OLD BIOGRAPHIES - 1989

Nederlandse versie

1988

Our compassionless conquest of the year 1988 started like a flatting-mill on 10/01 in the Pimms in Torhout, where we hope we were a relief in the mostly heavy metal-inspired stationquarters. The people who were present there will surely consider it as a hell of a gig (or else ...). After the gig we jammed with the pub-owner and a visitor, so THE DIRTY SCUMS were suddenly five musicians playing the blues, it must have been a pretty sight. Everyone will have noticed that we still have a lot to learn (playing our instruments) but we really don't give a shit about that. On the other hand, persons who claim that we can't drink, we haven't met up till now, and that sure means something, doesn't it ? Yes it does !

If you multiply previous date by two, you become 20/02 and then we were supposed to play in Deinze (a little bit of mathematics can't hurt, especially not after previous alcoholic lines). VORTEX was also on stage that night as well as HATECREW (history now). We remember that we were playing at 2 o'clock in the morning in an almost empty club (thanks a lot, organiser).

On 04/03 FUNERAL DRESS organised a gig in Antwerp and we were invited too. FUNERAL DRESS is a real punkband, they don't play hardcore nor metal, they cover songs from the SEX PISTOLS and the STOOGES, and play also own compositions of course. They even have a single with one own song and "I WANNA BE YOUR DOG" from the STOOGES. Because of the snow that day, we left the car in the garage and went by train like in the old days. We had two gigs that weekend, so the first night we went to a hotel to get a room in order to be fit for the gig the day after in Genk. But we must have misunderstood each other somehow, because we went out all night and slept only four hours, after a commonly showery in the hotel. It was a pity there weren't any girls then ! In Genk we played rather well (there were also some problems: bands that didn't show up and amplifiers that weren't there ...). Anyway, after a whole night and forenoon of ale we arrived finally at home in the evening, where we asked ourselves if we could fysically stand a tour.

In March we had some songs ready and we wanted them on a single. As we were in the studio, we noticed that the studio-engineer didn't seem to be able to cope with a non-electronical drum. We packed our things and went on, but we didn't let that guy spoil our day: we visited almost all the pubs between the studio and our home. Halfway we did stop counting them.

On 16/04 we had the pleasure to play in a club not so far away from our hometown, with amongst others SEATTLE, VORTEX and SCRAPS (FRA). Halfway our set someone poured a bucket of water in our direction (pity it wasn't beer) and PIK got nearly electrified. Sometimes it's hard to be a musician ...

Next one was in Bruges and the organisation was shitty. They told us a few times that we couldn't play anymore (and we were top of the bill !), and then at about 2 o'clock in the morning - we were angry at that moment - we could do our thing after all. It was a short gig and afterwards the owner called the police because the audience (or what was left of it) didn't want to leave fast enough in his opinion. The cops came and - in a way that can compete with a westernscene - they arrested one of our friends and took him away after a painfull treatment. As he was our driver, we were stuck there and we were obliged to spend the rest of the night and all morning in the local pubs, quite a punishment if you ask us. By the time he got released out of jail we were rather tipsy and then we still had to celebrate his liberation !

In the mean time the 5TH ANNIVERSARY GIG-tape was available with live-sessions of THE DIRTY SCUMS and other bands. The tape met with a kind reception but sells not so good. At about the same time we released the new single. In order to distribute it well we wrote to different record companies but without result. The reason why we wrote to EMI, VIRGIN, WEA, ..., is to be found in our scene. People who normally distribute records aren't interested in what we're doing, punkrock doesn't seem to be commercial enough. You don't have to tell us no more that those people should mean much for the scene. When you're only interested in its best-selling aspect, then this goes along with a decrease of your credibility. And it will probably be those people who will speak up when bands are trying to contact big record companies.

On 25/06 it was up to VORTEX to organise a gig and to invite us. Charleroi (where they live) is a rather depressing city. There isn't a real scene and only a small number of people showed up. Amongst them there were a few skinheads who tried to ruin our gig by attacking us twice, followed by a fight between them and a few members of VORTEX. We considered the evening as a failure but we have a lot of respect for VORTEX who try to build up something in spite of the lack of interest in the punkmovement in their region.

A week later we played in a town near the North Sea. The weather was fine, it was hot in fact and we were very thirsty of course. Top of the bill was OI-POLLOI (GBR), who sounded like a moderate heavy band. On the way home we visited Torhout, where the worldfamous festival was going on, and there it happened again. At about 5 o'clock in the morning PIK was drinking a beer (what else would he be drinking ?) outside a pub, and when he saw a cop car passing by, he couldn't resist throwing his beer in its direction. The cops didn't seem to like this cause PIK got arrested and he spend the night (or the rest of it) in jail. The argument that the beercup didn't hit the target didn't help, he even didn't get it back. Together with JENZ' experience a few months before (in search of forbidden products the cops examined certain of his intimate places) our encounters (of the third kind !) with the law turned out negative again this year.

Then we reached the magic number 100, yes we played a 100 times up till then and we wanted to celebrate it, but it became a disappointment. And again the organiser was to blame: no P.A., only two bands from the four showed up (VORTEX and THE DIRTY SCUMS) and almost no audience (he didn't make any publicity). We were more or less obliged to drink our sorrow away, thanks a lot, organiser.

