19 sep ’97: Fanta’s Farm (Bel), Money Drug (Pol), Time Out (Bel)
20 & 21 sep ’97: [CANCELLED] Battle Of Disarm (Jap), Filth Of Mankind (Pol), Aside (Fra), … In a newsletter of that time ‘Rayzor’ and ‘Warcraft’ were also announced…
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>>The Leed Vistival 97 had started pretty good on September 19th and there was a nice atmosphere. While on stage with his band ‘Time Out’, around midnight Dirk Van Alboom (guitarist) suddenly collapsed on stage. [Under the eyes of his girlfriend, and bassplayer in the band, Tanja Vankerckhoven] He had a cardiac arrest. The bystanders started CPR and an ambulance was called. The efforts (of the bystanders and the paramedics) to reanimate him were unsuccessful. The party was finished immediately and we decided to cancel the rest of the festival. Nobody was in the mood anymore. No-one slept very well that night. Dirk had died while performing.
There was some gossip that Dirk had died of an overdose, even that he was stabbed in the heart during a fight or fell with his head on a plank with a nail, or broke his neck while stagediving… Strange that people who were never inside know everything so much better. Some drunks felt it was interesting to play the fool while he was dying. Idiots… Dirk was not a junkie or alcoholic but someone who lived a rather sober life. He was unfortunate to be suffering of a heart-condition.
Dirk had been attending our gigs for some 6-7 years. He was a friend of the Vort’n Vis. He had his life ahead of him, with his girlfriend Tanja and their son Yenten. Fate decided otherwise. We can only wish them strength.
Farewell Dirk! You were a great guy. Only 28. We wish you could have stayed a while longer with us.<<
Jan Claus (on the Vort’n Vis website at that time)
We cancelled the 2 remaining days of the festival after Dirk of ‘Time Out’ passed away. No-one felt like partying, and the event had left such a big impression on us all that we didn’t want to organise things any more. We did receive all folks that have travelled far and offered them a place for the night. A Japanese band [‘Battle Of Disarm’] that were due to play were given a place to sleep and food.
Jan Claus
I saw the ‘Time Out’ presenation. Great memories! I don’t mind reporting about our last concert at the Vort’n Vis but personally I don’t feel like sharing recollections about it. Dirk lives on in my thoughts and in our son of course; and that’s enough for me.
Tanja Vankerckhoven, ‘Time Out’ bassist
I was at the Vort’n Vis during the show Dirk of ‘Time Out’ passed away. That sure left an impression…
Bart Jansen, ‘Deonsume’ guitarist
‘Time Out’ were into their last song when Dirk suddenly collapsed. Stef [Quintens] and a guy from France started CPR but it was in vain…
Michael Maes, V.V. ‘shitworker’
It was really sad. We (‘Filth Of Mankind’) were supposed to play on Sep. 20th, but the day before, after the band we shared some members with (‘Money Drug’) played, the guy from the next band (‘Time Out’) died on stage because of heart-attack… So the rest of the festival was obviously cancelled. Having nowhere to go we had to stay at the empty club for next 2 days (together with ‘Battle Of Disarm’ who came next day with Martin of Malarie recs and Marta Jachimowicz (then from Malarie, now Active distro) until we finally left for a gig in Gent (where we took ‘B.O.D.’ who had yet another day off)… Both ‘Money Drug’ and us played at the V.V. fest the next year [98-09-18] (which was one of the worst gigs we ever played, hahaha!)
