92-01-12 That’s It – Behind The Smile – Chronic Disease – Parkinson Square

‘That’s It’ was a melodic pop-punk-rock band (they’re influences – as they stated themselves – being ‘The Pixies’, ‘Fugazi’, ‘Gang Of Four’, ‘The Jam’, etc.) with ex ‘Youth Brigade’ guitarist/vocalist (and Better Youth Organization founder) Shawn Stern. Bassist Greta (replacing Andy Hadel on this tour) wrote something in the V.V. guestbook. Besides them there was Mark Phillips (guitar, vocals) and Tom(my) ‘Stupid’ Withers (drums). But the latter left or was kicked out somewhere along the line… I didn’t go and see them because I had the impression the whole thing was rather hyped. Bruno, in his well-known marketing style announced this as some kind of hardcore all-star band…

‘That’s It’ put out a 7” on Frank Babel’s Blasting Youth recs in 1992 featuring David Andler (drums & vocals), Shawn Stern (vocals & guitar) and Mark Phillips (guitar, bass + vocals). The recordings were done at Southern Studios in London (January ‘92). There was also a 12” on Shawn’s B.Y.O. recs the year before (entitled Really?!; with Tommy Stupid on drums)…

In the guestbook Shawn writes this was the 2^nd to last show but there’s another entry in the guestbook on 92-05-24…

Nowadays Tom Withers is a DJ & he produces drum’n’bass under the alias ‘Klute’…

‘Behind The Smile’ vocalist Christophe Chojna ensures me his band played aswell. They’d performed at the Vort’n Vis before (91-10-12) when they had their demo-tape out. My mate Arnaud Huftier (who did Uprising Decay zine) played bass; Laurent did drums and Rudy guitar. In 1992 they did a split 7” with the Finnish ‘Juggling Jugulars’ called ‘A Wish To Dream’ on Sylvain Vilette’s Bad Card recs (1992) on which Laurent & Christophe were replaced. (They took a second guitarist, Pierre, later). ‘B.T.S.’ played another show on 93-02-21.

‘Parkinson Square’ was a HC band from Lyon (France) with Gilles Laval (guitar), Laurent Frick (vocals), Lucien Mingoia (drums; replacing Hugo Maimone) & Richard Gaultier (bass; replacing Akis Amprazis). Don’t remember much about them, except that they seemed to aim to become mainstream and were just using the D.I.Y. scene as a stepping-stone… Not sure if they actually played?

Probably the last ever show of ‘Chronic Disease’…? ‘Leffe’ (vocals), ‘Sling’ (drums), ‘Meyer’ (guitar) and ‘Vrokker’ (bass) were about to call it quits. The following years they would start a string of bands.

Brob

<<I don’t talk to any of the guys that I recorded with. Tommy Stupid left in the middle of the tour, which was really screwed because we were on the East-coast and were about to leave for a 7 week tour. I think he’s an asshole and he’s lucky I didn’t beat the crap out of him. He would be wise to stay the hell away from me! Mark Phillips is a great guitar-player, just a strange person and I don’t talk to him. He was in ‘Down By Law’ and ‘Joykiller’, but I guess that didn’t work out either. David Andler, who played on the European tour and on the German 7”, still keeps in contact. He lives in Maryland and has played in various bands and now runs a small label/distro called Morphius. He’s a really cool guy, we had fun touring Europe.>> (interview with Shawn in Enough fanzine 1999)

I was the 1^st bassplayer of ‘Four Walls Falling’ but I didn’t tour with them in Europe; but I did tour with ‘That’s It’. The singer/guitarist was Shawn Stern from ‘Youth Brigade’, the drummer was named Dave [David Andler] and the other guitarist was Mark [Phillips] who also played in ‘Down By Law’. We toured with a lovely bunch of English guys called ‘Frogs Of War’, among them was bassist Kieran Heneghan and drummer Tim Green.

Greta Brinkman, ‘That’s It’ bassplayer

I do remember the gig; it was around December of 1991. I think there were a few other bands on the bill; one of them was kind of a crust-core type band from Belgium and the guitar-player spoke English with an accent from south London which seemed odd because most Europeans speak American English.

Mark Phillips, guitarist ‘That’s It’

The ‘Frogs of War’s part of the tour with ‘That’s It’ had come to an end by the time they played your venue. We’d been their support for around 5 weeks, from November ‘91 to January ‘92. Great memories – the ones I can actually remember! Never made it to Belgium unfortunately…

Kieran Heneghan, ‘Frogs of War’s bassplayer

We played with ‘That’s It’ but didn’t play the Belgium leg of the tour I think… 100% sure (ok – 99% sure) that we didn’t have the pleasure of playing there (unfortunately)…

Tommy Withers (ex ‘Stupids’) left ‘That’s It’ for the following reason: he met a girl after a show and just refused to get in the van and leave for the next show…just refused to leave her…

Tom Cockcroft, ‘Frogs of War’s guitarist

That’s not true. I was there.

