95-01-29 Fabric – Badgewearer – Vanilla – [Ambush] – Liar – Neuthrone

This gig was first planned for (Saturday) 95-01-28 but got switched over…

Here’s a description of ‘Ambush’s music I read somewhere: “An intense mix of heavy sounds. Imagine combining ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘Neurosis’, ‘Acme’ (the same feeling of despair), ‘Black Flag’ and a spoon of ‘Spazz’… Gloomy, powerful, sludgy intense stuff; mostly on the slow side of things, it just rumbles along but occasionally speeds up. Lots of changes from really quiet passages to really intense, angry, agonizing passages with feedback, etc., heavy riffs all over.”… In the (German) band were (at that time): Gunnar Jakobson (drums), Thomas Schaal (vocals), Tobias Werner (guitar) and Tom Rusnak (bass; also ‘Rorschach’). By that time they had a few 7”s out (Ocean Of Irrelevance & Zebaoth, on Winter recs), a 10” (Amarcord, on André Sieg’s Maximum Voice productions) and 3 albums (Lach!, Pigs & Revue, on Common Cause recs). ‘Ambush’ and ‘Neuthrone’ were touring together but I believe ‘Ambush’ actually didn’t play (they also weren’t mentioned in the V.V. notes)…

‘Neuthrone’ were locals so regulars… This gig here was probably their last ever at the V.V. The next year there was mention of ‘7 Hate Day’ as ex ‘Neuthrone’. Around 1997 David Stubbe started ‘Holefiller’ and later he drummed for several bands (such as ‘Möse’ and nowadays ‘Gura’). Steven W./ Steve McM. ended up in prison for a while…

If ‘Liar’ actually played (they weren’t mentioned in the V.V. notes and in the final newsletter either) it was probably their 1^st show at the V.V. They had already been announced (as “new locals”) on 94-12-10 but that whole gig got cancelled… They rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (see 93-01-09 & 93-06-13). Hans Verbeke (vocals), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass) and Raf (or Raphael; drums; replaced by Bert Guillemont in ‘96) played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore). They were to become some of the most ardent H8000 promoters. It was early days for the band so no records yet…

‘Fabric’ had been here before (94-08-20) aswell… The guys were writing for and planning the recordings (May ‘95) of their Lightbringer 12”.

‘Fabric’; photography by Vique Martin

‘Vanilla’ (an emo band from Paris) put out their I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space 7” on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer in 1995. On that record Jean Lebrun played bass and brothers Yann & Yves Maisonneuve (both ex ‘Ivich’), guitar and drums. Alain Vidal (also in ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘El Vidal Sonido’) joined them later. Bruno released an untitled LP of them on Genet recs in 1996. They had been announced already for 94-12-10 but bassplayer Jean had hurt his hand then. They’d also ended up on the bill opf the 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival and would come back a few times more (96-03-24 & 96-08-18)…

It was ‘Badgewearer’s 2^nd visit aswell – though they didn’t get to play the first time (after 93-07-04). The band (from Glasgow, Scotland) played complex jazz-punk with quirky guitars and groovy bass-lines. They released their stuff on Jer Reid of ‘Dawson’s label Gruff Wit recs. The band consisted of Tony Kennedy (bass & bugle), Neil Bateman (guitar & sax), Jim Carstairs (vocals) & Ross Main (drums).

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

95-01-08 [Sticks & Stones] – Congress – Autonomia Indigena – [Sherry]

Concert organised by my mate Joeri Hoste (Emotive Impulse zine). He was a volunteer at the V.V. like myself and we’d tried to fuse our distros (also with Bruno VdV’s) but that didn’t work out… The day before (95-01-07) he’d already arranged a show in his hometown, Brugge with ‘Sticks & Stones’, ‘Blindfold’ (Bel), ‘Vanilla’ (Fra) and ‘Kosjer D’ (Bel).

‘Sticks & Stones’ were from Bridgewater, NJ. They had gained our attention when Charles Maggio of ‘Rorschach’ released the Theme Song For Nothing LP (‘92) on his label Gern Blandsten. That record featured bassist Osamu ‘Sam’ Kawahara (on this tour Rob Santello), drummer Chris Calello, Pietro (Peter) Ventantonio (a.k.a. Jack Terricloth) doing vocals & guitar, and guitarist ‘Johnny X’ Mike Cavallero. They’d already done some 7”s on various labels plus a tape that was intended to be released on ‘7 Seconds’ Positive recs (’88). In 1994 they released the LP The Optimist Club ‎(Tinnitus recs) and the EP Cynical (Chunksaah recs, a punk-rock label formed by ‘The Bouncing Souls’). The latter also released their disocragphy on CD (The Strife And Times; in 2003). In the beginning they played punk-rock (sometimes compared with ‘Stiff Little Fingers’) and evolved into “emotional post-hardcore, post straight-edge rock”.

Mike Cavallero claims the band never played Belgium (read below) but Joeri insist “They did! I even organised several gigs for them…” though the last newsletter before this gig mentions “‘Sticks & Stones’ quit their tour one week earlier than expected…”.

‘Autonomia Indigena’ (from the Orléans area) were a “fast political in-your-face hardcore band” with Audrey Lacroix (guitar), Franck Le Poder (vocals; also ‘Sea Shepherd’), José (bass) & Rodrigo (drums). The latter originated from Chile. Political HC (emo-crust) with an interest for Latino issues – some labeled them “the french Los Crudos”. Lyrics were in French and Spanish. They did a 7” on Ape recs in 1994. I believe they also did a split-tape with ‘Sea Shepherd’ in support of a squat. Christophe Mora of Stonehenge recs intended to do a split-7″ ‘Autonomia Indigena’/‘Vomit Yourself’ but it never happened…

At the time of this gig – right after their tour with ‘Blindfold’ – ‘Congress’ (who’d played here already a bunch of times, e.g. 93-04-25, 93-05-22, 94-01-08, etc.; and would return frequently, e.g. 95-04-09) consisted of Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), ‘Uniform’ ‘UxJx’ Jan Vandekerckhove (bass), ‘Pitbull’ Pierre Vanrumbeke (vocals) and Ilja ‘Chill Jay’ De Ceuleneire (drums). No idea if their additional guitarist Michael ‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon (also in ‘Deformity’) already played then. GoodLife’s marketing-strategy (“H8000 vegan edge-metal”) was in full swing. After the ‘release’ of the Euridium 7” (on Warehouse recs – the precursor to GoodLife – GL started officially on Jan 1^st ‘96; a limited edition was handed out at their gig in The Pits, 94-12-23) the band started working on the Blackened Persistance (should actually be ‘Persistence’) album…

‘Sherry’ was meant to be a ‘project’ with Jurgen Desmet, Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers (ex ‘Rise Above’, ‘N.O.F.’, ‘Shortsight’; Superfluous zine), Jeroen Lauwers (ex ‘N.O.F.’, Machination recs) and Tom De Pauw (Holy Hardcore zine).

The Germans of ‘Stack’ were also announced early on but then they disappeared from the newsletters so I think their first passage was postponed until 95-04-28…

Brob

Sherry [Sherry Beth Sacks] (see 94-08-21) was a American girl that Marco [Walzel] was with briefly… A friend of ‘Hazel’ too. We tried some stuff out with Tom De Pauw (drummer of ‘Settle For Less’) and Jurgen Desmet but that didn’t work out, and few months later we tried again with Stijn [Persoons] and Arne [Van Petegem] of ‘Kosjer D’ but these guys played way better than us so we forgot about it…. There’s (luckily) no recordings of the band ‘Sherry’ left.

