95-07-02 Policy Of 3 – Malva – Kosjer D – Ananda – [Nothing Left To Grasp]

“Vindicating emo matinee”, Bruno wrote on the flyer & VV newsletter of that time… ‘Shitworkers’ that day: ‘Hazel’, Joeri H, Vik B, Wim ‘ Blindfold’, Hans Verbeke & yours truly.

Corey von Villiez & Bernd Bohrmann (Equality recs, ‘Abolition’, Stack’) organised the tour for ‘Policy Of 3’.

I had invited ‘Malva’ to play at the V.V. before (see: 94-11-05); here they supported the ‘PO3’ tour for 3 weeks. They were an emo-core band from Leverkusen with Christian Schneider (guitar), Alex(ander) Bokelmann (drums), Flo(rian) Reiss (guitar), Martino Palazzo (vocals) & Alex(ander) Jahn (bass). I really liked their demo. Later (’96) Corey & Bernd released the 7” Das Leben Ist Kein Picknick on their label Equality recs.

‘Policy Of 3’, a political SxE emo band from New Jersey, were: Adam Goldstein (guitar/vocals), Chris(topher) Fry (drums), Eric ‘Bull’ Gervasi (bass; later ‘400 Years’ – see 97-06-14) and Jeff Fisher (guitar/vocals). At this time they had a self-titled 7” out on Scott Beibin’s Bloodlink recs (recorde March ‘93), and the Dead Dog Summer LP (recorded Sep. ‘93) & the American Woodworking 7” (out in ‘95) both on on Old Glory recs. They were part of the Cabbage Collective in Philadelphia that put up shows in the basement of a church. Bull also distributed records at a local anarchist bookstore.

‘Ananda’ came from Parisian suburbia. A few months before (February) they had recorded a demo. Recordings of their show with ‘Policy Of 3’ and ‘Avail’ (95-05-30 in Poitiers, France) were used for a split-tape with ‘Symptom Of Isaac’. The band consisted of Chrystèle Grall & Jean-Yves André (vocals), Thomas Guillanton (guitar; ex ‘Fingerprint’, ‘Jasemine’) & Sylvain Klein (guitar), Jérôme ‘Mizou’ Bessout (drums; ex ‘Fingerprint’, ‘Jasemine’) and Jérôme ‘Gunthar’ Lacombe (bass). (Günthar studio was Jérôme’s the home recording-studio in the 90s.) Their 10” Masqué was recorded that summer and released by Olivier Lépine on his label La Libre Expression. Later Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (ex ‘Undone’) replaced Sylvain and Michaël Clergeot did vocals in stead of Jean-Yves (after the 10” and the Habeas Corpus LP); the sound changed “from screamo to heavy gloomy hardcore sludge”. They would come back to the V.V. on 96-09-22 & 99-08-21.

‘Kosjer D’ (previous appearances: 94-05-22 & 94-08-19) started out as a 3-some (acoustic guitar, bass & drums) and then Arne (Van Petegem; who was in a mainstream pop-band before and nowadays known as the electronic/dance producer ‘Styrofoam’) joined. The name was originally ‘Kosjer Dill’ (nickname of the singer’s girlfriend, who was from San Diego). They were an emo band (with personal lyrics) hailing from Limburg, with (besides Arne – guitar/vocals), Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals), Stijn Persoons (drums; ex ‘Dawn Of Liberty’) and Kristien Hendrix (bass). The band did some recordings and asked Bruno (Genet recs) to release them as a 7” (entitled True). Musically they were compared to ‘Jawbox’ & ‘Fugazi’. People can read about how it came about in Reminder #5… They had finished recordings in spring that year so they presented their untitled LP (also out on Genet recs) here. They would come back a few times more and evolved into ‘Reiziger’…

‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, an emo band from Augsburg (Germany), had already played on 94-08-20 but I believe they didn’t show up here, there’s no mention of them in the V.V. notes…

Brob

We toured with ‘Policy of 3’ and when we got back from Great-Britain, we stopped at the V.V. to do a show there; together with the fantastic ‘Kosjer D’. We split up around 1996 but Alex J, Alex B and me have been doing music under the name ‘Malva’ until 2010. Then we stopped because I was moving to Berlin.

