91-12-08 Green Day – Doctor and The Crippens

‘Green Day’ then reminded me most of all of ‘Hüsker Dü’ … ‘Doctor & The Crippens’ were some sort of a punk ‘cabaret’, completely with fireworks and exploding cabbages! The guy who did the fire-spitting almost set the ceiling on fire and the fuel dripped on our heads…

Henk Loobuyck

‘Doctor and The Crippens’ had played a show at Netwerk, Aalst (90-02-03) but this wasn’t organised by Smurfpunx because we thought the promoter was too commercial. For some reason (I guess Bruno didn’t have the same scruples as me) they ended up at the V.V. a year later… The ‘Crippens’ members were Nick Palmer (‘Max Von Rheinheart’; vocals), Tom Myall (guitar), Wayne Elliot (bass) and Dave Ellesmere (‘Jesus van Go(u)gh’; ex ‘Discharge’; drums).

When I was in San Francisco in 1989, I met a lot of people (at Mordam recs, Blacklist mailorder, etc.) and also visited the Maximum Rock’n’Roll house. At that time Lawrence Livermore’s label Lookout recs was also up and coming… Of course I bought a relatively big amount of vinyl. Some was by this young, fresh-sounding band ‘Green Day’. I liked their uptempo melodic punk-rock style. So when Christy Colcord (Lookout Europe) – who, back then, was living in London – contacted me (I think we’d met when she was touring with ‘Inside Out’ earlier that year) to help find some gigs, I didn’t hesitate. (see Brob’s tours: 6th – ‘La Zone’, Liège * 7th – ‘Kalashnikov’, Terneuzen * 8th – ‘Vort’n Vis’, Ieper). Little did I know that they were soon to become ‘major’…

Mike Dirnt (Michael Ryan Pritchard; bass), Tré Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III; drums) and Billie Joe Armstrong acted really ‘cool’. They weren’t really communicative, to say the least. Were they having a ‘green day’? Or were they already expecting some fancy, commercial venue? Never saw any photos of that gig… The only trace of their passage seems to be the entry in the Vort’n Vis guestbook.

Brob

photo by Philippe Klur (published in Uprising Decay #4)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

90-05-01 The Next World – Headcore

from the local zine Pyrobolum (#3)

‘The Next World’ were (brothers?; according to Rich Militia) Steve ‘Geezer’ (No, not the one of ‘Black Sabbath’…) Butler (bass) & Darron ‘Bill’ Ward (guitar & vocals), and a drum-machine from Bradford (they were also involved with the 1 in 12 there). Some people called their music a bit droney… ‘Headcore’ were Brench (guitar) & Sebastian ‘Wolf(head)’ Kelly (drums) – also Bradford-based. (Wolfhead later became the drummer of the jazz-horror-punk band ‘Phobos Deimos’).

Nice guys…and touring with them were Petesy (Burns) & Louanne (Martin) of ‘Stalag 17′ & ‘F.U.A.L.’. I had organised a tour that was actually first intended for ‘Indian Dream’ (Scarborough) – Noid & Lesley had asked for help – but in the end they couldn’t make it (They had to save up money to release their album since Bluurg recs couldn’t afford to do it.). The full schedule is hazy: May 1^st was definitely in Ieper… [Besides that?; Brob’s tours: Apr 28^th – ‘Troll’ (Hoorn, Nl) * Apr 29^th – ‘In Der Au’ (Frankfurt, Ger) * Apr 30^th – ‘WNC’ (Groningen, Nl) * May 2^nd – ‘BlaBla’ (Bonn, Ger) * May 3^rd – Nijmegen?Arnhem? * May 4^th – ‘Innocent’ (Hengelo, Nl)]

I wrote about ‘The Next World’s 7” (Public Order) in my zine: “Tight, rhythmic (programmed drumming), quite danceable punk-rock. Socio-critical lyrics”. Something similar about their lp (Resurgence); this was manufactured and distributed by the Bradford Music Collective (bradford-music-collective.co.uk). The first was in support of the Campaign against the Public Order Act (protesting the fact that the police were given new means to “control political unrest”). I also still have ‘Headcore’s 7” (called Student Bastard; see cover) which I also reviewed in Tilt! # 6: “Repetitive and simple punk based on acoustic guitar and drums. Very critical lyrics”.

