Nothing Wrong With Liking A Flashy Man: An Interview With Dick Valentine

Popshifter: Mm-hm, and was the other one, I heard that “Heavy Woman” was about an actual—

Dick Valentine: Oh, that’s true, too. Yeah, I didn’t think about that one. That is, we were like, in Iowa on the road or something and it was this actual woman that we saw at the gas station. Really it was just one of those things that moved me, you know, to see her, to see some of the stuff she was buying, like two-liter pop, all these candy bars and stuff, Ho-Ho’s. . . And she’d just tell them, “I shouldn’t be buying this, I know, I know,” and it was a very sad moment.

Roger McGuinn

Popshifter: Yeah, I was going to mention, besides “Transatlantic Flight” being the most chilling song, I think “Heavy Woman” is the most depressing song you’ve written.

Dick Valentine: Yeah, the opening lyric, that was the start of the song. I just got back into the van thinking “every day she gets by is another day closer to the day she dies.” So yeah, I guess that’s another song. I guess you could say that Flashy is our most realistic album.

Popshifter: And “Heavy Woman” also has a really interesting guitar solo in it that reminds me of The Byrds, like “Eight Miles High,” Roger McGuinn solo.

Dick Valentine: Yeah, I think that’s The Colonel doing that one. I’m not there a lot when they lay the guitars, but I can usually tell which one is Na$hinal and which one is The Colonel.

Popshifter: My favorite song, at the moment, is “Dirty Ball.”

Dick Valentine: Oh yeah, I think it’s the most fun to do live, because we throw in some timbales.

Popshifter: Yeah, the timbales are awesome, the fills and things, they really add a lot to it. And then you rap!

Dick Valentine: Yeah, that’s probably the best, at least in terms of the live show, that’s the best one.

Popshifter: Also with references to real-world events.

Dick Valentine: Oh, Larry Craig, yeah. I guess you’re right.

Popshifter: You’re very topical on this album.

Dick Valentine: Yeah, we try to be.

Popshifter: Which then leads me to ask if “We Were Witchy Witchy White Women” is about Stevie Nicks.

Dick Valentine: No, that is a song that I can definitely say is completely made up, is not about anyone I’ve ever met.

Popshifter: It’s not about, OK, so you’re not actually a woman.

Dick Valentine: Maybe not now, but maybe later.

Larry Craig

Popshifter: All right. (laughs) Very good. Let’s see. . . just looking at the song list, there are a lot of different styles as usual. Like you were saying, you don’t over think the tone of the record, that whatever strikes your fancy at the time or sounds like a good idea, you can put into effect.

Dick Valentine: Yeah, that’s the way I’ve always approached it. You get caught in your traps when you start getting into music and being around musicians, you know. . . The original lineup of our band and other people around Detroit, it was just always people moving really slowly, at least as far as I was concerned, because it was like, “we’ve gotta make this record,” and everyone’s gonna hear it, and then they’re gonna have opinions, and then oh my god. . . and I just never operated that way.

Popshifter: Right. And then a lot of times you have outside producers who want you to have kind of a style or a sound so that you can be described, you know, in one word.

Click to read more from Dick Valentine on. . .

Touring and bad reviews
Vocoder and marketing music
Current lineup and Alexyss K. Tylor
“Heavy Woman” and Larry Craig
Sheffield and Austin
Alternative music and honesty
Florida and Election Day
The new album and “the heart of a lion”

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