Indebted to Sean for the lend of this tape…Sean ex All The Madmen Records, 69 Tapes mogul, Wat Tyler vocalist, then drummer / vocalist. Hard Skin vocalist (with members of Thatcher On Acid), Rugger Bugger Records supremo, and now putting out some good stuff on his Demo Tapes label. Releases include Touch Of Hysteria, The Mental, Solvent Abuse so far, all on limited vinyl. More in the pipeline including Blyth Power ‘A Little Touch Of Harry’ on vinyl.
Any info please contact Sean at PO Box 357, London, SE19 1AD.
Sean is such a lovely guy, who helps people all the time, so please give him a smile if you pass through one of the Rough Trade shops W11 and E1 (yes E1). He is still active in those shops (he will not be at both the shops at the same time though…he is a big bloke but not THAT big!).
Anyway here goes, first a band featuring Dig from (later on) Earache Records, who made his first label success with bands like Heresy and Napalm Death, with his noise band The Scum Dribblers. Not for sensitive ears this one…
Second up is The Passion Killers, a band that spawned Chumbawumba a little later on in the mid 1980’s. I must admit I had to do things around the house, so I left this cassette running. I did not expect the Scum Dribblers to be quite so short! So instead of two separate posts you have chalk and cheese with both these bands following on in the download…sorry’ ’bout that!
See what I mean about the Scum Dribblers set being actually quite short!
Heres some text about the history of Scum Dribblers courtesty of Huggis from the band:
Scum Dribblers was formed in the summer of 1983 on Pleasley Hill, Mansfield (Adie Gills bedroom, actually, tho I can’t remember the house number).
The band was: Adie Gill, myself and Phillip “Pip” Edge. I had 2 guitars – a cheap 1st guitar and my then new VOX Standard 24. I swapped the cheap guitar with Adie for some old punk t-shirts (DKs, Sex Pistols).
Pip was living rough at the time and was sleeping over the road in the bicycle shed of the defunct Pleasley Hill School with just an electric guitar for company (Memory: Pip had a pair of leather trousers hed made from an old coat hed found but the crotch went nearly to his knees. He slept in and wore an old sheepskin-type coat the likes of which I’d never seen and have never seen since!
Lucky for us I had an amp with 2 inputs (a huge dirty orange combo (no makers name). It had 2 huge 14″ speakers in it and it took the 3 of us to carry even 1 yard. We organised a proper jam session in a small room in the school that was being rented by 1 of Adies mates brothers as a workshop or something. We were joined by a youth (cant remember his name Im afraid) who lived on Abbots Croft just up the road from me. I think he was expecting us to start playing like Deep Purple or something…bit of a shock for the poor lad (he was older than me actually). I was crap BUT FAST, Pip wasnt much better BUT FAST and the amp was LLLLOOOOOOUUUUUDDDDD!
Adie by this time had decided to stick to “vocals??” (good job I had a microphone then-innit?) (I remember some lyrics about avoiding dog shit in the park when its dark). Sometime after (days or weeks, but probably days) Adie announced that his mate (who I presume is this Dig fella) had scored us a gig in Nottingham supporting The Sub Humans. Jeez, a couple hours jammin thrash and no actual songs AND WERE PLAYING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE NEXT WEEK.
Well, some may say that that is or was or was partly the epitome of the whole punk culture but it was a bit scary too. The nite of the gig is indelibly etched upon my brain albeit 25 years ago (almost to the week!!). It was late September and hot – blue sky, little fluffy clouds, etc. I caught the 63 to Nottingham in the evening. I was wearing dockos, ripped black stretch jeans, Dks t-shirt (gun to the head of statue of liberty), leather jacket with Crass emblem painted on the back, me dogs collar and name tag, mirrored sunglasses. The hair as always spiked with soap. Pip was late and I had to go without him (I was getting really nervous by this time cos I thought I was on me own). However, my being lost in Nottingham gave Pip a chance to catch up. My mam drove him trying to catch up the bus but ended up taking him all the way to Nottingham (good old Mam). We met up in the square in the middle of Nottingham.
