Dirty Pictures

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Dirty Pictures was a Czech-American punk rock band founded by singer/songwriter Huck DeMilo in Prague in the autumn of 1992. The DPs was a power trio featuring DeMilo on vocals and guitar, Pavel Spacek on drums and local TV star Zdenek Marek on bass.

The band quickly became a favorite in Prague just as Czechoslovakia was emerging from under the Iron Curtain. Dirty Pictures released their debut LP, “Escape from Sloppy Lake”, in the winter of 1993. The LP spawned 3 alternative radio hits, and the video for “Custom Auto” was named the Best of 1994 on MTV Europe’s Alternative Nation.

The title of the LP refers to Slapy (pronounced “sloppy”) Lake on the outskirts of Prague. The album, in particular epic tracks like “Not My Baby” and “Stupid American”, hints at, and predates, the rise of pop punk bands like Green Day and Blink-182 that would come later in the decade.

In April of 1994, Dirty Pictures staged a 28-band benefit concert for refugees from the former Yugoslavia called “Rock for Refugees”. The event’s grand finale came when Dirty Pictures fan Joe Strummer jumped onstage to join the Pictures for a blistering set of Clash songs that the punk icon had not played in more than ten years.

Dirty Pictures toured Europe twice before disbanding in late 1995.