth, idealist, one set of clothes for each
tour), Phil (guitar, facial hair, soccer, model for BEAR magazine), Jasper (bass,
sweaters, cigarettes, ladies man) and Trotsky (drums, one time proprietor of
a worm farm, possibly the only member of the band who can drive a van or bench
his weight) have created a blend of punk, ska, and straight up rock'n'roll that
appeals to the sing-a-long music fans and even the "muso" musician types that
typically dismiss punks as not being able to play their instruments. But it's
not so much the fact that these dudes are the most talented musicians in England,
it's what they say and how they say it. In a fun loving, all inclusive way,
Citizen Fish (and their previous outfits Culture Shock and the legendary Subhumans)
have brought working class radical politics to generations of questioning minds.
Leaving aside the typical screaming rants of boring political punk bands, the
Fish offer a hopeful, danceable alternative. Whereas other bands have fans,
admirers, and flavor-of-the-month teenyboppers hoarding to their concerts, Citizen
Fish have established an open and always growing family. The idealistic unifying
tone of Dick's lyrics, coupled with the catchy driving riffs of the band, allow
the Fish to appeal to a wide variety of folks. Heck, they are the only punk
band my whole immediate family has seen play live, twice! My mother still partially
blames the band for my father's unemployment. After hearing Dick's ranting prelude
to "Call in Sick" at a Philly gig, my father burst out applauding and shouting
"Yeah now that's a good one! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" and took another 6 months off.
Touring the USA with the Fish is more like a good family vacation than working
as a cog in the ugly and never-ending corporate world of rock'n'roll promotions.
Roadies Richard, Karoline, Pete, Paula, and the rotating AK Press bookseller
roam the halls, dance up a storm, and fill up floors on punk houses ranging
from the grimy squat in Etters to the hot tubbed palaces of Los Angeles. Everywhere
the Fish goes, a bottle, a smoke, and a friendly conversation is sure to follow.
Familiar dancing faces in every town, beers and vegetarian meals, and local
activists filling the gig halls with information, ideas, and inspiration for
positive change is what Citizen Fish are all about.
Craig O'Hara Author, The Philosophy of Punk
DICK LUCAS, "the singer"and
lyric writer of Citizen Fish would like to add:-
INTERNET
CATCHES INTERFISH slash/slash/splash and wwwelcome to the internetlactic world
of CITIZEN FISH! Once merely a quartet of musicians,
we are now On The Net ! Which, it says here, increases our potential crowd to
umpteen million people! Enough exclamation marks the spot where we go
into serious detail about Who We Is and all that, for those that Don't Know
As the main function
of any band is to be heard, let's leave the names and CV dinner for later and
tell YOU (that's you, personally, feel free to put the kettle on) WHAT
WE SOUND LIKE. If you're singularly keen on country and/or western,
jazz-funk fusion, thrashhh metal or industrial disco rave bagpipe syphonic
blues covers, you can vacate this space now, which'll save a few watts
for the next generation (better turn that kettle off as well). However,
should your ear cavities be regular over-producers of wax for protection against
large scoops of ska-orientated punk rock with twists of reggae and ODD
BITS ON TOP, then hey! We Do What That Is! It being (and I quote)
"bastard difficult"
(Jean-Paul Sartre said that, although it loses it's poetic quality in translation)
to describe music in words to a point (1) where you can actually hear the music
just by reading about it, or (2) beyond merely linking bands' music to standards
defined by journalists or other bands' music (and no band wants to sound exactly
like another band, unless they're uninspired or overpaid to do so).
It is (kettle's boiling) now time to advise
(as in ADVertISE) as to how to get to hear it, listen to it, and perhaps over
time reach the point where you, or some Gene Kelly of the new Millenium, will
be singing it in the acid rain.....So far we've released 7LPs, 2 1/2 seven inches
(17 1/2 inches?) and assorted tapes; here's a list:
cat.bag.trombone.spine.egg timer.bullet.contact lens. your mother.
And here's a list of our releases:
Free Souls In a Trapped Environment LP/Bluurg Records/ Fish24 Wider Than a Postcard LP/Bluurg Records/ Fish26 Disposable Dream/Flesh & Blood 7"/Bluuurg Fish27/Lookout!Lookout61 Live Fish LP/Bluurg / Fish28 TV Dinner 7", split with AOS3/Bluurg/Fish29 Flinch LP/Bluurg/ Fish31 Millennia Madness LP/Bluurg Fish34/Lookout!Lookout123 Thirst LP/Lookout152 Psychological Background Report CD/Bluurg Fish35 Habit EP/Bluurg Fish38/ Lookout206 Active Ingredients
LIFE SIZE OUT JUNE 12 2001 on Honest Don's CD Don 036/2, LP Don 036/1
All
these are available from BLUURG
, as well as T-shirts, CDs, Records and cassettes by Subhumans and Culture
Shock.
Most Citizen Fish/ Culture Shock/ Subhumans stuff is available from the shops
(record stores that is, not ice cream parlours or gentlemens' outfitters), but
the Bluurg Mailorder Dept. is run by two of US, so we'd like to insist
that you get it all from us! (please).
Enough grovelling, make that four coffees while you're out there, three with
sugar, two with milk (logicians among you will have deduced that one of us takes
both sugar and milk; sceptical logicians will point out that perhaps
two of us do, and illogical sceptics will claim that no amount of coffee
based info-sheet filler is actually going to result in a cup of coffee at all;
but by the time anyone reading this has seriously tagged "illogical sceptic"
on their self-image box, the internet WILL be capable of such fluid interchanges!