96-02-24 Intestinal Disease – Cornucopia – Carcer Molochi – Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques – Noise Reduction

Another gig organised by Frederic Driessens (with practical help Christophe Delplace & Koen Vanthournout); presenting 5 Belgian bands…

‘Intestinal Disease’ had played at the V.V. before (94-01-30). The guys in this grind/noise-core band from the Diest area were: Philippe ‘Boezie’ Buze (vocals), Dave Houtmeyers (drums), Kris ‘Hazie’ Hazenbosch (vocals) and Rudy Pans (guitar/bass). Bruno ‘Sloef’ Mastyn had joined to play guitar – his first gig with the band. They did a few 7”s: Raped Inside Your Fault, a split with ‘Brutal Mutilation’ (93) and another split with ‘Violent Headache’ (94).

‘Intestinal Disease’ (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

‘Cornucopia’ (a grindcore band from Mol) were Bert Dexters (bass; sometimes Dennis ‘Tyfus’ Faes), Erik ‘Smerik’ Minnen (vocals), Jim Faes (guitar; later drums) & Jens Ruts? (drums). Jim ran the Ear Smear tape-label. Erik and Bert also did a distro and tape-label called Moshi Moshi that released a bunch of ‘Cornucopia’ split-tapes (e.g. with ‘Karma’, ‘Rubbish Heap’, etc.) and -7”s (e.g. with ‘Intestinal Disease’ – the idea for this one grew here; ‘Cornucopia’ recorded their tracks with Jim on drums, Robin doin’ guitar and Filip for extra vocals). They did some more shows the following years…

‘Cornucopia’ (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

The first line-up of ‘Carcer Molochi’ (94-12-31) consisted of Erwin Degryse (guitar), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’), Danny Suffys (bass), Johan Sys (vocals), Michael Maes (guitar) and Inge Cappoen (vocals). They did their debut at the V.V. on 94-12-31. Since they were locals and some of them volunteerd at the Vort’n, they we regularly asked to do gigs (95-03-05, 95-09-16, 96-01-20) They played pagan, back-to-nature crust-punk (“a mix of ‘Antisect’, ‘Hiatus’, ‘E.N.T’ & ‘Antischism’…”, I wrote in my ‘zine). They had recorded their demo somewhere in 1995. At the time of this gig here Bram ‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht (R.I.P.) had replaced David on drums.

‘Carcer Molochi’ with drummer Bram Calbrecht (Yannick Moulière on the L) (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’ (‘L.S.A.’; “the alcoholic smurfs”): were a band from Merchtem (where bassist Gerd Van Hoof helped organise gigs at the local youth-centre Ifigineia); the others in the band were Mike Du Bois (drums & vocals), Raf Du Bois (guitar; R.I.P.). They played (poppy/melodic) punk and had a demo out. In ’97 Tim Leten of Filth Ear distribution (also in the band ‘Karma’) released Screams From Belgium, a 4-way split with ‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’, ‘Muggles’, ‘Hirudo’ & ‘Honey Honey’. They also played on 97-02-28. Later Gerd & Mike started ‘Sunpower’.

‘Noise Reduction’ had already done a show at the V.V. (95-02-11) They came from Edegem, near Antwerp, and played crust-core. The band consisted of Kurt van den Eynden (vocals; also drummer of ‘Karma’), Stefaan Simons (guitar), Tim Wouters (bass) and Rudy Verhelst (drums). They did a demo and in 1995 they had a split-7” (with ‘Deadlock’) out on a Japanese label.

Brob

‘Cornucopia’ still had their first drummer – who couldn’t keep the pace… ;-) But that was a requirement for this musical genre! I remember Erik literally throwing himself…

Wouter Biesemans

‘Intestinal Disease’s first guitarist, Tom Peels, was more of a metal-man. Rudy en Dave started the band in ’92. ‘Hazie’ and I joined. Steve Houtmeyers (Dave’s older brother; who was in ‘Agathocles’ & ‘Hypnos 69’) also played guitar at one timepoint. Dave himself never played for ‘Agathocles’. I quit late ‘96 or early ‘97…

‘Boezie’, ‘Intestinal Disease’ vocalist

At that moment we had indeed a few EPs out. Later we did a split-LP with ‘Rot’ and in 2000 Counting The Damage. That one is best known to the audience (3000 pressed both in Belgium and Brazil).

‘Hazie’, ‘Intestinal Disease’ vocalist

additions wellcome!…

97-10-25 D.S.A. – Sorehead – Eclipse

The V.V. newsletter from August ’97 announced a Halloween party (to be organised by Peter V.). This here is a gig from around the same time. Shitworkers that night were Steph Quintens & Inge Cappoen.

