GIG REPORT

The Dirty Scene Tour - 29/11/2002 - JH Skalul - Lendelede: Mise*en*Scene - The Dirty Scums - The Thirsty Scums

OWN REPORT - 30/11/2002

It was the third time we played in this youth club in Lendelede. First time was a gig in 1984 (with the famous Give Buzze) and the second time we figured on a rather big open-air festival in 1997 (with Kadril (still featurin' Patrick Riguelle), De Mens, Boerenzonen op Speed, ...). Each time we had a very positive impression of this youth centre whose people appeared to be very active and in the same time succeeded in attractin' a lot of young people of their region for different activities. They also have a big infrastructure, it is namely an old schoolbuildin' with many different rooms around a central open place.

Before we left for Lendelede, we checked our e-mail but still hadn't received an answer on the mails we sent to the Skalul. We arrived around 7 pm, there were a few people, but no one knew how to operate the small P.A. they had hired for the evenin'. The responsible guy of the youth club was ill and the owner of the P.A. was not reachable or somethin' like that. A small investigation also learned us that the right cables weren't delivered and that there was no amplifier for the monitor. There were no posters announcin' the gig and it lasted awful long before we received our first beer, in fact we did not receive a beer. Fuck, this didn't start well ! In the pub we couldn't get a free beer and it appeared our beers were placed in a dedicated room for us at the other side of the central place. I went to that place, but fuck again, I stood in front of a locked door. In a room next to it, there was a meetin' of some people of another youth organization. They had some crates of Stella beer, so I picked up one of these crates. Back in the pub, we were asked to sign a paper in which we declared bein' responsabele for any damage in the dressin' room. Well, since we've been put responsable for ruinin' a dressin' room in a Turnhout gig in 1991, while we even hadn't entered the place, this is a kind of thing we don't sign anymore. We simply proposed to keep the dressin' room locked, 'cause we had no intention to go to sit apart in a room while we could stay in the pub. Things began to go better, Mise*en*Scene arrived, the right material arrived for the small P.A., we received our own beer-crates (Maes beer) and by 9 pm we both had soundchecked. It must be said there was not a massive crowd at the place and certainly not a lot of punx. It seemed the article which had appeared the week before in some newspapers where the Scums were called a livin' legend, is not been read by many people, haha, nor the review of our latest CD in the issue of the metal-magazine Aardschok of this week. However my old schoolmate/farmer was there once again, as well as Fox, who did the DJ-stuff on the festivals for our 15th and 18th anniversary. He told us he still liked to visit this evenin' a topless bar in the surroundings. What few people know, is that in 1982, we asked Fox to be the singer of The Dirty Scums, which for some reason he didn't accept. 

It was the third time now we played with Mise*en*Scene and if you check our gig-sexion you'll notice it's definitely not the last time. We really receive a lot of feedback on our Dirty Scene Tour which results in a lot of gigs all around Flandres. We begin to recognize the songs of  M*e*S which makes it the more and more interestin' to attend their gig. In contrast with the past gigs they didn't start with the Sham 69-cover but with an own punk/ska-song, which is indeed more the thing they stand for, but doesn't have the same impact for a gig-opener. They played very relaxed and played a very good gig. We also had the chance to listen to the only song that's available on their site, 'cause for some fuckin' reason we didn't find a PC on which this thing works, probably some technical problem with their provider we suppose. People participated well at their gig, M*e*S had brought along some people, and there were some funny things goin' on like people who asked to take pictures of themselves figurin' on stage next to a bandmember. There was also this guy who suddenly had Qrizz' guitar around his neck, and at first messed up the song they were playin' but then ended with the Pennywise-song "Land of the free".

M*e*S told us the sound on stage was not that good, sadly this was true, and playin' in a corner of a square-room is never very interestin'. The sound was not like it should be, but anyway, we think we played a decent gig without technical problems worth mentionin'. Zjantie missed some intro's, because he didn't hear the guitar well, but that was it. Thanx to M*e*S, a part of the the audience also kicked some ass. The other part however was really not interested in what was goin' on on stage. There was also no one showin' tits durin' the "Show me your tits"-song ... When we started around 11.30 pm with The Thirsty Scums, a part of the visitors was already gone, and also Fox had quit to his topless waitresses. Thanx to some changings of the P.A.-settings, the sound was better now and we played a good Ramones-set. However, we think it was the first time we played the Ramones-songs for such a cold public, there was almost no reaxion, and we really are convinced few people knew the Ramones, which is plain scandalous of course. Our thoughts went to Fox who surely had a better time at this moment. However, by the end of the set there were more reaxions. When we finished, people asked for "'Rit'n ...", and as we really had a mind for playin' thanx to the better sound, we added some covers of Sham 69, Sex Pistols and again the Ramones. This time, with the public participatin', it felt good to be on stage.

After the gig, M*e*S left early, and we drunk an awful lot of beers (at least I did) while watchin' some pretty chicks playin' and imitatin' striptease danseuses and doin' other things. Sadly and although Keez demonstrated a nice example (he definitely has a pair of hairy tits, huh), they didn't go for the real stuff, and again our thoughts went to Fox ... In order to stimulate the girls, we asked the DJ for Joe Cocker's "You can leave your hat on", but had to listen to the disco crap they were playin' instead. A few weeks before, I had visited a topless bar where the girls were doin' their thing on Metallica-songs ! We talked to some sympathetic locals, and learned that the youth club indeed had a lesser period behind the back. The yearly festival is no more, there are financial problems (which surely won't be solved after this evenin'), and it seems difficult to get some people comin' to activities. Recently, they started organizin' some gigs, with as a result each time fewer people showin' up. However, youth club Skalul would be the number one pub in West-Flanders for what concerns the consumption of Maes-beers, and that's not bad too of course (although we suppose the other clubs serve Jupiler, haha).

Suddenly Zjantie had the splendid idea (that doesn't happen often, believe us) to quit for the pub "Heaven's Door" in Meulebeke. This is definetely the best music-pub in the surroundings, and indeed, in ten minutes time we heard more good songs than we had heard the whole evenin' (except for the live-stuff of course). In a former life the pub-owner even was a kind of a brother-in-law of mine. There's a small room behind the pub and in 1993 we organised a gig for The Tournée Générale in there. Also, in 1996 we returned to play another gig. Now there are no more gigs because people prefer to stay hangin' around in the pub instead of goin' to watch the bands playin' !

After some beers, we quit to hit the road, but stopped once again in another town in front of a nightclub or somethin' like that. There were even some Scums-fans present and even more: we sold some copies of our CD's, the only ones we sold this evenin' ! So when we arrived home at around 7 am (we had been more than 12 hours on the road), we could conclude things hadn't been too bad.

Dirty Pik