94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

The first weekend of September 1992 the Vort’n Vis organised what was then called Hardcore ’92. A festival with a mix of punky/crusty bands and straight-egde outfits. The same was intended in September 1993. I wrote about the incident that happened there… Although it was unfortunate, even reprehensible; for myself the motivation to try and bring all sorts of people together stayed. However other people made it so that the 2 ‘factions’ wouldn’t meet so easily anymore. In 1994 an SxE fest (weekend around half of August) and the Leed fest (half of September; the Vort’n Vis’ alternative to the city of Ieper’s mainstream Leet festival) were organised independent from one and other; and caused this ‘split’. One of the protagonists in the aforementioned incident (Hans Verbeke, ‘Blindfold’) obviously was reluctant to see the same thing happening again and set up (with good intentions, I’m sure) a “Positive Festival” – together with his sister Saskia (‘Shortsight’) and Rob Franssen (‘Feeding The Fire’).

This setting would over the years grow into a huge event (not unlike a lot of the commercial summer-festivals) and moved outside of the Vort’n Vis premises. Unfortunately (and that already was from the beginning), it turned out to be a market-place for big/commercial labels and distributions (local and others). I’ve never been able to see what the value of that was and I kept reacting against it. Having SxE and non-SxE friends I also wasn’t keen on the separation.

I wrote about it in a column that appeared in my friend Joeri Hoste’s zine Emotive Impulse (Sep. ’94):

>> We were all very excited about it for months. Myself not in the least; as it came closer it promised to be something wonderful, something that could last a week instead of a weekend. (…) After some shitwork, I wanted to start a bunch of conversations but unfortunately practically all ended up being quite short and superficial (…) consuming seemed like the most important thing again… (…) “I BUY, therfor I am” (actually this goes for the whole capitalist system – ergo: the HCpunk-scene is not so diffrent form the capitalist system nowadays, no?) (…) Another thing: no matter what we all say, there are distinct cliques in our scene. We all pretend they don’t exist but they do… I’m not talking about the obvious devide between SxE and ‘crustpunx’. Also within SxE (as within the crustpunx) there are micro-communities with their own rules, prescriptions, ‘incestuous’ behaviour, etc. How are you ever gonna evolve, learn,… when you never break out these micro-units. You don’t have to know everyone but at least look for different things once and a while; and on the other hand: allow others to get into your group of peers. I try to pick up things from various people, why restrain and stick to one groove? This scene we’re in, this subculture – again – is supposed to offer an alternative to the mainstream, the capitalist/patriarchic system. Let’s all work to create this. Don’t fool yourself and others. (…) <<

The newsletter of March that year started out with announcing a “3-day festival with ‘Scraps’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Voorhees’, ‘Iconoclast’ and plenty more”. A few months later there was mention of 3 bands on Friday, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Refused’ & 5 or 6 more on Saturday, and ‘Iconoclast’, Scraps’ & ‘Voorhees’ on Sunday. And as you can see on the flyers that were made this expanded/changed gradually.

This is from the newsletter right before the festival:

As far as I can remember this was the actual programme:

19 aug ’94: Spawn (Ger), Congress (Bel), Kosjer D (Bel)

20 aug ’94: Refused (Swe), Abhinanda (Swe), Fabric (UK), Blindfold (Bel), Shortsight (Bel), Acme (Ger), Backdraft (Nl), Nothing Left To Grasp (Ger)

21 aug ’94: Iconoclast (USA), Neckbrace (UK), Feeding The Fire (Nl), Hopeman Path (Bel), Undone (Fra)

Also got on the bill/played: ‘State Of Grace’ (Bel), ‘Vanilla’ (Fra), … But can’t remember which day… Pretty sure ‘Stormwatch’ (Ger) didn’t play.

