For Richard Manitoba – better known as Handsome Dick Manitoba – punk rock is all about showmanship. It’s about going against the grain and speaking out against injustices but also having a good time and sometimes goofing off.
For over four decades, Manitoba has become synonymous with the genre, inspiring others through his raw energy and steadfast charisma. The bands he’s played in have set the tone for punk rock, most notably New York-based band The Dictators, the band he fronted between 1974 and 2008. He also was lead vocalist for Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom and The Dictators NYC and sang with a reunited MC5 between 2005 and 2012. He also found time to run his own New York City tavern (Manitoba’s) for 20 years and hosted a national five night a week rock ‘n’ roll radio program on SiriusXM satellite radio.
Lately, Manitoba has kept an active solo tour schedule, with setlists that explore all corners of his career. “They can expect a high energy show with some Dictators, a couple of cover tunes, new tunes that we have put in the tent yet,” says Manitoba.
His backing band, which hails from San Francisco, features Craig Behrhorst (Ruffians, ex-Two Bit Thief), Michael Butler (ex-Exodus and ex-JetBoy), Alex Kane (Life, Sex & Death and ex-Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg) and Scotty Slam (ex-Circus of Power and The Stoning).
“The new band is high energy, they love what they’re doing, they’re happy. We’re having fun,” he says. “That’s the main thing, we’re having fun playing rock and roll on stage. And it hasn’t been fun with the other band [The Dictators].”
On Thursday, he and the band will kick off a short four-day tour of Texas, a state he doesn’t have much history with but is eager to explore more of.
“I wish it was a longer tour because Texas is so damn big. But you get what you get,” says Manitoba.
Handsome Dick Manitoba Texas Tour
Thursday 5/9 – Vibes Underground – San Antonio
Friday 5/10 – The Black Magic Social Club – Houston
Saturday 5/11 – Kick Butt Coffee – Austin
Sunday 5/12 – Three Links – Dallas
Prior to the tour, Scummy Water Tower caught up with the singer to find out why the tour and his band really excite him, the complicated history he has with his former band and what he enjoys about punk rock and some of the bands and songs he’s been part of.
You’ve been touring with a new group of guys of late. Can you talk a little bit about the band and what makes it unique? How did the band come together?
It’s very strange. I was looking for someone to help me get a podcast story. So, my friend in Philadelphia said, “Oh, I have this friend Michael, he’s a bass player. He lives in Northern California.” And I got in touch with him on the phone, the oddest thing in the world. We weren’t physical friends for three years. We talked on the phone, I’d say, three or 400 times. We became friends talking on the phone, just hearing each other’s voices, sense of humor, respect and all that stuff. We became friends.
And we always used to say, “Hey man, one day we’re going to get together and we’re going to play.” And he was really excited about that. And then one day, we got to start another band, we got Michael, the great bass player, singer. You’ve got two great guitar players and a great drummer. And everyone’s high energy, everyone’s laughing and fucking around and having fun rock and roll. It’s as good as old school, except it’s better because it’s new.
Anyway, I think we played a show opening up for Blackfoot there [in Austin] and it was like 150 degrees, and they just had these huge fans. And fans with heat, it doesn’t really do that much. But we went backstage, and they had Mexican food instead of the same shit like ham sandwiches. They had Mexican snacks. So, I was really impressed with Texas at that point.
I’m trying to think of other times we played. I know we played down South. Like I said, a lot of them were just good shows, fun shows, but forty years later they’re not necessarily shows like, “Oh yeah, wow. I remember it like that.” So, we don’t have a great history in Texas, we have a good history in Texas.
With the songs that you’ve been playing of late, are there songs that have taken on added meaning? Or gained meaning since they were originally recorded?
No. I would say I always had my favorites and had ones that weren’t my favorites, but some of them we played because the audience likes them. But what I’m really, really excited about is that I started becoming a lyricist. And I did an album with 12, 13 songs called Born in the Bronx, and I wrote about four or five songs since then, lyrics. And Alex, one of the guitar players, is a fantastic songwriter. So, he and I are getting together, and we have about four or five songs on the burner.