I’m pretty sure ‘Sticks & Stones’ never made it to Belgium. I did see them at the beginning of their tour (94-12-24) in Germany because they did a show with together with ‘Blindfold’. I had a chat with one of those guys and I would’ve known if they played in Brugge ‘cause I would’ve seen the guys back. In Brugge I think it was ‘Blindfold’, ‘Kosjer D’ and a ‘Moss Icon’ cover band with Joeri.

Jeroen Lauwers

Gern Blandsten released our first LP, Theme Song For Nothing, on vinyl only (Skene! was our actual label, and released the same record on CD. So it was a sort of partnership between the two labels.)

There was a German guy who went by the name of Goliath [Brettschneider] who had a business booking bands and renting vehicles and equipment. ‘Goli’ was on vacation with his girlfriend Beata, when they bought our album, Theme Song For Nothing. They liked it and contacted us offering to put a tour together. However, Goliath wanted to get out of the booking side of the business and only rent equipment, so he had a colleague of his named Detlev handle the actual booking. Since ‘Goli’ had instigated the whole thing and because he liked our record, he volunteered to drive us for part of the tour. Other drivers included these two German kids named Carston (Redman, maybe?) and Marcus, who had released our European-only LP, The Optimist Club. By the end of the tour, we drove ourselves.

Things started out very well. It was our 6^th tour and we were unaccustomed to having any help, getting paid, having places to stay, good sized audiences and all those other positive things associated with the European scene. Our U.S. tours were mostly miserable. Unfortunately, as the tour progressed things started to fall apart. Dates in Austria and France were cancelled, or to be more precise, were never confirmed to begin with. We spent Christmas Eve in a post-office lobby because we had no money, food or anywhere to sleep. As things got worse, Detlev disappeared and would not return any phone-calls, leaving us on our own. We were able to replace some shows and sometimes we would just show up somewhere and ask to play. At our last show of the tour in Nuremberg [Nürnberg], Detlev finally showed up. He looked exhausted. It was clear that he felt terrible about how things had worked out but hadn’t known how to deal with it, so he just disappeared on us. I was prepared to be furious but when I saw him I didn’t have the heart to really say what was on my mind. If he had just communicated with us, things would have been better. Anyway, we went home a few days later and we didn’t play again for about 10 years.

‘Sticks & Stones’ may have been booked to play but we had numerous cancelations and I’m fairly certain we did not have any shows in Belgium, unfortunately. The band went to Europe only once. We played in Germany, Italy, Sweden and Denmark.

So… unfortunately Pete and Chris both say they don’t remember whether or not we ever played there, so not very helpful, I’m afraid. For my part, we have photos from every other part of the tour, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, but nothing from Belgium. As a professional cartoonist, I don’t think I would forget a visit to the centre of European comics. I’m fairly certain we were’t there. Maybe Goliath might be able to shed some light on the question. Of course you can draw whatever conclusion seems best.

During that time, I launched ‘Johnny X And the Conspiracy’ and ‘Zero Zero’ (with members of ‘Lifetime’) and Pete (a.k.a. Jack [Terricloth]) started ‘World Inferno Friendship Society’, which he’s still doing. ‘Sticks & Stones’ have been talking about playing a Christmas show [2014] in New Jersey with ‘The Bouncing Souls’, which seems to be happening.

Mike Cavallero, ‘Sticks & Stones’ guitarist

2 weeks before this (94-12-23), there was the presentation [at ‘The Pits’ in Kortrijk] of ‘Blindfold’s 7” World Of Fools. ‘Congress’ and ‘Blindfold’ started a Euro tour on Dec 25^th. Both bands’ 7”s were free at the entrance. The ‘Congress’ 7” [Euridium] had a comic sleeve and ‘Blindfold’s 7” was available on green vinyl only at this local show. It came with an anti Lost & Found sticker: during that tour we (‘Blindfold’) had a run-in with the L&F boss [Bernd Granz], he came to a show and started an argument about the H8000 scene who were all aginst his label.

Hans Verbeke

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-09-16 D.D.I. – Oi Polloi – Glue – Coche Bomba – Insane Youth – Carcer Molochi – Rawness – Systral

2^nd day of the 7^th Leed festival

‘D.D.I.’ & co in front of the Vort’n Vis

(top; L=>R) Gio – Mohane – Irith – Piero – Dario – Edo – ‘Mila’; (bottom; L=>R) Mauro – Luca – ‘Gallo’ – Ciccio – ? – ?

‘D.D.I’ – Mauro, Dario, Edo in front of the van; Luca on top

‘D.D.I.’ (‘Degenerazione D’Incubo’) from Pavia were a wonderful anarcho collective/ political HC band who highlighted their lyrics and ideas with ironic/ tongue-in-cheek but smart little theatre/cabaret-pieces; almost comedia dell’arte… They promoted D.I.Y. and cooperation: their 10” Pazzi Da Asporto was co-released (’96) by a bunch of European D.I.Y. labels: Pawel’s Scream recs (Poland), Bob & Seth ‘Active Minds’ Loony Tunes recs (UK), Sned’s Flat Earth recs (UK), Jon Elliott’s Active distribution (UK), Nikt Nic Nie Wie (Pol), Maloka (Fra), etc. chipped in to support it’s release. Even my Tilt! distribution provided some funding… The original cover was a screen-printed envelope and contained 32 page booklet. They also did a self-produced 7”: Fanculo I Suoni Puliti (’94) (from the review in Tilt! #8: “Extremely energizing, straightforward melodic HC. Political/DIY.”). The band at this gig consisted of Dario Quatrini (guitar), ‘Gallo’ Alessandro Garlaschelli (guitar), Gianpiero ‘Mila’ Milani (vocals), Gio(vanni) Lazzaroni (drums) and Edo(ardo) Puglisi (bass) & Daniele ‘Lele’ Malabarba (bass) – yep, 2 bassists but ‘Lele’ didn’t play here… Mila, Irith Davidson, Piero Majocchi & Luca Musso ran AZ Autoproduzioni (distro and label). The band came back to the Vort’n Vis on 96-09-20 and I did an interview in Tilt! #9 with them…

The LP Fight Back with 80s tracks by ‘Oi Polloi’ was out on Campary recs (Armin Heitman & Katja from Düsseldorf). At that time the band consisted (besides vocalist Deek) of guitarist Matt Finch (a.k.a. Keith Chugwin), bassist Calum Mackenzie (nowadays in ‘Phobia’ & ‘Skelptarsis’) and drummer Murray Briggs (who replaced Chris ‘Wheelie’ Willsher). Here it was Riley Briggs drumming…

‘Oi Polloi’ (photographed by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Systral’ (from Bremen) played brutal crust-grind/death-metal with a screamo edge (2 vocalists). The members were Björn Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Carol’/’Mörser’), Denny Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Mörser’), Dirk Kusche (bass; also ‘Rusty James’; started the Chrome Saint Magnus label with ‘Acme’s drummer Gregor Iwanoff in ‘98), Sönke ‘Sonne’ Gabriel (drums; bassist of ‘Acme’) and Andy Lohmüller (guitar). That year they had 2 releases: Fever…The Maximum Carnage 10” (recorded July 95’) & Maximum Entertainment 7” – on the Per Koro label. They came a secon time the next year (96-09-22).

