"There's no revolution without a bit of party": Dick Move's album launch comes to Raglan this weekend

The third album from Aotearoa's foremost socialist party punks, Dick Move, is out on Friday. On Saturday, get to The Yard in Raglan for the Dream Believe Achieve launch tour (with Soft Bait and the Vile Maxim), or head out to the other side of the country on Sunday for a gig Under The Bridge in Tauranga (+ Two Skinner and Punktuation). Or hell, why not do both? And, in the meantime, enjoy this quick Q & A with vocalist Lucy Suttor.
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It's not long since you got back from your second European tour. How was it a different experience from the first time around? 
 
Well one difference is that it was considerably shorter, we were only there for 2 weeks this time but we packed out the schedule with 14 shows, so you could say we made the most of our time there. It felt great to be back, some people who came last year travelled to see us this time round so it felt like we had a bit of a following growing. We did a slightly different route this time, spending more time in Spain – Spain rules, very like-minded people who love to party. Some things remain unchanged – impeccable hospitality no matter whether you're playing a festival or a squat, and the service stations still sell 10% Bicardi and cokes and very good cheese.  
 

Dream Believe Achieve is out on Friday. What was the writing and recording process like? 
 
It was quite a different buzz this time, firstly we were lucky enough to record at Roundhead which was a bloody dream, Dee Stevens (engineer) and Peter Rudell (producer) were a bloody great team to work with too. With the previous albums we had spent the year writing and playing the new songs, so the albums were really a record of our work, whereas this time we were under a little bit more pressure to get it done and ended up writing some songs in the room, which was a new fun and exciting (stressful and frustrating) process for us. We are definitely not a jam band, so it was good for us to be pushed out of our comfort zone, I think. But hey pressure makes diamonds, right? Maybe! But we are stoked with the result, we can’t wait for yas to hear it. ​

You're known as a "party punk" band, but there's a heavy dose of political seriousness in your songs. How do you balance those things? 

I think it is as simple as we can’t help but produce political content, and we also can’t help but be party people. The songs are derived from the bullshit happening immediately around us in the news and on the streets, and we are still calling out the usual power structures responsible for the current political climate, but a difference with this album I think is that we wanted to instil hope in the listeners as well. This album is full of protest songs, as well as celebrations of the places we love, Karangahape Road for example, and also a celebration of the current sense of unity and mobilisation of people across the Motu. There is no revolution without a bit of party. 

 
What can punters in Raglan expect on Saturday night? 
 
A lot of songs, very fast very loud very fun. It's an extra special tour this one with it being our last with our beloved drummer Luke, so we will be squeezing in some of our old bangerz in there too. This is our first time playing the yard too, but our Raglan shows have always been a fucking mental good time, so we are expecting nothing less from this Saturday!  

Dick Move's last album launch, 'Wet', hit Last Place in October 2023

Cheesy question time. Tell me your biggest dream, weirdest belief, and proudest achievement.  
 
Biggest dream right now is that we find an actual socialist like Zorhan Mamdani and next year vote out the freaks currently running the country.

Weirdest belief – you are speaking with Lucy Suttor and I’m taking liberties here as I’m sure there are other weird beliefs in the band, but as a child I thought aliens were communicating with me through the squiggles termites made in driftwood. Guess that’s pretty weird. 

​Our biggest achievement is probably 6 years and 3 albums, and hopefully this Friday we sell out Double Whammy – that would be a great achievement. 


What else should I have asked about? 
 
Nothing, that was great. See you at The Yard this weekend! Let's party! ​