91-08-18 Oi Polloi – Upside – One By One

I remember very little about this I must say, it was either the 1^st or last gig of the tour (I suspect it was the last. I don’t recall ‘Upside’ and I know ‘Ten Tennants’ had Jasper from ‘Culture Shock’ in their ranks. It was our 1^st tour; we were a 3-piece then: Micky, Alec and me, before Karin joined (that was in early 1992). We toured together with ‘Oi Polloi’ in rusty old van and car… The driver was Fazzy, our 4^th member. We wanted to go on tour and it was a lot easier to get gigs with ‘Oi Polloi’ as part of it! We had the van and car, they had the name! We’d known each other for some years before this already and so it just made sense.

Sned, ‘One By One’ drummer

In an interview for my zine Tilt! [Political Asylum (interview Tilt! #5)], Ramsey of ‘Political Asylum’ had caused some commotion about ‘Oi Polloi’ having a “fascist” drummer. Vocalist Deek Allen, as I remember, wasn’t very happy with that. I think it was the first time we met after this ‘incident’ and I have a gut-feeling there was some tension… I reckon this was their first gig in a long row of many to come, at the V.V. As you can read in drummer Dan’s guestbook-entry below: it was “canny darned groovy like” to them ;-).

‘Ten Tennants’ were a project/band from the Bluurg scene (Bath). It’s blurry to me (can’t recall seeing them) but weren’t they Andy (ex-‘Subhumans’) doing vocals/guitar & Jasper Patterson (ex-‘Culture Shock’ & ‘Citizen Fish’; bass)…??? I read somewhere did they both did some beat-boxing aswell…

After ‘Generic’, ‘Pleasant Valley Children’, ‘Sore Throat’; ‘One By One’ was the new band with Sned (drums & vocals) at that time. Besides him, there was Mickey McGuinness (ex-‘Generic’; guitar & vocals) and Alec Mac (bass). They too had a great time but just as ‘Oi Polloi’ they were asking for “responsible dancing, no macho shit”; something that was indeed getting a problem from time to time.

‘Upside’ (not to be confused with ‘Upset Noise’!) had played for Smurfpunx before [Netwerk, Aalst, 13 aug 88]… They were a political band coming from the area around Modena and played a powerful mix of HC and metal: Mauro Tincani (vocals), Vanny Anceschi (guitar), Andrea ‘Tritone’ Tincani (bass) and ‘Fonty’ Fontana (drums)…

Brob

I don’t remember much about ‘Upside’. I know that there weren’t a lot of people in the venue. ‘Alians’ (from Poland) took over and they played for more than an hour even though they were tired from the travel and the bassist had a problem with his hand. Excellent music, quite a few encores. Even though the crowd was very big, they continued to play until they were exhausted. [Brob: I think Eric confused 2 gigs. I was helping ‘Alians’ with touring (see: Brob’s tours) and that was in September…] After that there was ‘Oi Polloi’! And strangely enough the placed filled up. I recall being disappointed by the people who didn’t make the effort to come and listen the two first bands: musically they were good. What to say about ‘Oi Polloi’! Superb atmosphere! I think they did all the classics of that era (also one about the Secretary of Interior Affairs or some other minister).

Eric ‘React’ W.

That whole ‘One by One’ / ‘Oi Polloi’ tour was a a brilliant rollercoaster of chaos. The London gig ended in a battle with the cops as the venue was being evicted, Arjen who organised the tour managed to get arrested so we weren’t totally sure where + when we were supposed to be playing. Like Sned it’s all a little hazy but pretty sure this was the last gig of the tour + was great. I’ve never seen a bad ‘Oi Polloi’ gig. Never didn’t enjoy playing the V.V., always a good atmosphere, cool people involved + the kids were generally ace. ‘One By One’ (and ‘Health Hazard’ + ‘Suffer’) always had a ball playing in Belgium, our 2^nd home. Lots of politically engaged people who gave a shit + knew how to have fun.

For me it was brilliant getting to meet loads of people involved in the DIY anarcho world who’d I’d got to know through Flat Earth + lots of new friends were made on that tour. Back then it was easy to feel isolated + it was inspirational to see what collective power there was based around venues/squats/scenes. Similar in spirit to the 1in12 Club in Bradford, a space where people could get together + make things happen. The Vort’n Vis always also felt like a place where a lot of different groups of people / tribes came together, and there was always a lot of energy rather than people just trying to look cool or not giving a shit.

