97-05-31 Sufficide – Suppository – Dead Infection – Kadath – Distress

This was a concert organised by Frederic Driessens, a fan of black/death/doom metal.

Davy ‘nachtthoth’ Bauwen (co-organiser of the Ieperfest, vocalist of ‘Edgecrusher’)

‘Distress’ was the D-beat band (Alkmaar, NL) of ‘Boycot’-members Billy (here on drums) & Lennaert Roomer (guitar/vocals; was also in bands such as ‘Wartorn’ & ‘Solstice’ with Rich Militia), and bassist John P. ‘JP’ Kuiper (Billy’s brother). They did a self-titled 7” and 3 splits: with ‘Karma’ (on Tim Leten’s label Filth-Ear, ’96), with ‘Boycot (10”, ’97) and with ‘Mind’ (Resuscitate recs, ’98). The V.V. notes don’t metion the band so not enirely sure if they actually played this one but they were announced again on 99-09-11…

‘Sufficide’ was a death-metal trio from Amiens (France): Guillaume Larnicol (bass/vocals), François Bonet (guitar) & Marc Lechifflart (drums). They self-released 3 tapes between ’93 & ’96: Cranial Cremation‎, Putrescent Growth & Material Thrown Out.

‘Suppository’ was a grindcore band from Dutch Limburg. Boris ‘Bastard’ Cornelissen (vocals), Max ‘Goulash’ Duys (bass), Rutger ‘Ragout’ Noij (drums) and René (guitar) recorded their first efforts in March ‘97 (released on a split-7” with the Greek ‘Rakitis’ in ’98). The same year there was a CD with ‘Agathocles’ where Matty replaced René on guitar. More releases followed… They also did a German tour that year with ‘Cornucopia’.

‘Dead Infection’ was a grindcore band from Białystok (Poland). The songs on the split-tape with ‘Infected Pussy’ ‎- entitled Pornogore Live – were recorded at this gig. Playing here were ‘Cyjan’ Sławomir Cywoniuk (drums), ‘Tocha’ Tomasz Naliwajko (bass), ‘Mały’ Adam Andrzejczuk (guitar) and Jaro (vocals).

‘Kadath’ was a German grindcore/death-metal band from Aachen (with a Belgian drummer): Erling Aggebo. The others were Holger Friedenberger (vocals), Marc Leclerc (bass) & Markus ‘Mockel’ Mouhlen (guitar). They did a split-7” with ‘Immured’ (96), Twisted Tales Of Gruesome Fates EP (97) and a split-7” with ‘Evoke’.

Brob

Still have some good memories about visiting this show. Ieper was always a 2,5 hour train-ride from Mol where I’m living. Pretty sure none of my more punk-orientated friends were interested in this one, so I travelled alone, convinced to meet some familiar faces in Ieper. ‘Dead Infection’ was at their pinnacle in those days, with the release of their A Chapter Of Accidents CD, and I saw them several times in that period and even 2 days prior to this show in Eindhoven with ‘Last Days Of Humanity’, ‘Krisiun’ and ‘Inhume’. Their show at the Vort’n Vis was great off course. Still doubting as well if ‘Distress’ actually played that evening… I saw them so many times in those years. Superfriendly people. Same goes for the guys from ‘Suppository’ with whom we released a split-tape and toured in Germany the year before. The guestbook reminds me again of their good sense of humor…

Erik Minnen

Played there several times… Always great! We once got into an accident driving down there. The day with ‘Dead Infection’…

Boris Cornelissen, ‘Suppository’ vocalist

We were there to see ‘Dead Infection’…

Seb, ‘Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition’

I have quite some photographic material (92-97): I was always in the background shooting pics. I also have some video-material of Vort’n Vis shows. But I lack the time to get it sorted…

Frederic Driessens

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-08-17 Morning Again – Congress – Vitality – Rubbish Heap – Mainstrike – Deformity – Starmarket – Acheborn – Lifecycle

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

The Czech zine Barricada #2 mentions ‘Starmarket’ switched places with ‘Endstand’…

The last day started earlier – right after lunch – so that it all could be finished by 9 o’clock.

‘Lifecycle’ had played the V.V. their 1^st gigs a bit before (97-06-27 & 97-07-12) and they would become one of the ‘house bands’ in the future… I believe here they played in the early line-up: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie had joined ‘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).

