Another gig organised by Fred(eric) Driessens – with practical help from his bro, his girlfriend and Jan Claus…
‘Präparation-H’ was a grindcore (“mince crust”; influenced by ‘Napalm Death’, ‘Sore Throat’, ‘Assück’, ‘Hellnation’, ‘Disrupt’, etc.) band from Cincinnati (Ohio) with Dan ‘H’ Sucio (guitar & vocals), Burke (bass & vocals; in stead of Doug ‘Zombie’) and ‘Agent’ Klaus Grabke (drums). Ash (guitar/ bass/vocals/drums) was in the band until 1996. There was a tape with recordings from ‘94, a split-tape (with ‘Agathocles’) entitled Fair Is Fair! – released by Axioma Promotions (1995) – and a promo-tape for the ’97 tour. They also recorded several 7”s (e.g. with ‘Hellkrusher’, ‘Cripple Bastards’ and ‘Agathocles’) for numerous labels.
‘Açao Direta’ came all the way from São Paulo, Brazil. On the ‘97 tour the were: Paulo Gepeto (vocals), Pancho (bass), Alan (guitar) and Marcão (drums). Their (first European) tour was organised by Michael Kopijn and his girlfriend Eva (from Groningen), I believe. It was between the release of the Entre A Benção E O Caos (Between The Blessing And The Chaos) LP and the Intervenção (Intervention) LP. Musically they range from straightforward hardcore to fast crossover.
‘Açao Direta’ (courtesy Paulo Gepeto & Dan ‘Präparation-H’)
‘Boycot’ (from Alkmaar) were Bill(y) Kuiper (vocals), Pim Bakker (vocals; ex ‘C.K.N.), Taco Rietveld (drums), Jeroen (bass) and Lennaert Roomer (guitar; also ‘Distress’; replaced Erik-Jan, who played the first time they were at the V.V. on 96-09-20). I got to know them because of the Only Stupid Bastards Help Epitaph 7” (on Axiome Production, 1995). After that there were several 7”s (together with ‘Distress’, ‘Insane Youth’, ‘Betercore’, ‘Yuppiecrusher’, ‘Fleas And Lice’, …); also a tape with ‘Jobbykrust’ with live recordings of ‘Boycot’ (released in 1996)…
‘Bloodsuckers’, from the very South, French-speaking part of Belgium (Arlon area), played grind. Members were Pierre Marchal (drums), Christophe Pels (guitar), Gregory Pels (bass) and Michael Thiry (vocals). They had a few tapes out, one of which was a split-tape with a thrash/metal-HC band with the same name from Slovenia. Later they also did a 3-way split CD with ‘Kisaac’s band ‘Bob’s Bizarre Bazaar’…
After an abonimable set on the fest in September ’94, ‘Força Macabra’ showed up again here. The band with the Portugese name and lyrics are actually from Finland. They ‘worshipped’ Brazilian bands and also did covers of bands such as ‘Ratos De Porão’, ‘Olho Seco’, ‘Cólera’, etc. We got to know them when Bruno (Genet recs) released the split with ‘Corpus Christi’ in ’93. I also hung out with Otto and his mates some time in Ghent when they were staying over at the Genet HQ. The vocalist was ‘Taurus’ (‘Oswaldo’ Otto Luotonen), bassist ‘Chakal’ (‘Jaba’ Jaakko Penttinen), guitarist ‘Porco’ (‘Lalli’ ‘Pedro Anthares’ Petri Niskanen) and drummer ‘Antitese’ (‘Oscar’ Otto Itkonen). Some of them also played in ‘Selfish’. The band did numerous records and tapes. A few days later (97-05-23) they also played the Hogepont squat in Ghent…
‘Konstrukt’ was a grind/noise-core band (unpredictable, fast, chaotic, noisy, brutal stuff with references to ‘Anal Cunt’, ‘Man Is The Bastard’) with avant-garde/industrial touches. Dietmar Eicher (guitar), Sascha Confus (bass), Pablo (drums) & Ronald (vocals) were from Vienna (Austria). That year they recorded for their Dis-Co LP, that was released on Dietmar’s label Hammerwerk. He had already released their split-7” with ‘Kito’ in ’95. There was also a split-7” with ‘Wasserdicht’ on Jay Walk (Dejan Pozegar from Slovenia) in ’96. And in 1999 the In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni 7” was put out by Hammerwerk again. The band had ties with the local squatted social centre E.K.H.