‘Nations On Fire’ didn’t do a show. Also Steve W. tells me his band ‘Neuthrone’ didn’t play, ‘Scraps’ cancelled and ‘Voorhees’ didn’t show up (read 94-08 [Voorhees])…

Even though this fest attracted a lot of people, it still took place in the pub (and not in the ‘shed’). The distros had a lot of space in the courtyard… So did the people who wanted to ‘socialize’…

L corner: Stéphane Cormary, Ludovic Hache and Agnes (photo by Miguel Angel Lorca); the ‘Abhinanda’ crew on the R

Besides the bands I remember Vique ‘Simba’ Martin was there. So were Nicole ‘Upsi’ Vokrouhlik (from Augsburg) – who was doing a mailorder/label and organised a festival – and her boyfriend Daniel… Volker Pohlschmidt (‘Steadfast’) most likely… Marco Walzel (‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, Speak So That I May See You zine); some of the ‘Doughnuts’ girls signed the guestbook; Albert Cheong from Barcelona (Heartcore zine) took pics… Alan Davis who did Train Of Thought zine (Bristol) was there… Also Nick Royles (Sure Hand recs, How We Rock zine and various bands)… Miguel Angel Lorca from Madrid came over with a friend. My correspondent Amanda Trevens (guitarist of ‘Timmy’ & ‘Huasipungo’) who was helping out Neil Ribonson at Tribal War recs (actually an internship, studying ‘music technology’), and volunteering at ABC No Rio (all in NYC) was in Europe (actually toured with ‘Scraps’) and visited… Some French non-SxE people came over aswell (which was great): Ludovic Hache (Ras l’Bol zine) and Agnes, Karl & Steph (‘6 Feet Over’). And a hell of a lot more… Olivier Lacoste (‘Öpstand’ singer, Bordeaux)?

There were also some people that tried to get to the Vort’n Vis but didn’t make it (unfortunately)… In his zine J’Ai Le Regret A La Joie Mélé #4, Gérome Desmaison (guitarist of ‘Peu-Être’ / ‘Alcatraz’) describes how him and his friend Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (vocalist in the same bands) took of hitchhiking from Niort/Poitiers (France) to the Vort’n Vis but got stuck (spending the night in gasstation along the highway) before reaching the border, somewhere between Paris and Lille… They returned home but decided to rent a van the next time…

Brob

audience (Wim ‘Blindfold’ centre); pic by Patrick Federli

I was at every ‘fest’ there in the 90s (I guess up until 2001) and all I can say, is that I always had the best of times. The first couple of times at the V.V. were the best. The yard, the stinky toilets, the little shop at the corner, playing football with the Swedish kids… The list is endless… Best of times and always the highlight of every summer!

Patrick Federli

We ended up at the Vort’n Vis because it was basically the place to be for red edge kids like us! ;-). I went from Marseille to Bordeaux to meet up with my mate Manu who was doing a red edge zine called Wolfpack. We took the train all the way to Ieper, that was a long fuckin’ ride! Ah ah and we sure didn’t regret it.

Frédéric Falzon

 

photo courtesy of Heath Crosby (Sherry Beth Sacks in the background)

Marco Walzel

see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

additions wellcome!…

93-05-22 Fingerprint – Feeding The Fire – Congress – Part Of Me

A concert organised in conjunction with P.M.A. (Positive Mental Attitude) recs; the label that Hans Verbeke (‘Rise Above’, ‘Spirit Of Youth’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Liar’) and U.J. (‘Dreft’, ‘Congress’, ‘Liar) did at that time…

‘Fingerprint’ from Paris were a ‘(scr)e(a)mo’ hardcore band with Nicolas Fisseau (vocals), Christophe Mora (guitar/vocals; also drummer of ‘Undone’), Thomas Guillanton (bass; also ‘Jasemine’ & ‘Ananda’) and Jérome Bessout (drums; also ‘Jasemine’). Their music was described as “intense and nerveous emocore, mixing fast and hectic musical parts with driving mid tempo ones”. They’d just recorded for the Surrender 7” on Christophe’s label Stonehenge recs. He also released the 7” We May Be Brothers the next year (recorded Oct ’93) and their discography on CD in 1996. When Nicolas quit, the other 3 kept playing (with Christophe singing) as ‘Jasemine’.