‘Systral’ – Björn Schmidt & Dirk Kusche (pic by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Coche Bomba’ (from Lyon) played fast & brutal crusty hardcore-punk. They had 2 vocalists – Ivan Brun & Jean-Pierre ‘J.P.’ Davila – their (political) lyrics were in French, English & Spanish. The other members were André & ‘Gork’ (guitar), Cécile (bass; also ‘Dirt’; she replaced Christoff) and Steph Coi (drums; later ‘Befa’ Fabrice Drevet of ‘Vömit För Breakfast’ joined them, he also did Tranzophobia zine with Sylvain Fayard). They had recorded a demo (95-06-03) and there was a split-7” out with Enola Gay (Fra) on Bad Card recs 1995; Viva La Derelicción 7” (recorded May ’96 with André, Cécile, Ivan, J.P. & Steph) would follow… They kept going well into the noughties and did several tours (also Latin-America, etc.). Ivan Brun works as a cartoonist, comic book writer, painter (sickfuckermagazine.blogspot & http://ivanbrun.tanibis.net)…

‘Coche Bomba’ (photos courtesy of JP Davilla & Ivan Brun) – bottom pic: Yannick ‘PikPik’ & Ludovic Hache [R]

‘Coche Bomba’ (photo by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Carcer Molochi’ came from the ‘suburbs’ of Ieper and most of them volunteered at the V.V. in way way or another; so they supported quite a few bands at he Vort’n Vis. They were: Erwin Degryse (guitar), Johan Sys (vocals), Michael Maes (guitar; later ‘Link’), Inge Cappoen (vocals; later ‘Link’), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’ and later in many other bands), Danny Suffys (bass). David was later replaced by Bram ‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht and Danny by Yannick… Their demo had been recorded mid 1995. Some described their music as metal-crust, ‘Misery’ style (because of the female/male vocals).

‘Carcer Molochi’ (photos courtesy of Michael Maes)

‘Insane Youth’, a crustcore band from the Sint-Niklaas area, were: Jan ‘Fons’ Wuytack (drums), Thomas ‘Tomaz’ Van Rumst (bass), Steve ‘Stiv’ Descamps (vocals) and Tim De Baere (guitar); but here Stef De Leersnijder (also ‘Corpus Christi’ and later in ‘Visions Of War’) played along. Can’t remember at what time Vanessa Hoskens (who was their 2^nd vocalist for a while) was in the band.

‘Insane Youth’ – Stef [L] & Steve [R] (pic by Michael Maes)

‘Rawness’ played catchy melodic HC-punk. Christophe Mora said “NYHC-influenced”… They were from the Dijon/Lyon area. Members of the band: Jean-Marc Moratille (drums & vocals; ex ‘Blighted Area’ – he also did/does the JoliCoeur & Pay No More Than blogs), Michael (bass), Lamy Fumex (guitar & vocals) and Lionel Coing (vocals). They had a demo-tape and did a split with ‘Personal Choice’ on Yann Boislève’s label in 1995.

‘Rawness’ (photo by Ivan Brun)

The Scottish (Glaswegian) ‘Glue’ were compared to ‘Jawbox’, ‘No Means No’ or ‘Fugazi’… Others thought of ‘Black Flag’… It was melodic HC (post-punk?). Their bassist Angus McPhee had contacted me for the distribution of their records. Pete Darlington from ‘Kitchener’ was replacing Stef Sinclair (drums). Their former guitarist Allan McNaughton (nowadays living in California now, wrote a monthly column and record-reviews for MaximumRock’n’Roll; see: allanmcnaughton.blogspot) informs us that himself and Sandy Carson (vocals/guitar) were no longer in the band at the time of this gig. Here the singer/guitarist was ‘Hubby’/RM Hubbert. Our mate Joeri Hoste had already arranged a gig for them in Brugge (Oct 2^nd 1993: ‘Four Walls Falling’, ‘Sofa Head’, Blindfold, ‘Feeding The Fire’, ‘Nations On Fire’ and ‘Glue’). Later Angus came over again, driving for ‘Quarantine’/’Scatha’… (Or was that Angus Quinn?) At that time the band had released (on Angus’ label Feeble recs) an LP ‘Gravel (recorded July ’92; with Ritchie, Allan, Sandy, Stef & Angus) and the 7” From Here To Obscurity (recorded April ’94; with Rispey, Stef, Hubby & Angus)…

Brob

Unfortunately I was out of the band at that time because I was working nightshifts in a mall. Tim did the 2nd guitar. I don’t remember the name of some people but I remember that often some people (from El Paso squat in Torino, an another safe-house called Barocchio) came with us to do the distro and enjoy the gig. I played in Belgium during the 2nd tour…

Some years ago we did a little tour around Italy in squatted houses to promote a book entitled Make Music Not Money, so we played again as in the 90s! Read all about it on paviahc.wordpress.com

Daniele ‘Lele’ Malabarba

AZ was our distro & label from 1990 to 1996, we produced the ‘D.D.I.’ 7” and the 10” with the others labels (and many others records and tapes), then in 1996 we split up as a collective. I went into the techno-rave scene, Luca was bored with people interested only in music and remained in the anarchist political movement (he’s still active), and Mila did Agipunk and started his punk-star career, he later repressed the 10” ‘D.D.I.’ as Agipunk… [Brob: Irith lives near Genova, works in a highschool and has a passion for her vergetable-garden.]

As ‘Lele’ mentioned, the ‘old’ punx from Pavia struck again in 2007: we did a book about the D.I.Y. HC/punk-scene in Pavia and Italy, DDI reformed without Mila and we organised a tour (8 gigs) to sell the book directly. The following years we organised punk gigs in Pavia and in 2015 we started a new band ‘Malabrocca’ [see comment].

Piero Majocchi

It was a great time but too long ago to remember. The hospitality was great, the italian pasta market we made in the courtyard. As far as I remember we made a 30 min heavy metal set (‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Black Sabbath’,…) during a gig there. I’ve been playing with Lele and Giò from the old line-up, and Piero is doing vocals (he was from AZ distributione).

Edoardo Puglisi

Sandy and I were out of the band before the Vort’n Vis gig – by that time the band was a 3-piece with a singer/guitarist called ‘Hubby’/RM Hubbert. He is actually a famous musician in Scotland now, has won some prizes.

Allan McNaughton, ex-guitarist of ‘Glue’

My main recollections: 1. First date of a very long European tour. 2. I had a panic-attack whilst sleeping in the back of the van and fell head first out of the back-door into the Vort’n Vis courtyard. 3. The pastries were excellent. 4. Don’t remember much about our show, which probably means it was average. Pete Darlington from ‘Kitchener’ was playing drums instead of Stef on that tour. Think we had a show the next day so didn’t hang around… One thing I noticed was that Richey Dempsey recorded the album and EP but was never in the band…

RM Hubbert

It was a fun weekend!

Sas, KBaal wholsesale distro (Dordrecht); personal communication Sep ‘95

‘Rawness’ played right before ‘D.D.I.’… We met a lot of French people there, I recall seeing friends from Saint-Etienne and Montbelliard.