Brussels then. A day before, the RAMONES had played on a festival and it would have been unworthy of course to deliver an inferior performance. We were the only Belgian band that day, the others were CRY OF TERROR, LETHAL GOSPEL, POLITICAL ASYLUM (GBR), and NEGAZIONE (ITA). It was quite a time ago we played before a metal-inspired audience but we did well.

On 10/09 FUNERAL DRESS asked us again. We remember (goodness gracious) a nice jazz-pub, but the audience didn't give the best of theirselves and the P.A. was insufficient. FUNERAL DRESS was OK, but they could use a bassplayer in our opinion.

In October PIK moved to another house and we had to build another rehearsal room, which we did using following ingredients: a garage, wood, carpets, cardboard-boxes and even a bit of professional isolationmaterial, as we didn't want the neighbours to go berserk. In our new environment we rehearsed only once before the next gig.

That was on 30/10, together with the MUSHROOMS and GET STUFFED. The MUSHROOMS play a simple kind of hardcorepunk and they consist, as all good things, out of three. GET STUFFED is one of the better bands in Belgium and they too are a three-member band. They play punkrock and RAMONES- and PISTOLS-covers, the same ingredients as you can find in our music. Strikingly is the fact that the drummer also is the leadvocalist, but that isn't always in favour of their stagepresentation.

On 19/11 we played together with BAMBIX, three nice and fresh ladies out of Holland, who stole our hearts a bit. They play punk/hardcore. Both gigs were excellent, the organisation as well. The nightly trip afterwards prooved that this town wasn't larger than a street, if we take account of the number of pubs that were open, namely one.

The next gig wasn't in Belgium, we drove about 350 km to Hoorn, in Holland, 50 km from Amsterdam. It was the third time we had to travel to Holland. We know that everything there is more professional than in Belgium, because most clubs are State-aided, but it was almost as bad as in Belgium, because none of their engagements was done: we had no place to sleep, an incomplete drum, no map to find the concerthall and no beer until 9 o'clock pm. However there was an excellent P.A., the sound was OK and we would play in terrific conditions. The audience was cool and kept a distance and this seems to be a custom in Holland. The second band were the SWAMPSURFERS (NLD), with an ex-member of BLACK VAMPIRE (NLD) on drums. They produce an original kind of hardcore and were great in fact. In the middle of the night we came to the conclusion that the beer wasn't alcoholfree after all ... 1988 was also the first year we did receive an interview from a Dutch fanzine, and our second single got some airplay on the Dutch radio. On the other hand the sale of our records remains ridiculously low (they don't know what they are missing).

A week later we were closer to home, in a pub that has about the size of an average kitchen. 150 people were sitting as close as sardines in a box and did the pogo. Everybody had a great time, it was like in early days. We were the only band that night.

Another week later we played in Brussels again, together with BAD PREACHERS. They are also one of the better Belgian bands and have in every way one of the best singers. As we knew, in Brussels there are a lot of weirdos and two of them started a fight during our gig. They were thrown out roughly, and one of them had to stay a few weeks in hospital. The bodyguards who threw them out had broken fingers and elbow-injuries. We couldn't see anything, and the electricity also fell out a few times. Because of all those interruptions and the fact that ZJANTIE was ill, we didn't give a brilliant gig. To forget as soon as possible was the message.

The last one of 1988 was on 23/12 with five bands and again too many bands had to be on stage in too less time. We came up late again, a lot of people were already homeward and there was trouble on the dancefloor (what else ?). All those inconveniences we swallowed down with a lot of beer, together with our compagnons the MUSHROOMS till about noon (evil communications corrupt good manners).

That's it for 1988. At the same time we can't abstain you the good news that there are born two babies amongst the SCUMS. And now that we're talking about descendants: PIK ZJUNIOR, younger brother of PIK, joined also a band and changed the name's band immediately in the FLYIN' BEER-BARRELS. As the tree, so the fruit. In opposite to our records, our babies are not for sale, but you girls, know now who you have to contact if you want to know one of us more intimate, with results. So long !

In the many fanzines that exist in the punk/hardcore-scene, you could from time to time read something about THE DIRTY SCUMS. Here's a list of the ones we appeared in, during the year 1988.

Full adresses are omitted because of no more relevant for today.

CRUMBCORE / GIERLE // SCHIZOPHRENIE COLLECTIVE PERUWELZ // DE RATTEBEET / IEPER // M-EXTÄZ-INTER. / PARIS / FRANCE // X-CREMENT / WESTERLO // HEMORROIDS / VALENCIENNES CEDEX / FRANCE // SNERT-ZINE / TORHOUT // DE NAR / DILBEEK // NOOIT MEER ! / APELDOORN / HOLLAND // OUTLAWS / HERENTHOUT // KOEKRAND / AMSTERDAM / HOLLAND // SLAM / WESTERLO

We have also spent a great deal of our time in doing ten interviews that haven't been published up till now. We wrote to those fanzines to ask why they didn't publish them, but we never got any message back. Here's a list of those fanzines, be aware of them. Between brackets you find the date on which we sent the interview, you see it sure is a long time ago now.

Omitted because no more relevant for today.

At the same time we transmitted a large number of tapes to people who asked this in order to make a compilationtape, but those tapes were never released. You can see we did a lot of work without results. The interviews we can still use but the tapes we will never see again.

In 1988 we also had to answer about 450 letters and we sent 350 printed papers. Besides that we consumed 40 crates of beer in the rehearsal room, not bad too of course.