So, we’re going to be putting out some new songs, and then eventually we want people to get used to them. I don’t want to do five songs and put four songs in a set. People come to hear The Dictators, we’ll play some Dictators, we’ll play some great cover tunes. And then slowly but surely we’ll add in a song later in the set. And after a while you’re doing your set people expect you to, and you’re turning them on to, hopefully, new songs that they’re going to like. The new songs are coming out great. I’m very happy with them.
What about punk rock appeals to you most?
Well, punk rock means something to everybody. It depends. It’s sort of a revolutionary music, against the grain of what’s going on. I remember one of the things it meant to us was, look at this music that’s coming out. It’s really mild and lame and people are playing 17,000 seat arenas, and then you go to CBGBs, and people are sweating and jumping on each other and having fun and it’s physical. So that, to me, was punk rock. It was going against the grain and getting your own shit going. DIY, very DIY.
And then in other places, like in England, it was a little bit more political I think, socio-political. Because they had a lot of problems with economics there… That’s what The Sex Pistols sang about, and The Clash. The Clash were the ultimate band of complaining. I don’t mean complaining, I mean singing about stuff like not being happy with the way things are. I think we were a little bit more in the other direction, where we were unhappy with the way things were, we talked about it, but we also were goofy and funny and wanted to laugh. And that was a little bit on the other side of punk rock.
With The Dictators, what are you most proud of with your time with the band?
That’s a big question, it’s a big answer. I’m most proud that I started out with nothing. I started out not wanting to be or thinking I was ever going to be or try to be a performer or a rock and roll performer or a singer or an entertainer. And slowly but surely, slowly but surely I moved into the spot until it became my spot, and I became the leader in the band.
And I’d say 40 years of that, whatever, 37 years of that was a great part of my life. No matter how long I live, that’s a great part of my life. You’re going to write a book, that’s a big, big chapter in my book. And then we had Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, and then we had Dictators NYC, which I think was better than The Dictators, better players, better songwriting. I think Dictators NYC, people had more fun because basically the same thing I said before, because we’re having fun. If you go have a few drinks after work and you come out and see a concert, and you see a bunch of guys on stage, not just playing songs, but playing the songs and having fun, fucking around, you’re going to have fun because your people that are entertaining you are having fun. And that’s how we are. That’s how we work, that’s how we are.
It sounds like the various projects you did after The Dictators, that they allowed you to continue and expand and grow as a musician and songwriter.
Yeah. There was no room for me. With Andy it’s like a control freak, and there’s no room for anybody except him to run the show. So, once I got him out of the way, or he got me out of the way, however he wants to put it, there was room to breathe. And I was also involved… The people I’m involved with respect me, love me, admire what I do, have fun with what we do. It’s everything I need to feel good about myself and to want to be in a band. I want to be in a band with these guys. I didn’t want to be in a band with those other guys. They made it really difficult for me.
And then finally, Andy’s mother died, and they made a lot of money, and he bought the name The Dictators and then made The Dictators whatever he wanted to make it. So, The Dictators really mean nothing. They only mean something the first few years. Like I say, everyone’s writing a book about their life. First chapter of The Dictators was excellent, fun. Second chapter, pretty fun, pretty excellent. Third chapter, getting in the middle. Fourth chapter, fifth chapter, sixth chapter, sucks. Sucked, we didn’t get along, I didn’t get treated good.
You pat me on the back, I’ll run through a wall for you. You fucking put me down, I’ll kick you in the ass. And Andy deserved a kick in the ass because he arbitrarily took over The Dictators. And now we drove them into the ground. They’re like a boring old band. Anyway, that’s that.
I wanted to talk to you about a few Dictators songs that have been in recent sets and find out what you recall of writing and recording them and how they’ve held up in following years. The first one I wanted to ask you about is “Avenue A.”