Jean-Marc, ‘Rawness’ drummer

I remember seeing ‘Glue’, ‘Rawness’, ‘D.D.I.’,… an drinking Jupiler… There was some sort of open-air festival in the streets of Ieper that evening. [The annual ‘Leet’ festival, the V.V.’s ‘Leed’ fest was meant as an alternative…]

Ivan Brun, ‘Coche Bomba’

I only played in ‘Coche Bomba’ from 99 to 2010 or something…and I played guitar there, not drums like in most of my bands. I think Ivan was just singing at the beginning of the band, he might have started to play bass (plus vocals) when Cécile left the band to play in ‘Dirt’. When a bunch of guitar-players left the bands, they started to do ‘Kuruma Bakudan’ which means ‘Coche Bomba’ in Japanese. That line-up consisted of Stef on drums, JP on vocals, Ivan on bass and Sandy on bass too. I guess they played like that from 96 to 99. After that, they asked Guigui (‘Vomit For Breakfast’, ‘Chaos ZZZ’ guitarist – later he played in ‘Silent Bones’ and ‘Maloko’ in Canada) and myself (‘Vomit For Breakfast’, ‘Chaos ZZZ’, ‘Unlogistic’, ‘State Poison’, ‘Deletär’) to play the guitars and call it ‘Coche Bomba’ again, so we jumped on the occasion. I left the band at the same time as Sandy and Stef in about 2010, but the band kept on going with one South-East Asia tour, a Mexico/U.S.’ tour and another tour in South-America. At some point Ivan came back to complete the dual vocals from the original days, but I’m not sure about the situation right now… [Brob: People also might wanna read this interview from 1997: Coche Bomba (Antipoder #9)]

‘Befa’ Fabrice Drevet

I played guitar with ‘Oi Polloi’ 1994-1997. I think I played 3 gigs at the Vort’n Vis. First was on the tour with ‘Subcaos’ [94-04-02]/ ‘X-Acto’ [94-09-17]. Played a couple of all-day events there… Pretty crust they were; ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ [95-09] & ‘Bad Influence’ [94-09] spring to mind.

Matt Finch

I remember this as one of our first gigs with Stef as an additional member. The stage was built up in the back of the Vort’n Vis garage for this one. I vaguely remember ‘Systral’ and ‘Oi Polloi’ as I was playing a lot of their records around that time. Sharing a stage with them was really exciting for me as a teenager. I’m really grateful to have experienced international communities coming together in magical places such as the Vort’n Vis. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

Tim De Baere, ‘Insane Youth’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Kirst did the merch on that tour. Pete Darlington from Kitchener was playing drums…

additions wellcome!…

 

95-03-25 Peace Of Mind – Blindfold – Regression – Liar

Another benefit for Kakak Asuh, the Indonesian education-project that Blindfold’s drummer Sacha Baelen introduced us to (see 93-02-21 & 94-04-23). Organised by Joeri Hoste (and Aaron Vyvial) who had this thing Earthwill? / Earthwell? going… Of course other shitworkers (like myself, and Kurt & David of ‘Shortsight’ e.g.) were helping out.

‘Blindfold’ had played here at the V.V. several times. Sep-Oct ‘94 they went into the studio for the World Of Fools 7” (released on Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers’ Machination recs in ’95). Also the recordings for the Astreroid 164 LP started then but that one was only mixed in ’95 to be released in ’96 (by SoberMind and GoodLife recs). My interest in the band had disappeared by then because of their distribution-deal with the commercial company GreenHell. Pity ‘cause Wim, Hans, Jan & ‘Chatn’ were mates. Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; later ‘Hitch’) played on the 1996 German tour but wasn’t on the LP; on 95-08-20 he played with his former band ‘Fungus’ at the V.V.

We’d already had ‘Peace Of Mind’ over some months before (94-11-05). The 7” on World Upside Down (Urte Böhm’s label) and Harmony recs (Ralf ‘Ballo’ Ballschmieter) was recorded in June ’96 and that was with Aga singing and Antje S. on bass. In the band here were Jobst Eggert (vocals and guitar), Berti (drums), Jörn Allert (guitar) and Claudia (bass). Jörn left somewhere in ’95 and then Arndt Buck (ex ‘Spit Acid’) played guitar.

‘Liar’ (Roeselare/Ieper area) rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (93-01-09 & 93-06-13) and did one of their 1^st gigs of a long series at the V.V. (They’d been announced a couple of times but I think they had to cancel, and this might be the very first time?). They would become of the most ardent H8000 promoters. During these early days the band consisted of Hans Verbeke (vocals; also ‘Blindfold’s guitarist), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass) and Raf (drums). They played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore with non-compromising, hard-hitting lyrics). Raf (Raphael) left the band in ‘96 to do other things in life, he turned into a professional snowboarder and played in a punk band called ‘Red Lobster’, together with some ‘Spirit Of Youth’ members. From then on Bert Guillemont (ex ‘Sektor’) played the drums. The recordings (still with Raf) of their debut Falls Of Torment (released on GoodLife recs in ’96 and announced as “a mix of ‘Unbroken’ & ‘Morbid Angel’…”) happened after some 10 rehearsals and a few shows.

First appearance at the V.V. of ‘Regression’ (Menen/Roeselare) too. H8000 style, crunchy metallic (vegan) straight-edge HC: “Perhaps the most heaviest of all the ‘edge-metal’ bands: uncompromising death-metal mixed with straight-edge hardcore spirit”. They were Bjorn Lescouhier (drums, ex ‘Shortsight’; he replaced Raf -who was in ‘Liar’ too- around July 95), Kristof Taveirne (bass; nowadays in ‘Spoil Engine’), Niek Jacobsen (vocals) and ‘Stuutje’ David Decoutere (guitar). A bit later they took ‘Lookmulle’ (Davy Vanlokeren of ‘Deformity’) as second guitarist. Hans Verbeke wrote about them that they “created their own style of technical hardcore/metal with ‘Carcass’ and ‘Machinehead’ influences”; other people compared them with ‘Earth Crisis’. They recorded a demo in ’95, then did the x-Heartless-x CD on GoodLife recs (‘96) and a split-CD with ‘Breach’ from Sweden ‎followed (also GoodLife recs, ‘97).

Brob

Some info on Kakak Asuh:

from the Vort’n Vis zine Fifi #2

95-12-03 Merel – Bob Tilton – Undone – Malva – Rood Arch – Kosjer D – [Symptom Of Isaac] – [Churn]

This gig – advertised as ‘Emo In Motion’ – was (probably) organised by Joeri Hoste. Also helping out (more or less) was Guilherme Chalmers (from Portugal) and Jurgen Desmet. Kathy Dejonghe (Genet recs, Pyrrhus store) prepared meals. ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘Churn’ were announced at one timepoint but aren’t mentioned in the Vort’n Vis notes so I reckon they cancelled.

‘Symptom Of Isaac’ was an emo band from Poitiers (with some members of ‘Milkus’): Alain Vidal (vocals; ex ‘Vanilla’ bassist), Gaël Nicolas (guitar), Fabien Decker (bass) and Antoine Demantké (drums). Weena Pauly did some vocals on a self-titled 7” (also known as Seek Me Out) that they put out on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer (94). Later Alain Vidal formed ‘El Vidal Sonido’ with Yves Maisonneuve (drums, ex ‘Ivich’/’Vanilla’). There was also a split-tape (live ‘95) with ‘Ananda’…

‘Churn’ was also an emo band from Leuven & Limburg with Raf ‘Thrasher’ Gelenne (vocals), Peter Peumans (bass), Raf Gielen (guitar), Maarten Beckers (drums) and Jan Beckers (guitar). (The latter 3 went on as ‘Kindred’ with Walter Beckers and Eric Sefton). They had played at the Hardcore Festival already that year (95-08-20).

