93-03-14 Christ On A Crutch – Anarcrust – Quite Fresh Phobia

The problem was not a broken van but the customs didn’t let us enter Switzerland and we were totally broke. We borrowed money from a German friend to make our way back, than I tried to get the Polish guys [‘Wiwisekcja’; stuck at the Swiss border] to continue from the Czech Republic to Belgium but they didn’t want to take risk again, they were very pessimistic after the first part of the tour…

Martin Valášek, personal communication 1993

In 1993 ‘Wiwisekcja’ (who were touring but couldn’t make it here) did the 12” Until The Next Time. I think they were Tores (bass), Lesny Sportowiec (guitar), Rafal (drums) & Sasza (vocals). Contact was Konrad Zawadzki…

‘Anarcrust’, from Rotterdam, were Ed Romijn (guitar), Ronny Speckneck (drums), Sas Schilten (bass) and Bart (vocals). Kees de Greef was the drummer after Ronny (94-96). They played anarcho-crust with a metal edge. DIY people, part of my ‘Network of Friends’, I dare say… This gig was around the time their Progression Or Decline LP was out on Zooid/Equality recs (Zooid was sort of an umbrella foundation, of which the independent record-label Equality was a part). It was distributed by K-baal (a follow-up of book- & record-shop Zwartboek), which was ran by their friend (and my correspondent) Joost Van Twist (who used to do the tape-distro Drop-It) & Sas (They also set up gigs in a placed called Zwijnzicht -“pig-view”- in Dordrecht.). Also Freedom Of Coalescence (a CD with tracks from the Coalescence LP and various others) was re-released on Martin’s Malarie recs around that time.

‘Anarcrust’ promotion-picture

‘Christ On A Crutch’ were living in the Seattle (Wa) area at that time but they were originally a Washington D.C. band. On the Spread Your Filth LP (1988) on Over The Top recs the line-up was Jerry (guitar/vocals), Glen (bass) and Wayne Kelly(drums/vocals). On this tour (I think) were Eric Akre (drums), Nate Mendel (bass; ex ‘Brotherhood’ and later ‘Sunny Day Real Estate’ & ‘Foo Fighters’), Glen Essary (vocals) and Jerry Brady (guitar). They played straight-up hardcore (“without any metal wanking”) with political lyrics and attitude. A few years before they’d released Crime Pays When Pigs Die (an LP on New Red Archives) and Kill William Bennett! (7”on Black Label recs).

In an interview Nate said: “C.O.A.C. was sort of winding down and I was finding myself disillusioned with super-aggressive, political hardcore. Not so much the music, but we’d just done a tour in Europe playing squats, and it was kind of a wake-up call for me that I was kind of over that.”.

‘Quite Fresh Phobia’ from Eindhoven played HC/punk They consisted of Antoine (bass), Skip ‘Kort’ (drums), Maarten Van De Ven (vocals) and Roland ‘Rolansky’ Molegraaf (guitar). They had a track on the Bits Of Noise CD, a compilation of Ducth bands on WRF recs. Roland also booked bands (Burgers, a concert-venue in Eondhoven) and sometimes set up tours… Here they played over ‘Anarcrust’s backline; they were touring together… They came back another time for a festival (94-04-02).

I don’t have any info on ‘Naïve’ (Russia) but Skip provided a link below… I got in touch with Max Kotchetkov (the bassist on this tour), who told me ‘Naïve’ turns 25 in 2013 and they are publishing a book.

Brob

I just remember that it was a bit of a hectic weekend, with multiple flat tires…

Ronny Speckneck

Ah, that was a very memorable day! ‘Christ On A Crutch’ were super, if I can remember well, and it was always good to be around ‘Anarcrust’. And let’s not forget the Belgian hospitality. :-)

Maarten Van De Ven, ‘Q.F.P.’ singer

We played 2 times at the V.V.; this was the the first time. We were on the road with our friends of ‘Anarcrust’. The day before we played in La Zone, Liège [Brob: With Acoustic Grinder]. I don’t recall much of that day ‘cause of the beer-absorbing the day before. What do I remember? There were many people walking the streets in Ieper, something to do, I don’t know what. We had our own party at Vort’n Vis. During the gig, sitting behind the drums, I had a funny split view: In front of me: my band and the crowd, listening, dancing, drinking etc.; and to my right, looking trough the window, the wondering citizens on the street, passing by or taking a short look.

I really liked ‘Christ On A Crutch’, very solid gig. I still have a CD of them, which I probably bought that day. The singer of ‘Naïve’ was really drunk when he had to play. Elastic-leg moves and brave efforts to walk the catwalk made of chairs by the public. this was their first tour outside Russia. (more info on ‘Naïve’)

I Had a great time over there, loads of spliffs too. On the way back I sat in the van with ‘Anarcrust’ when a tyre blew, the driver just had his driving-license but managed to handle the van. The backline in the middle wasn’t tied up but didn’t move. We were lucky that we didn’t tip over. It only took us about 4 hours more to get home…

Skip Kort, ‘Q.F.P.’ drummer

The main reason to come over was ‘Christ On A Crutch’, who delivered pure, intense and ingenuous hardcore-punk, as I had hoped. Hardcore, the logical result of Punk in the U.S., lost. aggression, intensity, anger and impended to be stripped from its frustration. ‘Christ On A Crutch’ produced a solid set that found approval from the majority of the audience. An encore was wellcomed… As one of their last songs they played a brilliant version of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues; a fairly big surprise, even astonishment from many in the public, that didn’t know the repertoire of the ‘Man In Black’. Whatever…, to me this was definitely more than a win on points and a top recollection, that I still eagerly trump up.

Dirk ‘Bowy’ Bauwens

‘Anarcrust’ live (photographed by Karl Penando)

‘Anarcrust’ (pic taken from Ludivic Hache’s zine Ras l’Bol)

‘Quite Fresh Phobia’ (courtesy of the band)

‘Naïve’ (courtesy of Skip ‘Q.F.P.’)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

English translations of what we wrote in the guestbook… Very intelligent :-)

(Heart Picture) Хорош! Мозги ебать! Вы охуели все, на хуй. Но… Спасибо, всё равно => Cut it out! Fucking the brains! You are all fucked up, all the way. But … Thank you, anyway.

(Mickey Mouse) Если ты такой Умный и знаешь, Как научить меня жить правильно, То пошёл ты на хуй! А?! Я – великий, вот и всё что я хотел сказать => If you’re so smart and know how to teach me to live in a right way, then fuck off! Huh?! I am the Great, that’s all I wanted to say.

Max Kotchetkov, ‘Naïve’ bassplayer

additions wellcome!…