We were in the studio, and we didn’t have a lot of money to make the record, and Andy said I wasn’t singing good enough…He’s really a clown. We didn’t have time for me to sing it.
Now I’m the street guy in the band. Andy’s like the lame little white boy, I’m the street guy in the band. If you’re going to write a song about Avenue A, you know, about what’s going on in the street, now it’s changing. I’m the guy, I’m the natural guy to sing that song. And he took it over and he sang it. See what I mean? It was his call, no one could say anything. That’s why the band sucked. The song was good. I mean, he sang it well. I mean, I’m not an idiot. But he didn’t sing it as good as I could have, which is a lot more spirit, a lot more street.
“The Next Big Thing.”
Well, that’s from the first album, and that was the fun… That’s when we were all still friends out of high school, early college. That was one of the first songs from the first album. And honestly, it’s not my favorite song. Now people hate me for this because they’re Dictators fans, but I tell the truth, I can’t stand that album. It’s probably the most well-known album for The Dictators. Why? Because it was a real punk rock album. We sang about things, we had an attitude, a spirit, a craziness that nobody ever did. And for that, I love that album. Understand, it’s not just love and hate. I love that album for what it did.
But music is music, it’s sound, it’s sonic. And the music, the sound of that album I could throw up from…It just wasn’t cool. It was cool in that it was about stuff that was never written about or done. So that was why it was cool. I’m not saying it was totally bad, I’m just saying somebody else should have mixed it or recorded it.
“Who Will Save Rock and Roll?”
Oh, I think that’s one of the better songs Andy wrote. It’s a very clever lyric and a really catchy tune. I’ve got to give it to him. I would be an asshole if I said everything Andy did is shit. He’s an asshole. Just because I think he’s an asshole and a clown doesn’t mean I don’t think he did good stuff. I’d be an idiot. Obviously, he’s written some really good songs, and that’s one of them.
You play a few Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom songs in the set. Can you talk about New York, New York?
Yeah, I love that album. I think it’s an underappreciated album. Hold on, I’m not getting you here.
What do you recall of the title song?
Great song, again. [sings] Smoking marijuana, watching Channel Five, got to get my strength up in this struggle to survive. It’s a fun, funny, intense song. I like that song a lot.
“Haircut and Attitude”?
“Haircut and Attitude” is… It is what it is. It’s not a bad song, it’s got a good heavy beat. It’s got a powerful beat. But lyrically it’s kind of funny. It’s silly…Understand, I didn’t write it. That’s my opinion, as almost like an outsider. I didn’t write it. And when you write a song, that’s your baby. That’s Andy’s baby, I think he’s good sometimes and not good sometimes.
What do you enjoy most about playing with the band The Wild Kingdom?
Oh, I loved it because it was a little bit of a change. Ross [Friedman] wasn’t in the band for a while, Daniel Rey was. But Ross came back into the band, and we tried something pretty new compared to what we usually did. It’s faster, it was a little bit more speed metal, and that wasn’t us. So, some of the songs are a little bit more speed metal and some of them were fast pop songs. They were still pop, but they were fast and hard. The whole album was faster and harder than what The Dictators were used to doing.
It looks like you’ve been ending a lot of the sets with MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.” You got a chance to play with them for a handful of years. What did it mean to be able to play with that group?
Well, I’ll tell you how it got going. Wayne called me up when he was coming to New York and they were playing the Bowery Ballroom, and they had guitar players and singers that were, what I call, MC5 friendly. So, I’m an MC5 friendly guy with them. So, they invited me up, and I sang two songs. And the Village Voice, the free newspaper at the time, said, “Handsome Dick Manitoba got up on stage and almost stole the show.”
So then, my little guy Jake is two years old and it’s pouring rain, and I got four bundles of groceries hanging on the carriage. I’m leaving a supermarket with rain and I’m smoking a cigarette, and I flip open my flip phone. And Wayne was like, “Hey, we’re going to do about a three-week tour of Europe, certain countries in a bus. We could pay you this. Would you like to do it?” So, I said, “Well let me go home and ask the boss,” at the time, Jake’s mom. And she went, “Absolutely.”
