94-01-30 AOS3 – Unhinged – Trom – Intestinal Disease

Some people of the concert-organisation Les Amis de la Place 4 & the label/distro Nabate from Liège teamed up to form ‘Unhinged’ from Liège: Willy Nollomont (bass; ex ‘Hiatus’), Azill Kamizol (drums; ex ‘Hiatus’), Manu (vocals) and Alain Preud’homme (guitar). Their 1^st demo was recorded October ’93 and some of the tracks were released (by Nabate & Flat Earth) on vinyl as the Resisting The Murder Of Self 7” the same year. I was a big fan of their “crust-emo” immediately (from the review in Tilt! #8): >>A blast of power and anger. […] I hope they leave me this when they lock me up…<<. Manu & Alain were friends since the Smurfpunx-days. I believe this was their first concert at the V.V.

‘Intestinal Disease’, a grind/noise-core band from the Diest area, were: Philippe ‘Boezie’ Buze (vocals), Dave Houtmeyers (drums; also in ‘Agathocles’ at some timepoint ?, and later ‘Hypnos 69’), Kris ‘Hazie’ Hazenbosch (vocals) and Rudy Pans (guitar/bass). Later Bruno ‘Sloef’ Mastyn (guitar) joined. At that time they’d done a few 7”s: Raped Inside Your Fault, a split with ‘Brutal Mutilation’ (93) and another split with ‘Violent Headache’ (94). They came back 96-02-24.

Can’t remember at all who ‘Trom’ (from Neuchatel) were or what they sounded like… I’ve read descriptions like “the mighty gothic band from Switzerland, cold wave!”, “potent punk metal”, “dark metal”, “dark experimental rock” and “batcave”. The band’s singer was Fabrice E. (now ‘Darkoustix’). Some of them were later in a band called ‘Undead Product’. Their guitarist ‘Yorki’ was also in (metal-bands) ‘Sludge’, ‘Coït’ and ‘Noma’. Their first release (‘92) was a demo. In ’93 they self-released the mCD Balmor, to be followed by a fill-length CD (Evil) in ’95.

‘AOS3’ (from Sunderland) were a band that played reggae-rock-ska-dub-punk. Very danceable! I read their name referred to the initials of Augustus Owsley Stanley III, “LSD-chemist and sound-engineer”. They state they were part of the anarcho-punk movement and that their “lyrics reflect the band’s political stance”. The band consisted of Andy Brown (bass), Colin Cumpson (guitar), Erl R. (drums) and John Horabin (vocals). By the time they played here, they already had a couple of 7”s out: one entitled Tottenham 3 (Words Of Warning ’92) and a split with ‘Citizens Fish’ (Bluurg recs ’93); the LP God’s Secret Agent would be released later that year (also on W.O.W.). They also put out a live+studio tape entitled Apparently We Had A Great Time (1992). When they split up (their last gig was December ‘94), singer John relocated to London and formed ‘P.A.I.N.’ (with Phil from ‘Radical Dance Faction’). ‘AOS3’ reformed in 2007. On anarchopunk.net they’re described as “Skankin’ dubby punk free festival / protest / squat / party stalwarts, guaranteed to get you up on yer toes!”…and that’s what they do. They played again later that year (94-09-17).

Brob

We (Olivier, Henry [Kottisch], Thierry and myself) were touring with ‘Trom’ in Belgium (Brussels, Tournai and Louvain-La Neuve) and in France. Our drummer Henry organized the tour. We played early in the evening in Ieper. One band played after us. There was very few people in the room as most of the audience came later for the next band, a ska-punk band (we played goth-metal). Some stayed outside or at the bar, insulting and/or mocking us. I guess one or two people liked our show. After we finished someone threw teargas in the room and everybody went out for a long while. Then the next band played, the room was full and the people happy. I don’t know where we slept that night.

Fabrice E., ‘Trom’ vocalist

I believe there was a lot of smoke then? Something with a smoke-machine…

Rudy Pans, ‘I.D.’ bassist

We played this first concert of ‘Unhinged’ (the one with the ‘smoke-bomb’), a bit as outsiders – being a grind-noise band.

‘Hazie’, ‘I.D.’ vocalist

Tom Peels was ‘I.D.’s first guitarist, more of a metal-man; or was it Steve Houtmeyers (older bro of Dave – Dave never played for ‘Agathocles’ I think. )… The band was founded by Rudy & Dave in ‘92; Hazie an myself joined that summer. I quit end of ‘96 or early ‘97.

‘Boezie’, ‘I.D.’ vocalist

‘AOS3’ were great guys! Had some beers with them then… Suddenly one collapsed, bumped his head against the counter and broke a tooth…

Henk Loobuyck

We remember the Vort’n Vis very well. The first time we came it was the last gig of a European tour and we only noticed on the flyer the gig-time was much earlier than we expected. The gig before was in Berlin! So consequently, by the time we arrived the gig was over, and the audience in tatters – we set up and played to a handful of folk anyway, who were already very very drunk – they seemed to like it! We did the set, by which time most folk were asleep – one straggler fell asleep at a table, and pulled a chair on top of himself as though it was a blanket… We retired to the bar, for shorts and ale, and then Colin the guitarist jokingly tickled the plums of Tom the roadie – who jerked his head down in fright, bit the bar-counter and shattered a tooth! Then we retired to the sleeping-room which elevated the touring staple of a ‘room with dermatologically prepared mattresses’ to a high art – those mattresses have probably grown legs and walked out of there on their own by now… The crowning decor of this room was a pair of cack-stained men’s undergarments nailed to the wall. Nice.

The guestbook makes things clearer, as my memory is hazy… This is after our first Poland tour… I have no memory at all of what the comments about ‘G.B.H.’ are to do with. The stuff about Berlin and Vinegar Bob has become band-legend due to the drummer getting a very short good time in Berlin the night before…much to our amusement… And then, yes, we played to about 10 people, had a great gig anyway; then everyone retired to the bar… Also in the guestbook-stuff you can see random comments from Fleecey, who was sound-engineering for us, and Hutch who was tour-managing at that point… They both remember this tour as a magnificent mess, as we usually were… I do recall a nice breakfast the next day and a slow drive through town to the sound of the bells. Tom (toothless) had a grandad who fought there and only escaped death by being seconded to the kitchen as he was underage – strange contrast between our wild messy craziness and the remaining echoes of the war…

John, ‘AOS3’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…