‘Merel’ was another emo band from New Jersey, with David A. (Dave) Leto (bass; here replaced by ‘Iconoclast’s Kevin K.; see below) and Gregg Leto (drums) – both later in ‘Rye Coalition’, Jon Ariz (guitar), Mike Solski (guitar) & José Juan Ruiz (vocals). They did a split-7” with Iconoclast on Old Glory and a 7” & LP on Charles Maggio’s label Gern Blandsten.

‘Bob Tilton’, emo-rockers (some said they played “twisted post-hardcore”) from Nottinghman, were Al(l)an Gainey (drums; ex ‘Downfall’), Chay Lawrence (guitar; also ‘Tribute’), Mark Simms (bass; also ‘Baby Harp Seal’), Neil Johnson (guitar) and Si(mon) Feirn (vocals; ex ‘Downfall’). Nick Royles announced them in his newsletter (How We Rock #6) as “similar to ‘Born Against’ & ‘Heroin’…”. The music on their Crescent LP was compared to ‘Promise Ring’ and the ‘Get Up Kids’. Around that time they had the following out, on Subjugation recs: Wake Me When It’s Springtime Again 7” (‘94), Songs Of Penknife And Pocket Watch 7” (‘95). Later there would be the Crescent LP (’96) a split-12” with ‘Reiziger (on Genet recs) and an LP on Southern recs.

‘Bob Tilton’ (pictured by Vique ‘Simba’ Martin)

I had already invited ‘Malva’ to Vort’n Vis before (94-11-05) and they’d played about half a year before this one here too (95-07-02), when they toured with ‘Policy Of 3’. I also planned to interview them for Tilt!… They had recorded the tracks for their 7” (Das Leben Ist Kein Picknick; released on Equality recs) earlier that year (April ‘95). This emo-core band (from Leverkusen) consisted of Christian Schneider (guitar), Alex(ander) Bokelmann (drums), Flo(rian) Reiss (guitar), Martino Palazzo (vocals) and Alex(ander) Jahn (bass).

It wasn’t the first time I could welcome my Parisian friends of ‘Undone’ (drummer Christophe Mora, guitarist Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier, bassist Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly and singer Sullivan ‘Sully’ Chédanne) at the V.V. either. Steph & Chris released the band’s LP Dark Future (recorded April ‘95) on their respective labels (Kleines Mädchen & Stonehenge recs) that year.

‘Rood Arch’ had played here a couple of times already aswell (94-04-23 & 94-11-19) The guys were from Lille/Dunkerque (just accross the border, in France): Pierre Anne (drums/vocals; ex ‘6 Feet Over’), ‘Tomoy’ (bass; ‘Scraps’, later also in ‘Unhinged’) & Fred (also bass; ex ‘6 Feet Over’). It’s a pity there’s no recordings of them. I only have a vague idea of them sounding emo-ish…

‘Kosjer D’, emo from Limburg, played by Arne Van Petegem (guitar/vocals), Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals), Stijn Persoons (drums; ex ‘Dawn Of Liberty’) and Kristien Hendrix (bass; had replaced Werner by then I believe). They’d performed at the V.V. a couple of times already. Having a female bassplayer in the band, they jokingly said, they could be the Belgian ‘Jawbox’… They had a 7” (True?) and LP out on Genet recs that year. In ‘96 there was the split-7” with ‘Baby Harp Seal’…

A lot of my correspondents came over… E.g. Jeffrey Kroesen visited together with a bunch of mates from the north of The Netherlands (read below). Also Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (singer of ‘Peu-Être’, and later ‘Alcatraz’) from Poitiers was there. (Don’t remember if his partner Stéphanie Courret – Opale distro – was there also.) Etc.

Brob

I was a member of ‘Tribute’, and ‘Bob Tilton’ (for about 5 years – everything apart from the first 7” and last LP), I wasn’t really in ‘Unborn’ (I only went to one or two practices) although the www seems to think I was. Don’t really have anything to share from that event other than cloudy memories. I do remember a bunch of bands played though and it might have been with ‘Merel’ or ‘Iconoclast’ who we played a bunch of shows with around the UK? Anyway, I do remember it being a good show with a large crowd.

Chay Lawrence

‘Kosjer D’ and ‘Malva’ were playing also that night. Excellent gig in very good company. I remember I was dead-tired on the way back and had to stop because I almost fell asleep behind the wheel. Couldn’t trust on the others in helping me stay awake since they were all sound asleep even before we got to Antwerp. Bastards! This was a fantastic line-up… Also the first drive with my mom’s car all the way from Friesland [North of the Netherlands] to Ieper, with a stop in Hoogeveen to pick up some people from Groningen. Because of the distance I didn’t come to Ieper often, maybe like 10 times (including 4 Ieperfests when they were still at the Vort’n Vis was) in the 90s. The first time I stayed over for the night, it was ice-cold. We kept our clothes on in our sleeping-bags.

Alex Oost

I recall that I was very impressed by ‘Bob Tilton’ and ‘Merel’. Also that it took the 5 of us a very long drive all the way from Groningen….

Mark Hoogvliet, ‘Shikari’ vocalist & Graanrepubliek recs

After the ‘Merel’ show in Ieper, I drove with them to Jaak [‘N.O.F.’ drummer] ‘s vegan store, where they slept…

Martin Schwendemann (personal communication, spring ’96)

We corresponded in the past, Brob! I had a little distro which carried your zine Tilt!. We met a few times. The ‘Bob Tilton’ / ‘Undone’ / ‘Merel’ gig was one occasion…

Jeffrey ‘Jigs Wolfsbane’ Kroesen

Because of the big strike in France, there were no trains and I couldn’t make it over…

Olivier Lacoste, ‘Öpstand’ singer, Chill Out zine (personal communication, January ’96)

I played bass on ‘Merel’s European tour because the original guy, Dave Leto, quit at the last minute to stay with ‘Rye’, later called ‘Rye Coaltion’. I have great memories of the time and I also have to thank that time for my romantic situation now because I met Lluvia in a squat in Madrid where the punks put on a ‘Merel’ show; she was involved in the organization. We became friends back then but we lost touch until 2010 – I was in NYC playing drums or bass in rock-bands but several broke up, I’d gotten fired from my job and then met up with Lluvia and figured I should take a chance. Now I’m the bass-player for ‘No Band’; Lluvia is the singer.

Kevin Kajetzke, ‘Iconoclast’ drummer

I was still in school and had to stay home…

Dave Leto, ‘Merel’s bassist

I can tell you you it was one of my personal favorites to play. I remained friends with ‘Kosjer D’s drummers Stijn and his wife Diane for a couple of years but lost touch…

Jon Ariz, ‘Merel’ guitarist

I don’t have any memories of the show as the tour was a bit of a whirlwind for us. For some reason my most vivid memory of Belgium was taking a walk and encountering people ice-skating around a Christmas-tree while it was snowing. I often think about that.