Not mentioned on the flyer but in the guestbook and the V.V. notes were ‘Real Chaos’ (grindcore from Germany; “the name says it all”) who’d also been on the bill with ‘Präparation-H’ at the in Sint-Niklaas gig a few days earlier.
Brob
We were only there brieflly because the moment we arrived, we were asked if we could play in Lille [France] too later that day. After some negotiating we could plug in immediately and in the evening we played with ‘Unhinged’! I believe that the day before there was a gig planned in Geel or Diest (about the same line-up) [Diest, 97-05-17: ‘Açao Direta’, ‘Präparation-H’, ‘Konstrukt’ & Honey Honey (Bel)] but when we got there, we were told we couldn’t play… That had also happened the day before, in Veldhoven [The Netherlands]. Good bands by the way…
Bill, ‘Boycot’
On this rainy Sunday the public filled the small room. ‘Boycot’ played hardcore and had an ex-member of the old ‘Sore Throat’ [Lennaert Roomer]. The Finnish ‘Força Macabra’ tried singing in Portuguese and played covers of ‘Ratos De Porão, ‘Armageddon’, ‘Cólera’ and ‘Lobotomy’. ‘Açao Direta’s performance was great. We made many friends and the balance was very positive. We were back in Europe in 1999, 2001 & 2004! In 1999 & 2001 things were organised by Michael [Kopijn; drummer of ‘Catweazle’ etc.] & Eva from Bacteria (Groningen)! 1997 we made it with lots of letters and friends spreading the word around Europe…
Paulo Gepeto, vocalist of ‘Açao Direta’
We played that one… ‘Bloodsuckers’ were immensely entertaining in their insanity. Grade-A ‘developing country grind’! We played many shows with ‘Konstrukt’ along the way.
Otto Itkonen, ‘Força Macabra’
>>Five long weeks of touring around Europe. The Spanish/Portuguese and the French legs were cut off as the van seriously broke down in ex-Yugoslavija. A grassroots-organised tour with a shoelace budget can’t always be the best possible way to do things – and ‘Força’ certainly had its ups and downs in the long series of gigs in squats and bars.<<
forcamacabra.net
There was a great atmosphere!
Chris Pels, ‘Bloodsuckers’
It was our bassplayer’s birthday and the guys in ‘Rubbish Heap’ came to the show with a cake that they smashed in his face. It was really, really funny! I don’t recall much about venue or specifics of the show. I do remember that the guys in ‘Konstrukt’ from Vienna were super, super cool and we remained in touch for years after. We played a few shows with ‘Força Macabra’ and I can tell you, they are great drinking partners! I remember I gave my favorite ‘Los Crudos’ T-Shirt to the singer of ‘Boycot’. It was WAY too small for him. I have a photo. Hahaha!
Dan, ‘Präparation-H’ guitarist
I travelled a few days with the guys from ‘Präparation-H’ when they were touring Europe. The were also joined by Scott (the drummer of ‘Blatherskite’ & ‘Ice Nine’) and a Polish guy named Marcin. The German band ‘Real Chaos’ – German crust/grind with really nice (and a bit smelly haha) people – was touring with them aswell. The days before Ieper, the band played in Sint-Niklaas (97-05-15) – with ‘Wojczech’, ‘Cut Your Hair’ & ‘Real Chaos’, Veldhoven [The Netherlands] 97-05-16 – with ‘Boycot’, ‘Distress’, ‘Real Chaos’ and I believ ‘No ID) and Diest (97-05-17) – with ‘Intestinal Disease’, ‘Açao Direta’, ‘Rubbish Heap’, ‘Real Chaos’, etc. The show in Veldhoven was the same weekend as the Dynamo Open Air festival and the guys from ‘Disfear’ were at the show as they were also going to this metal-festival. The morning after the show in Veldhoven we had a quick visit there aswell. The guys from ‘Präp-H’ were super nice and had a great sence of humor. A few weeks later I met some of them in Liège when ‘Dystopia’ played there. I remember getting that really nice “thank you” card afterwards. Still have it somewhere. Their last show was in Ieper. I was pleasantly suprised by ‘Bloodsuckers’ – as I was allready writing with some of them and this was our first actual meeting. ‘Força Macabra’ and ‘Konstrukt’ were nice additions. The next friday I organised a show for ‘Força Macabra’ in Mol.
Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 
‘Boycot’ interview in Evilspeak #3 (1998)