The original band line-up were:
Dick Bakker, Pierre Brachel, Erik Hofstede and Erwin de Ruiter.
The Filth were one of the first punk bands that hit holland along with bands like Ivy Green, The Panic, The Tits, The Inside Nipples and The Flying Spiders.
The first gigs were in February 1978 at a high school in Amsterdam and at a hockey club in Lelystad. The Filth were one of the first Dutch punk bands to shock. During the gigs sex leaflets that were thrown into the public and a blow up doll was fingered by Max Factor and Little Ron.
After the opening song “We want war! ” was played the. organiser stopped the gig as the crowd were stunned and shocked and the band were threatened with not being paid if they didn’t play in a more suitable way. Punk music was new and not everyone understood what was happening. Erik’s father (Leo), was the driver of the bands and he sorted it out by joining us on stage and playing his mouth organ with the band still playing the original set. The hockey club thought it sounded more like rock and roll and were more accepting.
All of the first gigs were chaotic, At a gig in Amsterdam, a gang that didn’t appreciate punk started making problems and a massive fight occurred. The roadies had to get the bands equipment out by kicking and pushing people off the stage using force and the microphone stands. There were lots of fights with gangs in Amsterdam in those days. And on nights that The Filth went out to their local pub the backdoor was frequently used to escape the fights. Unfortunately this didn’t always work.
Dick Bakker and Pierre Brachel had recorded a demo tape of the first gigs and Pierre brought it to a record shop called ‘No Fun’ on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam. The demo was played often and this is where Wally Middendorp heard it. Wally had already brought out a single with his own band The Tits on the Plurex Label. The Mollesters were the second band with their track “Plastic’, The Filth would be next.
In march The Filth went into the studio to record the single with on the A side “Don’t hide your hate” and on the B side ‘Sex” & “Nothing for me”. At the end of march 1978 the single was available in the shops and sold pretty good through out Holland. The Filth started to get recognised whenever they played one of the tracks on the single live.
The Filth played their first gig in Paradiso in Amsterdam in April ‘78. This was due to another band that was booked dropping out and then two weeks later they were booked in ia live show with two other bands. During this time the line-up of the band changed. It was agreed that the ‘wild screamers’ Little Ron and Max Factor, would stop after the second gig in the Paradiso and Max Factor didn’t show up that night.
The band became popular and the shocking tracks such as “We want war” and “We’re boys from Amsterdam” were dropped making room for more catchy song like “Protected life” and “My romance”. More and more people outside of Amsterdam came to see The Filth live.
Gigs started to sell out and the reaction of the crowd was good. Sometimes a bit too good. In Oudenbosch toilets bowls were thrown through the air and the place ended up being trashed.
21 Oct ’78
On the 21st of October 1978 The Filth played as the supporting act of The Clash at the Paradiso. It was a great gig and a great opportunity to be the supporting act but to The Clash.
One month later The Filth played once again in the Paradiso in a “Rock Against Racism” concert, where The Filth thought they played their best gig ever.
In January 1979 Plurex discussed a possible LP as The Filth were playing more and more gigs It was decided to change the line-up. Frank Cambach, originally from the band “The Softies” would be the new bass player. This meant Dick Bakker moved to keyboards.
Not uncommon with punk bands of the time, drugs lead to the eventual break up. At the start of ‘79 rehearsals stopped and some of the members didn’t show up on time to play at gigs. Due to this, both the LP and the gigs were postponed and then from April 1979 Erwin and Frank decided to leave The Filth and play instead for The Speedtwin.
At the end of June The Filth were due to play the “Rock Against Racism” festival in a park in Amsterdam (Amsterdamse bos). The band struggled to play and this meant the end of The Filth….
In 1992 the single Don’t hide your hate, was sent to a competition called De grote prijs. The band qualified and the competition that was held in The Paradiso in Amsterdam. Much of the original line-up was used. Erik on drums, Dick on bass guitar and Pierre on guitar. However ia friend of Dick, George van der Heijden, would take Erwins place on lead guitar. After the battle of the bands (De grote prijs) The Filth played gigs every now and again until around-about 1994 and then stopped due to all having their own different projects.
In 2001 Pierre started his own studio, the Secret Records studio and together with Dic re-recorded the best material of “The Filth” ‘78/’79. All of the tracks were put on one CD simply called “The Filth”. On this CD re-recorded versions of the tracks Don’t hide your hate, Nothing for me and Sex were included.
In 2015 the Filth took part in a punk singles album project from No Fun and Plurex entitled “I don’t care” and the original single “Don’t hide your hate” was featured on this album.
In 2013 The Filth members Dick and Pierre, took part in a limited various artist LP recorded “old school” on vinyl. titled “Punks not deaf” with a new track, Into the red light. The youtube clip uses photo’s from the well know city-photographer Guus Helms.
Vinyl LP
Dick and Pierre recorded a studio CD with new songs as the Filth. This album called Into the red light includes the single and more new tracks. The tracks were never played live.
In 2016 The Filth played a live rehersal and try-out held in the Purmerend pop stage P3 in preparation for a one-off gig for the last time. The last ever gig was this time with a completely different line up. Joel Qcumber on drums , Franknstein on guitar/vocals and Dick Bakker on bass guitar a vocals. The gig was for a reunion of the PLUREX label and held in the Paradiso in Amsterdam.
In 2016 the complete Plurex- e.p. of The Filth’s (Don’t hide your hate) was released on the vinyl LP with various recordings of original bands from the punk days
The track Don’t hide your hate is now being covered by different bands around the world, from the USA , Spain and Japan and the single has been reproduced in Japan and Germany along with other un-official T-shirts with the image printed on the original single.