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… I think they had a demo out at the time and a 7” called Blind (recorded in November ’90 with Ju(lian) doing guitars & vocals, ‘Cyb’ on drums, ‘Stey’ on 2^nd guitar and ‘Fletch’ on bass). The band came from the Manchester area and played melodic HC.

‘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 De Meyer 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 Merveillie singing, Vincent Theeten 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

‘Decline’ were Paul ‘Cyb’ Lewis (drums), Graham (bass), Julian [Parkinson] (guitar & vocals) at that time. We were playing a sort of HC type music à la ‘Prong’. I remember the show, the stage was made up from crates and boards, it was hot and there was a great HC crowd. I remember before the Vort’n Vis show we went for vegan food at a house with some really nice people, the guys who put the show on were great people. We played another show in Belgium in a very small café [the Pits in Kortrijk] as well….

Paul ‘Cyb’ Lewis, ‘Decline’ drummer

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 wellcome!…