Gregg Leto, ‘Merel’s drummer

I feel my most interesting V.V. memories are of my first visits – I traveled with ‘Bob Tilton’ that played a gig there. I was (am) good friends with Nick Royles, and Ian [Simpson] and Helene [Keller] of Subjugation – we all travelled to the show.

David Allen (later ‘Voorhees’ drummer)

‘Merel’ had a woman named Lee Quick on the tour as roadie. José’s girlfriend at the time I believe. José lives in Australia nowadays…

Charles Maggio, ‘Rorschach vocalist’ & Gern Blandsten

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-08-20 Churn – By All Means – Liar – Fungus – Timebomb – End In Sight – Chokehold

Intro: 95-08-18&19&20 Hardcore Festival

The ‘Chokehold’ guys were coming from the train-station with their guitars and bass in hand. Their European tour [with ‘Feeding The Fire’] was a mess (some of the last gigs of their tour got cancelled) and they got robbed if I remember correctly. I felt sorry for them for having such a bad experience over here. They mention it in an interview.

Carsten Pötter, Frankfurt

‘Steadfast’, a band playing “powerful new-school sXe hardcore” from the Osnabrück/Munster region (in Germany), were announced at some timepoint but didn’t play. Their guitarist Stefan Uhe and their bassist Volker Pohlschmidt (R.I.P.) did visit.

‘Churn’ was an emo-core band (Leuven/Limburg) with Raf Gelenne (vocals), Peter Peumans (bass), Raf Gielen (guitar), Jan Beckers (guitar) & Maarten Beckers (drums). The latter 3 went on with ‘Kindred’.

‘Churn’ (courtesy of Peter Peumans)

‘By All Means’ (from Mantua/Modena), was a straight-edge HC band with vocalist Massimo ‘Melo’ Meloni, guitarists Andrea ‘Gallo’ Gallinini & Mario ‘Ringo’ Luppi (he founded the label Insociale recs and was also in various other bands), Adriano Pratissoli (drums) and Matteo Verri (bass; replacing Stefano Bertelli). The members swapped also intsruments in bands such as ‘Society Of Jesus’ and ‘Immortal Majority’… In 1992 they did a tape, a self-titled 7” on Inaudito Dischi and a split-7” with ‘Equality’ on Green recs. In 1993 there was the Blind Side LP (also Green recs) and in the 1998 Fino A Qui… Tutto Bene! LP.

‘Liar’ (Roeselare/Ieper area) rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (93-06-13). This was their 1^st appearance at one of the V.V. fests (the had already played some regular concerts late ’94, early ‘95). They would become of the most ardent H8000 promoters. During these early days the band consisted of Hans Verbeke (vocals; also ‘Blindfold’s guitarist), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass; also ‘Congress’) and Raf (drums). They played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore with non-compromising, hard-hitting lyrics). Raf (Raphael) left the band in ‘96 to do other things in life, he turned into a professional snowboarder and played in a punk band called ‘Red Lobster’, together with some ‘Spirit Of Youth’ members. From then on Bert Guillemont (ex ‘Sektor’) would play the drums. The recordings (still with Raf) of their debut Falls Of Torment (released on GoodLife recs in ’96 and announced as “a mix of ‘Unbroken’ & ‘Morbid Angel’…”) happened after some 10 rehearsals and a few shows.

‘Fungus’ (from the Kortrijk area) were Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; later in ‘Blindfold’ & ‘Hitch’), Olivier Wychuyse (drums; later in ‘Hitch’), Carl Lachat (bass) & Tim Nottebaert (vocals – might not have been in the band anymore at that time…). They probably ended up here because Hans (‘Liar’) was a fan… Not really a band fitting in; they played “noisy rock”…

‘Timebomb’ (from Rome) was a communist, vegan and straight-edge band playing metallic HC: Cristiano Suriano (drums; later ‘Opposite Force’), Daniele Marini (guitar), Giorgio Fois (vocals; later replaced by Emiliano), Marco Ciccone (guitar; his first show with the band here; later also ‘Opposite Force’) and Simone Marini (bass; Kill for Love zine). In 1993 they did a demo and a 7” (Fury) released by SOA recs. Paolo Petralia also did their Hymns For A Decaying Empire CD (‘96) and in 1998 The Full Wrath Of The Slave got out on Genet recs (last recordings with Giorgio). They became regulars at the V.V.: they also played the 96, 97 & 98 fests…

‘End In Sight’ (“edge-metal” from Gislaved) were Toni Niskanen (bass), Janne Hanhela (guitar/vocals), Marko K. (drums), Matthias P. (guitar) and Mikke Niskanen (vocals; he was only on the 1^st 7”). Marko Raboldt (Emotion X recs) released that Deep Wound 7” (recorded in Feb). The second (Obiter Dictum; released in ’96 was in another line-up with Andreas ‘Lasse’ Lassus on drums, Daniel on guitar).

‘End In Sight’ (photographed by Steve Lammertyn)

‘Chokehold’ was a vegan straight-edge ‘chugga chugga’ hardcore band from Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). The band was – I believe – Jon ‘Randy Sharronto’ Sharron (bass; also in ‘Union Of Uranus’), Chris(topher) Logan (vocals), Jeff Beckman (guitar), Matt Beckman (drums) and Matt S. (guitar). They had been touring in Germany with ‘Feeding The Fire’ (organised by Mad Mob from Berlin) but that didn’t go too well. 1995 ws the year their Content With Dying LP got out on Scott Beibin’s Bloodlink recs. He’d also done the Instilled 7” (the year before). The band split up in ’96. Here’s the band playing live at the Vort’n Vis. Their last show was in March 1996 at the New Bedford Fest.

Brob

‘Chokehold’ (pics 1+2: Patrick Federli, 3: unkown)

As far as I can remember it was a reasonably good gig for us. I further recall the Italians especially. It was here that we got in contact with the guys of ‘Burning Defeat’. When they toured later, they ended up sleeping on my floor. Great guys! Everyone was there for the Swedish but I’ve never been an X-crew person so they didn’t do much to me. ‘Churn’ started after Jan Beckers and I had a conversation about our mutual musical interest in ‘Rorschach’. He invited me over to his house where I got to know Maarten and Peter. A bit later Raf joined. Bart (Poer zine) [Verelst; of ‘Hopeman Path’, ‘State Of Grace’, ‘Sheen’] also rehearsed with us a certain time… We quit after a gig in Germany (musical theatrical differences).

Raf Gelenne, ‘Churn’ singer

‘Chokehold’ got their by train. That was because they played this fest and we didn’t.

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’ singer

I remember that we finished our set with Firestorm (‘Earth Crisis’ cover) and a guy in the pit broke his collar-bone or something. It was pretty intense!

Toni Niskanen, ‘End In Sight’

I also played in ‘Society Of Jesus’ (guitar) and was the singer of ‘The Immoral Majority’, bassist in ‘Mourn’ & ‘Celestials’, etc. etc. ‘Melo’ played bass in ‘Society Of Jesus’ & ‘No Somos Nada’. Adriano [Pratissoli] also drummed for ‘Society Of Jesus’, ‘Mourn’, ‘Celestials’, etc. ‘Ringo’ was also the singer of ‘Society Of Jesus’ and the guitarist of ‘The Immoral Majority’. Matteo played guitar in ‘Society Of Jesus’ & ‘No Somos Nada’ and bass in ‘The Immoral Majority’.

