The Dictators

The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973^[1]. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth."^[2] The Dictators are represented in the "Punk Wing" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland, Ohio. Steven Van Zandt called them "The connective tissue between the eras of The MC5, Stooges, NY Dolls, and the punk explosion of the mid to late 1970's".^{[citation needed]}

Epic Origins

The original postbox recording line-up consisted of bassist/vocalist Andy "Adny" Shernoff, lead guitarist Ross "The Boss" Friedman (aka Ross Funicello), rhythm guitarist Scott "Top Ten" Kempner, and drummer Stu Boy King (who was, in fact, the band's fourth drummer since forming in 1973). It was this line-up - along with roadie/occasional vocalist and "Secret Weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba - which recorded the band's 1975 debut album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy for Epic Records, produced by Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman (best known for their work with Blue Öyster Cult). Although the album sold poorly at the time, today it is considered one of the most important albums ever recorded by a New York punk band of the period.^{[citation needed]}

Frustrated by the lack of sales, the band broke up for a few months in late 1975, but reconvened in early 1976, with bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza replacing Shernoff. After a few months Shernoff was persuaded to return to the group as the group's keyboardist. This line-up soon secured a contract with Asylum Records (at least partly due to the notoriety the group had developed following a well-publicized brawl between Manitoba and Wayne County)^[3] and released their second album, Manifest Destiny, in 1977. The album - again produced by Pearlman and Krugman - is usually considered^{[by whom?]} the weakest of the group's first three albums,^{[citation needed]} and featured a considerably more mainstream sound.^{[citation needed]} The band resisted playing songs from Manifest Destiny for several years because the album had not been re-released on CD.

During this period the band was christened with their nickname, "The 'Taters".^[4] This culminated in an incident during a tour with Uriah Heep and Foreigner in which Foreigner's roadies strung a net filled with potatoes above the stage and released it during the Dictators' set.

By 1978 Mendoza had left the band (he soon joined Twisted Sister), and Shernoff had returned to his original position on bass guitar. It was this line-up of Manitoba, Shernoff, Friedman, Kempner, and Rich Teeter which recorded Bloodbrothers (yet again produced by Pearlman and Krugman). It was the first album to feature Manitoba as the group's vocalist on all the songs, though Bruce Springsteen - a big fan of the group to this day - can be heard counting "1-2-1-2-3-4" during the album's opening track, "Faster and Louder." The album's "Baby, Let's Twist" was a minor hit on a number of east-coast radio stations, but the lack of mainstream success caused the band to split the following year. Shortly before the split, drummer Mel Anderson had left Twisted Sister and joined The Dictators, replacing Teeter.

1980s

After the break-up, Manitoba drove a cab, Shernoff worked as a producer, and Friedman became something of a gun-for-hire; working first with the French hard-rock band Shakin' Street, then becoming a founding member of Manowar in 1982, and producing the first demo for Anthrax.

Although Friedman had spoken to the press with some bitterness about The Dictators during the early Manowar period, he and the other members of the band began reuniting occasionally in 1981, and later that year, ROIR released the cassette-only Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke, which featured numbers from all three of the group's studio albums, covers of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" and Mott the Hoople's "Moon Upstairs," and two new Shernoff numbers: "Loyola" and "New York New York".

Other than occasional reunion shows, little was heard from The Dictators during the next five years. However, in late 1986 Shernoff and Manitoba (along with guitarist Daniel Rey) formed Wild Kingdom, releasing a version of "New York New York" on the 1988 soundtrack to Mondo New York.

1990s

By the time of Wild Kingdom's 1990 MCA Records debut, ...And You? (by which time they were now billed as Manitoba's Wild Kingdom), Rey had left the group and had been replaced by Friedman, making it - for all practical purposes - the fourth Dictators album (the group was rounded out by drummer J.P. Patterson). ...And You? - a very brief 25 minutes in length - received excellent reviews, with Rolling Stone calling it "the first great punk rock album of the '90s." Following a club tour that year, Kempner (who had been previously occupied by his work with the Del Lords during much of the 1980s) joined the group and the Manitoba's Wild Kingdom name was replaced by The Dictators.

The ...And You? album cover was a source of some controversy, since it was lifted from a World War II Nazi recruiting poster. It was not the first time members of the band (most of whom, ironically, were Jewish) had been associated with charges of this sort since Go Girl Crazy had featured the songs "Master Race Rock" and "Back to Africa."

By the 1990s, much about the lives of the band's members had changed markedly.

Shernoff recorded and toured with The Fleshtones, in 1989 and 1990, became a wine expert, and wrote with Joey Ramone.

Manitoba opened a successful East-Village bar called Manitoba's in 1999.

Kempner had developed a certain degree of respect from roots-rock audiences due to his 1980s work with The Del-Lords. In 1992 he released his highly acclaimed solo album Tenement Angels and joined The Brandos in 1993.

Friedman's work with Manowar and Brain Surgeons had given him a certain cachet with heavy metal audiences.

However, the group - first with Frank Funaro on drums, then again with Patterson - began recording a new Dictators album in the late 1990s, which was eventually released as D.F.F.D. in 2001. The album was well-received, and a couple of the songs - particularly "Who Will Save Rock 'n' Roll" and "I Am Right" - should be regarded as legitimate classics of the band's catalog. However, Shernoff has remarked that it will probably be the group's final studio album of new material since he finds writing rock songs to be more difficult as time goes on.

2000s

Manitoba currently sings lead vocals with the surviving members of the MC5, and is a Sirius Satellite Radio DJ on Little Steven's Underground Garage channel. Following Kempner's move to California in 2002 and his departure from the group, The Dictators continue to perform to a devoted audience, and released a new live album, VIVA Dictators (with Kempner on rhythm guitar) in 2005. The Dictators compiled an album of demos, rarities, and unreleased songs recorded at various times over their thirty-plus year career, released by Norton Records in 2007 as Every Day Is Saturday.

In November 2007, Manitoba, along with author Amy Wallace, put out The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists on BackBeat Books, a small book company owned by Hal Leonard Publishing. In July 2008, Kempner released his well-received 2nd solo album Saving Grace . He is in the process of assembling a band for some summer dates.^[5] In October 2008, The Dictators reunited for a series of concerts in Spain; 1 October at Apolo 2 in Barcelona; 2 October in Alicante; 3 October in Madrid and finally 4 October in Bilbao.

References

Discography

• The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (1975)
• Manifest Destiny (1977)
• Bloodbrothers (1978)
• Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke (ROIR, 1981)
• The Dictators Live, New York, New York (ROIR, 1998)
• D.F.F.D. (2001)
• Viva Dictators (2005)
• Every Day Is Saturday (2007)

as Manitoba's Wild Kingdom

• Mondo New York soundtrack (1988)
• ...And You? (1990)

External links

• http://www.thedictators.com/
• At CBGB
• Interview with The Dictators by TruePunk.com
• Ross The Boss' Official Web Site
• Scott Kempner's MySpace Page
• Interview with Andy Shernoff on Food Is Not Love
• Kempner 7/08 Variety interview