The venue was the Ad Lib Club (that later became The Garage) but we didn’t know where it was. We saw small groups of punks walking around heading in a general direction so we followed them and hey presto arrived. We wandered in and Adie was already there with Tim Cairns. All the punks in Mansfield had planned to see Sub Humans in Sheffield but a small group came to Nottingham just to give us support – Shirley Cotterhill, Dave “Slob” Dukes and Tim Cairns. It was Tim who coined the name Scum Dribblers rejecting my idea of Mutant Veg (fine by me).
Before I forget… the Ethos of the band was simple – to be the WORST, MOST CRAPPEST, but FASTEST and NOISIEST absolute CLIFF OF WHITE NOISE band EVER (with the WORST NAME too!!!). Pip and I stashed our guitars and went outside to get stoned. Up to this point none of us had given any thought to the fact that we had no drummer!!!!! Sitting outside was another familiar face from Mansfield – Pommi, Riot Squads most excellent drummer. Pip and I took a managerial decision (ah ah) and said we would get him in for free if hed drum for us, “Find me some sticks” he said jumping up. I was feeling a whole lot better n better. The gig had 6 bands and we were first up. Pip walked to the far end of the stage and plugged into the guitar amp. He had loads of trouble with 1 of his effects pedals and it kept cutting out. I had to plug my Boss DS1 into the bass amp but that and the Super Distortion pickups on my guitar gave only feedback so I had to dispense with the DS1. Pommi squeezed in behind the drums and got ready. Pip was sorted and Adie was looking back wondering when we were going to start. I had positioned myself behind a large square pillar at the front of the stage because my nerves had returned. My hands were ringing wet – and I couldnt move my hand on the fretboard!!! A guy from another band tapped me on the arm and handed me a bottle of talc which cured the problem. I played fast thrash non-stop for 20 minutes, Pip played a fast lead riff non-stop for 20 minutes, Adie jumped about, fell on the floor, gyrating n such and making up lyrics on the spot Im sure, Pommi had to keep stopping cos hed never had to play so fast before and was knackered. It was a complete anarchic experience – no plan, each of us just went nuts and played what we wanted fast n loud. My nerves were gone after a few minutes and I came out from behind the pillar and had good look at the crowd.
Absolute calm had come over the crowd. 100+ folks standing around with their arms folded and grim looks on their faces – what were they expecting fucking DEEP PURPLE????????????????? After 20 minutes someone made us stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By that time I’d noticed 2 or 3 people tapping their feet. The “performance” was supposed to have been taped by the soundman (who might have been that Dig fella? not sure) but he thought it was the sound check!!! Then some other bands played and we went home. Due to artistic, lifestyle and personal differences Pip and I never played again with Adie and Pommi carried on as normal with Riot Squad.
As far as I am concerned Scum Dribblers was an EVENT that took place. A complete 1-off EVENT that was seminal in all our individual lives that can now (sadly) never be repeated. Our mates Shirl and Dave have always maintained that the show was really really good and they are honest folks. Pommi always remembers the gig with a big grin. Pip and I see each other twice a week or so – guitars being present (still having problems with them effing pedals).
I lost touch with Adie and Tim and never saw the other Scum Dribblers play. I thought at the time that they should have renamed the band but then no-one would have remembered the Scum Dribblers.
I hope that reading this ramble down memory lane has entertained you as much as it has entertained me to remember it and write it down.
Facts:
FIRST GIG – Ad Lib Club, Nottingham, late September 1983
ORIGINAL FOUNDER MEMBERS – Adie Gill, John “Huggis” Hughes, Phillip “Pip” Edge, Pommi
fred(drummer for the scum dribblers)
September 2, 2008 at 6:24 pmI play a total of 65 gigs with the scum dribblers out of a total of 85 only tim played them all dig played about 2 to 3 times as there were 3 main band members tim,ade and fred
Jay Vee
September 2, 2008 at 6:27 pmHello Fred…were you living in Barnsley during 1985? I remember Tim and Ade mentioned the original drummer except for Dig (if that was Dig’s role in SD / Genocide Association) lived in Barnsley, couldn’t remember the name.