At that time we all did the fanzine The Legendary Blumergaster (raised from the ashes of my own Monkey Face) together. Nowadays I have a tattoo-shop in Berlin [Out Of Step Tattoo Parlour].

I remember the fest was great, good organisation; there were cool people, record-stalls and distros, decent food. ‘Concrete’ practiced outside the venue acoustically…really really funny. People of ‘Comrades’, ‘Concrete’, ‘Burning Defeat’ were all together on the road from Italy to Belgium. Great tour! We were there the whole weekend; it was awesome. I remember ‘Kosjer D’ as one of the best bands. And ‘Chockehold’!!!

‘Gallo’, ‘By All Means’

I wasn’t there…

‘Ringo’ Luppi

The ‘Kiss’ face I had during the ‘Congress’ show, the day before, didn’t shock people. With ‘Liar’ we did succeed to shock the crowd…

U.J.

U.J.’s arms were all cut up. I had rubbed his blood all over my face. My mother who was standing on the side of the stage, saw everything. Good old ‘Liar’ days. Top. Bounded by blood…

Hans Verbeke

I remember it being the best show we played. And the hell we went through to get there…

Chris Logan, ‘Chokehold’ singer

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

“Con Ogni Mezzo” = By All Means

additions wellcome!…

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!…

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!…

95-09-15 Undone – Suffer – Carol

1^st day of the 7^th Leed festival

‘Undone’ had been in the studio for the Dark Future LP in April that year. It was the 4^th time at the V.V. (after 94-04-23, 94-08-21 & 94-10-01) for the Parisian emo band and they would be back a couple of times more… Great friends – especially drummer Christophe Mora (Stonehenge recs & distro) and guitarist Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier (also did Kleines Mädchen distro & Infest zine) – so I tried to see them as much as possible.

‘Undone’ photo by Albert Cheong

‘Undone’ pictured by Sned

When Mandy left, the Bradford-based ‘Health Hazard’ reformed into ‘Suffer’ (see 95-04-29): Alec Mac doing guitar & vocals, Chris ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne playing bass and ‘Sned’ on drums. They did 3 7”s on Flat Earth recs (Mac and Sned’s label), one of which was a self-titled one recorded a few months after this tour. The night after this they played in Liège with ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ and ‘Unhinged’. (More pics on the introduction-page)

‘Suffer’ photo by Albert Cheong

‘Suffer’ pic by Kerim Gönencer

‘Carol’ from Bremen played brutal, energetic screamo hardcore with a crusty edge…influenced by ‘Acme’. The guys in the band were (I think) Andy Lehmann (guitar), Björn Schmidt (vocals; later in ‘Mörser’ & ‘Systral’), ‘Hajo’ André Wendelken (guitar), Matthias ‘Matze’ Trenne (bass; also ‘Mörser’), ‘Acme’s bassist Sönke Gabriel did drums. That year (January) they had recorded the Prefabricated 7” (Philipp Styra ‘Queerfish’ was the drummer on the 1^st one) that came out on Markus Haas’ label Per Koro. The next year they came back (96-03-24) and then recorded (summer of ’96 with André or ‘Shitman’ – also in ‘Mörser’ – on drums) a track for the split 7” with ‘Stack’ that was released on the label my mate Holger Ohst’s (Summersault mailorder) did.

‘Carol’ photographed by Sned

Brob

Think this was the 1^st full ‘Suffer’ tour after ‘Health Hazard’ with Max singing 1/2 the set. We’d been touring quite a lot and were in full anti-authoritarian moustache mode, had been having lots of near misses with headline/ body-lice and were finding our feet playing as a 3-piece. Always great to spend time with the ‘Undone’, ‘Carol’, ‘Anarcrust’, ‘Acme’, ‘Systral’ comrades. Lots of great intense, emotional HC that night and lots of cool chats. Proper empowering gig. I seem to remember ‘D.D.I.’ being around  but we played with them a few times so I could be getting confused. [Brob: They played the next day but where there already…] Definitely remember feeling how recharging it was that folks from all over could come together and make something great happen, especially at places like the V.V. which were where the tribes would meet and we’d meet up with the Belgian family.

‘Suffer’s Alec Mac

That weekend was great fun!

Sas (‘Anarcrust’, Kbaal distribution)

It was nice when I was there with ‘Carol’. I think they played in the smaller room, and exciting when we played on some other date with ‘Systral’ but that was on a quite big stage in front of a big audience. Exciting, but a bit weird too, since we liked it better when we could play in small steamy venues that were more personal. [Brob: the first evening of his fest took indeed place in the pub. The next days the concerts happened in the ‘barn’ so ‘Carol’ played in the (smaller) pub and ‘Systral’ in the bigger room the next day…]

Dirk Kusche, ‘Systral’ bassist & Kuschelrock studio

I was in Ieper several times. The first time with ‘Acme’ [94-04-09] (but I didn’t play in ‘Acme’). I played at the Vort’n Vis more than once (with ‘Carol’ in ’95, also with ‘Systral’). I think we also played there once together with ‘International Noise Conspiracy’. [Brob: That must’ve after the turn of the century…]).

Andy Lehmann

‘Shitman’ was drumming in ‘Mörser’. Maybe also in ‘Carol’…

Gregor Iwanoff; drummer for ‘Acme’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-08-19 Veil – Concrete – Doughnuts – Rancor – Mainstrike – Blindfold – Comrades – Kosjer D – Congress – Abhinanda

Intro: 95-08-18&19&20 Hardcore Festival

Vik B. crowdsurfing + Letske M. (L) smiling – during ‘Veil’s set?  (pic by Patrick Federli)

‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) were: Jens Lauterbach (bass), Florian Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann (guitar). They played metallic hardcore. Around that time they the Dutch (Sittard) label Threesome recs (Ferry Krop of ‘Crisis Of Society’) put a self-titled 7” our (recorded in April). In 1996 Ferry did another one entitled Time Will Tell… and their LP The Burden Of Life was released by Frontline. The band was also on the bill of the 1997 HardCore – The Next Generation festival…

‘Veil’, photographed by Steve Lammertyn

‘Concrete’ was a (screamo) “chunky” hardcore band from Rome. Their line-up: Cristiano ‘Capoccia’/‘Nerone’ D’Innocenti (drums; later ‘Comrades, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Comrades’), Giorgio Gregorio ‘Greg’ Luciani (bass; also ‘Comrades’), Matteo Fadighenti (guitar), Tommaso ‘Tommy’ Garavini (vocals; tommasogaravini.com). At that time I think they had released, a demo (’93), The Sound Of Rome 7” (’94; mentioned on cristianodinnocenti.blogspot) and the Patior Ergo Sum 10” (recorded Nov ‘94) on Paolo Petralia’s SOA recs. Their next release was the Sescenti Sexaginta Sex 7” (recorded Feb ‘96) on Hailey recs.

‘Concrete’, pic by Steve Lammertyn

‘Doughnuts’ was an all-women vegan SxE (metal-influenced) hardcore band from Umeå (Sweden): Asa Forsberg (vocals), Linda Lundberg (drums), Sara Almgren (guitar; later in ‘Saidiwas’ & ‘International Noise Conspiracy’, and a bunch of mainstream acts), Sara Sjögren (guitar; on the 1994 CD) and – I think – Jenny Johansson (bass; replacing Helena Löfgren). In 1994 Desperate Fight recs put out their 1^st CD called Equalize Nature (recorded March ’94). The following years Victory recs did their albums The Age Of The Circle (1995) and Feel Me Bleed (1996). They had just come back from a US tour with ‘Snapcase’ when they played here.