Some time later we would meet up with Steve & Darron again when they came over with ‘Virtual Reality’…

Brob

My problem is that my memory is not great. I have recollections of driving the ‘Next World’ around but I have no specific memories of places or events. Wolf from ‘Headcore’ is a friend of mine.

Petesy Burns

I do remember that short tour, and very fondly – we had a lot of fun scampering ‘round Europe in our transit-van full of gear and people. You’re right, Petesy and Louanne came along – the original reason was the rest of us either didn’t have a driving-license or were too young to get hire van-insurance for overseas trips. Having them along was a blast.

I don’t remember very much detail about the tour but long days in that van though. I recall smuggling some Polish punk, whose visa had elapsed, into Germany on small back-roads. I remember dropping a guy who came along with us some of the way – it might have been Dowey – off in a park in Amsterdam, because he didn’t want to come to the next gig, and we arranged to pick him up at the same place next day. We got back the next day and he hadn’t moved a muscle in 24 hours, just kipped on the same bench in the park the whole time where we’d left him sitting.

I remember playing with ‘The Ex’ somewhere outside Amsterdam (I think) and us (‘Headcore’) being pretty shite that night and feeling a bit embarrassed. And tipping up at a festival near Groningen we were supposed to play at, to find it was just finishing. The organisers did a whip-round in the remains of the crowd for us because otherwise we had no money to drive to the next gig. I also recall playing a big squat-venue in Stuttgart (I think – unless it was Frankfurt [‘In Der Au’ in Rödelheim, near Frankfurt]), which was very organised – food all made for us, proper places to sleep. It had crazy, full-on fortifications against the police and neo-nazis. I remember playing one venue (which I think was Holland but might have been Belgium) where there were very few people, but we had a ball just the two bands, dancing to each other and taking advantage of long instrument leads to take the guitars right out into the street in the middle of songs and keep playing. That was our last gig of the tour I think.

But do you know, I don’t have memories that I can knowingly pin on the Vort ‘n Vis…

I lost touch with Brench or Steve or Darren. Back then we were all involved in the autonomous centre the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford. I think Brench is in Wales these days but you might just be able to get a contact for Steve or Darron via the 1 in 12 Club, which still exists.

Sebastian ‘Wolf(head)’ Kelly (drums for ‘Headcore’)

I remember the tour with ‘Headcore’. Think we played Bonn and Berlin [Brob: not Berlin; see tour-schedule] that time, as well as Holland and Belgium. The guy from Poland was Arek and I remember driving around trying to follow the back roads on the map. Another memory I’ve recalled was being taken to a lake by the organiser of one gig, maybe Bonn. I think she was surprised when we got there that not one of us could swim. It was a really hot day though so we just sat around and enjoyed the scenery….

Darron Ward, ‘The Next World’

additions wellcome!…

92-10-10 Man Lifting Banner – Feeding The Fire – Blindfold – Shortsight

One of the best shows I’ve been to at the V.V. Saskia [Verbeke; ‘Shortsight’ singer] set it up and I helped her. Great concert; with an amazing ‘M.L.B.’!

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’ singer

A year and a half before this one, Smurfpunx already co-organised a benefit for the Anti Fascist Front at Netwerk in Aalst (91-03-03) with ‘Seein’Red’ & ‘Man Lifting Banner’ so I was already acquainted with the latter. The Vandenberg bros (Paul & Olav, guitar & drums for ‘Seein’Red’ but also ‘M.L.B.) and Jos had been mates since I organised ‘Lärm’ gigs around here and interviewed them for my zine (Lärm interview Tilt! #3). I’d gotten to know bassplayer Burt (Griffioen) because of the stickers he did for ‘Lärm’ and the artwork in their Definite Choice zine. I’d exchanged some letters with singer Michiel aswell and I think I already had gotten to know Big at the time I was booking bands at the squatted ‘Bank’ in his hometown Apeldoorn (where he helped Marcel Schilpzand).