Andy Turner, Full Circle recs label-boss & tour-manager [released their LP All Said And Done in 1990]

‘Frogs Of War’ hailed from Huddersfield (also hometown of Andy Turner and his ‘Instigators’). They were supposed to be influenced by the likes of ‘H.D.Q.’, ‘Snuff’ and ‘Instigators’: UK melodic hardcore punk. The band was: Tim Green on drums, Adrian Day – rhythm-guitar, Tom Cockcroft – lead-guitar, Kieran Heneghan on bass and guy called ‘Digby’ singing…

Brob

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

92-04-25 [Feed Your Head]

Chad – Rob – Frank – Mick (1989)

The last gigs we did were for the October 1990 French tour. [Brob: There was actually a show that we did with Smurfpunx in Aalst, Belgium: 90-10-06. The tour was organised by Arnaud Huftier of ‘Behind The Smile’. In 1989 a tour with ‘Oi Polloi’ brought them to Diksmuide…] If I remember correctly there was going to be another (mainly) French/Spanish tour around April 1992 which was arranged by a contact in France and was possibly with ‘Dan’ (another UK band around at the time) but I never saw the venue-list for it. In the end ‘F.Y.H. had to pull out due to a family illness and it was never re-scheduled.

We are currently setting up a new ‘F.Y.H.’ site…

Rob(in) Bain

I only saw/heard this band once (or twice) but I definitely liked them so even though they didn’t make it to the Vort’n Vis, I want to mention them here…

‘Feed Your Head’, from Manchester, were playing melodic/atmospheric/poetic (punk)rock that definitely stood out from the grindy/crusty stuff. The bassplayer was Frank, the drums were played by Chad (also vocals), Rob(in) Bain (vocals) & Michael ‘Mick’ Pye (had left the band in1990) both played guitar and violin. They did a split ep (with ‘Hex’) called‎ Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained (on Words of Warning), the ep Realm Of The Gods and the excellent lp Stargazer (the latter 2 on Crucial Climate).

Brob

review in Tilt! #5

91-12-31 Disturbing Foresights – Neuthrone – Blindfold – Scraps – Union Morbide – [Negative Stance]

cover of ep entitled 1992

New Year’s Eve at the Vort’n Vis? Of course! Why not!? This is where our friends were and where we could meet likeminded and interesting people from all around…

I had heard the music of ‘Negative Stance’ already on the split album with ‘Kismet HC’ and corresponded with their drummer Bill who did Actions Of Rebirth zine. These guys were also active in the scene around the well-known Villa Amalias squat in Athens. So I was looking forward to meet him/them. Unfortunately, for some reason they didn’t play… Can ‘t remember if they didn’t tour or if they just didn’t make it to the Vort’n Vis. The drummer was Vasilis ‘Bill’ Babouris, bassist/vocalist Makis, later John (Giannis Tzamilis) and guitarist Stamatis Spiliotopoulos. At some timepoint there was also singer Alex…

‘Disturbing Foresights’ played innovative HC. Some of them were organising punk-shows in the Mevr. Latenstaan youth-centre in Zoetermeer (near The Hague) which I visited when my friends’ band ‘Hate Crew’ played there (end of the 80s). The band consisted of Cor Hoogerdijk (drums & vocals; also in ‘The Incredible Softies’), Chiel Schouten (guitar; also in ‘The Incredible Softies’; a bit later replaced by Sebastiaan ‘Bas’ de Neef), Koen Bakker (bass), Iwan P. Vol & Ron Osephius (vocals). Ron had been in Barcelona where he (and his partner, at that time, Rosa) booked quite a few bands from up here. I also wonder if Arni van Driel (one of the guys who arranged things in Latenstaan) came with the band that night… They were on their 1991 X-Mass European tour with Berlin/Hamburg’s ‘Apoplexy’ (but I’m pretty sure these didn’t play at the V.V.). Their EP called 1992 was just out (see cover).

As Jeroen explains ‘Nations On Fire’ (who had been announced) didn’t play. David who was singing for them (and was not involved in the accident) probably played with his original band ‘Scraps’. Living just across the border, they played the V.V. many times. Can ‘t remember if they actually did this one…

‘Neuthrone’s appearance was, I thought; their first (of a whole series in the V.V.) that night (Steve W. explains below it’s not). They were locals and helped out at the Vort’n Vis… Guitarist/vocalist Steve W. had moved back to Ieper from the U.K. and formed this ‘sludgecore’ band together with (ex ‘Silly Old Fart’) David Stubbe (drums) and Fabrice Baclet (bass). Tim ‘Nutje’ Denutte replaced the latter a while later.

Being local and helping out at the Vort’n Vis, ‘Blindfold’ played another set, just shortly after their debut [91-12-21] here…

Apparently ‘Union Morbide’ played here aswell (see below) but I can’t remember that. I do recall them playing 91-11-23.