‘Doughnuts’, pictured by Patrick Federli [1-2] & Sarah Van de Mosselaer [3]

The Dutch ‘Rancor’ had played the V.V. a couple of months before (with ‘Strain’, see 95-04-09). They were Michel ‘Mike’ Senden (guitar; also ‘Bloodsport’), Fabrice Zander (bass), ‘R2D2’ (drum-computer) and Pascal Crombach (vocals). Later it was intended that Armand ‘Persecution’ would take over the bass so Fabrice could play guitar… They recorded a CD entitled Distinguish, released in ’97 by Lifeforce recs (Leipzig). Mike & Fabrice had the idea to do a label, One Solution recs…

‘Mainstrike’ (The Netherlands) also played the above-mentioned gig (95-04-09). Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar), Jasper Meijerink (bass), Jonas Moberg (guitar), Roland ‘Big’ Roller (vocals) and Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums) had this ‘practice’ a few weeks before they recorded for their 7” (Times Still Here). On the back-cover there’s a photo of the pit during ‘Mainstrike’s performance here… (also on the insert there’s pics from the V.V.). I read somewhere that “When the microphone broke down during their set, they played a three-song cover-set with a crowd of hundreds singing along.”… Later that year they would do a brief tour with ‘Onward’ (95-10-20).

‘Mainstrike’, shots by Steve Lammertyn

‘Blindfold’ were one of the Vort’n Vis’ ‘house-band’s. Hans, Wim & Sascha were also volunteers at the autonomous centre. Hans and and his sis Saskia also had a big hand in the ‘organising’ of this fest. The band came back from a summer-tour. Mike Warden (Conquer The World) traveled with them but I can ‘t recall if he was here. Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; also in ‘Fungus’ and later vocals for ‘Hitch’) played on their German tour but wasn’t on the LP (Astreroid 164) that had been recorded..

‘Blindfold’, stills by Patrick Federli [1 (with an admiring Vique Martin) + 2 (with an enthusiastic Joeri Hoste)] & Steve Lammertyn [3-4]

‘Comrades’ (Rome) was the band of Paolo Petralia (vocals; SOA recs). He told me that at that time the others in the band were, Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Concrete’, ‘Bruma’), Andrea Marra (bass), Giorgio Fois (drums; singer of ‘Timebomb’) and Greg of ‘Concrete’ was the other singer. This was one of their last shows, I guess, ‘cause they split up in September 1995 (to re-form later). Their music was harsh, crusty grindcore with dual vocals. Their early work was released on SOA recs (a self-titled 7” in ’97 and a split with ‘Eversor’ in ‘98). Later they did a few splits (with e.g. ‘Agathocles’, and ‘Cripple Bastards’; there is also one with ‘Los Vaticanos’ – Cristiano’s other band – on Fulvio Dogliotti’s label Angry recs).

‘Comrades’ (from Ludovic Hache’s zine Ras L’Bol #5)

‘Kosjer D’ had played here a couple of times before, even a month before this fest (95-07-02) and their last would be 95-12-03. They 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 person behind the indie/electronic/dance project ‘Styrofoam’) joined. The name was originally ‘Kosjer Dill’ (nickname of the singer’s girlfriend, who was from San Diego). They were an emo band (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?). People can read about how it came about in Wim ‘Blindfold’s zine Reminder #5…

‘Congress’ were regulars… Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), ‘Uniform’ ‘UxJx’ Jan Vandekerckhove (bass), ‘Pitbull’ Pierre Vanrumbeke (vocals), Ilja ‘Chill Jay’ De Ceuleneire (drums) and guitarist Michael ‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon. This was the Blackened Persistance (should actually be ‘Persistence’) period. The album is supposed to be released in ‘95 on GoodLife but actually the label started officially on Jan 1^st ‘96…

some material from Steve Lammertyn’s ‘Congress’ collection… [J-F Fleury was video-taping the show but unfortunately the footage got lost… According to U.J. the bassplayer in the 2nd pic was Fabrice from ‘Rancor’, he did the soundcheck because “no one could see me before I got on stage”]

UxJx ‘Kiss’ Simmons ;-) (pic by Roel Brals)

‘Congress’ (UxJx & a constipated Pierre) (pic by Jean-Paul Frijns)

Another Euro tour for ‘Abhinanda’ (named Ever Increasing Bliss) and the second time at the V.V. (since 94-08-20). The EP Neverending Well Of Bliss was recorded in April 1995 with Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass), Jonas Lyxzén (drums), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Pär Hansson (who had replaced Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen) and José Saxlund (vocals). There’s a video of their performance at this fest.

the ‘Abhinanda’ show, documented by Steve Lammertyn [1], Roel Brals [2] (‘porter’ Hans Verbeke with Adam Nilsson on his shoulders; Raoul Festante upper R-corner white T-shirt) & Sarah Van de Mosselaer [3] (Mattias Abrahamsson)

Brob

We had arranged a gig for ‘Blindfold’ in Haldensleben [Germany] but a few day before we got a phonecall from Marko Raboldt (Emotion X recs; who was arranging their tour) that it was cancelled because M.A.D. tour-agency [Ute Füsgen & her partner Marc Nickel from Berlin] had promised them more money elsewhere…

Kirsten Klatt; personal communication ‘95

Man, I miss those days! Such a great time at both festivals we played. A very special place for me. On the pic of ‘Mainstrike’s 7” you can see Big in the middle and the guy with the ‘108’ shirt that’s me… Peter Hoeren is also there… Man, that show was magic!!! I remember quite a lot about this event. There was a was very good fanzine called Statue and we got an interview in it. Then I remember that I slept on that stage because there was no free place anywhere else. It was pretty interesting to wake up and then perform on the same spot. I remember meeting the guys from ‘Mainstrike’ and how great they were and I wish someone took a picture of that super packed sleeping-place on the second floor of Vort’n Vis where all the band-members and friends slept and had farting-contests.

Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’

Probably it wasn’t the best line-up we had. Bad show as far as I can remember. It was the year full of Italian & Swedish bands. We were probably the only semi-grind ultra-core band and we were playing for Italians only. It was still at the V.V. but in that bigger place. We share a song on the first GoodLife compilation too: at that time all in the band were sXe. The other guys [e.g. Cristiano D’Innocenti (‘Concrete’, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (‘Opposite Force’, ‘Bruma’)] joined later. We’re all still in bands even if we’re all over 40.

Paolo Petralia, ‘Comrades’ vocalist

I remember sleeping in the cold attic without a sleeping-bag, but we had immense fun. There was a Swedish invasion. I saw a green Straight Edge/Go Vegetarian shirt for sale there. I wanted it so desperately that I instantly threw away my sandwiches with salami…

Pascal, ‘Rancor’

About us wearing identical T-shirts: we might have found those on tour. Just a gimmick…

Wim, ‘Blindfold’

Indeed: halfway our set the mic got fucked up so we couldn’t play all those new songs. I was pretty pissed. But the fest was great!

Jonas Moberg, ‘Mainstrike’

The ‘Kiss’ face was done by Catherine Cabeza; good job – she did it without an example.

U.J., ‘Congress’ bassist

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

“Hello! This festival is completely cool!! Hope we will be back next year!!”

additions wellcome!…