We really appreciated being fed as that was a novelty for us at the time. Thanks to everyone who helped make stuff like this happen. Putting on gigs is a pretty thankless task, as is cleaning up afterwards, doing the stalls / bar / door. So thanks.

Alec Mac, ‘One By One’ bassplayer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Apparently Andy Föcker (real name) & his bro Andy visitied this one… Another window smashed? ;-)

additions wellcomed!…

90-06-24 Pleasant Valley Children – Can’t Decide – Force Fed

[Brob’s tours:] “After my mates’ bands ‘Ripcord’ and ‘Heresy’ had split up, some of the guys formed new bands. Kalv (H) joined ‘Force Fed’ and John (H), Baz & John (R) started ‘Can’t Decide’. It was only natural for me to try and help promote them (with a little help from my friends) and find them gigs on the European continent. […]” This gig was the last of a 10-day tour.

At that time I was still active with the Smurfpunx collective but since it wasn’t always possible to organise things at Netwerk, Aalst and I was charmed by what Jan, Bruno & their mates tried to do at the Vort’n Vis, I asked them to set up a show for these bands there. It was also a celebration of the V.V.’s first anniversary.

Again, it was a great get-together with older and newer friends. ‘Force Fed’ had played at a Smurfpunx concert earlier that year already [Netwerk, Aalst, 17 feb 90 (Kings Of Oblivion & Force Fed)] so I already knew Nick Clark (FF guitarist) & his brother Nige(l) (FF drummer), Jamie (FF singer) and of course Kalv(in) Piper (FF bassist).

‘Can’t Decide’ was the new project of ‘Heresy’s John March (vocals), Steve ‘Baz’ Ballam (guitar) & John Millier (‘Ripcord’) and Bristol-based bassplayer Simon Hobbs. Except for the latter, we’d met quite a few times (them playing here, me going abroad)… Simon turned out to be a very friendly chap aswell… Their music was more melodic than what their previous bands played. ‘Ripcord’ had already played 3 times for Smurfpunx & ‘Heresy were no stangers either… [Netwerk, Aalst - 27 jun 87; 30 jan 88; 3 sep 88].

‘Pleasant Valley Children’ was Sned’s latest outfit at that time. Despite the name, with a rather nihilist approach of punk… We’d already met when his (first) band ‘Generic’ played with my ‘Repulsives’ combo (in the 80s) and we were exchanging letters (me helping him to sell stuff from his label Flat Earth recs). A couple of months before he had been over with ‘Sore Throat’ (where he played guitar instead of his usual drumming) [90-05-27 President Fetch – Sore Throat]. A true jack-of-all-trades… ;-) Also in ‘P.V.C.’ was ‘Pig Havok/Havoc’ (Paul Clarke, who wrote the booklet ‘A Secret Devil’ – which I seem to have lost over the years, later in ‘Liz Gizzad’). As someone described him: the “demonically possessed” vocalist. A guy named Monkey played guitar and Percy did the bass.

Brob

This show was a good one from what I can remember. I think I nearly passed out from heat-exhaustion after our set… ‘Force Fed’ were good lads to tour with, we played quite a few gigs with them around this time. In fact, over the time ‘Can’t Decide’ were together, we played more shows on mainland Europe than we did in the U.K.! Can you believe it? Well it’s true. Interest in hardcore was on the way out in the late 80s – early 90s especially in England due to the growing popularity of grunge. We found it hard to get a tour together in our own country. Bands with big management backing were taking over.. fuckers!!

John Millier, ‘Can’t Decide’ drummer

‘Pleasant Valley Children’ (performing under the watchful eyes of Jan C., and Leffe taking a ‘break’)

‘Can’t Decide’: John Millier, Baz, John March, Simon

additions wellcomed!…

91-02-23 Acid Rain Dance – Zero Positives

The second concert I attended at the V.V. was with ‘Acid Rain Dance’, ‘Zank’ & ‘Zero Positives’. I remember the latter best because the singer, Dirk Scum, wore a long dress… [Brob: Dirk wore a long skirt when they supported ‘Resist’…]

Henk Loobuyck

My mate Dirk ‘Scum’s band ‘Zero Positives’ were coming on strong at that time. That’s also why I invited them for a Smurfpunx concert intended to promote Belgian HC/punk bands [Peanuts, Lede, 23 mar 91]. Beside Dirk (vocals), the band consisted of Maarten Vangool (guitar), Kris Gabriels (bass) & Ronald Mens (drums). Dirk was an enthusiastic chap with lots of energy. He was the most vocal of the Zeros and had quite outspoken political ideas (anti-specieist e.g.).