Christian Schneider, ‘Malva’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

94-11-19 Svart Snö – Greenscab – Rood Arch – [Abyss]

‘Svart Snö’ (meaning “black snow”), a band playing aggressive HC/punk – references to ‘Poison Idea’, ‘Discharge’ & ‘M.D.C.’ – from Stockholm, were: ‘Fabbe’ Fabian Hansson Bernstone (vocals), Peter ‘Peken’ Hirseland (guitar/vocals), ‘Piffen’ Joakim Hammenstig (drums), Tomii ‘Tonken’/‘Tompa’ Johannesson (bass). The band had already toured with ‘Hiatus’ in ’92 so this was their 2^nd one (here with their fellow countrymen ‘Greenscab’)… They had already some vinyl out by then. Beginning of that year they had finished the recordings for the Besserwisser LP (out on Really Fast recs).

‘Svart Snö’ (photo by Wim De Leersnijder)

‘Svart Snö’ drummer (photo from Ludovic Hache’s zine Ras L’Bol #3)

‘Greenscab’, a crust band from Malmö/Göteborg (Sweden), were Johnny Christiansen (Christensson?) (bass), ‘Sniff’ Ola Persson (drums), Ola Püschel (guitar) and ‘Mud’ (vocals). Their music was described as “killer fast HC with a touch of ‘Slayer’…” They did an LP called Left The End Behind on ElderBerry recs (the label of ‘Steve’- Stefan Hakeskog – ‘G-Anx’) in 1995 and a year later the 7” Kill Precede Rampage on Hepatit D (label ran by Johnny and Peter Jandreus) in ’96 (they’d split up by then). The band also did a track for the Tribute To Poison Idea CD.

On 94-04-23 ‘Rood Arch’ (from Lille/Dunkerque) played the V.V. for the first time. Pierre Anne (drums/vocals), ‘Tomoy’ (bass; ex ‘Scraps, later also in ‘Unhinged’) & Fred (also bass; ex ‘6 Feet Over’) were also regular visiters since they were living just across the border.

‘Abyss’ (an emo band from Rastede – Oldenburg/Bremen area – playing metallic HC) had been announced but split up. The “European ‘Downcast’” (as some called them) released a 7” on André Pawelzick’s label Love (and my penpal Holger Ohst’s Summersault distro) that year and later there would be a split double 7” with ‘Iconoclast’ on Old Glory recs (recorded Nov ’94). The band was Willi Wahnbeck (bass), Ralf ‘Kerni’ Kerncke (drums), Maurice Grassau (guitar), Niklas ‘Nick’ Hinsch (guitar) and Sven von Thülen (vocals) & Jörg (vocals).

Brob

I run a software-company now with Benjamin Straude (guitarist of ‘Queerfish’). And Niklas Hinsch is working with us… I’m the partner of Franziska von Hasselbach.

Maurice Grassau, ‘Abyss’

We were dead tired of each other as it was in the end of the tour. Touring with ‘Svart Snö’ was good: hey were already friends of our’s so…

Johnny ‘Greenscab’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-07-09 Varukers – Chaos UK – Fleas & Lice – Chosen Choice – Muggles

Bassist Beckie Gibbons had left ‘Chaos UK’ (from Bristol) before their 1994 US tour and ‘RamRaider’ Marv(in) replaced her. ‘Nausea’s guitarist Vic(tor) ‘Venom’ Dominicis (also ex ‘Reagan Youth’) had joined as second guitarist (he had been at the V.V. already during their first passage 93-11-21). Pat ‘Devilman’ Evans had replaced Chuck on drums. Their album Floggin’ The Corpse (some new recordings but mostly stuff recorded live in 1983) was released in 1995, after which all members left the band except Adrian ‘Chaos’ Rice (vocals; taking over from Kieran ‘Mower’ Moylett) and guitarist ‘Gabba’; the new bassist was J. Cloth and new drummer Phil Thudd… Their CD The Morning After The Night Before was recorded with that line-up in April 1996… The EP King For A Day was also released in ’96.