‘Feeding The Fire’ were already regulars at the V.V. aswell (91-12-21, 92-04-18, 92-09-05). There was a special connection between the Limburg pack and the H8000 crew… So it was obvious that Saskia’s band ‘Shortsight’ and her brother Hans’ band ‘Blindfold’ played aswell…

‘F.T.F.’ pic courtesy of Jase Fox: Har(ald) Brosselt (guitar), Rob Franssen (vocals), René Natzel (drums), Illona Stephan (guitar)

‘F.T.F.’ photo by Jean-Paul Frijns: Rob Franssen (vocals), Illona Stephan (guitar) & Roger ‘NBH’ (bass)

‘Inner Circle’ (no not the reggae band), a straight-edge band from Germany, were new to me. Rob Franssen tells me they were named ‘Spawn’ by then already. (They changed their name in ’92 but the guestbook still mentions ‘Inner Circle’ and they were still announced like that on the flyer…) ‘Spawn’ did a split 7” with ‘F.T.F’ on Peter Hoeren’s Crucial Response recs. René Natzel (drums), Patrick Uhle (guitar) and Daniel Frankowski (guitar) were also in ‘Spawn’ (with vocalist Chris Van Dornick and bassist Dirk Zeiser). Don’t know anymore who Mike and Holger (probably ‘Inner Circle’s bassist) were who signed the guestbook…

Brob Tilt

‘Inner Circle’ changed their name because of the silly reggae-band connection. They had a different vocalist than ‘Spawn’: Mike Krajewski. If he’s in the guestbook then he was most likely singing. I was at the show but I can’t remember the details. Christoph indeed replaced him later and Dirk Zeiser replaced Holger on bass.

Michael Müller, Counter Clockwise zine

Concerning ‘InnerXCircle’: there was Patrick Uhlemann on second guitar and myself on bass. The guy that replaced me later on was Dirk Zeiser, indeed. Great times!

Holger Andt

Tom De Pauw and myself were stagediving [and others] so much [see pics] that ‘M.L.B. were complaining/ criticizing us!

Vik Bulik

L.S.C., the Last Struggle Crew was a militant leftist, socialist, politically oriented group straight-edgers from various countries; hence also the name Red Edge. It was more a reaction to various op militant straight-edge groups, mainly in the US, that focussed purely on straight-edge. Straight-edge was of course also very important to us but it was a part of a bigger, politcal setting.

Har, ‘F.T.F.’ guitarist

In October, I took Ian [Simpson; Helene and him both ran the Darlington record-label] with me back [Helene had been here on 92-09-05 & 92-09-06] to Ieper to see ‘Man Lifting Banner’ play at the Vort’n Vis. We bumped into Nick Royles, who had also travelled over for the gig. Without the huge amounts of people travelling and sleeping over for the summer festival, this trip was a great opportunity to get more time to talk and hang out with new-found friends in Belgium and from Holland. Although I now wince a little at ‘M.L.B.’ stuff, the gig was really great. I remember myself, Saskia, Hazel and Mel (from Canada who was still over in Europe) all at the front together, screaming “Empire!”. Felt like quite a moment at the time, being up front with a small crew of women, a vivid contrast to standing at the side of gigs in the UK watching men do their pushing and shoving thing!

Helene Keller, Subjugation recs (subjugationrecords.wordpress.com)

‘Man Lifting Banner’ rocked the house… great show! Bart was drawing classic ‘Colt Turkey’ cartoons all the time. ‘Inner Circle’ (pre-‘Spawn’), ‘Feeding the Fire’, ‘Shortsight’ and ‘Blindfold’ were energetic too. In these days the European hardcore scene was blooming. Great memories.

Peter Hoeren, Crucial Response recs

‘Man Lifting Banner’ (photo by Karl Penando): Paul – Olav – Michiel – Burt – Big (spot Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers, Jeroen Lauwers, Tom Chapman, Rob Franssen, Jean-Paul Frijns,… in the crowd)

Tom De Pauw crowdsurfing during ‘Blindfold’s set (pic by Vik B.)

Jean-Paul Frijns crowdsurfing… (pic by ?; with Hans Verbeke, Jan Claus, Brob Tilt, etc. – & is that Willy Hiatus in front of the bar?)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…