THE DICKIES / RENDERED USELESS / SYMPTOMS / ETHER CIRCUS / RACHAEL MILES

The Dickies are the clown princes of punk, not to mention surprisingly longstanding veterans of the L.A. scene. In fact, by the new millennium, they'd become the oldest surviving punk band still recording new material. In contrast to the snotty, intentionally offensive humor of many comedically inclined punk bands, the Dickies are winningly goofy, inspired mostly by trashy movies and other pop culture camp. Their covers are just as ridiculous as their originals, transforming arena rock anthems and bubblegum pop chestnuts alike into the loud, speed-blur punk-pop — basically the Ramones crossed with L.A. hardcore — that is their musical stock in trade.Inspired by the first wave of punk coming out of New York and London, the Dickies were formed in 1977 in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.