Here’s how I looked at it. I looked at it like this, Wayne Kramer called me up and said, “How would you like to get paid to travel around Europe in a bus with the MC5, and make money singing “Kick Out the Jams”? So, my answer was, “Yes, I would like to do that.” And that was it, I went.
And it was such an honor because they’re one of my favorite bands. They were one of my favorite bands. And now the fact that I’m playing with poor Wayne who just passed away, one of the great, smartest guys I ever met, one of the great guitar players. It was just an honor to be on stage with them. I was so honored to be asked.
Yeah, it’s a nice way to honor him.
Yeah, it’s just so sad. He’s a young dad and it’s sad.
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, it’s sad because not only as a musician what he offered the world, and helping people in jail who could be possibly helped and rehabilitated. But as a father, I see that first.
You mentioned earlier that you’ve been working on some new material. Can you tell me a little more about that?
We have two songs that are done, we’re just waiting for them to be mixed and mastered. We’re going to release one studio song with a live song on the B-side, and then another studio song with a live song on the B-side. And then me and Alex, the guitar player, have started working on four new songs. We’re about halfway through. So, I’d say we’re six months away from six new songs. Maybe less.
Anything specific you can tell me about the new songs? Is there a theme with them?
No, there’s no theme. I was writing at this guy’s house who has a studio in Nashville. And I was getting ready to go home and all of a sudden “I’m the soul punk king of New York City,” came to my mind. And I started writing a song.
In grade school, grammar school, there was a tough Italian family. I lived in a tough Italian neighborhood in the Bronx. And they were called the DeLuise brothers. There was like five of them. And nobody fucked with them. You fuck with one of them, you fuck with all the DeLuise brothers.
So, the gist of the song is I was like a nice Jewish boy playing stickball in the corner of the playground with my friends, minding our own business, while far at the other end of the playground was the executioners, the gang. And they had this gorgeous girl with long blonde hair that was like, “Oh, I’ll never get her. She’s so hot. Oh, I’ll never get her.” And these guys would sit there huffing glue out of bags on the other side.
And the gist of the song was that secretly I wanted to be a DeLuise. I wanted to be a bad boy. I was a good boy, but I wanted to be a bad boy. Like when it came to professional wrestling, I wanted to be a bad guy. When it came to movies, I wanted to be a bad guy. And when I came to real life, I wanted to be a bad guy. Like when these bad guys came by and walked by, they said hello to me, and I was so happy that they acknowledged me that I existed.
So that was the name of the song. It’s like “I Want to Be in DeLuise Nation.” The whole song was about what it’s like to be a DeLuise, and wanting to be in part of that nation, five brothers and nobody fucks with you. And these guys used to take off their belts and whip kids. I’m talking about fifth grade, like 10, 11 years old. It’s sick shit.
And then the other song we have is called “Back on Broadway.” And I took it from the two guys that took my name from, Handsome Dick Manitoba, were wrestlers in the 70s called The Valiant Brothers, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant and “Luscious” Johnny Valiant. So, I saw them come on TV once, and they hadn’t been in New York in six months. And they come strutting on TV going, “That’s right, baby, we’re back, we’re back on Broadway.” And when they started saying, “We’re back on Broadway” it caught my attention.
2018 was a tough year for me. I lost my job with Little Steven. I was on the air for 14 years on Sirius radio. My child’s mother left the house, went to another guy in California, and all of a sudden I had no family. But my son said, “I want to live with you, dad.” So, I took care of him the next five years until he became a United States Marine. And then what [the song] is about was rising from the ashes. It was about getting knocked down, getting your ass kicked, wiping yourself off, standing up and getting back on Broadway, baby. And Manitoba’s back on Broadway now. I’ll get knocked down, but I’ll get up.
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