Brob

I recall that I played bass for ‘Shortsight’ at the V.V. once that X-Mas period [91-12-21] but I’m also certain I spent New Year’s Eve 1991 at La Gare in Lauwe and not at the Vort’n Vis viz. ‘N.O.F. seems unlikely ‘cause Edward hadn’t returned from the U.S. and Jaak still wasn’t recovered from his car-crash injuries. [91-09-01]

Jeroen Lauwers

This is our and my only performance in Belgium…so far. We entered the country through the German-speaking part and got followed after a few kilometres. It appeared to be the cops, who wanted a closer look at the inside of our bus. Yep, we didn’t smell that fresh but we got away quite easily. We had done 12 gigs by then. Every school-holiday we took the opportunity to tour and Ieper became our debut in your beautiful country; it was also the last one of that tour.

About the Vort’n Vis, I can remember that the stage was right next to the entrance; and during our set two bored straight-edge-kids were gazing at us. When I listened back to the recordings (available on-line), it appeared that the public, back in the pub, was rather enthusiastic…

I play in another band now (called ‘Zoikle’) with GW Sok (ex ‘The Ex’) and I’m a part-time music-teacher.

Cor Hoogerdijk, ‘Disturbing Foresights’ drummer

I believe the stage collapsed underneath me…

Chiel Schouten, ‘Disturbing Foresights’ guitarist

‘Apoplexy’ was on tour with us but apparently didn’t play here [Brob: probably because this was the last show before ‘D.F.’ headed home…]. After Sebastiaan de Neef we took another guitarist: Arjan van der Schee (who had been in ‘Brutal Obcenity’). Ron was in the band before me. He had gotten back from Barcelona by then (he’s not with Rosa since a long time). Myself, until recently I played in ‘Possible Suspect’ and nowadays in the ‘Pisnozems’ (and some others). Arni lives in Kopenhagen. I don’t think he was on this tour, but he did come often.

Iwan, ‘Disturbing Foresights’ singer

‘Disturbing Foresights’ (pics by Eric W.)

I recorded ‘Disturbing Foresights’ live that night [link above] (I also have recordings of ‘Scraps’, ‘N.O.F.’). I enjoyed their music, kind of rap-core [???], as well as their ep, full of meaning and good lyrics about the European Fortress, animal-rights, etc.

Eric Wawr, React distro

The first line-up (on the split LP with ‘Kismet HC’) was: Bill drums, Alekos on guitar, Alex ‘Z’ guitar & vocals and Makis on bass. When Alex left the band, the band became a trio: Bill on drums, John bass and vocals and Stamatis guitar. They recorded the second LP Angels Of Deceit.

Alex, ‘Negative Stance’

‘Neuthrone’s 1^st gig was in September 1991 if I remember well, perhaps October. We’d played a short, un-announced set at the Leet fest [91-09-14]. We also did the gig with ‘Debiele Eenheid’, last gig ever by ‘Sloth’ that was [91-10-05]. That was perhaps our first official 1^st gig as ‘Neuthrone’. Fabrice played in the band from August 1991 to June 1992. Then he started a training to become a sailor & was at sea for months and months. In the summer of ‘92 we asked Tim (‘Nutje’) if he was interested. We recorded 5 songs in August ‘92 in Brugge (3 for the 1^st 7” on Genet recs & another 2 for compilations and stuff (but they actually only appeared on a ‘Neuthrone’ LP with unpublished songs in 2004). Because Tim wasn’t ready for recordings yet, I played all the bass-tracks.

Steve W., ‘Neuthrone’ guitarist

‘Neuthrone’, ‘promo-pic’: David – Fabrice – Steve

I’m pretty positive we (‘Union Morbide’) played on 31^st of December 1991 in the Vort’n Vis! We were on tour with the ‘Scraps’ back then and we sort of teamed up with ‘Disturbing Foresights’ the night before when all 3 of us played at a festival in Ransbach-Baumbach in Germany. I remember my surprise about the total absence of fireworks at NewYear because in the Netherlands, Belgium has a reputation when it comes to fireworks: every Dutchman goes to Belgium to buy the ‘heavy stuff’. There was also another band playing that night (don’t remember their name) and the crowd was a mix of straight-edgers and drunk-punks – a little tense at times, but all in all a good spirit.

Philip van Koeveringe, ‘Union Morbide’ guitarist

So we played at the Vort’n Vis on New Year’s Eve… Inside: Flemish punx in hardcore outfit (caps and checkered shirts), also (on the other side of the venue) Walloon punx (spiked hair, tartan pants, boozing until Sid comes and gets them.) This dichotomy was unknown to us in Beverwijk – we didn’t preach punk or hardcore but hardcore-punk. We were ill , not just in our heads but also our bodies. And when we layed down our heads after having played – and underneath us the festivities continued in full swing (with here and there a yell about boozing and not boozing, in French and Flemish – which led to some squabbles) – the astmathic sucking of our drummer Michel on his inhaler provided a cheerful undertone.

Maxim Aafjes, ‘Union Morbide’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

visitors

additions wellcome!…