EMQ’s With Flying Dirty Clouds
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Grindcore band Flying Dirty Clouds. Huge thanks to their guitarist and founder, Kerem Şahinboy, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
My name is Kerem Şahinboy, I play guitar, and I am the founder of Flying Dirty Clouds. We formed the band in Istanbul in 1993, which makes us one of the very first extreme music acts in Türkiye. Over the years, the other members gradually chose to focus on their personal lives rather than on music; I, apparently, never learned how to quit. So today I am the last man standing from the original line-up, working with a different set of session musicians on every record. Since day one, we have never stopped releasing singles and music videos.
How did you come up with your band name?
We always wanted a name that escaped the usual death metal and grindcore clichés; no rotting corpses, no ancient demons with unpronounceable names. We wanted something out of the ordinary, something that pokes people a little and makes them ask why on earth a grind band would be called that. I think it is a beautiful fit. It carries a political, protest message, yet it is also an everyday image: just look up at the sky on a rainy day in any of our polluted metropolises.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from Istanbul, Türkiye, and the scene is getting richer every year. When we started playing grindcore and death metal over thirty years ago, it was nowhere near as diverse as it is today. There were only a few venues and a handful of extreme bands. Still, I must admit it was incredibly energetic back then, against all odds. Today we have big summer festivals hosting major international bands, and the underground scene is colourful too. The new generation of grind and punk bands is numerous and seriously skilful. Believe me, metal is very much alive in Türkiye.
What is your latest release?
As the main composer of Flying Dirty Clouds, I try to surprise our fans with every single we release. Different musicians join us for each project and bring their own vision, which I find a truly enriching experience. Our previous single, Boycott Mankind, came out in 2025, a breakcore and techno-grind mixture that confused exactly the right people. Our latest release is Opathian, which came out in August 2026. Everything is released through Earache Digital Distribution.
Who have been your greatest influences?
There are many, but the two main ones are Napalm Death and Carcass. As a guitarist, I owe a great deal to Bill Steer of Carcass; I spent a good part of my youth trying to steal his riffs.
What first got you into music?
This may surprise you, but I started out playing the bağlama, a traditional Turkish folk instrument. Then I discovered Metallica and Judas Priest, and their music pulled me in immediately. I remember being a broke thirteen-year-old, borrowing money from everyone I knew to buy a second-hand, terrible-quality Russian electric guitar. It had so many strange switches on it that tuning it felt like operating a Soviet submarine. I entered music with a rebellious spirit and a desire to create. Nowadays I am a novelist with several published books, a painter and an academic (assistant professor), expressing that same rebellious mind in different fields. Music has always been one of the ways I discharge my artistic energy and keep myself sane.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
That is a very good question. I would love to collaborate with Aurora. Yes, that pop artist. I think she would be a perfect fit for Flying Dirty Clouds. Imagine an amazing death-grind piece with her mesmerizing voice floating over the chaos. Aurora, if you are reading this, call me.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Hellfest! One day, hopefully. I have already practised my stage dive in the living room.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
A head scar. One of our fans got his forehead split open in the pogo at one of our concerts. I took him to the hospital after the show and watched the nurse stitch him up. That scar will stay with him for life, and in a strange way I consider it a gift to me: a permanent souvenir of that night, conveniently stored on someone else’s face.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Habits are our sickness. We must think outside the box and keep trying new combinations to discover the limits of our brains, and never forget to do so. That is why Flying Dirty Clouds is an extreme music band; not because we play loud instruments, but because we challenge everything, for good.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Genghis Khan. He never officially held the title of rock star, but he rocked the world harder than anyone. He toured more territory than any band in history, left more fans than he could count, and lived far crazier than any rock star we know. So let’s bring him back and let him set the world on fire one more time.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I love that stubborn feeling, the one that gives me stomach pains when I am stuck with a riff that goes nowhere for weeks, yet I still refuse to give up. Practising, trying, thinking, and then thinking some more. Over the decades, that habit taught me a lot and reshaped my personality. When I face a problem, I approach it like a musician: I split it into pieces and analyse each part as if it were a composition. Hate? I don’t think I hate anything about it. But as a perfectionist, obsessing over every tiny detail can get exhausting. In music, every note matters; try copying and pasting that mindset into daily life and you will see how tiring it gets.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
The very fact that music is an industry is the definition of the problem. It is built on the shoulders of musicians, yet the profits never come back to them in a fair cut. We have never been a commercially successful band; we have always been an underground gang with a small but loyal fan base, and those people have kept us going. I cannot imagine making a living from music, but there are people who fight for it every day. I wish venues were more welcoming, with less harsh demands, and that record income was split more fairly with the bands. Unfortunately, most bands today struggle to make ends meet while only a handful hit the jackpot.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Myrkur’s Folkesange has been my number one record for years. I also really loved Linkin Park’s latest album; it is my gym soundtrack, so it has seen me sweat more than anyone.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
Back in the day I was a professional tape trader, swapping up to thirty tapes a week, in and out. I still chase that saturated four-track tape recorder sound on our records. To me, music is something concrete, not a digital stream. I have always loved buying an album or a demo on cassette, reading the booklet and trying to memorise the lyrics. So yes, I am a cassette guy, pencil included.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Our very first gig, in 1993, at Gitanes Bar in Istanbul, a small underground bar brave enough to host us. We were covered in real, fresh animal organs: guts, lungs, intestines, with blood all over us. During the show, we tore open big plastic bags of lungs and other delicacies and started throwing them into the crowd. People went absolutely wild, and a full-blown hardcore organ fight broke out. The bar turned into a slaughterhouse. And then, of course, we had to clean the whole venue ourselves after the show. Not exactly the most rebellious ending 🙂
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I think I have already become everything I wanted to be. I run my own shipping company, and I am a software developer building maritime software that is actively used in our industry. I teach at university as an assistant professor, I paint, I compose, I write a column for a logistics newspaper, and I write and publish novels. Sleep is the only thing I have not found time for yet.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Trump, Erdoğan, Netanyahu, Putin and Xi Jinping. The menu, of course, would be curated by Hannibal Lecter. Fava beans and a nice Chianti optional.
What’s next for the band?
We keep composing and creating new music with the same enthusiasm we had in our first days. I no longer believe the full-length album is really a thing anymore, so we will keep releasing singles, each one followed by a music video. The next single titled “Carrion Cloud Communion” is in composing phase right now. I hope it will be ready by the end of this year.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
YouTube is the only official social media platform Flying Dirty Clouds has. We were banned from Instagram for cursing Erdoğan a few times; apparently, freedom of speech has a character limit. You can find us here: https://www.youtube.com/@flyingdirtyclouds
There’s a long-standing food-based debate here in the UK. And we’d like your help. So… A Jaffa cake – is it a cake or a biscuit? Discuss!
It is a cake, albeit one deliberately designed to occupy biscuit territory. A classic case of illegal settlement in the snack world.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Question and challenge your beliefs. Never grow tired of seeking the truth, and abandon your religion.
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