‘Acid Rain Dance’ was the new band of Cartsen ‘Jacke’ Bucher, the guy who played bass in ‘Leberwohlstand’ (L.W.S.) who’d played for Smurfpunx a few years before. [Netwerk, Aalst, 23 oct 88]. Their drummer, ‘Quaddel’ was also a mate. He was helping out setting up shows at the Schlachthof (a well-know place for HC/punk-concerts in Bremen, Germany) and helped me out with contacts, etc. Their music was metallic hardcore-punk/thrash with lots of breaks and tempo-changes (some say “with a crusrty edge”). They were just about the put out a 7” (on Kleister & Andrea’s Skuld releases – who also released their Melting Resistance mini-lp a few years later). So… Jacke played bass and ‘Quaddel’ (Michael Quast) hit the drums. A guy named ‘Zulu’ played lead-guitar, Stephan rhythm-guitar and Fred (or was it ‘Marn-On’ by then?) was the vocalist.

Quaddel sometimes picked up or brought Goliath Brettschneider‘s vans for touring bands (‘Pissed’ e.g., I think). I believe he also might’ve visited the V.V. on these occasions…

Brob

additions wellcomed!…

91-07-07 Political Asylum – Bat Attack

‘Political Asylum’ at that time was Steve Dewar on guitar, Ramsey Kanaan on vocals, Leo van Setten on bass (+ backing vocals) and Keith Burns on drums. The line-up changed a few times. We had them over at Smurfpunx gigs [5 jul 87 & 3 sep 88] and became good friends. Especially Ramsey who guided me to a lot of great literature…

‘Bat Attack’, from the Rotterdam scene, called themselves a post-punk band. Their drummer was Carla van der Marel and guy named Jeroen on guitar. Carla wrote an overview on the Rotterdam underground(punk)rock scene between 1983 en 2003. It’s titled Antiscene and has hundreds of photos of Rotterdam bands, “known faces from that scene and international underground stars”…

I can’t remember if ‘Bad Influence’ and the Groninger ‘Mushroom Attack’ played…?

Brob

I’d gotten to know Steve Dewar when I was living in Rotterdam, where he was squatting (he was in a relation with Marianne from ‘Stinksisters’). Him & Ramsey wanted to make a new start with ‘P.A.’ and were looking for a bassist. I learned to play the songs from the albums, together with Steve. A bit later I met Ramsey & Keith for the first time. We rehearsed a few times in the squatted Poortgebouw in Rotterdam and did dome gigs in the Netherlands. Then a short tour through Germany and Belgium.

I was a few times in Belgium with ‘P.A.’, around 90-91 I think – can’t recall the dates precisely. I think we might’ve played Kessel-Lo (Leuven). Some of the gigs were together with ‘Nancy and I’ [from Germany; friends of Stevie] and also once with ‘The Itch’ (another band that I was in). We had Kees [de Greef] (from ‘Anarcrust’ – Stevie knew him from the R’dam squat-scene) drumming some of the times too (when Keith had left)… A lot of my memories are vague and possibly I mix things up. I remember a concert where Ramsey kicked a hole in the stage… There was also a gig where a performer fucked a plucked chicken while shouting: “La Guerre!! La Guerre!!” Rather bizarre… [Brob: That was at the Vort’n Vis; the ‘performer’ was a French guy who named himself ‘Cortes’…] I also recall we once had to go to a do-it-yourself shop urgently because the plugs of our amps didn’t fit the sockets. We had to mount other plugs. We also once played soccer against another band.

Leo van Setten; nowadays singer/guitarist in the band ‘Weissmuller’

some pictures of ‘Political Asylum’ by Eric W.:

Stevie was living in Rotterdam. After our first (and only) American tour in 1989, when we came back to Scotland, Ewan, our bass-player, emigrated to Australia and Stevie moved to Rotterdam. So that was basically it for the band. But Stevie started jamming with Leo van Setten so me and Keith (the drummer) went over to R’dam for a few days and practiced for a day, recorded the acoustic radio-session that would end up on that final 10”, a studio-track and played a few shows. Really great stuff. I don’t remember anything about the Vort’n Vis show, to be honest. Actually, I don’t remember anything about any of that tour in any detail, other than at a gig in Germany, I fell through the stage! I went back to Rotterdam on another trip and we recorded 2 of the studio-tracks that were on that final 10”. Leo on bass, and Kees de Greef on drums. I don’t think he ever played live, just on that record.
On the last tour we ever did, we had a German rhythm-section [the bassist & drummer of ‘Nancy and I’]. Stevie had moved to Germany and set up a tour. I came over and practiced with them for a couple of days. We played those dates, and that was that really.

