Citizen Fish
Words: Michael Wood
In the mid to late 90s, ska-punk made a big explosion into the mainstream. Although less clawingly-annoying than the swing music revival that followed, it still quickly became an overdone and misused genre. The popular though lackluster, MTV-style fusion of the genres left mainstream public ignorant to the fact that there were and still are some very creative, raw, talented ska-punk bands out there. While bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, and Sublime were playing Clear Channel venues and filling the soundtracks to Good Burger, 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless, Citizen Fish was playing the “other side of town” to a pack of sweaty punks for a $5 cover charge.
Citizen Fish has been at it since 1989 and were on the forefront of the ska-punk movement. Though new at the time, the idea of mixing the two genres seemed like simple science for them. “We were all brought up on Sex Pistols and The Specials, so it was only a matter of time before the idea had to happen! It certainly felt like really fresh music,” says Dick Lucas, singer for the band.
Lucas has been singing heavily-politically themed punk songs since 1980 and is also the singer for the anarchist punk band Subhumans and another ska punk band, Culture Shock. Being in bands since the age of 18, Lucas has stuck to his guns, and feels that the social messages he was portraying in the beginning are still relevant now. “The stances taken in 1980 were less considered, subtle, deep than 30 years later, but weren't contradictory to how I now think. I do see things differently now, but only in as much as I’ve more information and experience to draw from. For example, all that teenage paranoia has just about gone now, but mostly because I discovered we are all being watched! So songs about paranoia evolve to songs about CCTV and phone tapping.”
Releasing records for over two decades, Citizen Fish has worked with such notable labels as Southern, Lookout!, Fat Wreck and Dick’s own, Bluurg!. Their newest record, Goods is out on another new label, Alternative Tentacles, a veteran label run by Jello Biafra, founder of punk rock legends Dead Kennedys - which seems to be just the right aesthetic for Citizen Fish. “We've known Jello and Jesse (Townley, Alternative Tentacles general manager) for years, so it’s more co-operation than 'business.' Jello said about a year ago he'd be into releasing the next album, so we went with it. Alternative Tentacles is a good label with a rare diversity of music and a good reputation.”
Take raw, sincere punk rock with ska and reggae influences, turn it up, and you have Goods. Granted, the formula is nothing new, but when you do it as good as Citizen Fish do, you just don’t want to fix what isn’t broken. “We feel, without sounding too immodest, that it’s the best album we've done yet! There's no 'could be better' songs, nothing we'd like to re-record, and it was exciting and fun getting it worked out and recorded,” says Lucas.
They also try to keep the experience of seeing them live as close as possible to hearing them on record, by not buying into all the new technology that is at hand at recording studios these days. “They can turn farts into harps, any sound can be twisted reversed retuned moved around. It’s almost cheating! We still play as before in the studio, do as much live as possible, so we don’t need to get surgical later on.”
Managing to stay active for as long as Citizen Fish has, without “selling out” to a major or anything else they might deem questionable to the integrity of the band, has not been easy, but seems to be worth it. When asked if it has been financially easy to survive, Lucas stated “For each of us the answer would vary, ranging from broke most of the time to managing to stay out of work for the last 25 years. Money from album sales and gigs fluctuates like mad. Once you take into account the fact that being on a major label only means loads of money if you sell loads of product - otherwise all those upfront wads have to be paid back - then we just feel lucky to have been able to survive off what we do without ripping anyone off or selling our souls to the industry.”
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