Pawel, Scream recs (Gdansk, Poland)
>>20.09.97 Ieper, Belgium @ Vort’n Vis (Leed Vistival) – cancelled due to the on-stage death (heart-attack) of Dirk van Alboom during his band’s (‘Time Out’) set the day before. For the obvious reasons the rest of the festival was cancelled.<<
filthofmankind.nsm.pl
‘Time Out’ were from Lochristi (near Gent): Dirk Van Alboom (guitar & vocals), his partner Tanja Vankerckhoven (bass) and Rudy (drums). They played “political and anarchistic” HC/punk. They had a rehearsal-tape as demo. Here’s the review I wrote in Tilt! #9: >>Melodic HC with an anarcho-punk feel. Simple riffs but varied enough to keep your attention. Lyrics about life’s morality and evolution, violence, barriers in the scene and the religious right. Honest punk.<<
‘Money Drug’ (a crust/grind band from Gdansk) were the only band that played besides ‘Time Out’. They shared some members with ‘Filth Of Mankind’ and consisted of: Filip ‘Kalka’ Kalkowski (vocals; nowadays graphic artist), Maciek Kowalski (guitar), Miłosz Gassan (drums; nowadays in ‘Morne’), Paweł ‘Balon’ Szymański (vocals) and Sławomir ‘Młody’ Białecki (bass). They did a split-7” with ‘Wind Of Pain’ (Finland) on Scream recs (’95) and 2 live tapes (’96 & ’97). They came back the next year (98-09-18)…
‘F.O.M.’ was Miłosz Gassan on guitar, Lazej/Anders Storm (later Michał Jędrejek) on bass, Pawel ‘Scream’ Rzóska (guitar), Paweł ‘Balon’ Szymański on drums and Maciek Kowalski (later Tomasz Pawlak) on vocals. They did a 7” (Czas Końca Wieku; ‘99) and an LP (The Final Chapter; 2000) on Scream recs. Obviously they were also from Gdansk and they describe their music as “Apocalyptic Crust” (dark, heavy and metal-influenced).
‘Battle Of Disarm’ is a crust-punk band (originally from from Ishikawa, West of Tokyo): Ryuji Asada is the vocalist (he runs the label DIY recs, was involved in the Anarcho Punk Federation and used to breed rare insects & sell these through an online shop). Acchi played bass, Yuzi guitar and Chikkara was the drummer on this tour. If you want to know how they sounded like: there’s a 10” with live recordings from their show in Slovenia (97-10-10; entitled Crust Love And Peace Europe Tour 1997 and released by Malarie recs). In ’97 they also put out the Sons Of War! Old Resistance Days on the Portugese label MDC. Their discography is immense and the band is still active…
Brob
Didn’t ‘Battle Of Disarm’ play on Sunday? [Brob: nope!] Or did they play in Gent instead? [Tuesday, Sep 23rd ’97 (Boma Squat, Gent): Filth Of Mankind (Pol), Money Drug (Pol), Battle Of Disarm (Jap)] I know for sure that Manu & Bruno ‘Sloef’ saw them somewhere in Belgium…
Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist
I was there with ‘Battle Of Disarm’.
Martin Valášek, Malarie recs (malarie.eu)
I was at Vort’n Vis for this concert and on many other occasions. I went there mainly for that 3-day festival at the end of September for few years in a row and then visited with various bands. I always had a distribution with me and used to set up a stall with the usual things (records, T-shirts, tapes, patches, etc). I have very fond memories of the V.V., always had a good time there (apart from this one tragic incident), met lots of amazing people (and stayed friends with some) and I can say that the V.V. was hugely influential for me and a significant place.
Dan Koshan
I played one of my first gigs with ‘Fanta’s Farm’ here. That was a band with Sim Meerseman (‘Voices At The Front’, etc.), Stijn Dequidt (his brother Ward is/was (?) a metal-guitar-dude) on drums & Jeroen Beyens singing. A punkrock band. [Steve Noyelle: melodic pop/rock; Sim’s side-project – later also ‘Spirit Of Youth’] We opened this ill-fated Friday night… I believe Michael Maes [V.V. ‘soundman’; also recorded many local bands in his home-studio] still has the live-recordings. He once replaced ‘The Heartfakers’ drummer [see 95-09-08]; great bloke.
Korneel Barbry
We were at the Vort’n Vis that day. ‘Aside’ was supposed to play but someone had a cardiac arrest and died. The rest of the festival got cancelled…
Phil(ippe), ‘Aside’ (Rennes, France) vocalist
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 