It was the ‘Varukers’ (Leamington Spa) 2^nd time at the V.V. (see: 94-02-05) and they’d played Belgium in the 80s before… So their D-beat à la ‘Discharge’ was not new… In July ’94 they had recorded the Nothing’s Changed EP (released on Weird recs) with Anthony ‘Rat’ Martin doing vocals (also sang for ‘Discharge’ later on), drummer Kev(in) Frost, guitarist ‘Biff’ Ian Smith and bassist Brian Ansell. In 1995 We Bite recs did the Still Bollox But Still Here LP for them.

‘Varukers’ (photo by Wim De Leersnijder)

Some ‘Fleas & Lice’ history… In the beginning of 1995 Oene Brandsma (ex ‘Chronicore’) had joined the band (see 93-02-06 & 94-03-19) on bass (Joshua Lagerwerf had left). In 1996 Esther took a break for half a year and Willy ‘Wills’ Nollomont (‘Hiatus’) replaced her for a while. In 1997 Piet (Pierre Erickson) got hit by a taxi-cab and couldn’t play guitar for 14 months. In 1998 Pelle replaced Maynard Schut on drums. In December 2002 Oene leaves the band and gets replaced by Stiff from Scotland. Jim got added in early 2004 as a second guitarplayer.

‘Fleas & Lice’ (photo from Ludovic Hache’s zine Ras L’Bol #5)

‘Muggles’ (from the Mechelen area) played chaos-punk: Frédéric/Fred ‘Baskie’ Vandersype (vocals; Gnome zine & distro), Bruno ‘Sloef’ Mastyn (guitar; also ‘Intestinal Disease’), his brother Geert & his partner Manuella ‘Manu’ De Roover (drums). They did a split-7” with ‘Blindspot A.D.’ (Germany) on T.V.G. recs in 1996, and together with 3 other Belgian bands (‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’, ‘Hirudo’ and ‘Honey Honey’) they appeared on the Screams From Belgium ‎LP) that Tim Leten (Filth-Ear distribution) put out in 1997. They were invited back to the V.V. for a second gig on 98-04-19…

‘Chosen Choice’ was a “thrashpunk” band from Lublin with guitarist Piotr(ek) Kowalczyk & drummer Marek (who was also in ‘Amen’). They had been playing at the V.V. already half a year eralier (94-12-31). Their tape, entitled Think For Yourself, was released by Lagart Factory (formerly Lagart Tapes; ran by Dariusz ‘Pała’ Palinowski, Paweł ‘Bocian’ Sikora & Tomasz ‘Mrówa’ Komorek of ‘Amen’ & Kultura Nędzy zine).

Brob

Michael [Maes] and myself were doing the entrance on this one, I think…

Henk Loobuyck

I started the band together with Geert & ‘Manu’ in 1991. We had several singers: Frédéric, Steve, Tom Jonckheere (later ‘Wizards Of Oi’), Erik Minnen (‘Cornucopia’) & Kurt van den Eynden (‘Noise Reduction’ & ‘Karma’)…

Bruno ‘Sloef’ Mastyn, ‘Muggles’ guitarist

I remember that we all took our wives/girlfriends at the time on this weekend-gig. They decided never to come again afterwards. ;-) I liked the venue and we always had a good crowd. Didn’t like sleeping upstairs though in February [the year before]… ‘Chaos UK’ were always fun to play with and are good friends. ‘Fleas & Lice’ were an excellent band also and great people. Again: we played with them a few times over the years…

Kevin Frost, ‘Varukers’ drummer

I recall that the English all had brought their girlfriends and slept in hotels, except for Brian, the ‘Varukers’ bassist. He stayed behind by himself and had to party all night in the V.V. with us…

Maynard Schut, ‘Fleas & Lice’ drummer

‘Chosen Choice’ was a two-piece and I believe they both dropped out years ago…

Pawel ‘Scream’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Paolo M. informs us of a new place that has been squatted in Ghent (May ’95). A building at the Hogepontstraat. Together with the adjoint (even bigger building) at the Scheldekaai (on the riverside) – squatted in February 1996 – that would be come the residence of a big bunch of ‘Schelderatten’ …

additions wellcome!…