The guys playing for ‘D.S.A.’ – an old-school NY Hardcore from the Poperinge/Kortrijk/Roeselare triangle – were Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later in ‘Retaliate’), Frederik ‘Freddy Nostra’ Vanhee (bass; later in ‘Retaliate’), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals on their 2^nd demo, replacing Davy Verhoye) and Pieter-Jan Vandenberghe (PJ; guitar). One of the demos was a live recording from a gig in Poperinge (97-11-09), the other at the Vort’n Vis. They had already played the V.V. on 96-12-30, 97-06-27 & 97-07-12, and would play a few times more…

‘Sorehead’ (Ieper) were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Jan Lazeure (guitar; he might’ve quit for half a year [According to Dries he’s always been in the band…]) and Pieter Desmyter (guitar). Steve Noyelle describes their music as resembling ‘Sektor’. The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive. They also had been at the V.V. on 96-12-30, 97-06-27, and would do more shows later on…

‘Eclipse’ (Ieper) was (gothic) doom-metal playing atmospheric, melodic stuff. The members were Mathieu Gadeyne (vocals), Joke Debruyne (vocals), Koen Vanthournout (guitar; nowadays ‘Clockworkman’) Christophe ‘Foekie’ Delplace (bass; V.V. ‘shitworker’; nowadays in ‘Waxflower’), Wouter Keirse (keyboards; also ‘Warcarft’) & Jaan Couvreur (drums; nowadays ‘Clockworkman’). They self-released a demoCD (1999) entitled Extracts From The Book Of Lost One. I believe Wouter & Mathieu started a melodic electro trance project, entitled ‘Deep Blue’ later on…

‘Eclipse’ promo-pic

Brob

This was ‘Eclipse’s very first gig ever. It was kind of a Halloween night if I remember well. Some chrysanthemum was indeed in order :-). A part from that I recall that black-light and candle-light were the only light-sources in the pub that night. And there was a whole lot of smoke because of a tilted smoke-machine. That’s probably the reason why there aren’t any images of that concert (and the fact that cell-phones were only just for phone-calls then, not for making pictures). We compensated that by taking band-photos at the Ypres’ cathedral… Some time later we did indeed play together with Crusader’ & ‘Sengir’. I believe we only played the Vort’n Vis twice.

During my active period (started in ’96) at the Vort’n Vis, I was actually just taking care of ‘logistics’ (bar & P.A. afregelen) and after 2001 it got a bit more intensive with the Ieperfest (but I was never involved with programmering).

Christophe ‘Foekie’ Delplace

The Vort’n Vis played a central rol for ‘Eclipse’. We were all from the Ieper area and there weren’t so many places where we could play our gothic metal. Both ‘Foekie’ and myself did bar-duties at the V.V. and helped out during fests. Our first rehearsal (Jaan, ‘Foekie’ & me) was in of the rehearsal-spaces located above the pub. Our first gig ever was also in the pub. [This was one here was the first; see guestbook…] I believe it was just us? [Nope.] I think it was around All Saints Day [November 1^st]: our buddies from the Ieper scouts had ‘decorated’ the stage with chrysanthemum. A weird form of humor… :-) We performed at the pub 2 or 3 times in total. I believe once was with ‘Crusader’ & ‘Sengir’?

Koen Vanthournout, ‘Eclipse’ guitarist

It was a special experience, already because of the rather special nature of the pub… I believe we even put our demo up for sale there: at the counter, next to the soy-milk. Indeed: good times! Besides that gig with ‘Crusader’ and another band band (I’m not so sure it was ‘Sengir’: we played with them in Gent), there was another gig with just us.

Jaan Couvreur, drummer of ‘Eclipse’

Davy Verhoye died unexpectedly early 2016…

Frederik Vanhee, ‘D.S.A.’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

99-11-27 Congress – Solid – Lifecycle – Striker – Kalashnikov – New Innocence – Archaï

2 more “brand-new” bands were announced. On the poster there were 3 extra. The person who organised this was ‘xSchmitterSx’ (Stijn Desmyter from Oostnieuwkerke).

H8000 metalcore band ‘Striker’ consisted of Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; ex ‘Sorehead, R.I.P.), ‘Gerre’ Gerald Goedhart (guitar; later ‘Core of Anger’), ‘Tomme’ Tom Bordeaux (guitar; later ‘One Outta Six’), PJ Vandamme (bass; later guitarist of ‘Retaliate’) & David ‘Terre’ Termote (drums). They released a demo entitled High Hopes For Nothing in 1999. I believe they had already played the V.V. on 98-04-11 and came over a few times more…

‘Solid’ had already played the V.V. 95-08-18 with Dominiek ‘Dompie’ Denolf (guitar) and Frederik Denolf (drums), Kris Casier (bass) and ‘Sid’ Giovanni Debruyne (vocals). Their CD Darkside Moments (released in ’97 by the Danish label Diehard Music Worldwide) was recorded with Jim (from Limburg) singing. It was described as death-metal. I believe at some point they also had ‘Wulf’, ‘Deformity’s bassist, doing vocals. ‘Sid’ returned to the band after the turn of the century…

Being a local band ‘Lifecycle’ played the V.V. quite a few times (97-06-27 / 98-05-10 /98-08 / 99-06-25 / 99-10-31). They had quite a few different drummers and bassists over the years. Sofie Vantomme was the steady vocalist by then and together with guitarists Karel Deweerdt & Steve Noyelle she formed the core of the band.

