THE DIRTY SCUMS were formed by Pik in 1981. He was then already playin' in a band called Machine Head for almost two years. The first gig with the SCUMS was in March 1982 as support act for Revenge 88. In 1983 Zjantie and Jenz joined the band, respectively in April and September. At that time we had a female singer but after a year she wasn't really interested anymore. We decided to drop her and not to replace her. Pik took over the lead vocals and we went on as a three piece band till 1994. In that line-up we recorded all the records and tapes we have released up till now, including the new CD. In 1994 we recruted Mental Keez (because he's mental, haha), while Jenz changed the bass for the guitar. So THE DIRTY SCUMS now are dirtier than you'll ever be: Dirty Pik (vocals, guitar) - Dirty Zjantie (drums, out of tune vocals) - Dirty Jenz (vocals, guitar) - Mental Keez (mental bass).

We have the impression there's less activity nowadays, or at least there are less people who are doing things. And if they're doing something, it doesn't take long, just like it's considered as some kind of a "youth sin". In the beginning of the eighties something was really going on, a scene was build up: everyone in the scene did something, took part in it, some made fanzines, others organised gigs or played in a band, everybody tried to contribute. People didn't really care if a gig took place in a crummy joint with lousy amplifiers, important was being there, exchange information, records, tapes, fanzines, listening to the bands and having fun of course. There were less bands than now, but everybody went to see them everywhere. The fact that there were less bands is maybe the reason why the scene was really sticking together. The bands who used to play then at gigs played punk as well as hardcore, even bands with experimental music were asked to play. When we're going to gigs now, most of the bands play more or less the same thing. We have always had a small mailorder on which there were fanzines for sale too. There used to be a lot of fanzines, we even had one ourselves. From the late eighties on there were really less fanzines and it became harder to sell them. Like people couldn't read anymore from that time on, or were no more interested to read important things. On the same mailorder, it has always been a kind of a tradition to sell things from countries which are not so obvious like Poland, Greece, Hungary, Singapore, Brasil, Mexico, Peru, ... People used to be interested in stuff like that, it's even a normal kind of interest we think, if you're into punk, to know if and how punk lives in those countries. But it's the same thing as for fanzines, people seem to be no more interested in this stuff. Things like making a record and so were in those days less obvious. Now for some things the scene has become a little more professional, we don't have to worry anymore if there's a drum available or if we will have to spend the night in a garage while it's freezing outside, all we have to worry about is the question "is there going to be an audience". Young bands sound more professional too than it used to be. One thing didn't change, you still have a kind of conflict situation between punx and skinheads, some things do never change.

Well, that's something a lot of people ask us. We don't understand ourselves why other bands split up after a couple of years. In fact we find it abnormal that so many bands (and good bands, let's say it) split up, while everyone else finds it abnormal we keep on playing. Our idea was to form a band, and that's just what we're doing. Anyway, why didn't we join the legion of splitted bands ? One of the main reasons, maybe the most important one, is that we are a bunch of friends. We don't know how in other bands members are related to each other but if they are not so close and things get bad for a while (no gigs, a band member who acts as an asshole) they simply split up. Another reason is that we all love music, all kinds of music, we love to listen to it over a couple of beers, and above all we love to play it, to create it, so why should we stop. There's always a reason for the next rehearsal, there are always new songs to practise, and if there weren't, even drinkin' beer would be a reason for the next rehearsal. A third reason is that we always make a lot of fun when we're together, we love each other's company, to quote a recent article in a newspaper: on the road to the gig they have a party, during a gig they have a party, and after a gig they have a party again.

Well, fuckin' hell, we find this strange too. For the sake of clearness: it's not our fault, we play wherever we're asked to play. We mean, there are worser bands than us who maybe get more chances to play a gig. It's a fact we don't visit ourselves gigs very often anymore (we all have some kind of a family) and that remains the best place to make contacts, in particular with promotors. People are inclined to forget you when they don't see your face anymore (and what a face !). We are a band that plays also outside the punkscene on occasion and there it's even harder to get a gig because there are so many bands who all want to play once in a while. It's a question of supply and demand and when you get out of the picture for a while it's difficult to get back in, even in the punkscene where things like that shouldn't count. That all brings along that the audience and organisers aren't familiar with our new songs, sometimes there's not a lot of ambiance, and maybe some people think, ok, THE DIRTY SCUMS have had it. It's a bit of a fuckin' vicious circle, but one thing is for sure, we ain't finished yet, it's just a matter of getting back in the circuit again and hopefully our new CD will do the trick. In order to answer your question completely: we played several times in Holland, two times in Germany and a single gig in Switzerland.