‘Feeding The Fire’s Roger, Rob, René, Har & Illona were regulars here (91-12-21, 92-04-18, 92-09-05, 92-10-10, …); to some almost like family. As you can read in the guestbook: they were heavily into international socialism… The flyer mentions the possible presenation of their 1^st 7” No Submission. It was recorded January of that year and released by Burt & Michiel from ‘Man Lifting Banner’ on their label Red Wax recs. I reviewed it in Tilt! #8 as follows : >> Mostly superfast and grindy SxE HC; a bit of a mix between ‘Lärm’, ‘Man Lifting Banner’ & ‘Nations On Fire’. Features ‘Metal Molly’ Illona and Har ‘The Clown’ on guitars. This little record rocks like hell. <<

‘Congress’ apparently considered this their 1^st “good gig” (after 93-04-25)… Don’t know if Pierre already did vocals here instead of Roy…

Can ‘t recall what ‘Part Of Me’ sounded like or who they were… Their first gig apparently.

Brob

Might be the first time I ever saw ‘Congress’…? They just had a demo out I think. Not as cult yet as they became later on. ‘Part Of Me’ was a very young band, the new generation from our scene down South in the Netherlands.

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’ vocalist

‘Part Of Me’ was a band from Simpelveld (not far from Kerkrade, in Limburg). Jean-Paul [Frijns; later bass in ‘Birds Of A Feather’] (Value of Strength zine) was their singer, together with 3 kids from Simpelveld. I can vaguely recall they went on as ‘Backdraft’ [see 94-08-20] without J-P but with Rob (‘F.T.F.) as vocalist and Illona (‘F.T.F.’) on guitar…

Roger, F.T.F. bassist

‘Fingerprint’ often played with sXe bands whereas we were not sXe ourselves (2 members were, actually…). I can’t count how many time I’ve seen ‘Shortsight’, ‘Blindfold’ or ‘Congress’ on stage… I never shared a single word with all these dudes… Except when one of them was behind the bar: “A beer please! Thank you!”… And it was always the same… We always spoke with Bruno and … Brob! I was glad to meet you when we played at the Vort’n Vis… We were really excited to play this show with ‘Feeding The Fire’. We really were into their fast, brutal HC. We were glad to share the stage with them. Not that they were a hype or something but they played like no other bands. I remember that we shared equipment with all the bands playing that day. Jérome, our drummer borrowed his double kick pedal to the ‘Feeding The Fire’ drummer… During their set, the singer said something like “This show is for my sXe friends…” and looked at us with ‘the eye of the tiger’ which meant kind of “You’re not one of them.”, while I was with some friends, drinking our beers quietly watching and enjoying their set from the bar. We were kind of upset… and amused; I said to Jérome: “They would deserve that we get on stage and get the double kick pedal back.” with a blink of an eye, then we cheered and sipped our beers again . But the show was great and we had a good time though. To us it was fun to be inside this Belgian sXe thing in a way… It was our ‘New Jersey’. In the mid 90s, Belgium was the centrepoint of the sXe movement, we were OK to be a part of it through this kind of funny events (after all)… I don’t remember the two other sets [93-09-17 & 94-04-23]…

Thomas Guillanton, ‘Fingerprint’ bassist

‘Congress’, I think, was really awful at the show and the demo sounded pretty bad. But they became really tight and powerful especially when their new singer took over the mic. Great band… ‘Feeding The Fire’ was great as usual.

Peter Hoeren, Crucial Response recs

We did our very first show with ‘Part Of Me’ at the V.V. Later I played there with ‘Backdraft’ and ‘Feeding The Fire’.