Ramsey Kanaan, ‘Political Asylum’ singer

I see the Vort’n Vis in front of me… I really enjoyed ‘Political Asylum’ but can’t remember our gig… Our vocalist JW and Costes new each other from a performance in the Jazzbunker (Rotterdam) where JW was programmer at that time. A week before the concert at the Vort’n Vis, Costes played with ‘Putrid Cadaver’ (friends of ‘Bat Attack’ from Paris) in ‘my’ place, De Vlerk. Costes was extremely popular in R’dam.

Also in ‘Bat Attack’ were Hilde (Veenstra, on bass/backing-vocals), Jeroen (Wessels, guitar/backing-vocals). Our first real concert was opening for Nick Cave in Paradiso, Amsterdam. Jeroen had some connections and that’s how we ended, as starting late-bloomers, hardly knowing to play an instrument. Somehow we didn’t get a lot of response in The Netherlands but when Arnaud (Azzouz), at that time a 16-year old chap from La Louvière [Belgium], presented himself as our promotor, we quickly became notorious in Belgium. France and Switzerland followed. We toured a lot, mostly in obscure places. Memorable was a gig in the youth-centre of Ternat [Belgium]. Only much later we found out that Arnaud always hid a piece of hash in the cassette-tapes stating “Smoke this before you listen the tape”. Yep that explained a lot, hahaha… A few months before the concert in Ieper, we also played in a packed venue filled with frenzied French at Printemps de Bourges. JW met his future wife Cati there, with whom he started ‘Stinksisters’. Marianne (mentioned in relation to Steve of ‘P.A.’) was the guitarist/singer of the Stinx…

Carla van der Marel, ‘Bat Attack’ drummer

Not a lot of recollections either, just that Costes played aswell and that he stirred things up… Reading back the guestbook-quotes, I remember indeed that the microphones gave of electricity. I believe it wasn’t a very memorable concert of ‘Bat Attack’…

JW (Jan Willem van Hemert), singer for ‘Bat Attack’

pics of ‘Bat Attack’ by Eric W.:

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Apparently that day there was a fair in town that Leo enjoyed…

Quite a lengthy epistle by ‘Bat Attack’s Carla, Jeroen & driver Henk (about the sweaty atmosphere, stormy weather, stinging microphones, etc.)

‘Bad Attack’s manager Arnaud (French-speaking Belgian) in a psychedelic mood… ;-)

The infamous Costes…

additions wellcomed!…

91-05-10 (Earth Citizens)

[The gig that never was…]

‘Earth Citizens’ toured Europe in May of 1991 and after a surprise gig in Paris we headed to the legendary Vort’n Vis, totally curious what it will be like to play there. Quite a few of our penpals had said they’d be there, so we were looking forward to it! Total bummer as we arrived and the place was closed with a note from our organiser Bruno Genet. It said we should call him, which we did. For some reason he cancelled the gig!!! And made us drive all the way to Sliedrecht (The Netherlands). The big dinner he offered us was french fries – yaaay! We were suspicious of him and in the end thought he cancelled the gig to see ‘Concrete Sox’ (who were great!) and ‘Private Jesus Detector’ (great too).We then drove back to Gent for the night, only to have Bruno offering us his student-room to crash – 4 of us plus 3 of ‘Systemphobia’ who we’d picked up at the Vort’nVis. On top of that he asked us to pay for the gas…strange. Good thing was to see the two bands and meet the great guys of ‘Systemphobia’ who organized us a breakfast! Forever thankful for that!!! So in the end we only ever saw the closed door of the Vort’n Vis. Too bad!