Nic
September 2, 2008 at 7:42 pmNice one, Fred…
I saw you play quite a few times in 1983 and 1984, and then again in 1986: always loved it…
Total Thrash Doss at 100% intensity – definitely not for Weakeners…
(Tim turned me on to the almighty United Mutation: very grateful for that)…
You need to archive the Skum D’s history before it vanishes into the mists of time…
fred(drummer for the scum dribblers)
September 2, 2008 at 7:54 pmyes and still living here it was a shock to hear about ade great bloke the thing about the disabled girl is put in the wrong context they were good friends he just wanted to make poeple laugh and wouldn’t hurt a fly
Jay Vee
September 2, 2008 at 7:54 pmThere was a video recording of Scum Dribblers at the Mansfield Gala in 1985
-(Tim on vocals and his excellent home-made Fender copy guitar and funny cobbed together effects pedals, Ade on drums, and me on bass)
-it was filmed by someone that worked at The Westfield Folkhouse during my time there, it would be great to see that on Ian Glasper’s DVD for UKHC 1985 onwards, and a rare archive indeed.
I agree whole-heartedly with you about Ade, Fred…I did mention in a reply on this post a few days ago that Ade wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Do you remember his brother, Gilbert? We had some good laffs with him at the flat.
fred(drummer for the scum dribblers)
September 2, 2008 at 7:58 pmi wouldn’t mind seeing it
Thomp
September 3, 2008 at 12:32 amI saw the video at that Mansfield Youth Club thingy back in the day. Was weird to see SD playing on what seemed like a huge fucking arena! Stuck in my mind cos of that if nowt else. Yes SD can’t be consigned to the dustbin of history, cos they were a lot of fun and makes me smile, which is what it was all about eh? I remember Fred on Drums, Aide on vocals, Tim on guitar, original bassist I can’t recall, had blonde hair, Jayvee replaced him, but never got to see that line up.
Jay Vee
September 3, 2008 at 12:57 pmJane was a bass player in SD’s before me, a lass with natural red hair, Tim was very fond of her, she only quit because of University commitments and remained a great friend of Tim’s, she gave me a tape of the beautiful L.P. of Danbert Nobacon that had just been released at that time, ‘Unfairy Tales’ and we had a SD day out to Sherwood Forest that I remember…anyway, I won’t say anymore cos Ian G. has my story to publish in his book, if it doesn’t get put in the book or DVD of his next book, I’ll tell Nic more if he’s still interested.
The bass player with blonde hair Thomp mentioned could have been Richard? He spent a lot of time at Ade’s flat….
Another bit of SD trivia for ya’s though, Tim also had another project he made tapes of, calling the band ‘Skreechy Skroochers’, Fred may remember…?
Thomp
September 5, 2008 at 1:34 amHmmm Richard, not sure, just remember him impersonating a telephone at a gig in Northampton. Infact I remember everything but the girl, oh dear… Anyhow I understand that Mr Glasper has been in touch with Tim, which is good, hopefully Fred will get input too.
fred (drummer SD)
September 5, 2008 at 9:58 amtim did something with a mate from milton keynes cant remember exactly what, jane did play bass for SD so did richard so did my brother once in mansfield me and jane was a couple until she went to uni she still had a thing for tim met up with ade about 10 years ago but havent seen tim since 1985, would like to
Jay Vee
September 9, 2008 at 10:31 amI haven’t seen Tim since 1985 either, we’ll have to have a re-union Fred, get a gig somewhere as a tribute to Ade.
