Possum Dixon

by James Bonisteel

Possum Dixon took time out of their schedule to talk to RAD. The band members work well together, and they were easy to get to know as they wandered in and out of the interview. They have a high energy show and are fun to watch. Highlights of previous shows have been their Madonna medley of covers. Here's the part of their line-up I talked to: Rich - Drums; Rob - Bass/vocals; Celso - guitar.

RAD: So, what are some of the other bands you have toured with recently?
Rich: We toured with the Dead Milkmen, the Lemonheads, X, then we did some of our own headlining stuff, actually we did alot of our own.
RAD: How long has this band been around?
Rob: Approximately five years. In 1989, the song "Watch That Girl" came out. The first single was "Freak Scene" and then it was re-released on the Interscope Label on our debut as a single.
RAD: Where do originally come from?
Rob: Annaheim, California, yes out by Disneyland, all of us actually live by there. My mom owns a string of motels right in that area, you know right neing of motels right in that area, you know right near Disneyland Park.
RAD: Where did you get the name for your band from?
Rob: It was an actual car in the sixties, good ol' Possum Dixon.
RAD: That doesn't sound familiar, that actual car I mean.
Rob: I think it was Chrysler or Plymouth that put it out. It was like a demo car that was never released for production, I mean it wasn't legit car name; it was just a slang name for it.
RAD: So you are with the Interscope label, and how are they treating you so far?
Celso: Pretty well, yeah, they kept us on the road for nine months last year. We are on this tour for a month with The Violent Femmes, and after that we go back to record.
RAD: So, a new record huh? When are you thinking of releasing that?
Celso: Hopefully, by August.
RAD: You sound excited about it.
Celso: We're thrilled about it.
RAD: How many albums have you put out now?
Celso: Four, but this is the first one on a major label
RAD: How long have you been touring with The Violent Femmes?
Rob: This is going to be, I think, six months now that will include the Japan tour also.
RAD: So you are planning on galso.
RAD: So you are planning on going to Japan?
Rob: Well we are going to go home for one month and just do the record and then take off to Japan.
Celso: Yea we are going to record, take a month off and go back out again.
Rob: We had a show out in Tijuana, that was pretty insane out there, well, all of Mexico, but we spent alot of time in Tijuana. We actually bought a small house down there and just hung out and partied down there. Celso has relatives there so we were like hanging out down there, going to donkey shows.....oh by the way, Brian Ritchie got arrested down there but we can't talk about that....
...O.K. we will...it was about 110 degrees outside, we had been drinking tequilas for three days straight, worms, the whole thing. We had met tons of lady friends down there anyhow, and they had convinced us that we should do a straight ahead clothes swap, fair enough right? So you know we were willing to dabble, so we traded clothes with them and the next day we were still in these clothes running the hot streets of Tijuana. Well, we ended up sitting in this small little comforable bar that we liked to spend a lot of time in. It was about three in the afternoon and a couple of sailors walked in. RAD; And so they tried to pick up on you right?
Rob: Did they try to...no, no, no, they did pick up on us.
RAD: So what happened at that point?
Rob: Well, somebody got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Celso: We spent a week in jail and had to cancel some shows but it was all in the name of fun.
Rob: So now Brian Ritchie and I have been talking about doing a solo album called "Girls Just Want To Have Fun." It's sort of a long term project that we are thinking of, but SST Records might put it out. There has been some talk about doing a northwest tour with it, but we have been pretty busy with other projects right now.