The tour in May 1991 included: ‘Schrein’n’hart’ (vocals & driver), ‘Furz The System’ (guitar & backing-vocals), ‘The Prophet’ (drums & backing-vocals) and Oli (driver). ‘Earth Citizens’ was an anarcho-punk band trying to set the world free of all the bad things. We had different views though, which we learnt at the first gig in Lyon when our singer went to actually ask for more money than we agreed to with the organisers of the tour. We then dropped our anti-capitalist song Money from the set ‘cause the rest of us thought we couldn’t sing “Money doesn’t guard our doors” when one of us actually cared about these things. In hindsight he was probably right. It was his van we used on the tour and of course the van needed gas. Anyway, the tour was organized by various people and yes I think Brob helped us with the gig in Terneuzen. I remember somewhere in between the Dutch gigs we made it to Gent and visited our good old friend :-) (Brob)…

Pablo

Aside from being in this band and keeping a busy correspondence going (also with myself), Pablo was the editor of several zines around that time (No Sanctuary, Alternative, Brain Death). Have no idea why Bruno cancelled this gig after I’d asked him… I believe I did get them another gig the next day in Kalashnikov (Terneuzen, The Netherlands)…

Brob

cover of ‘Earth Citizens’ ep

some artwork from the insert

additions wellcomed!…

91-06-08 Go! – N.O.F. – 6 Feet Over – S.O.Y.

My mate Esneider (of the NYC band ‘Huasipungo’ and a volunteer at ABC No Rio) had already informed me that the band ‘Go!’ of his friends from the ABC No Rio scene were going to tour (see: Go! tour 1991 infosheet)… The band consisted of Mike ‘Bullshit’ Bromberg (vocals, ex ‘S.F.A.’, also did a zine called Bullshit Monthly), Aaron Kaufman (guitar, also shortly in ‘S.F.A.’ and later on the ‘Hell No’ Euro tour), James ‘Jimmy’ Paradise (drums; also in ‘Hell No’) & Stephen Gardner (bass). They definitely were not a typical NYC HC band but had pro-gay and -lesbian, feminist, anti-racism and -violence lyrics.

Read more about Go! here…

Because First Strike records from the UK released some material by ‘Go!’, I think Alan Woods sent ‘Decline’ along to tour with them…

‘6FO’ were Fred (bass), Pierre Anne (drums), Karl Penando (guitar – ‘petit nain’ or ‘little dwarf’ as we lovingly called him), Stéphane Cormary (vocals), a bunch of lads from the Dunkerque area that visited the V.V. regularly. They usually came down with a whole bunch: Karl’s girlfriend Agnès, his brother Rudee, etc. were ‘regulars. I had been corresponding with Stéphane (originally from the region of Toulouse), who had been doing a zine called ‘God Bless Cheese Steaks’… This was their 1^st gig…

Of course everyone knew ‘Nations On Fire’ by now… ‘Spirit Of Youth’ was a starting band with 2 young brothers (guitarist Dominiek ‘Dompi’ & bassist Frederik Denolf; in their very early teens), Jan Maelfait (vocals) who would later play the bass for ‘Blindfold’ and Hans Verbeke (ex ‘Rise Above’, later ‘Blindfold’, ‘Liar’) on drums. This was probably their very first gig aswell…

Brob

‘Decline’ were from the UK, Alan from First Strike recs arranged that. Great guys – really got along well with them. They also has a van and equipment we could use.

Mike ‘Bullshit’ Bromberg

I moved to Toulouse. Steph and me did a new band a few years ago called ‘Mediocratie’. Later he played in ‘Dissiped’ and I’m still in ‘Tol Eressëa’… The most important things to all these concerts wasn’t just the music! That period didn’t change my life but just consolidated the political and ethical opinions I already had! I still see Steph (we share a rehearsal-space). Fred: nobody knows what became of him. Pierre is still a good friend which I see when I go up North, he plays surf-rock since no less than 10 years! His band ‘Les Chefs’ released an lp.

Karl Penando, ‘6FO’ guitarist

We exchanged records and zines, I got a bunch of Tilt!s and tried to distro it here, a place where people cared little about non-USA punk. We have never met person to person: I was illegal in the USA for many years meaning I never could travel and my band could never really tour anywhere but here. I finally got documents and so has the rest of the band slowly so now we are planning to tour somewhere soon.

Esneider

‘S.O.Y.’ started out with Jan singing and Hans drumming. When Hans left, my brother started drumming, Ignace Demeyer took over the bass (Ward Verhaeghe sang also for a while, some time later Hans played the bass again); that was the period of The Abyss 7” (Crucial Response recs). ‘S.O.Y.’ became ‘Love, Truth and Honesty’:-) and afterwards started ‘Solid’ (myself on guitar, my bro drumming, Sid on vocals & Kris Kasier on bass. After that we re-started, putting out unreleased ‘S.O.Y.’ songs (with Vincent Merveille singing, Vincent Teeten on 2^nd guitar & Sim Meerseman on bass): 3 CDs – Source on Genet recs, the split with ‘One King Down’ (USA) on GoodLife recs & the Colours That Bleed full-length on GoodLife recs. After the split ‘S.O.Y.’ became a phenomenon upto Japan :-)…

Dominiek Denolf

some photos from Karl Penando’s archives (Muchos gracias!):

‘Six Feet Over’

gentil p’tit nain Karl Penando

Go! (in the audience Bruno VdV & ‘Scraps’ Raph exchanging appreciation)

Mike Bullshit addressing his public (a certain zine-editor listening attentively)…

‘Nations On Fire’: Ed – Jaak – David – Jeroen

‘Decline’

Dompi – Fré – Hans – Jan (‘Spirit Of Youth’)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Hans Verbeke, at that time drummer for ‘S.O.Y.’