Kay Roderburg, bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

96-01-20 Misery – [Extinction Of Mankind] – [Carcer Molochi]

Apparently ‘Müsgüb’ (driver/tour-organiser Martin Fleischner; I already knew him from tours in the 80s as he organised gigs in Göppingen’s venue Remise) had to switch around the schedule a bit… From a review I dó know this gig actually took place on January 20^th.

‘E.O.M.’ (“anarcho crust punk metal” from the Northwest of the U.K.) did their 3^rd tour of Europe, this time with ‘Misery’, with Marvin (Varukers) playing bass because of family-commitments of Ginny. The latter had replaced Fozzy (who left the band after the ’94 tour with ‘Doom’. Their LP Baptised In Shit had been recorded in May ’95 (with Ginny on bass, Dave Foz on drums, Mass Centi on guitar & Ste Dux on vocals) and released on ‘Kleister’s Skuld Releases. They didn’t play here though because their van broke down… On 94-08-06 they also didn’t make it but they did play on 95-09-17. Nowadays ‘E.O.M.’ (extinctionofmankind.wix.com/online) still exists (‘Doom’s Scoot plays guitar).

Dan (Profane Exstence) was back in Europe with ‘Misery’. He had been briefly in the band as bassist early on. They were an anarcho-punk/crust (with references to ‘Amebix’) band from Minneapolis. (Their 1^st show was in Dec ‘88 with ‘Nausea’s Al Long on vocals.) In the band here: Todd ‘Gags’ Gaglione (bass & vocals), Gary Winger (drums), Sid Klingeman (guitar & vocals) and John Greenslit (guitar & vocals). The album Who’s The Fool…? had been relased in ’94 by Profane Existence & Skuld. These also put out an EP entitled Next Time for the tour. Their show in Slovenia (at MKNZ in Ilirska Bistrica, 96-01-19) was released on tape.

‘Carcer Molochi’, local band with V.V. shitworker Michael Maes, had played here a few times already (94-12-31, 95-03-05, 95-09-16)… According to ‘Insane Youth’s singer Steve Michael’s band didn’t play either: ‘Carcer Molochi’ cancelled. ‘Insane Youth’ were asked last minute but guitarist Tim wasn’t available…

Brob

After the record low with ‘Misery’/‘Extinction Of Mankind’, Flo [Helmchen; HeartFirst recs] and I agreed that there’s really no point in booking bands at the V.V. unless it’s emo/mosh…

Ilja S., Profane Existence Berlin; personal communication ‘96

When we went for some fries, there were 2 people of ‘Misery’ there, indulging in meat and cokes; rather disappointing… ‘E.O.M.’ didn’t show up because of car-trouble. More disappointment. When we returned home in Gent we met their guitarist who was returning to the U.K.

Steve ‘Insane Youth’ in Kurt Van Den Eynden & Anja Hermans’ zine (Wat Is Er Aan De Hand? #2)

1 out of 3 ain’t bad!? It was good we were still alive… Vort’n Vis was always the last show on the tours…

Mass Centi, ‘E.O.M.’

I remember it being very cold, same weather we get here in Minneapolis at that time of year. Some windows were broken in the upstairs so it made the whole place cold. We didn’t mind though. Also some guy was messing with everyone in ‘Misery’ and ‘E.O.M.’, Steve from ‘E.O.M.’ stood up to him and it almost came to a brawl, The show went well, being such a cold night the crowd was thin but very responsive to the music from all bands. All in all I would not have traded the experience for anything, life kinda is funny in that way, it was a fine time and I have another good memory to share with others due to playing there.

Gary Winger, ‘Misery’ drummer

I was there but don’t really remember any details of that show… We played so many in our 25 years together!

Todd Gaglione, ‘Misery’ bassist

Photographs by Wim De Leersnijder:

Pictures by Michael Maes:

Wim DL (R) enjoying a beer… and the band

Yannick ‘Pikpik’ (R) enjoying a beer… and the band

additions wellcome!…