I met you once Fred, but doubt if you’ll remember me – Milton Keynes isn’t far from Wellingborough, think Tim always told people I was from Milton Keynes cos they were more likely to know where Milton Keynes was rather than Wellingborough 😉
I can still imagine Tim walking around wearing shorts in all weathers…bless him, sounds like he’s got the ideal job for himself now with the training people mountaineering thing, he’s the outdoor type, and wish him all the best anyway if never see him again sniff sniff…
Boz
September 18, 2008 at 3:10 pmAnybody know how/where to get a copy of the Violent Uprising demo tape on vinyl which Nic mentions? (They were a v.fast and loud Preston band)
Penguin • Post Author •
September 18, 2008 at 5:35 pmWrite (yeah I know) to the P:O BOX written in the post. Sean will deal with you directly at that address Boz.
Boz
September 18, 2008 at 10:43 pmPenguin – thanks, I’ll follow that one up. Cheers Boz
John "Huggis" Hughes
October 6, 2008 at 11:21 pmI thought I would write to clarify some points that may be important to anyone interested in Scum Dribblers EARLIEST history. I googled SD and was very surprised indeed to find any reference at all and followed a short trail to this site.
Scum Dribblers was formed in the summer of 1983 on Pleasley Hill, Mansfield (Adie Gills bedroom, actually, tho I can’t remember the house number). The band was: Adie Gill, myself and Phillip “Pip” Edge. I had 2 guitars – a cheap 1st guitar and my then new VOX Standard 24. I swapped the cheap guitar with Adie for some old punk t-shirts (DKs, Sex Pistols). Pip was living rough at the time and was sleeping over the road in the bicycle shed of the defunct Pleasley Hill School with just an electric guitar for company (Memory: Pip had a pair of leather trousers hed made from an old coat hed found but the crotch went nearly to his knees. He slept in and wore an old sheepskin-type coat the likes of which Id never seen and have never seen since! 🙂 ) Lucky for us I had an amp with 2 inputs (a huge dirty orange combo (no makers name). It had 2 huge 14″ speakers in it and it took the 3 of us to carry even 1 yard. We organised a proper jam session in a small room in the school that was being rented by 1 of Adies mates brothers as a workshop or something. We were joined by a youth (cant remember his name Im afraid) who lived on Abbots Croft just up the road from me. I think he was expecting us to start playing like Deep Purple or something…bit of a shock for the poor lad (he was older than me actually). I was crap BUT FAST, Pip wasnt much better BUT FAST and the amp was LLLLOOOOOOUUUUUDDDDD 🙂 Adie by this time had decided to stick to “vocals??” (good job I had a microphone then-innit?) (I remember some lyrics about avoiding dog shit in the park when its dark). Sometime after (days or weeks, but probably days) Adie announced that his mate (who I presume is this Dig fella) had scored us a gig in Nottingham supporting The Sub Humans. Jeez, a couple hours jammin thrash and no actual songs AND WERE PLAYING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE NEXT WEEK. Well, some may say that that is or was or was partly the epitome of the whole punk culture but it was a bit scary too. The nite of the gig is indelibly etched upon my brain albeit 25 years ago (almost to the week!!). It was late September and hot – blue sky, little fluffy clouds, etc. I cought the 63 to Nottingham in the evening. I was wearing dockos, ripped black stretch jeans, Dks t-shirt (gun to the head of statue of liberty), leather jacket with Crass emblem painted on the back, me dogs collar and name tag, mirrored sunglasses. The hair as always spiked with soap. Pip was late and I had to go without him (I was getting really nervous by this time cos I thought I was on me own). However, my being lost in Nottingham gave Pip a chance to catch up. My mam drove him trying to catch up the bus but ended up taking him all the way to Nottingham (good old Mam). We met up in the square in the middle of Nottingham. The venue was the Ad Lib Club (that later became The