‘Congress’ recorded Angry With The Sun (released in ‘98) with Michael Pintelon as second guitarist. Stake Through The Heart (2000) was with Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers (bass; ‘Natural Order’), Pedro Fioen (2^nd guitar; ‘Spineless’) and Tom Claus (vocals; ‘Family Of Dog’ – he played the first time live with Congress on the GoodLife Fest in July 2000). The split-CD with ‘Mindsnare’ (99) featured the original line-up (UxJx – Ilja – ‘Josh’ – Pierre).

‘Kalashnikov’ was a “H8000 metalcore” band from Diksmuide.

All I know about ‘Archaï’ is that they were featured on the Overdrive 20 Year Tribute Compilation (Midas productions 2002). Metal, I guess… The poster mentions they were from the H8000 area.

‘New Innocence’… anyone?

Brob

Jim was the 2^nd singer of ‘Solid’. Actually not a story to be proud of… We got the offer from the guy of the studio where all H8000 bands were reording (Tony [De Block] of Midas studios). He asked us if we were interested in releasing our first full CD on a sub-label of Nuclear Blast called Diehard (from Denemark), who had already approached ‘Liar’ before (but they didn’t do it). When they did the proposal to us, we were promised a decent promotion, wide distribution, a big studio-budget, etc. so of course we were impressed. When the recordings were finished the boss of the label didn’t approve of the vocals: if we weren’t going to do anything about it, the CD wasn’t goinng to be released. Then we chose for Jim, a guy from the Limburg scene who was touring with ‘Shaft’ as a roadie. The vocals for all songs were re-recorded and the CD got released: Darkside Moments. Jim was studying psychology in Gent so we would rehearse in West-Flanders. When he his studies didn’t work out, it became impossible to rehearse (him living on the other side of the country). So that ended. We continued ‘Solid’ with ‘Deformity’s bassist ‘Wulf’ [Kristof Dewulf] doing vocals and a second full CD was recorded. The guy of Midas studios was gonna release it himself but he suddenly blew the deal and ‘Solid’ broke up. Later we re-started the band with our original singer Sid and released that CD Total Rush on a hardcore label (RPP, Released Power Productions, ran by Alain [Herszaft] (singer of ‘Out For Blood’ [and of ‘Mental Disturbance’ in the 80s] from Brussels). That CD has 5 new songs who sounded ‘stoner meets New York hardcore’. Quite a lot of gigs followed but we had to quit after a year (because of my hearing-problems after 15 years without earplugs in front of loud amps). When I got used to playing with professional earplugs, we started ‘Blood Redemption’…

Dominiek ‘Dompie’ Denolf

‘Kalashnikov’ was started around 1995 by 4 schoolmates (Thijs Plovie – guitar, Dave Willaert – bass, Bart Gouwy – drums, Tom Verheecke – vocals), influenced by H8000-bands. A few months later we did our first gig supporting ‘Jigsaw’ and ‘Congress’ at the 4AD (Diksmuide). The following years we played together with bands such as ‘Congress’, ‘Liar’, ‘Vitality’, ‘Solid’,’ Sektor’, etc. At the Langemark Hardcore event in 1998 we got to know ‘Lorre’ of ‘Sorehead’ and ended up at the Vort’n Vis. A small venue and a super-enthusiastic audience, that’s what we remember. ‘Lorre’ sang along during our cover of ‘Liar’s Blade and there was some serious mosging going on (on stage and in the pit). ‘Striker’, ‘Lifecycle’ and ‘Solid’ also played, but ‘Congress’ ruled that day! We returned to the V.V. 2000-09-16. because we were still young and didn’t have a driver’s licence, we never made it to the Vort’n Vis to see other bands.

Thijs Plovie

‘Archaï’ evolved from ‘Minotaur’ (which was actually started as a metalcore band but went on to play more ‘real’ metal). There was’t actually 100% agreement about that within the band and that resulted in a kind of lack of direction aan richting in the end we quit. Soon after we started ‘Archaï’: the drummer, guitarist & bassist of ‘Minotaur’, guitarist of ‘Inside’ and female vocals. Metalcore was the intention. ;-)

Jeroen Algoet, ‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’ drummer

Thomas Maeseele was the bassist of ‘Archaï’. I sometimes replaced him but I never played the V.V. with them.

Bram Algoet, guitarist of ‘Minotaur’, (occasionally) ‘Archaï’ & ‘The Curse’

Bram Algoet wasn’t part of ‘Archaï’ [He says he was an occasional stand-in.]; that was Brecht Algoet (guitar), Jeroen Algoet (drums), Liesbeth Meyfroid (vocals), Helmert Decavele (bass) & Dimitri Declerq (guitar).

I believe Bram is mixing things up (possibly with ‘The Seven Ride’); there were a lot of side-projects going on. My dad was janitor at the local primary school and many a band used its old garage: ‘Archaï’, ‘Minotaur’, ‘Inside’, ‘Powers Of Discipline’, ‘The Seven Ride’, projects with ‘Ringo’ & ‘Herre’ (Christophe Herreman). I believe the basis of ‘Amen-Ra’ was also laid there…

Helmert Decavele

 additions wellcome!…