The Flyin' Bierbakken split up years ago. Pik Junior retired and grows potatoes now, listening to the blues, the other members are still active in different local bands (no punk bands however). There are some interesting new bands like Game Over and Nagasaki Nightmare who play punkrock and are talented. Both bands played on our 15th Anniversary Gig and received good critix. All bandmembers are very young, so the spirit (the white one) is kept alive, but as we already mentioned, it's hard to get a gig for them as well. Furthermore, we all like Funeral Dress (it's amazing how many gigs they have), Bad Preachers, ...

Our favourite punkbands are Stiff Little Fingers, Ramones, Clash, Sham 69, Sex Pistols, ..., the more "classic" punkbands, but in fact we listen to a large variety of music and bands as long as it's good, that's the only norm. To give you an idea: sometimes we wake up all lying on the ground next to several empty bottles beer and home-made liquor (except Pik, we sometimes have to wake him up while he's sitting on the toilet trying to remember what he's doing there) while something from Sweet, Led Zeppelin, Slade, Herman Brood, Black Sabbath, ... is playin' on the stereo. Which bands did influence us ? We suppose there's no band in particular that influenced us, but it's natural that you're influenced by all the things that you hear and see.

Skijt-punk ??

As already mentioned, nowadays we visit less (punk)gigs in Belgium as we used to do. It's rare that we visit gigs outside Belgium. We travelled four or five years ago to France to see Stiff Little Fingers and Eddie and the Hot Rods. In Holland we played with the Toy Dolls. It's difficult to tell what live-act was the best ever but that one in France definitely came close, others were Ramones, Iggy Pop, UK Subs, 999, Exploited, ...

Actually the new CD contains two albums: "The Pils Sessions" holds thirteen new songs (although they were written and recorded a couple of years ago), "Setting new Standards to Stupidity" is a compilation of twelve songs tracked from our previous albums and singles. The release was more than four years after the first recordings, because of our financial state. It's a pity we couldn't bring it out earlier, shit happens you know. It's punkrock and "The Pils Sessions" refers to the famous "Peel Sessions" and "Setting new Standards to Stupidity" refers to ourselves. What else is there more to say except buy it !

It's indeed a hard work to keep Dirty Records running. For what concerns the label there's a lot of administration to do, and there's need of money. Dirty Records is a subdivision of our organization V.Z.W. The Dirty Scums, and therefore there's again a lot of administration to do. And all that paperwork is a kind of useless, because it's in fact just a matter of being in accordance with the law. Then when a record comes out, you have to make publicity, you continuously have to look for people and organisations with whom you can trade records and so. You have to do a follow-up from people who aren't paying immediately. A lot of work goes also into packaging the stuff, and looking for the cheapest price to send everything. We have tried to release our things in the beginning with Punk Etc., who weren't interested. We tried with Play It Again Sam who weren't interested either. We tried with Hageland Records who whould do the distribution, but as you maybe know he fucked up a lot of bands including us. During the years we tried some other companies, all in vain. For the new CD we even contacted Virgin Records, E.M.I., again Play It Again Sam, and Rough Trade. There's really no-one who sees what great artists we are ! So we now visit again personally a lot of record stores to ask if they wanna sell our CD. This is again a lot of work, and a lot of follow-up. This all comes above the normal work that comes along when you're playing in a band: writing songs, rehearsing, buying beer, looking for gigs, making publicity, drinking with the lads, ...

Pik and Jenz write the lyrix. We always had funny lyrix as well as more serious lyrix. Nowadays the funny lyrix are dominating, you know, those about beer and girls. We now have also more lyrix about personal feelings than before. We always try to avoid to write too much in slogans, which isn't that easy. That's maybe the reason why there are now less lyrix about politics for instance.

As already mentioned we knew very well the fanzine-world, we now believe there are less fanzines, or is it just an impression ? Anyway, we don't read many fanzines for the moment although we're always looking out for the next issue of Tilt!.

We will try to sell our new album, play as many gigs as we can get (a lot we hope), try to write the best songs we ever made, rehearse, record and release them and stay together for at least another fifteen years.

Buy our new CD, ask us for a gig and we will be most delighted to come over and consume all your beer and even more.