Gaza, food and lodging

>>Former Didjits frontman Rick Sims returns with a new band

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Cheap Trick's Rick Neilsen had his baseball cap and checkered sweaters, Michael Jackson has his one glove, Screamin' Jay Hawkins has his skull "Henry." Likewise, Rick Sims of the Gaza Strippers is immediately recognizable for his little round sunglasses and his "catching flies" open-mouth pose.

"The sunglasses is just this thing that stuck with me," he says. "I saw them on my girlfriend's dresser and I thought they looked cool and the rest is rock 'n' roll history. I think it's pretty cool that I can take them off and people will say, 'Hey, where did he go?'"

The specs and gaping maw have been around a while. Sims cut his teeth with the influential Didjits and walked the Supersuckers through what many consider the zenith of their career. His ultimate punk rock coup, however, involves little more than opening envelopes and punching his code into an ATM.

You see, on the Offspring's album Smash, they included a cover of the Sims-penned "Killboy Powerhead." After buying a house and a car with the money he made off that, Sims says the cheques just keep rolling in. "I sit around all day scratching my balls waiting for the mailman to bring me another cheque. I'll even occasionally meet the mailman at the end of the driveway in my underwear. I've known the band for a while, they're really nice guys. But with the money they paid me, I don't care if they did a fucking polka version of it as long as they get my name right on the cheque."

The Gaza Strippers' debut on the Man's Ruin label is riding a hype wave that could rival the Hellacopters or Electric Frankenstein. With that and Sims' rock pedigree, it seems like he could be one of the most important rockers of the new millennium. Rick? "Well, I can't say that. You know I'd be talking about myself and it wouldn't have the same effect." After a few brief moments of silence I toss the man a bone and say, "Okay, Rick, you're one of the most important rockers of the century."

"Yes, I am, thank you very much."

With les Morts at Jailhouse Rock tonight, Thursday, June 3, 9pm, $7