Of hedgehogs and hardcore kids…
- david1170
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Ox Fanzine review ‘THE SCENE POLICE STORY: A Story of Rebellion, Passion, and Financial Ruin’ by Dennis-P. Merklinghaus.
A few months ago, Dennis asked me for a few words about his book on the label he co-runs—a label he has been operating with renewed intensity for the past year or two, after it had been in hibernation for ages. And this is what I wrote:
“There are those ‘always-there’ labels. They’re always around somehow; they’re the undergrowth of our scene. The thicket where hedgehogs and hares bid each other goodnight and go about their business undisturbed. Hedgehogs, in particular, can get quite loud in certain situations. Just like the bands in the secret garage club next door. If such a thicket falls victim to municipal gardeners or the state highway authority, it’s gone—it’s too late, and it’s missed. Even if it was never really perceived as a micro-habitat before. Scene Police Records was just such a habitat. Late 90s, early 2000s. Always there, always close—Dennis and the others at many of the same gigs I attended. And then the ‘Scene Police’ (a joke only insiders with 80s roots understood) were gone. [...] And suddenly, there’s rustling in the bushes again; things are stirring in the undergrowth. A good thing, too.”
After a 20-year hiatus (job, family, etc.), Scene Police is back; he’s got the itch again. The original 40 releases have already been joined by 14 new ones—plus a book, published via his old UK connection, Engineer Records and RYDELL. Hence, it’s all in English. Here you can read about how it all went down and how the collective(!) Scene Police came to an end: with debt. It is also a story about the European DIY punk underground of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lots of flyers, lots of photos—definitely worth reading!
Joachim Hiller - Ox Fanzine.
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