The V.V. notes mentioned that ‘Lorre’ (Laurent Peene) & ‘Sientje’ (Nico Sinnaeve) were on bar-duties that day. The bands were mostly, if not all, locals. It probably wasn’t an announced gig (because there’s no other traces) but more like a get-together…
‘Lifecycle’ (‘new-school’ HC – H8000 but not with that typical sound, Ieper/Kortijk region) was one of the ‘house-bands’ of the V.V. in that periode (97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-08-17, may ’98-05-10). The line-up: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie soon went on to sing for ‘Spirit Of Youth’), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others). In a letter from May ’98, Sofie mentions that their bassist Jurgen Degryse had quit the band. His last show was in that month. He was replaced by Maarten Kinet (who later played for ‘AmenRa’)… Later the band had a few more changes…
‘Sorehead’ (from Ieper) played the V.V. a bunch of times (see: 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-05-10). They did a 5-track demo in 1997. Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene did vocals; the others were Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Jan Lazeure (guitar). ‘Lorre’ died in 2003.
‘D.S.A.’ (Ieper area) – old-school NY Hardcore – was the band of Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Davy Verhoye (R.I.P.)/Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (Vandenberghe?; guitar)… Have a look at 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-08-16 for their other V.V. shows
‘Striker’ (H8000 metalcore) was a band that Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene joined but he didn’t sing here fro them yet… The rest of the line-up: ‘Gerre’ Gerald Goedhart (guitar; later guitarist of ‘Core of Anger’), ‘Tomme’ Tom Bordeaux (guitar), PJ Vandamme (bass; later guitarist of ‘Retaliate’ & ‘Outcast’) & David ‘Terre’ Termote (drums). They released a demo entitled High Hopes For Nothing in 1999. Check also 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16.
‘Ignominy’ was a vegan straight-edge band; their guitarist Ward Dufraimont went on to play for ‘Firestone’. The others in the band were Ward Cecat (bass), Wouter Debonnet (drums; also ‘Rhymes Of Destruction’), ‘Jakke’ Jacob Vanluchene (guitar) & David Derammelaere (vocals). They recorded a demo (A Cry For Justice) early ’98.
‘Kalashnikov’ (metalcore from Diksmuide, so also H8000) would be back at the V.V. on 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16. The band was Thijs Plovie (guitar), Dave Willaert (bass), Tom Verheecke (vocals) & Bart Gouwy (drums).
‘Powers Of Discipline’ had the bassist of ‘Minotaur’ and ‘Archaï’ in their ranks.
‘Inside’ was an emo band linked with people from the first line-up of ‘Minotaur’
Brob
I can remember vaguely that we did this gig with the bands but nothing more…really.
Gerald Goedhart
I recall we did a ‘Merauder’ cover: the vocalist at the time sang the lyrics of the verse and chorus the other way round and people came up to me after the show saying that the new song resembled ‘Merauder’ a lot. (smile) It was the day we stole ‘Sorehead’s singer. Before him we tried out some local guys: the first one was in ‘Evangelist’ [Frederik ‘Zwartn’ Deswarte], the second one couldn’t keep rhythm and became our roadie [Vincent Degryse]. ‘Lorre’ joined by the end of ’98: we played the old set a few times with him and then restarted with new tracks. He was one the demo.
PJ Vandamme
We always said ‘D.S.A.’ was short for ‘Download Society Agression’ but in fact it was more like ‘Dikke Stront Affaire’ [“a huge load of crap”] from the very beginning. ‘Sien’ and myself started ‘Edgecrusher’ to take a totally different direction (thrash-metal). ‘Retaliate was supposed to be a side-project; ‘Edgecrusher’ came earlier.
Freddy Vanhee
I only remember I liked ‘Striker’.
Wouter Debonnet
I remembered little of that show but a fellow band-member gave me some info. The bands were all just starting out; it was a matinee type of thing in the afternoon (so hardly any people whowed up – the same day there was a mega-cool show in Wevelgem with ‘Sektor’, ‘Vitality’, ‘Arkangel’, etc.), organised by ‘Schmitters’ [Stijn Desmyter], in the Vort’n Vis pub. We played with our original line-up: Wouter, Jacob, Ward, David & myself.
Ward Cecat
I set up a few gigs at the Vort’n Vis, often on request of the bands themselves… Most of them were Belgian. My principle was that we have some ‘home-grown’ gems that earn a stage and I wanted something other than ‘Madball’ clones with a fucked-up attitude. I booked bands that I could trust, knew and had seen live. I also always tried to mix styles to avoid monotonous shows.
Stijn Desmyter
‘Powers Of Discipline’ was Alexander Ronsse on guitar and some guy named Filiep or Philippe on drums. Helmert Decavele was also our bassist (‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’). He replaced someone else, can ‘t remember his name. I might have rehearsed with ‘P.O.D.’ once. Long time ago…
Jeroen Algoet, ‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’ drummer
Maarten Byttebier was the drummer for ‘Inside’. He was one of the vocalists of ‘Minotaur’ in the beginning…
Bram Algoet, guitarist of ‘Minotaur’, (occasionally) ‘Archaï’ & ‘The Curse’
‘Powers Of Discipline’ was me (bassist of ‘Archaï’ & ‘Minotaur’) as a singer, Alexander Ronsse on guitar, Jelle Vandepitte (bass) & Dimitri Dias (drums).
‘Inside’ was Maarten Byttebier (singer of ‘Minotaur’ in its early days), his brother Thomas Byttebier on bass, Dimitri Declerq and Bart Wattez on guitar. Natascha Jaumain & Amber Omez were singing.
Bram Algoet wasn’t part of ‘Archaï’ [he was an occasional stand-in: see 99-11-27]; that was Brecht Algoet (guitar), Jeroen Algoet (drums), Liesbeth Meyfroid (vocals), Helmert Decavele (bass) & Dimitri Declerq guitar.
Helmert Decavele
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 