According to the ‘Link’ website they supposedly did a show on 97-06-03 but that was a Tuesday. So I’m pretty sure this here was their first gig at the Vort’n Vis (see guestbook). ‘Ebola’ is mentioned in the V.V. notes and also played at Kompas in Sint-Niklaas with ‘Quarantine’ and ‘Unhinged’ the day after this… ‘Link’ (from the outskirts of Ypres) at that time was Michael Maes (guitar), his partner Inge Cappoen (vocals) – both had been in ‘Carcer Molochi’ – and the French-men Greg ‘Briko’ on bass and a ‘Juju’ Julien De Jonckheere on drums. At first they played crust-core-punk. Since their start they did a series of demo-tapes, CDs and a split-7” with ‘Raised By Drunks’ (from Sweden). Their 1st CD The Last Sacrifice (recorded in 2000, with a drum-computer and Geoffrey Geeraert on bass) was released in 2000. The music: “brutal metallic HC with a serious crust-punk edge & raging female vocals”. One reviewer actually believed Inge was really from Sweden… The band still exists – (although with a different line-up, Inge left) today with, besides Michael, Geoffrey Geeraert (bass; he returned after Björn Denys; Laurent ‘Lampe’ Lampaert, etc. – see Mike’s history below) and Jens Hoornaert (drums) – and they bring “melancholic atmospheres, heavy tunes, dark lyrics, fast riffs and slow epic parts”.
‘Ebola’ had been at the V.V. already (96-05-19). Karin R. (vocals), Micky McGuinness (guitar, ex ‘Generic’, ‘One By One’), Chris Patterson (drums) and Andrew Nolan (bass; later in ‘Shank’) from Benwell (Newcastle area) were presenting their new singer (replacing Jonathan Shaw) Nick Loaring (vocals; Enslaved recs). By this time their Imprecation 7” (intense, fast, powerful HC) was out (recorded Feb. ’97). Later they also did a split-7” with ‘Servitude’ (’98) – re-issued in 2000 on Enslaved recs as single-sided 7” – and in 2000 they recorded for a split-LP with ‘Jinn’ (that was to come out in 2003) with Andy Irvine from ‘Disaffect’ on guitar and Set Dixon from ‘Active Minds’ on drums.
In the V.V. notes it’s mentioned that ‘Lifecycle’ also got some drink-tickets that they but no other clues if they played or not… Perhaps some of them just helped out.
Brob
I don’t think we’ve ever played together with ‘Link’, I’m pretty sure of that…
Karel Deweerdt, ‘Lifecyle’ guitarist
I was the second vocalist – Jonny [Jonathan] would have been in ‘Ebola’ at the first gig, as I didn’t play my first gig with ‘Ebola’ until Autumn 1996.
Nick Loaring
Princess Di had had died [97-08-31] and every UK band on tour in Europe had stories of American tourists coming up to them in the street and offering them their condolences… I think we got paid partially in out-of-date chocolate soy-milk at this show.
I think we were supposed to tour with ‘U.Y.S.’ [‘Use Your Strength’] from Germany. André [Sieg], who ran Maximum Voice Production, was trying to set that up but for some reason it didn’t happen. I don’t know the details there. I would have liked to have seen that band, they were a weird droning hardcore band, quite unlike anything else at the time. We played a show with ‘Hellkrusher’ somewhere in Europe, Sned was most likely leaving a message for them to see when they got to the Vort’n Vis [97-10-28]. At the time both myself and Chris Patterson were in ‘Sawn Off’ ànd ‘Ebola’. ‘Sawn Off’ pre-dated ‘Ebola’ but wasn’t as productive in terms of releasing records and playing shows outside of our local scene at that point…
Andrew Nolan, ‘Ebola’ bassist (survivalist-deathcult.blogspot)
‘Juju’ and me played for ‘Link’ already. We both left the band together in 2004 [???; see Geoffrey Geeraert’s comment]…
Greg ‘Briko’
‘Link’ did indeed start in ‘97 after ‘Carcer Molochi’ quit. The first line-up was ‘Juju’ (drums), Greg (bass), Inge (vocals) and myself (guitar & backings) – we recorded a few demos and there were plans for a tour with ‘Unhinged’ but that didn’t work out. After some time Greg & ‘Juju’ left because the distance was getting a problem. They were replaced by Geoffrey (bass) & Michiel (drums), who both played in ‘Abrogate’. Michiel left the band already after a few months. We chose er to continue with a drum-computer because of the fact there were few drummers or musicians available in the Ypres’ scène. We recorded the CD The Last Sacrefice and toured Europe for the First time. Then we took a break and somewhere around 2005-2006 we started to make new songs, released a demo-CD uitgebracht and toured England (2007). After that tour we started searching for a drummer again and since 2008 Jens became our drummer. A little bit later Geoffrey quit and became the guitarist of ‘Möse’ (with David Stubbe on drums & Karel Busschop on bass/vocals). Laurent ‘Lampe’ joined ‘Link’ on bass. In this line-up we recorded the split-7” (with ‘Raised By Drunks from Sweden) and then the 12” Chapter 1 (2010). After 12 years ‘faithful service’ Inge left band and we continued as a trio with myself taking up vocal duties. The 12” Chapter 2 was released in 2011. In 2013 ‘Lampe’ quit and was replaced by Björn Denys with whom we recorded the split-12” with ‘Absolutist’ (from Scotland). By the end of 2014 Björn quit and Geoffrey rejoined as bassist. Chapter 4 was recorded by the end of 2014 and released in 2015. [‘Link’s story continues…]
Michael Maes
Myself & Michiel joined ‘Link’ beginning 2000 and not 2004… I quit ‘Link’ in 2008 and was played for ‘Möse’ since 2004…
Geoffrey Geeraert
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 