Deke Dickerson.

DEKE DICKERSON FRONT HIS OWN ROCKABILLY BAND, DEKE DICKERSON & the Ecco-Fonics, and is touring as guest vocalist for Los Straightjackets, a masked Mexican wrestling surf band. Deke has a bunch of excellent '50s style recording available on Hightone records as well as on his own label, Ecco-Fonic records. For more info on Deke and his music check out www.dekedickerson.com. For more info on fried chicken and poontang, read on. -- Eben Sterling

Are you ready to launch into your exciting Thrasher interview?

Yeah, sure. I guess I'd better keep in mind this for Thrasher, I gotta make all my answers snappy.

And aggressive...

Yeah, fully agro.

Why do they call you the "Missouri Mule"?

Well, because even though I've lived in LA for a long time I was born in Missouri and If you know me, I'm as stubborn as they come.

On your record you're from Pablo Bluff...

Poplar Bluff is actually kind of south-east, I'm really from Columbia MO, but nothing really rhymes with Columbia.

You have a point there.

We have a huge skate scene in Columbia. There's lots of abandoned concrete.

I guess you get the obligatory Thrasher question I hoped to avoid: Are you a skater?

I collect mid- 1960s skateboards, the ones that look like surfboards.

You now live in the show biz capitol of the world, Reseda is it?

I live in the porno capitol of the world. Burbank.

How's tat working out for you?

The reason I moved to LA is because they do have the biggest scene here for rockabilly, country, rock and roll...anything '50s it seems that there's a huge scene for here. I don't really know why that is but I know the car scene definitely has a lot to do with it. There are so many people that are into old cars and hot rods and stuff.

There's a lot of history with the whole studio scene from the '50s and '60s, and the Bakersfield guys coming down to record.

Everybody always thinks that all the rockabilly and '50s rock and roll records were made in Tennessee or Texas, but just as many were made right here in LA. This is really the biggest hick town in the country because it was nothing but Okies that moved out here.

What's the deal with those double neck guitars you play? Are you trying to be like Jimmy Page in The Song Remains the Same?

There was a cat that played in LA in the '50s named Joe Maphis, and he had a custom double neck guitar and I always saw pictures of it.

And I though "Man, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen." When I moved out here I was really lucky. Within a couple of months I was up in Bakersfield and I just happened into a pawnshop and there was a Mosrite double-neck in there for sale. And I bought it and that sort of started the whole thing. I wanted to have a custom guitar that nobody else had that would be instantly identifiable to me.

Are you obsessed with poontang? Because you sing about it on you records?

Maybe I should plead the Fifth here.

Were you a big Ted Nugent fan as a kid?

Growing up I think you absorb the Nuge. Even if you don't want to, you hear it. That's why people always ask me what my roots are, and back in Missouri-let's see, Van Halen, AC/DC, Ted Nugent. They always expect me to say bluegrass or something, but blaring out of every Camaro and Trans Am was shit like that.

At you show in Santa Cruz you were all hyped up because you hit KFC right at closing time and they hooked you up with all the miscellaneous meat for a dollar.

Yeah, that was awesome. The whole band ate for 25-cents each.

So you're a big fan of fried chicken?

I'm going to give you the answer to both your poontang question and your Kentucky Fried Chicken question with his: What red-blooded American boy isn't?