Garage) but we didn’t know where it was. We saw small groups of punks walking around heading in a general direction so we followed them and hey presto arrived. We wandered in and Adie was already there with Tim Cairns. All the punks in Mansfield had planned to see sub Humans in Sheffield but a small group came to Nottingham just to give us support – Shirley Cotterhill, Dave “Slob” Dukes and Tim Cairns. It was Tim who coined the name Scum Dribblers rejecting my idea of Mutant Veg (fine by me). Before I forget… the Ethos of the band was simple – to be the WORST, MOST CRAPPEST, but FASTEST and NOISIEST absolute CLIFF OF WHITE NOISE band EVER (with the WORST NAME too!!!). Pip and I stashed our guitars and went outside to get stoned. Up to this point none of us had given any thought to the fact that we had no drummer!!!!! Sitting outside was another familiar face from Mansfield – Pommi, Riot Squads most excellent drummer. Pip and I took a managerial decision (ah ah) and said wed get him in for free if hed drum for us, “Find me some sticks” he said jumping up. I was feeling a whole lot better n better. The gig had 6 bands and we were first up. Pip walked to the far end of the stage and plugged into the guitar amp. He had loads of trouble with 1 of his effects pedals and it kept cutting out. I had to plug my Boss DS1 into the bass amp but that and the Super Distortion pickups on my guitar gave only feedback so I had to dispense with the DS1. Pommi squeezed in behind the drums and got ready. Pip was sorted and Adie was looking back wondering when we were going to start. I had positioned myself behind a large square pillar at the front of the stage because my nerves had returned. My hands were ringing wet – and I couldnt move my hand on the fretboard!!! A guy from another band tapped me on the arm and handed me a bottle of talc which cured the problem. I played fast thrash non-stop for 20 minutes, Pip played a fast lead riff non-stop for 20 minutes, Adie jumped about, fell on the floor, gyrating n such and making up lyrics on the spot Im sure, Pommi had to keep stopping cos hed never had to play so fast before and was knackered. It was a complete anarchic experience – no plan, each of us just went nuts and played what we wanted fast n loud. My nerves were gone after a few minutes and I came out from behind the pillar and had good look at the crowd. Absolute calm had come over the crowd. 100+ folks standing around with their arms folded and grim looks on their faces – what were they expecting fucking DEEP PURPLE????????????????? After 20 minutes someone made us stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By that time Id noticed 2 or 3 people tapping their feet. The “performance” was supposed to have been taped by the soundman (who might have been that Dig fella? not sure) but he thought it was the sound check!!! Then some other bands played and we went home. Due to artistic, lifestyle and personal differences Pip and I never played again with Adie and Pommi carried on as normal with Riot Squad. As far as I am concerned Scum Dribblers was an EVENT that took place. A complete 1-off EVENT that was seminal in all our individual lives that can now (sadly) never be repeated. Our mates Shirl and Dave have always maintained that the show was really really good and they are honest folks. Pommi always remembers the gig with a big grin. Pip and I see each other twice a week or so – guitars being present (still having problems with them effing pedals) 🙂 I lost touch with Adie and Tim and never saw the other Scum Dribblers play. I thought at the time that they should have renamed the band but then no-one would have remembered the Scum Dribblers.
I hope that reading this ramble down memory lane has entertained you as much as it has entertained me to remember it and write it down.
Facts:
FIRST GIG – Ad Lib Club, Nottingham, late September 1983
ORIGINAL FOUNDER MEMBERS – Adie Gill, John “Huggis” Hughes, Phillip “Pip” Edge, Pommi
Penguin • Post Author •
October 7, 2008 at 1:06 amClass bit of text – will lob it in the post.