‘Lifecycle’ (from the video shot by Steve Lammertyn?)

Barricada #2: “A young band with a metal sound and a girl singing; a lot like ‘Shortsight’. The guitarist mentioned how terrible the garbage was around the concert-venue and that Hardcore should go all the way and not make a mess in the city. I tought wasn’t that bad with the waste last year though.”

‘Acheborn’s music was “raw, heavy, violent and brutal: thick guitars, hard-pounding rhythm-section and screaming vocals building a wall of metallic crust”; some compared them with ‘Unbroken’. They came from the Darmstadt area: André Liegl (bass), Heikki Eiden (vocals), Sascha Salipurovic (drums), Steffen Heller (guitar) and Jens Wucherpfennig (guitar). At that time I believe they just had the Demon Love (7”) out (Defiance recs). The split-7” with ‘Systral’ (on Trans Solar; Christian Mix-Linzer’s label) came in 1998. The LP Tuesday Is Dead LP (also released by Trans Solar) in ’99. Sascha Franzen of Alveran recs (vocalist of ‘Nyari’ – from Bochum) intended to release a split-7” with ‘Upset’ but that didn’t work out.

Barricada #2: “Next up were the Germans of ‘Acheborn’, an enjoyable thrashing of the ears.”

‘Starmarket’, an indie-rock band from Sweden Piteå (north of Umeå), were: Fredrik Brändström (guitar/vocals), Patrik Bergman (bass; later Jesper Löfroth), Johan Sellman (guitar), Magnus Öberg(-Egerbladh) (drums). They did a bunch of records on the Swedish alternative/indie label Dolores recs. Around this time their album Sunday’s Worst Enemy was out…

Barricada #2: “Melodic punk, but they played for a minority of the people attending (everyone seemed to load up power for the evening).”

The band ‘Deformity’ played death-core/metal and were from the H8000-area (Menen/Houthulst/Roeselare). They had started in the summer of ‘95, with ‘Bolle’ (Dominiek Defrancq, drums), ‘Wulf’ (Kristof Dewulf a.k.a. ‘Christopher D. Wolff’, bass; also sang for ‘Solid’ for a little while), ‘Lookmulle’ Davy Vanlokeren (guitar; also in ‘Regression’, later bass in ‘Spoil Engine’) and ‘Gaze’ Steven Sanders (guitar; later ‘Spoil Engine’). A “power-throat” was found in the person of ‘Becque’ (Laurent Delbecque; later in the blues-band ‘Smoking General’ with Bjorn Lescouhier of ‘Shortsight’ & ‘Regression’). After a few months ‘Becque’ and ‘Lookmulle’ switched places (the latter sang on ‘Misanthrope’ & ‘Murder’…). Around the end of ’96 they recruted Michael (‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon; also ‘Congress’) as second guitarist because “they sounded a bit too empty for your average metal-outfit”. Their 1^st release was the Beyond live demo (in Dadizele, ‘96; with Dave/y Vanlokeren on guitar and Laurent Delbecque doing vocals). The CD Misanthrope and the split-7” with ‘Congress’ followed (GoodLife ‘97)…

Barricada #2: “After a lengthy tuning and sound-check, and even longer intro, they started playing. The second guitarist of ‘Congress’ was in the band. Just metal, nothing more. This didn’t have much to do with hardcore.”

‘Mainstrike had played here a few times already (95-04-09, 95-08-19 & 95-10-20. At some point they split with bassist Jasper Meijerink and Johnny van de Koolwijk of ‘Reaching Forward’ became the new bassplayer. In March 1997 ‘Mainstrike’ recorded the Quest For The Answers album. Here the line-up was Roland ‘Big’ Roller (vocals), Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar), Johnny (bass), Jonas Moberg (guitar) & Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums). Their set here was recorded on video…

‘Mainstrike’ (photoshoot by Sergi E. Costa)

posi crew crowd; pics by Sergi E. Costa

Barricada #2: “The Dutch ‘Mainstrike’ started of with the words ‘Do you remember real hardcore?’. Somewhat older people playing classic old-school sXe, similar to bands such as ‘Wide Awake’, ‘Youth Of Today’ and others of those acient times. There was a great atmosphere and especially during the last covers of ‘Y.O.T.’ and ‘Chain Of Strength’, the crowd gathered on stage again.”