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F.’ bassplayer

Yep, I had  a great time too…

Nick Zimmer, visitor & gig-promoter in Mons: “Vort’n Vis; hope for a united and positive scene! Very good atmosphere.”

additions wellcomed!…

91-05-03 Majority Of One – Exhaustless Revolt

This one was right before the last Smurfpunx-concert [Peanuts, Lede, 4 may 91 (Flag Of Democracy)]. ‘Majority Of One’ (from Toledo, Ohio) was doing a tour organised by the rather commercial First Strike recs. Todd Swangstu, bassplayer of ‘M.O.O.’ quit the band because he did not want to go on that tour. Was it Doug Walker who played the bass on this tour? Ali Moazed played guitar, Eric Lemle the drums. Vocalist was Dirk Hemsath (owner of Doghouse recs – now in New York City – and also guitarist for ‘Transcend’). Some called their music sXe skincore, others emo post-HC (while referring to ‘Dag nasty’)…

‘Exhaustless Revolt was a young but promising band from Antwerp: Filip Staes (guitar & vocals), Sven Bossant (drums), Ivan Marien (bass & vocals). Their big example seemed to be ‘Seein’Red’: Filip also emphasized socialism and communism in his lyrics…

Brob

‘Majority Of One’ was clean straight-edge sounding by the numbers, with Dirk who would later take over Lumberjack and Mordam, and tear them to pieces. Driving for ‘M.O.O.’ was Whitey (connected to First Strike) who played for ‘Electro Hippies’ in the end and was a really nice funny guy, he ended up touring with us on the ‘N.O.F.’ tour in 1993 and we spent a lot of time together. Can’t remember ‘M.O.O.’ at the V.V. but dó recall Lede, and they also played at the B52 [Eernegem]. Whitey also drove for ‘Go!’ and in ’93 he came along on tour with ‘N.O.F.’ when Jamie Owen (‘Jailcell Recipes’) drummed for us (well, 2/3 of the tour: the last bit we had we Andy of ‘Skeezicks’ [Marbel, Tielt, 2 may 87 (Negazione)] as drummer).

‘Touch My Heart Crew’ was another marketing stunt by Edward; everything had to be ‘crew’ or ‘posse’, with a rehearsed handshake to go…. A year later, under the metal influence of ‘Congress’, it became theH8000 crew (Hate 8000, never understood why the hate had to be included). I think Ebullition naming their local scene after a zip-code (the ‘Downcast’ interview in No Answers zine started that if I’m correct) had something to do with aswell. Marketing is one of Edward’s major contributions to the scene.

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F.’ bassplayer

The ‘Touch My Heart Crew’ was an invention of mine, didn’t really exits. I guess I made the flyer. I took these Americans to go and visit Bruges before the show.

Edward Verhaeghe, ‘N.O.F.’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Dirk Hemsath expresses his ‘appreciation’ for Jospeh Smith (founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?)…

“super-aunty” Anneke, “the female Brob”…???

Apparently Dirk Scum (‘Zero Positives’) was there too. I guess he was sober, yeah… ;-)

additions wellcomed!…

91-04-21 Zygote – Hiatus – (Dirt)

I organised 2 shows for ‘Zygote’ at the V.V. Herwin of ‘Bad Influence’ asked me to set these up. Financial disasters! I didn’t arrange any concerts ever again. This time ‘Dirt’ was gonna come along but they didn’t show up…

Leffe

‘Zygote’ from Bath, the “descendents” of ‘Amebix’, consisted of Chris ‘Stig (da Pig)’ Miller (vocals/guitar), George ‘Smutpig’ Fletcher (vocals/guitar), Tim ‘Crow’ Shapland (bass, ex-‘Smartpils’) and Robert ‘Spider’ Richards (drums). They came over for the second time. People described them as “crusty ‘Amebix’ with influences of ‘Motorhead’ and ‘Killing Joke’…”.

