Another gig organised by Michael Maes… With practical help of Inge Cappoen, Jan Claus & Lieve Goemaere.
Besides vocalist and frontman Deek Allan, I believe the band here consisted of bassist Calum Mckenzie (he left to the U.S. in ‘99) and drummer ‘The Love Doctor’ Ade Crawford (ex ‘Satanic Malfunctions’) – see guestbook. Guitarist Ricky ‘Zodiac’ Olsen first appeared on the T.H.C. 7” (Campary recs 1999; with ‘Love Doctor’ – drums, Calum – bass, Deek – vocals, ‘Zodiac’ – guitar), having replaced Matt ‘Keith Chugwin’ Finch in 1997. In 1996 ‘Oi Polloi’ let a French label release their earliest recordings (from ’84) on the Punx’n’Skins EP. They did a lot of touring, which brought them back to the V.V. on 98-04-18 & 98-09-19. And in 1999 a few records – such as the Fuaim Catha LP on Skuld releases (with bassist ‘R. Sole’, drummer Murray Briggs and guitarist ‘Red’ – Brian Tipa ?) & Let the Boots Do the Talking EP (with bassist ‘R. Sole’ drummer ‘Bulbheid’ & guitarist Matt Finch) – came out… Neil Robinson also released the tape It’s Not The Monkey That Need’s It’s Head Examined (Tribal War) to support ‘Oi Polloi’s travels with the Primate Freedom Tour (Summer of ‘99).
‘Accion Mutante’ – from Stuttgart – play aggressive HC/crust-punk (references to ‘Discharge’, ‘Doom’, ‘E.N.T.’). In 1995 they released their 1st 7” (called Fear) on Skuld releases. The line-up on that was Capde (guitar), Jochen (bass), Frosch & Alexander Rossi (vocals), Dominik (drums, replaced Schmier) and Timo (guitar). In 1998 they did another 7” (Y No Hai Remedio) on the same label: ‘Migge’ (Mike/Michael Schwarz) did the drums and Karsten had replaced Frosch by then. A planned split-7“ with ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ didn´t happen. The band still exist (accion-mutante.com)…
‘Link’ had played their first V.V. gig earlier that year (97-09-12). This local band was (at that time) V.V. ‘shitworker’ 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. They played crust-core-punk and hadn’t really released anything yet…
Around this time ‘Holefiller’ (see 97-02-28) recorded a demo (with the help of Michael Maes, in his attic). These mates (from the Ghent squat-scene) played slow, dark, doom-metal mixed with industrial parts. Sometimes they performed as a combo producing industrial noise, then they’ld call themselves ‘Hellfiller’. The core of the band was Karel Busschop (bass), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’) & ‘Leffe’ (guitar; ex ‘Chronic Disease’, ‘Private Jesus Detector’). Their mate Billy did the electronics for ‘Hellfiller’.
Local band ‘Sorehead’ had also performed at the Vort’n Vis before (97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25) were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar), Pieter Derycke (drums) and Jan Lazeure (guitar). Some said their music was metal-influenced, others disagreed. They did a couple more shows at the V.V. after this…
‘D.S.A.’ (see 97-06-27 & 97-10-25) was another local band that played old-school NY Hardcore. The band consited of Nico Synnaeve (drums), Frederik Vanhee (bass), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (PJ; guitar)…
‘G.D.B.’ (or ‘Chargée G.D.B.’) was a punk-rock band from the Maloka (distro) / Les Tanneries (venue) scene (Dijon, France). They had a few tracks on the Autonomy Not Submission compilation-LP (a benefit for Maloka, on Pariah Rules recs). They also did a few tapes… A later gig planned on 98-06-05 got cancelled…. Band-members were ‘NoFun Leouf’ (guitar), ‘Colas’ (vocals/beatbox; and guitar when ‘NoFun’ left) & ‘Kaos Youki’ (bass).
Brob
Ricky had taken over guitar-duties for ‘Oi Polloi’ by December 97…
Matt Finch
I think this was during a short tour with ‘Oi Polloi’ and ‘Boycot’ perhaps? [Brob: That was the days after: 97-12-27 in Leuven & 97-12-28 in Opwijk] I remember the kitchen, the stage and the sleeping-place under the roof ( with some holes) haha…
‘Accion Mutante’
My best memory was playing with ‘Accion Mutante’ and ‘Oi Polloi’ at the Vort’n Vis in Ieper.
‘Kaos Youki’ (gdb.kaosyouki.net/english.html)
‘G.D.B.’ was ‘Nofun’ on guitar and vocals, me on bass and a drum-machine. It wasn’t a serious band, it was kind of a joke. We both played in the band ‘20 Minutes de Chaos’ from Dijon and at that time our female singer went to England for a few months. So we did ‘G.D.B.’ as a side-project. We existed only for a few months. If I remember correctly, Michael from ‘Link’ organised this gig. The previous day we played in Liège, so we arrived rather tired. We left the day after to Paris even more tired. I think it was the best gig we did with ‘G.D.B.’, mostly because a lot of friends from Lille showed up. I also met new people at this gig that are still very good friends nowadays. So the atmosphere was fun. I remember ‘Oi Polloi’ did a good gig but I mostly remember enjoying ‘Accion Mutante’s concert. I don’t recall that much of the other bands. Afterwards, I spent time chatting with some people from ‘Accion Mutante’ at the bar; also with friends from Lille and some people playing for ‘Link’ that are really good friends now. I almost didn’t sleep that night.
Jean-Christophe of Maloka was our driver…
About Vort’n Vis in general: I started hearing about it in the very early 90s from a friend who was going there regularly. It was sounding a bit like a myth to me: all these bands that I was really into who played there, the DIY scene, etc. Unfortunately when I started to go there a few years later, there were already these ‘arguments’ between crusties and straight-edgers. Which 20 years later sounds rather childish on both sides to me…
In fact ‘Colas’ was supposed to sing for us in the beginning but in the end never got to it. His only participation in the band has been to help us write some lyrics. So the band has always been just ‘Nofun’ and me.
‘Kaos Youki’
One of our lesser shows… It was very cool that we could play – we were very grateful to Michael for giving us the chance – but if I remember well the crusties were not that fond of us…
Frederik Vanhee, ‘D.S.A.’ bassist
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 