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Gary Disease has been gigging for 13 years and his own band 2OOODS was getting together for the first time in six months. His life is one of mild but relentless disaffection. He is 38 but squatting and eviction is to him the natural, the only, way to live. He has also lived in a bus and as a traveller he has put in the hard miles. Like many a traveller he vanished into the maw of continental Europe, spending time in Amsterdam and, especially, Berlin, where he claims to have gigged incessantly on both sides of the Wall until they pulled it down in despair.

He came back to England for the eclipse and was appalled. "They were selling out an event that was sacred." he said. Gary Disease is a talker of the kind that tends to sprout in Welsh soil and that flourishes in exile. In another lifetime, he would have been a preacher on a more formal basis than now. Disease is aware that links must be drawn with the unrest in Seattle. The requirement to search for a different, better way of life is thumpingly obvious to him: it doesn't need discussion. His creed is music ("More powerful than any politician.") but music as a voice for the self-elected underclass.

If he has a moral stance, it is humanistic: a rebellion against mechanisation. He has a visceral objection to techno music, as put together by a DJ than real musicians. Real, live and living music is for him a central aspect of keeping the faith. He was marching towards the Great Wreck 'n' Roll Cirkus keeping his vows of disobedience and poverty intact. It is not, after all, an overly complicated matter at heart. His aim is to make the world a better place, that's all. He is not working on the script because the soundtrack is a big enough task. He is there to be part of it all, whatever it is that he's a part of. Disease is not the diagnosis, he is proud to be one of the symptoms.

Writer || Simon Barnes

MuzzleMouth Meets Bigmouth
I first became aware of S.C.R.A.P. Records from a flier in the Harvest Forestry squat advertising the LSDS God Save the Guillotine single. Then about a week or so later I bumped into Gary DS, the main bloke behind the label in the Brighton Resource Centre. Gary was quick to school me on what the label was putting out and gave me a big sample of the label's music to check out (doing a zine has its merits, heh heh).

The music is raw, creative, diverse and coming with messages much needed right now. From the Criminals of Evolution, 2OOODS to the recent SchNUSIC Compilation, there's a big foundation illustrating the roots, vibes and mentalities of all involved... The backbone of the label is coming primarily from punk/hardcore, squatter and traveller backgrounds and incorporating all kinds of reggae, dub, ska, world music, hip-hop, and sound system influences too... Word, Sound, Power, Unity.

When did it start and what motivated you start it off?
"SCRAP Recs was started by a friend of ours who moved to the States after hanging around in Squats in Camden with us and going to the gigs; he got connected in New York and got two singles out: Reality and Crowborough by 2OOODS: both made in Berlin and both went out in the States and unfortunately not many copies reached Europe. I suppose we motivated him with our squatty do-it-yourself style and he motivated us by putting out some vinyl. It's just crazy he had to go all the way to the States to do it. We helped put together a tour of the States and Canada... with us playing 25 gigs coast to coast and was a great lesson... on how to starve on the road. So the label collapsed over there so we brought it back to London."

Describe the artists, styles and mentalities of the music on the label.
"I am currently drumming for the Criminals of Evolution and the Dead Plants when they come around. I sing with 2OOODS, LSDS and DSG when they happen, each with a different style but we try to keep it upbeat when it's live. The Criminals of Evolution are cyberpunk, Dead Plants are Scottish skiffle, 2OOODS is hardcore. We are trying to create a tour organisation where bands get treated like humans rather than freaks who don't even get offered food for their effort."

"As it stands our label is open to all styles as long as they have a feel for the underground and are mainly prepared to support the underground by trying to play a few free gigs in squats and festies, etc and even tho there's no money at least there's a crowd and it goes on 'til sunrise rather than the ding-ding eleven o'clock 'All Out!' norm. So most of the bands, live sets, and DJs on the label know and understand when they the real deal through having no deal."

Where/who do you get support from?
"We get support from our families, that's about it. Cash is impossible at the moment and you need plenty of that if you want to press records, CDs and videos etc. It's early days for the label so we are going to find it very difficult for a while. We're currently building an online shop so you can buy all our lovely goodies from the luxury of your local internet cafe's swivel chair."

The label unifies music from punk, traveller, squatter, free parties and rave backgrounds... Do you feel like people have become separated and fragmented and need to re-unite?
"We are open to any style (which can have its difficulties) but it's as much about the people as the music and I find the Genre-thing so boring. The techno thing is still full-on and it's not easing up; it seems 10 years of techno-festies have taken the LIVE music and performance out of the squat and freefesty scene. Hopefully we can put over our ideas and show how things are to the people on the scene, who have no idea what the festies were like before. Let's start at that point: the ROOTS. I think people are still united and are now trying to get out of away from the ketamin and crack mess that has ruined the underground."

In these commercial times, who/what manages to still inspire you?
"I get inspired by the amount of young people coming into the scene that are definitely looking for something new and are willing to walk three miles to get to a fetsy. They are trying to keep the spirit alive and that's not easy as our culture is consistently under pressure."

Tell us about your vinyl single God Save the Guillotine, released to coincide with the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
"God Save the Guillotine is SCRAP Records' way of saying we are still aware and we still don't agree with the monarchy OR rich old punx who have totally lost touch with their original ideas. While the Queen tries to win people over with the likes of Ozzy performing for her, the old punks are polishing their gold discs and (instead of helping new, young, underprivileged bands) they're coming out of retirement and cashing in again and keeping the door closed on the new underground musicians. They only learned to make money and work hand in hand with the musick business and didn't end up creating anything new. You could say that they're worse than the hippies that they slagged off years ago. Luckily not ALL are that bad and Captain Sensible and Brian James often recording in our studio and they're still true damned punx at heart."

What's the best and worst things about doing live gigs?
"The worst thing about doing gigs in this country is that you always seem to get home skint. The best thing is that people love to be properly entertained and are quick to note things that are real. We all need feedback to carry on and there's no point spending your life in a practise room. I get pissed off by ketamin, crack, smack dealers and alkies fucking up the scene and frightening off genuine people who are there for the love of it. Our cities are rife with crack and nothing is being done about it. The kids need an alternative and there just isn't one. So it will carry on being nervy."

What do hope to see happen in the future?
"I would like to see culture organisations being set up to inform the youth better than old-style teachers. This island is just so far behind; you could say Queen Victoria is laughing in her grave coz the working class are still being used by the rest of the system to make the fat-cats even fatter."

Writer || Shada Sean 2002

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