‘Rubbish Heap’ had been hear already on 96-05-19. They were a HC/metal band from Antwerp with Dave Vanderplas (drums), Kim Vandyck (vocals; later guitarist of ‘KingTerror’), ‘Peche’ (guitar), Tijs Geerts (bass; later ‘Bad Influence’) and Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Royers (guitar). They were friends of Joris De Buysser (Conspiracy recs) who released their Path Of Lies 7” (“mix of ‘Rorschach’ & ‘Downcast’…”), and their other stuff later. Early on they had done a rehearsal-tape and a demo (Slow Defeat). Here Kim was injured and had to be replaced… (read his comment) Was their set also video-taped?

Barricada #2: “This gave me power; emo with a metal sound!”

Not new (96-08-16, 96-09-22) for the V.V. each either: ‘Vitality’s “tough-guy edge-metal”. By that time the band, from Oostduinkerke (ODK; Belgian coast), consisted ‘Chief’ Steve De Clercq (vocals), ‘Noptje De Mens’ Bob Van Lierde (guitar) & ‘Alien King’ Chris Paccou (guitar; nowadays sound-engineer for ‘Carcass’), Olivier ‘Ollie’ Dobbels (drums; also nick-named ‘Simon’ or ‘Original Gangster’) and ‘Switch’ Marc Paccou (bass). Hans ‘Liar’ released 2 7”s for them on his label Sober Mind: a split with ‘Sektor’ an one entitled Bloodline. In 1998 their Crucial Wires CD appeared on the French (from Rennes) label Overcome recs.

Barricada #2: “Crazy Belgians again, H-8000 power! I prefered to leave…”

In 1997 ‘Congress’ put out a split-7” with ‘Deformity’ (Exhume The Truth / God Defined; on GoodLife recs). Angry With The Sun (released in ‘98) was with Michael Pintelon as second guitarist.

‘Congress’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “With the exit of the moon, ‘Congress’ path of immortality conquered the stage. They started with the old songs Lifting The Ban & Prayers [from Blackened Persistance], and finished with new songs. During the concert, the bassist sang more than the singer, who climbed in the ceiling-beams and jumped down on people’s heads. The Belgian fans got angry; I expected the worst. At that moment the hall was about to burst with people.”

‘Morning Again’ toured with ‘Congress’. They were a vegan straight-edge metal-core band from Fort Lauderdale, Forida. The line-up here was Kevin Ray Byers (vocals, bassist of ‘Outcast’; he replaced Damien Moyal, who was “asked to leave the band”), Joseph Lee ‘Joe’ Simmons (guitar; also ‘As Friends Rust’, ‘Culture’), Matt Thomas (drums; replaced Louis Ogburn Long), John Michael Wylie (guitar; ex ‘Culture’) and Gerardo ‘Jerry’ Villarroel (bass). In the guestbook there’s mention of Kevin, Joe, Matt and Jerry; Jordan Leitner did the merch… They’d done a few 7”s on various US labels in ’96 and in ’97 GoodLife recs released the album Martyr (recorded in February).

‘Morning Again’; by JanCoert Toerse

Barricada #2: “Then the last band (also from Florida) was on! I was curious: ‘M.A.’ & ‘Culture’ are some of the American bands that are widely recognised in Belgium; thanks to GoodLife recs. (I noticed almost every girl in the scene wears a ‘Morning Again’ T-shirt!) So I was curious about what would happen on the ‘home ground’. Although the sound wasn’t excellent, they melted the crowd. The stage was packed with 100 people all singing along; the vocalist couldn’t even sing because they were all-over, he stumbled all the time. There were several moshpits. I was pleased with the sympathetic behavior of ‘M.A.’: it didn’t matter a lot how they were playing; it didn’t exactly work out because the crowd had such a power and the whole stage was rocking! After back-breaking hits such as Turning Over, America On Line, Puppet And Soldier, and Martyr, the whole crowd joined in for the finale: Remedy. The bomb exploded! Count the victims! On the brink of collapse, we crawled out of the hall into the courtyard, where we could take a bit of breath. After regaining my senses, I had to start thinking about heading home, and with tears in our eyes we left the nightly city.”

