Durty Skum

There’s an interview with the editor of this zine, Kim DS, on these pages. Kim, from the coastal town De Panne, was very productive (24 issues in 4-5 years). Things got off around 1985 and there’s also mention of #26 (’89) on ‘The Dirty Scums’ website…

In my opinion Durty Skum resembled the zines from the early days of punk quite a bit. As I reviewed it; a “wild lay-out” (even though she went to graphic school in Mariakerke, Ghent). Bands and socio/political items were quite evenly balanced. Also a lot of letters from readers, reviews, addies, and some news-bits. Each issue some 20 pages. Later on I got a bit bored with it ’cause Kim seemed to “stubbornly go on in her same old way”. Perhaps I was to critical towards bands’ attitudes and she was more a ‘fan’…?

She also helped organise concerts and put out compilation-tapes with (her “good friend”) Carl Levecke & Franky ‘Vos’ Kimpe.

Franky ‘Vos’ Kimpe & Carl Levecke

Some contents of the issues I have… #7 (’85) (put online by Michael K.): interviews with the bands ‘Basque Country’, ‘Gepøpel‘ & ‘Wij Klutsers’ (Kortrijk, Bel); the story of the ‘Sex Pistols’, info on civil service, letters, reviews and more.

#12 (part of the Punk Etc. collection): interview with ‘Waf’ (Aalst, Bel), ‘C.C.M.’, report on the death of (Amsterdam sqautter) Hans Kok, Smurfpunx concert review, info on militarism.

#14: ‘Afflict’ (NL) presentation, short interview with ‘Pigs in Blue Glue’ (Bel), info on Nicaragua, Chantal Patrenostre, opinion on racism.

#16: chat with ‘Swampsurfers’ (NL), ‘Wretched’ interview, squatting in East-Berlin, info on drugs.

#18: interviews with ‘Disgorge’ (Bel), ‘E.A.T.E.R.’, ‘Scratch Acid’ & ‘G.B.H.’, civil service in Belgium, gays in nazi concentration-camps.

#19: talks with ‘Kalashnikov’ (Den), ‘Chaos UK’, ‘Concrete Sox’, & ‘Disgorge’ (Bel), the death-penalty and a report on “chaos at the Marbel“.

#21: interview with the director of Sid & Nany (Alex Cox), ‘Capitol Punishment’, ‘So Much Hate’, concert-organiser psychobilly Koen Verriest & ‘M.D.C.’; graffiti.

#22: conversations with ‘UK Subs’, ‘Ear Damage’ & ‘Attila The Stockbroker’; punk in Yugoslavia; presentations of ‘Hate Crew’ & ‘Instigators’, “What with punk?”, message from Japan.

#24: brief chat with ‘Oi Polloi’, ‘Scraps’, ‘Seattle’ (Bel) & ‘Bad Influence (Bel), more graffiti, presentation of ‘Deadly Serious’ (Belgian rapcore), scenereports from Winterswijk (NL) & South-Africa (plus interview with ‘Brain Slaughter’).

#26 (Carl & Kim, Brugge): >>Punk zine in Dutch with an English translation for those who’re not very cosmopolitan. Interviews: ‘Thrilled Skinny’, ‘Negazione’ & ‘Vortex’. Talk with someone from Shell about claims that the company is mistreating South-Africa. […]<< On the cover there’s alos mention of ‘Lethal Gospel’, ‘Subterranean Kids’, ‘Bad Attitude’ & ‘Extrem’.

Nowadays Kim’s “happily married” and lives near Brussels where she runs a casting-agency.

Brob

I studied photography and lay-out but refused to put everything straight or work according lines and in boxes. There always had to be a torn corner: it became my ‘hallmark’ at school.

From the second year onwards there were a few permanent contributers: Corinne [D’hulster] (runs bar/restaurant de Peerdevisscher), Wim, Arne, Eddy, Geert & ‘Lolly’ (Christophe Van Rompaey; film-director and producer of Anargist ciders).

