91-03-16 Nations On Fire – Scraps – Cry For Change – Private Jesus Detector

“What we do ourselves, we do better”

First ‘N.O.F.’ gig with ‘classic’ line-up (Ed, Jaak, David & myself), without Hazel. [On 91-02-08 she was still in the band] The venue was packed and it was broiling. We played a heavy, macho set: all 4 with bare chest and everything played at double speed. ‘P.J.D. was a band from Brugge, crusty record-collectors (Spatje, Leffe; can’t remember the other 2) that imitated their examples. Not very original but tight, and friendly guys. ‘Cry For Change’ were from Tielt [Brob: actually Oostrozebeke]. For a while very prominently present but suddenly disappeared. Musically rather smooth ‘Dag Nasty’ /late ‘7 Seconds’. Released one demo but nothing more.

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F’ bassplayer

‘Nations On Fire’ (source unknown); in the audience: Ghilain Vermeersch (Be Yourself recs), Hans Verbeke,…

‘Private Jesus Detector’ from Brugge were Koen ‘Siesele’ Lammens (bass), Leffe (drums), Peter ‘Pette’ Roose (guitar), Jurgen ‘Spatje’ Fiems (vocals). Leffe was the vocalist of ‘Chronic Disease’ and would later play in more bands (e.g. ‘Katastrophobia’, ‘Ravaged’,…) Their music could be described as Scandi-crustcore; raw, heavy and fast. They had a demo out around that time and in ’92 they recorded their How Evil Can One Get? 7” that Urban Alert recs released.

‘Cry For Change’ consisted of Jean-Pierre Verhulst (guitar), Peter Maes (bass), Johan Maes (vocals), Piet (drums), Chris (guitar). Some of them were SxE-minded but I don’t think they wanted to be labelled as just straight-edge band… They a had a demo out entitled As Time Goes by… (where Uniform Jan, Hans Verbeke and ‘Spirit Of Youth’ did the backing-vocals). A positive bunch of people playing decent hardcore…

Since ‘Scraps’ vocalist was also singing in ‘Nations On Fire’ and they were living not so far away from Ieper (their hometown Lille is just across the border), they were invited to play quite regularly at the V.V. Their attitude had also developed from ‘drunk-punk’ to a more political engaged one. We’d had them play for Smurfpunx (Netwerk, Aalst, 6 oct 90 (with False Prophets) & Netwerk, Aalst, 3 mar 91 (with Seein’Red).) and we gradually got to respect one and other… The active members at that time were David D. and his brother, guitarist Raphael (nowadays in ‘Résilience’), bassist Tomoy (later also in ‘Unhinged’; nowadays in ‘Gun Addiction’ and some other bands) and drummer Xavier (squats in Barcelona; later replaced by Pierre).

Brob

Some pictures of ‘Scraps’ (kindly donated by Eric ‘React’ W.)

(extras by Eric & extras by Justin Neumaier)

Alain ‘Vrokker’ De Bock [also ex ‘Chronic Disease’] did 2^nd vocals in the very beginning. It’s possible he still did this one… [Brob: He was pictured singing during the first ‘P.J.D.’ gig at the V.V. on 90-08-25 but not on the pics of this one.] The 7” was released in 1994. Siesele & Vrokker later played for ‘Barjackers’. A few years ago we also got a ‘discography’ lp out.

Leffe, ‘Private Jesus Detector’ drummer

Some photos of ‘P.J.D.’ (kindly provided by Spatje):

(Dieter ‘Lord Moloch’ R. in the crowd; Johan DW behind the bar…)

Very little recollections, luckily I sometimes took notes about our gigs. This one was our 3^rd at the Vort’n Vis (the 2^nd was with ‘Zygote’ & ‘Bad Influence’ [90-10-27], but we were probably not announced on the bill then). Even though I think we didn’t fit in with the other bands – giving the fact that they were straight edge but also musically (‘Scraps’ didn’t sound the way they did in 1987) – the concert, the atmosphere was good [Brob: We always tried to get a mix of bands with different styles and ‘ideologies’ at the V.V. Sometimes that worked out, sometimes it didn’t…]; an average turn-out I guess. Don’t know if ‘Vrokker’ was still on stage with us. ‘Pette’ was the only one that didn’t play in other bands after ‘P.J.D.’. Spatje went into dub-reggae and I’ve been in ‘Corpus Christi’, ‘Suffocare’ and ‘The Barjackers’. ‘P.J.D.’ was actually derived from another band ‘Capital Offence’ (1988/’89; fast-core) with Sling, Spatje, Pette, Brand en Leffe (I think). They did 2 gigs (in Brugge & in Oostende)… [Leffe: ‘Capital Offence’ was Spatje (vocals), Pette (guitar), Brand (bass) & Leffe (drums); one gig, unannounced in Oostende. ‘Capital Offence’ was the offspring of ‘B.L.M.’ (‘Brugse Lawaai Makers’) – without me.]

Siesele, ‘Private Jesus Detector’ bassplayer

We all worked together on the ‘P.J.D.’ lp, 15 years after the split. It was released on Vulle Pulle recs and had 2 pressings. I don’t play anymore music, at least not in the hardcore/punk genre, I’m into psychedelics and stuff… The link with what ‘P.J.D.’ did, is hard to find; however I still find the punk/HC ‘classics’ enjoyable, that never goes away!!!

Jurgen ‘Spatje’ Fiems, ‘Private Jesus Detector’ vocalist

First time I saw a Straight Edge band (‘N.O.F.’) perform and the fact that most people there didn’t smoke was refreshing for the lungs… I thought that was cool! Nevertheless I also liked the crusties of ‘P.J.D.’!

Henk Loobuyck

additions wellcome!…