A Dirty Dozen with BILL DICKSON of ROUSERS – October 2025

According to a recent press release: “Inspired by the New York Dolls, Ramones and such immortal ‘50s rockers as twangy guitar hero Duane Eddy, the Rousers were woefully under-documented in their prime. A few major labels sniffed around, including RCA and Warner Bros. subdivision Sire. But no one committed them to vinyl until Reynolds issued their “Party Boy” b/w “Don’t Let The Band Stop Playing” 45 (produced by Wayne Kramer of the MC5) via Jimboco in 1981. Reynolds corrects this oversight today with the release of the demos that the original Rousers lineup—vocalist Jeff Buckland, rhythm guitarist Bill Dickson, bassist John Hannah, lead guitarist Tom Milmore, and drummer Jerid O’Connell—cut for Sire in the label’s basement studio on New York’s Upper West Side in 1979. Never before released, the tapes sat shelved in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Sire archives for decades, digitized and restored in 2024. Mixing duties were split between Bob Stander (Parchessi Studio) and Ed Stasium himself, ensuring period-authentic crunch meets modern punch. This is not a footnote. It’s a rescue mission. These tapes might’ve slept for 45 years, but the Rousers never lost their bite. Now the world can finally hear what Seymour Stein almost signed…and what punk rock never forgot. The release features full tracklistings for both vinyl and expanded CD editions.” We get guitarist Bill to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

In 1979 we did a demo for Sire Records in their 8 track basement demo studio. We recorded around 14 songs in two days, a very live sound with a few overdubs. Ed Stasium recorded it, and did mixes on about 4 or 5 of them, our guitarist Tom Milmore did rough mixes on some of the others. It didn’t lead to a record contract or anything and was never released and pretty much forgotten. With this release, taken from the original 8-track recordings, all of the material was properly mixed and mastered, mostly by Bob Stander, while Ed Stasium did a great mix on “Bumble Bee Rock.” It really sounds terrific, and you can feel the energy and urgency of a young band feeling their oats and excited to show what they can do.  No, there are no hidden secrets in the 1979 Sire Sessions per se, it’s a straightforward record. Though on “Lonely Summer” we did add the chorus after the first verse, originally it doesn’t come until after the second verse.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I suppose like most of my generation it begins with Beatles and Rolling Stones. One of the great things they accomplished was to get you to explore their sources, the blues and country and R&B that they covered sent you in search of the originals, and that led to whole universes of music. I can recall making a paper mache electric guitar around 6th or 7th grade. I loved The Rolling Stones’ Got Live If You Want It album. I don’t identify a particular moment of deciding to be a musician. Around 9th grade or so some friends and I decided to put together a band for a high school talent show. I was the singer, wanted to be Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart and Peter Wolf and Elvis.  And just kept doing it. Eventually I took up the guitar. Rock and roll is fun to listen to and fun to sing and play and I just kept doing it.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

When I was about 8, my family was visiting friends in our town, we were outside and you could hear a band practicing in the parish hall of the church next to their house. We went over to check out the sound of them working on “96 Tears”, and that song has stuck with me forever. That said, seeing the New York Dolls in Bridgeport, Connecticut around 1973 was transformative. They were mesmerizing, their songs, their presence, their attitude. But they were inspiring in a “hey, WE could be rock stars, too!” way that you would not have gotten from say, seeing the Rolling Stones. The New York rock scene was bubbling up and it was very exciting and we wanted to be part of it and eventually were.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Off the top of my head I’d say maybe Bill Kirchen, because he can do anything he wants with a Telecaster and has a nice sense of humor.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

Reading, crossword puzzles. We are not an active touring or recording outfit, so our time is generally our own.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We used to call our sound “Rhythm & Twang,” which is a pretty accurate description of it, kind of a rockabilly and R & B mixture with pop sensibility. Generally, I find mentions of the Rousers as “punk” to be infuriating: we were never a punk band, and it just seems a common failing that many assume music made during the Max’s Kansas City / CBGB era of late 1970’s or early 1980’s must be punk.  The scene was much more varied than that, and it seems pretty lazy to equate all music from that time with punk. Like thinking all music from 1969 was inspired by “Incense and Peppermints” or something.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

The Rousers are no longer active, but we never took out acoustic guitars for hootenannies or cooked for one another. People mostly got their own beverages I think.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Well I got to meet my guitar idol Duane Eddy backstage at The Ritz in New York when he played there sometime in I think the mid 1980’s, that was a big thrill.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

When things are sounding good and really moving and you are caught up in the current it’s really thrilling, there’s nothing to equal it, especially in a live performance. I’ve been fortunate to play for decades with guitarist Tom Milmore, who really deserves to be better known. Just being there when he pulls off some sounds, to be part of it is really special. Likewise, the first time you get a song down is incredibly satisfying, that whatever you imagined when you wrote it, what you end up with is different, and that distance between what you were aiming for and what it becomes is really the heart of it. You make music because you feel compelled to, some thought triggers a lyric and you follow that where it goes, sometimes it’s nowhere and sometimes it’s a good song, or a start. Work is for squares, I don’t have a “dream job.”

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I’m pretty new to interviews, so I don’t have a particular question I’m dying to answer, though I suppose I’d like to be asked more about songs I’ve written. In terms of tiresome questions, I guess being asked what I recall about working with Ed Stasium might be up there, as it was forty-some years ago and I don’t recall much about doing the Sire Session with him, that is, particular interactions or whatnot. That said, you can tell his generally genial approach and calm competence from the resulting recording and the bits of talk back on some tracks.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

My entire music career has been festooned with missteps, so I can’t rightly credit one single error as an “if only…” moment.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Depends on what is meant by “be part of”. If you mean be present for, I would love to have been a fly on the wall at that first Elvis session at Sun Records, they’ve been trying this and that and it’s nothing special yet, and then goofing off suddenly it’s “That’s All Right Mama” and a new era in music is born. That would really be something to witness. That and I think the Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street or Let it Bleed sessions would have been glorious to hear coming together. As far as participating in any recording sessions from history, I don’t think I could add anything to most, but it would have been fun to play on “Louie Louie”!

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Category: Interviews