My last publication was in 1989 after I got a full-time job at the Nederlands Toneel Gent (N.T.G.) as an assistant-director…

Some content of the unmentioned issues… (These are mostly unreadable because they were rescued from a fire.) #1: ‘The Dirty Scums’ interview, the emergence of punk, vandalism, punks & fake punks. #2; ‘Capital Scum’ interview, split of the band ‘A.I.D.S.’ (Bel), what is anarchy?, is punk dead or ill?. #3: ‘Zyklome-A’ interview, what is antifascism?, why is torture still happening?. #4: interviews with ‘Iconoclasts’, ‘Foggs’ & ‘Eyesøres’, self-destruction in young people, military service, report on the peace-demonstration in Brussels. #5  (cover by Larrie): interviews with ‘Brutal Society’,  ‘X-Creta’ &  ‘Wulpse Varkens’, nuclear weapons in Belgium. #6  (cover by Pat): interviews with ‘De Boegies’, ‘Indirekt’ & ‘Deadlock’, police-violence in Flanders. #8 (Sep. ’85): interviews with ‘Lärm’, ‘Pubis in Extremis’ & ‘Frites Modern’, the story of the ‘Sex Pistols’ part 2. #9: nterviews with ‘The Dirty Scums’ & ‘Attic 22′, punk in resistance, Nicaragua, multinationals. #10 (Nov. ’86; was confiscated by the police: on the cover I used a crossed-out Delhaize-lion – because I couldn’t find a Flemish lion with the caption Destroy Them All! I got arrested by the gendarmerie and questioned – as a minor – for two days. They thought I had links with the Bende Van Nijvel because I was close with three punks with a criminal record from there. They let me go for lack of evidence.): report on fascism in Belgium. #11: interviews with ‘Katastroff, ‘The Oigasm’ & A.L.F. #13 (Apr. ’86): interviews with ‘No Debt’ & ‘Sponky Business’. #15 (Jun. ’86): interviews with ‘Deviant Gedrag’ & ‘No Numbers’. #17 (Oct ’86): interviews with ‘Kina’, ‘Diskotz’ & ‘Instigators’, total-refusers in South-Africa, the Berlin Wall. #20 (Dec. ’86): interviews with ‘D.R.I.’ (longest ever) & ‘Upset Noise’, ‘Full Time Drinkers’, conversations from the margins of society, 2 days on the road with ‘D.R.I.’. #23 (4 more pages because of a cheaper printer and higher printrun): interviews with ‘Exploited’, ‘Mad Noise’, ‘Black Flag’ & ‘H.D.Q.’, surfpunks from L.A., what about punk now?. #24 was the very first issue in English (because we got increasingly more subscribers from the U.S., U.K., Japan, South-Africa, etc.). #25: interviews with ‘Funeral Dress’, ‘R.O. Conspiracy’, ‘Comrade’ & ‘Plaid Retina’, scenereports from Australia & Austria, gypsies in Belgium, animal-welfare. #27: ‘The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ in Switzerland.

Kim

I just did a bit of typing but the zine was Kim’s thing completely: all ideas and texts were hers.

Corinne

Kim interviewed ‘Disgorge‘ (a band from her hometown) late ’86 for #19, when they still had their original singer…

[Translation below]

‘Disgorge’ is a new band from De Panne that follows in the footsteps of ‘Attic 22’ (dead and gone), but they play things a little faster. When I found an opportunity to visit ‘my house by the sea’ in De Panne during the Christmas holidays, I also had the chance to sit around a tape-recorder with the members of ‘Disgorge’, unfortunately David [Szostak], the singer wasn’t present: he had something more fun to do (ski-holiday).

Kim: Why did you start a band?

‘Disgorge’: That was mainly out of boredom and I (Jean-Luc) had played in another band but that wasn’t very attractive. We also do it because we like hardcore.

Kim: How did you get to know each other?

‘Disgorge’: We met each other at Polderrock [yearly rockfestival in Oudenburg, near Ostend]; then we started a band consisting of 7 people but some of them couldn’t even play. We had 2 drummers and 2 bassists, but they were diehard fans ‘The Cure’, and eventually we just stopped paying attention to each other!

Kim: What line-up are you playing in now?

‘Disgorge’: Billy plays bass, Tommy bangs the drums, David sings and Jean-Luc plays the guitar.