Older and younger bands were combined as usual… ‘Hiatus’ was not off course not brand-new – they already did a show for Smurfpunx e.g. [Peanuts, Lede, 23 mar 91 (N.O.F.)] – but they didn’t have the track-record (yet) the British lads had. ‘Daydream’ was the band that evolved from ‘Chaotic Contrast’ with Kris ‘Kid’ Verhelst (guitar & vocals), Joeri Vleurick (bass) and Sling (drums, also of ‘Chronic Disease’). Kind of local…

It’s very well possible that I met the guy from Skuld releases (‘Kleister’, Oliver Schmid?) there for the 1^st time. He released vinyl of ‘Zygote’ and ‘Bad Influence’…

Brob

This was one of the few gigs we did (maybe 3, 4 in total). We didn’t rehearse enough (as always). I recall that we had to start one song 4-5 times over again ‘cause we kept playing out of tune…

Kris ‘Kid’ Verhelst, ‘Daydream’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

On top, Kid writes: “We like the Vort’n Vis alot; it’s awesome here. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to play (even though it wasn’t an immense success, better next time).” At the bottom, some words by Leffe: “Muchos Gracia to the VV for putting on this gig.”

Apparently Joris De Buysser (Bonds of Friendship zine; later Conspiracy recs) was there too: “Finally a fun little pub in Belgium. Ha! I’m the first SxE in this guestbook. Anarchy and stuff.” (with some of his Greek friends?).  And Herwin gives some compliments aswell… ;-)

And Vrokker (‘Chronic Disease’ bassist) attended aswell: “This is some totally different than going to work.”

additions wellcomed!…

91-04-28 Nausea – Chronic Disease

extra poster with great artwork by Sling (‘Chronic Disease’)

This bunch of New Yorkers, ‘Nausea’ was brought to us by Lorelei & Syd… If I remember well Syd was thinking of moving to NYC because he was invited by a band from over there to join them. Some people in Europe started to have doubts about their sincerity concerning booking tours… Looking back: I’m sure there was a reasonable explanation for their choices but at that time we were left with question-marks. ‘Nausea’ was related to Profane Existence (the Twin Cities’ answer to Maximum Rock’n'Roll) and we knew Dan (Siskind, one of their shitworkers) was gonna travel with them (‘Nausea’s lp Extinction was out on P.E.); this together with their furious sound (dual vocals) and great recordings was more than enough reason to get them to play here… ‘Nausea’ were vocalists Al Long & Amy Miret (at that time married to ‘Agnostic Front’s singer Roger Miret), bassist John John Jesse, guitarist Vic(tor) ‘Venom’ Dominicis (ex-’Reagan Youth’) and drummer Roy Mayorga. Marketeer Bruno announced them as “New York Mega Crust” (smile) but what was more interesting was that they were anarcho-punk squatters and political (activists) from the Tompkins Square scene…

‘Chronic Disease’ (Bruno promotes them on the flyer as “legendary Belgian thrash”) were indeed in their heydays but remained the same dedicated, down-to-earth guys I’d gotten to know 3-4 years before… Great lyrics, decent attitude. The music Leffe (vocals), Sling (drums), Meyer (guitar) and Vrokker (bass) produced was (to me) more grindy than thrashy but the important thing was they moved/affected people…

On the back of the flyers Bruno wrote “Also ‘Holy Guns’, wild Italian HC”…I can ‘t remember them playing but they did… A 2^nd passage of ‘Turtle Terror’ (‘E.N.T.’ style grindcore?) didn’t leave any marks in my brain either… I do remember that after the concert, and long-awaited talks and chats with friends (in bands and others), I crammed several boxes of records and zines (Bruno’s and my distro-stuff) into my tiny R4’s little trunk, and took 3-4 extra people (Bruno, Kathy,…) to Gent at a snail’s pace…

Brob

Syd & Lorelei ripped off and lied to ‘Nausea’ at every turn. In the beginning I didn’t notice anything going on but by mid-way through the tour I figured out what was going on. Lorelei made the mistake of thinking I was working for some big record-label that doesn’t give a fuck about the band and actually told me a lot of her ways “to rip-off bands” and so on. Disgusting.

Dan (Profane Existence), personal communication ’91

‘Nausea’s roadie Jim Martin published his tour-diary in Profane Existence #49… I actually did make it to the Vort’n Vis on three different occasions. The first was with ‘Nausea’ in 1991, the second time was with ‘Pissed’ in 1993 and the third was with ‘Extinction of Mankind’ and ‘Misery’ in 1996.