Nic
October 7, 2008 at 9:27 amI went to that gig at the Ad-Lib (Subhumans, Faction, etc) in September 1983: I didn’t realise it was the first Skum D’s concert…
John "Huggis" Hughes
October 10, 2008 at 8:32 pmHi again,
Many thanx Penguin for your kind word 🙂
Nic, yes you were one of the lucky few who were there and remembered it. That’s as good as being in the band after all these years 🙂
In case anyone’s wondering we split because of these reasons:
1: Adie was a free spirit with no responsibilities and could go anywhere at the drop of a hat. Pip and I couldn’t do that because: I had a job during the week and had window cleaning rounds on the weekends, Pip was living rough and finding food was his main priority.
2: Pommi was already encumbent in a successful band.
3: Pip and I wanted to imrove our playing while Adie said that we were too good and wanted us to get worse (!?!?!)
Then again, maybe there were no reasons, only excuses. We should have continued at any cost just for hell of it. I suppose that at the time none of us could grasp the concept that one day we would be middle aged folks looking back into a past that stretches back further than our ages were at the time (if that makes sense?).
Cheers, Huggis
Jay Vee
October 13, 2008 at 1:55 amThanks for your input Huggis, it’s kinda breath-takin’…didn’t know the history extended beyond Tim Cairns and Digby, I played bass in SD’s during July – October 1985 and was always led to believe that Tim Cairns was the ‘architect’ of the experience that was Skum Dribbzzz…
It has etched a memory that I’ll never forget, and kind of proud of in a way… the bass player of Sick 0n The Bus ~ Brian has told me for over 20 years that Skum Dribbzzz were his fave band of all time, and recently urged a reform, but I always felt Tim Cairns would be the rightful endorser of that, up until now…ready for a re-union whenever you are Captain 😉
John "Huggis" Hughes
November 18, 2008 at 8:41 pmHi again, sorry its taken so long to reply. Great to hear from another “vet” ah ah. A reunion is quite an idea but Im not sure I could hack It that bad anymore, but you never know… 🙂 Might be interesting to find out who else might be interested though. Cant say as I havent had a couple of ideas. As far as I know I’ve probably never met any other band members so Pip and I would definately be up for a drink sometime.
Huggis
I got that kinda pride too
tim cairns
January 16, 2010 at 6:01 pmI never look at the web as I’m not online but just looked up Ian Glasper and found this.
I was Quite surprised with some of the comments about Ade as it just shows none of the people commenting about his snog at Portland knew him. If he found it funny it was because he never pulled or rarely. They did not know either that he had a sister with severe learning difficulties and as far as he was concerned the girl in question was just a nice person and a rejection in the circumstances would have been worse. It made her day instead. I knew Ade at the time and it was never discussed after the event. We were arseholes a lot of the time but just to each other or friends but who wasn’t in those days when punk rock was still about enjoying yourself. I still go to gigs regularly and find it crap that no one ever speaks cos I don’t look punk enough (Derby punx picnic,I went all 3 nights 2 years ago and not one spikey haired dude even acknowledged my existance except for taking money off me on the door).
If Fred from Barnsley reads this ask Dick from Subhumans for my no.
I won’t look for a reply to this comment so don’t bother sending one.
Kerr Ray Z. Fokker
January 30, 2010 at 11:08 pmWell, well, well….
A selection from the fat miserable bugger’s gargantuan music collection. Must be nearly quarter of century since I sat in a Solon Rd squat with the three Mikes nearby (I was briefly mates with the Level 42 playing Trotskyite one) and last listened to his tunes. *
How time flies!
* Actually the big man might have squatted Solon Rd under its 2nd or 3rd incarnation. (Beginning of Ganit and Huddersfield anarchy/aggro period). Who da fock knows or cares….?
John "Huggis" Hughes
February 11, 2017 at 9:10 pmAnother 9 years have passed – anyone still out there?
Dalb
July 31, 2017 at 5:49 pmRemember a great gig at Vale Social Club..
Dirge played I vaguely recall..
As for a date, who else played I don’t recall, but the Skumdribblurz set was a highlight ESPECIALLY the Aeroplane song..
I’ll give this show a go and see if it triggers anymore memories..
I think I put forgeting all down to Special Brew and APRICOT WINE..