Back in 2001, I spoke with Rich from Dogshit Sandwich. They were a real force in the underground DIY punk circle. Rich played in the band, put on shows, ran a distro, wrote a zine and ran Punk Shit records. Here’s the interview from back then, as far as I know, the band split up in 2004. Last I heard Rich was singing in a band called The Tans (link at the bottom of this page). Here’s the interview…
Hi Rich, Thanks for agreeing to answer a few questions for us.
Hi, thank you for taking an interest in DSS
So, can ya give us a short history on Dogshit Sandwich?
DSS was formed March 99 by me, Neil, Sean and Chris, we have had loadsa different members, Neil left after 2 gigs to be replaced by Rocky who now plays in Oi band Contempt, Chris left too to join hardcore band Assert and Sean was sacked a few months back and is now in Sensa Yuma and Set Against, I think they are the only ex members to be in other bands at the moment, we have had two demo’s (Wormburp and Open Prison) and two 7’’ singles(GGYFC and Split 7’’ with Hippy War Generals from Australia) so far and done a short tour of Ireland.
What are the plans for the future?
We go to Norway for a weeks tour in August, we are touring with a brilliant Swedish band called Blisterhead, they sound like Out Come The Wolves era Rancid and are definetly worth checking out their website is www.listen.to/blisterhead when we get back we plan to do another recording, some songs we gotta do for compilations and I want to do another couple of split 7’’s and hopefully some more trips to Europe.
Which bands did you idolise as you grew up and why were you inspired to form a punk band?
I like far too many bands to go into, but the bands I listen to at the moment are very different to the bands that got me into punk, I got into punk through my older brothers who were into Sham 69, The Clash, Sex Pistols etc, the bands that made me wanna form a band would probably be The Exploited, GBH, Discharge etc at the moment I’m mad into bands like The Casualties/Runnin Riot/Antidote etc, I’ve loved punk for about 20 years now and always wanted to be in a band. Which would you say have been the best bands that you’ve played with? Police Bastard/Contempt/GBH/Bus Station Loonies/PMT/Sick On The Bus/The Casualties/Oi Polloi Is there anyone you would love to play with past or present? Past – Toxic Waste/Discharge/The Clash/The Ruts/The Pogues Present – Antidote/Runnin Riot/The Steam Pig/Blood Or Whiskey
How strong do you feel the punk scene is in the UK and your local area?
There are plenty of bands but people don’t support the scene, I put free gigs on at a pub in Birmingham on a Saturday night and only a certain amount of people support it, it seems to be the same faces week in week out, too many people claim to be 100% punk but the truth is they are more into it for image and just to stand out which is sad. Are there many decent bands around Birmingham?
Who should we be looking out for?
Brum bands to look out for are Sensa Yuma/Contempt/Eastfield/Police Bastard/Cracked Actors/Intention.
You also write your own fanzine “Punk Shit” why did you decide to start that and where can people get copies from?
I decided to do it to promote bands and try and help people out, I do 500 copies which are free so when they gone they gone, I don’t keep back issues, Im starting no 6 soon and it can be got free with sae by writing to 74 Bristnallhall Rd, Oldbury, West Mids, B68 9TU or email me for info rikmac76@supanet.com
Do you feel that the internet is a good thing or bad thing for punk music?
Absolutely Brilliant, without it it would have taken me and I’m sure most others who use it a lot years to build up the amount of worldwide contacts I got, it makes life so much easier in every respect.
Do you have an opinion on the whole Napster thing?
No cause I have never been on it.
Obviously, I discovered DSS thanks to the internet, are there any bands that have really impressed you over this medium?
Oh yeah, Hippy War Generals and The Blurters from Australia, Blisterhead from Sweden, Violent Subversion from USA, Runnin Riot and The Dangerfields from Belfast, Antidote from Holland, Steam Pig and Blood or Whiskey from Ireland and Greenland Whale Fishers from Norway.
Where can people contact DSS and order some of your releases? (FPM recommends that you all purchase at least a copy of the GGYFC 7” – a real damn classic)
Same address and email as mentioned in question about Punk Shit, at the moment there are very few copies of the GGYFC 7’’ left, for info on that email Ian weirdrecords@hotmail.com he has mentioned he may be repressing another 300 but not definite as to when. I released the split 7’’ with Hippy War Generals on Punk Shit Records, there are still plenty of them on sale £2.50 (p&p included) from the address above, 3 tracks a side and HWG are brilliant. Also coming soon is Punk Shit vol1 which is a 40 track compilation, hasn’t been pressed yet so more info on that asap.
Thanks for taking time out to answer.
Thank you very much for the questions, I really appreciate the help.
Interview originally appeared in FPM Zine back in 2001.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.Comments are closed.
© Lights Go Out – A punk fanzine from the UK. All rights reserved. RSS Feed | Best viewed in Mozilla Firefox
site by ledbyexample | admin