Dan Siskind

We toured Europe three times, focusing on shows in squatted houses and put on by collectives like Smurfpunx. By our third tour, we were playing to pretty large audiences of around 800 to 1200 people and it was still very important to us to play the squats and collectives. Luckily, our road-managers Lorelei Rahnefeld and Syd Migx (from the great Italian hardcore band ‘C.C.M.) were also very committed to the squats and supported our decision. [Brob: they ran their booking ‘Big White Flash at Six’ from the famous Van Hall squat, where they lived – see Smurfpunx @ Van Hall, Amsterdam]

Debra Adele, ‘False Prophets’ guitarist

The people of ‘Nausea’ were glad they could play with us because they kinda liked our music. I remember not so many people showed up. [Brob: In my mind the V.V. was packed and sweaty; an intense evening…] The ‘Hiatus’ crew did….

Leffe, ‘Chronic Disease’ vocalist

It’s one of the rare concerts where I was straight-edgers & crust-punks have a good time together! I think because of ‘Nausea’s song on the NYHC compilation… The SxE where jumping about when they played!

Karl Penando, ‘6 Feet Over’ guitarist

This was an example of a day where the ‘scene’ worked at its best. The Vort’n Vis had a nice atmosphere and there was a real camaraderie between everybody. ‘Nausea’ were humble and friendly and seemed genuinely grateful to get a decent veggie meal (and decent Belgian beers!). Musically they were very inspiring at the time… Isn’t their drummer in some big band now? Anyway, thanks and respect go out to the Vort’n Vis is crew and ye old punks…

Steve ‘Sling’ Slingeneyer, drummer ‘Chronic Disease’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

“Horrible beer prices! Cheers mate” (Sti, Olli, Kurt, ‘Turtle Terror’)

“Thanks a lot – Bye” (Pierpaolo ‘Holy Guns Inc’)

mutual admiration… ;-)

additions wellcomed!…

91-02-08 Nations On Fire – (Betray) – Sloth

‘Nations On Fire’ and the Dutch straight-edge band ‘Betray’ (with ex-’Behind The Dikes’ [see: Roxy, Dendermonde, 3 may 86 (Laitz, B.T.D.,…)] Marc Hanou on bass & Casper Kraima singing, and Paul Van Der Vlist on guitar & Marco Somers drumming) intended this as a start to embark for a joint tour of the U.K. The poster states ‘A benefit show for the ‘Nations on Fire’ / ‘Betray’ U.K. tour 1991′. ‘N.O.F.’ were to play a show for Smurfpunx [Peanuts, Lede, 23 mar 91 (N.O.F.)] but this one was the first one (with David of ‘Scraps’ singing, Ed ‘Ward’ Verhaeghe / Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers on guitars, ex-’C.P.D.’ Jaak drumming and Jeroen Lauwers on bass) and they immediately took of on a tour… Also playing were ‘Sloth’, a local grindcore band with Dieter ‘Lord Moloch’ Roelstraete doing vocals, David ‘Spans Hrac’ Stubbe (guitar), Fabrice (bass) & Jeroen (drums).

Brob

‘Sloth’ in (the hall of) the Vort’n Vis (courtesy of Dieter R)

According to me there was hardly anyone attending that night because everything was blocked due to heavy snow. ‘Betray’ were to play aswell but because the bad weather they drove directly from The Netherlands to the U.K. I know there’s a video-recording of the show but don’t know where to find it…

So the first show on this tour was in the VV and then we went over to the U.K. for some 5 (Manchester, Exeter, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield,…). I think we had 6 songs so we did very short concerts. Hazel (played guitar) was still in the band but shortly after she took off / was asked to leave (choose yourself). The tour was indeed together with ‘Betray’ (some members of ‘B.T.D.’, people might remember them from the ‘On Our Way To Fools Paradise’ compilation-lp). People that came a long were: Joris (Conspiracy recs), Stefan ‘Veggie’ Boens [R.I.P.] & Ghilain [Vermeersch], and Theun K. ‘Betray’ had just released a 7″ on Crucial Response recs, I think we just had a tape out. The tour was rather grey and snowed under, nobody gave a fuck, suffered from the cold, slept badly,… Actually, we shouldn’t have been there but it was a good learning-experience, got to know only to count on ourselves. The guy who set up the tour was a friendly bloke that lost so much money he never organised anything again.

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F’ bassplayer

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcomed!…