Kim: What’s the meaning behind the name ‘Disgorge’?

David: The name means “belch, vomit” because anything we don’t like, makes us vomit!

Kim: Are you experiencing any changes in the coastal punk-scene?

‘Disgorge’: There isn’t actually a real punk-scene in the coast-region; we know very little about it, there are almost never any concerts. Well, in Blankenberge there was one with ‘Zyklome-A’ [85-07-27] and ‘The Dirty Scums’ played in Beauvoorde [86-10-25]; but it seemed as if they were there against their liking. And then there were with ‘Attic 22’: all those gigs were great but it was always the same band, and that’s also partly why we started our own band.

Kim: Is there any collaboration among other bands from the region?

‘Disgorge’: All those bands – e.g. ‘Cold Turkey’, ‘Total Release’ – are all in a big quarrel, they can’t stand each other because of jealousy. We can’t stand ‘Total Release’ because they’re total bigots, they are whiners. They’re friendly to our faces but behind our backs they talk about ‘those dirty punks… hardcore, yeuch, it’s just noise’ and… yet they play practically the same genre!

Kim: When can we expect a to see you perform?

‘Disgorge’: That will probably be in February.

Kim: Are you guys planning on releasing anything?

‘Disgorge’: Yes, a tape with possibly another band or a compilation-tape, and we will also do stickers.

Kim: What are the lyrics about?

‘Disgorge’: Against the school, the system. Actually more against the teachers because they shouldn’t decide whether we should stand in line or not!

Kim: Then why do you go to school?

‘Disgorge’: Because we’re still required to attend school: we’re all between 15 and 17 years old. Furthermore, our lyrics deal with fascism, the ‘IJzerbedevaart’ [Flemish nationalist ‘pilgrimage’; in memory of fallen Flemish soldiers from World War I], against the army.

Kim: Are you musically influenced by other bands?

Jean-Luc: ‘D.R.I.’, ‘Bloedbad’, ‘Pandemonium’; the same goes for David; and I also like the ‘Bangles’ with Walk Like An Egyptian.

Tommy: ‘D.R.I.’ etc.

Billy: ‘A.O.A’, ‘Disorder’, ‘G.B.H.’, ‘Subhumans’, ‘Kaaos’ and Swedish punk.

Kim: What style do you play?

‘Disgorge’: Punk/hardcore but not ‘77 punk!

Kim: Do you have any political beliefs?

Jean-Luc: We’re not anarchists, because: what is left of anarchy? We’re also against fascists. Those are assholes. I’m also against religion; catholics and their associations such as the A.C.V. [christian-democrat union], etc. If I were to slit one’s throat, it would be from such a creep! We’re also against a catholic regime: e.g. C.V.P. [christian-democrat party]. E.g. here in De Panne the P.V.V. [liberal party] has the power, in Ghent it’s better: there it’s the socialists; although we are not socialists either.

Kim: What do you think of the Belgian punk-movement in general?

‘Disgorge’: If you’re deeply involved, it’s okay. E.g. we know you with Durty Skum and Billy also knows a girl who sings in a band! But the Belgian punk-scene isn’t unified, it’s concentrated: in Antwerp, Leuven, Mechelen, Limburg and Tielt also a bit. There’s always something going on there! We also think that many band have been popping up in recent years. Here on the coast we also experience that more people are starting to like to hear us instead of things like the ‘Virgin Prunes’. Well, that’s good music but we tell those people: “Here, listen to this tape, listen to this music!”.

Kim: You provoke the youth in De Panne to also listen to hardcore!

‘Disgorge’: We recommend them to listen to hardcore. Not that they necessarily have to but I want them to realize that there’s such a thing. It’s not a style of music that should be pushed in a corner and covered up.

Kim: What do you do in your free time?

‘Disgorge’: Sleep and everything related to sleep. Drinking beers, listening to music, rehearsing and we all still go to school.

Kim: Besides that, are you actively involved in other things?

‘Disgorge’: Tommy sometimes does typingwriting for Durty Skum.

Kim: Do you have any other plans for the band?

‘Disgorge’: To do as many gigs as possible, release a tape and stickers, and have as much fun as possible with ‘Disgorge’…