Brob

Finally, a brief evaluation… Compared to last year, there were fewer that were breath-taking, we probably also already knew what was going to happen and the Belgian bands didn’t seem that dangerous anymore. But where else can you see so many wonderful bands and people together, find things that you don’t have at home, and especially meet new friends and learn about European scenes. Beautiful memories, which we won’t forget… That was Ieper ‘97 … Goodbye Belgium!!!

Jan and Jakub, the bros. of Barricada zine and ‘Balaclava’

I remember playing football with a huge bunch of festival-visiters. There’s a photo of that somewhere at home.

Johan Sellman, ‘Starmarket’ guitarist

I toured with ‘Morning Again’. I did merch for them for a number of years.

Jordan Leitner

>> I didn’t like touring Europe. I did pretty much everything for the band so it wasn’t really fun anymore. I think I just reached my breaking point. […] We all agreed to finish off the tour for financial reasons, and also because we were in Europe and we wanted to enjoy it one more time. Everyone had different reasons for wanting to finish the tour. <<

John Wylie, ‘Morning Again’ guitarist (interviewed on xstuckinthepastx.blogspot)

At that time I had a dislocated hip from skateboarding. Kris Delacourt (‘S.Y.C.’, ‘Stifled Cries’, …) replaced me and sang.

Kim Vandyck, ‘Rubbish Heap’ vocalist

I remember spending more time in our van than in the venue. Not everyone was into ‘Rubbish Heap’ back then, I believe. Not really SxE (guess what the cloud hanging over the van was). I also recall that a lot more people than I expected were shouting along, and that eventually made it into a good show. ‘Rubbish Heap’ were my local (from the same village as myself) heroes at that the time and it was honour for me to this replacement (a series of 3 concerts, if I’m not mistaken). We also played an encore at the V.V. (which we didn’t expect): the song Broken (which we didn’t rehearse and I fucked up big time). The sound-engineer recorded that concert so if he still has them, I would like to hear it…

Kris Delacourt

When ‘Deformity’ first came out, they were called ‘Race Deformity’. I told them to change their name, which they did ‘cause HC isn’t about race…

Edward Verhaeghe, GoodLife recs (on the www)

There was a report on the regional TV-station (WTV) about this. I still have it on tape…

‘Bolle’ Dominiek Defrancq, ‘Deformity’

review in the Belgian zine Beyond Perfection #2

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

97-08-15 Abhinanda – Veil – Facedown – Spineless – Reiziger – Endstand – Clouded – Purification – Instinct

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

The Czech zine Barricada #2 mentions ‘Starmarket’ switched places with ‘Endstand’…

‘Instinct’ was a – “positive old-school” (Steve Noyelle’s words) – band with people from my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar, Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They’d played the V.V. before (probably a few times that year: 97-03-01, 97-06-27 & 97-07-12)… They did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment (release-party 98-04-18).

On the internet (the German Outspoken forum – outspoken.de) one could read “In 1997 Purification made it to the most important European hardcore festival of those days, the Vort’n Vis fest in Ieper (Belgium).”.

‘Purification’ was a Roman vegan sXe metal-core band and they were inspired by (hardline and pro-life bands) ‘Vegan Reich’ & ‘Earth Crisis’, and influenced by American Straight-Edge. The members were: ‘Puritan’ Maurizio ‘Er Vegano’ Ricci (vocals on the demo and here aswell) – later Matteo ‘Cumenda’ Ferrari (‘P Bird’ or ‘Caustic Bird’, switched from bass – which he played here – to vocals), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar; later together with Emiliano ‘Er Frusinate’ De Santis), Fabio ‘Kappa’ Cappabianca (drums; Demian Campora informed me he wasn’t in the band at that time). They did a demo in 1996 entitled Arkangel. The Vessel Of Wrath 7” was released on Maurizio Ricci’s label Surrounded recs (xCatalystx recs in the US) in 1998. They also had a track on the Animal Truth compilation that SoberMind recs did. Hans also released their 1996-2000 compilation-CD in 2001.

Barricada #2: “I was really curious about ‘Purification’ because their demo is really good. But I was surprised when the new songs turned out even better than those on the tape. A sympathetic band that talked a lot about veganism and ecology. They also played an ‘Earth Crisis’ cover, The Order That Shall (from the compilation Stones To Mark A Fire). Their performance may have taken a wrong turn with the infernal dancing of the Italian fans, but otherwise I was content.”

‘Purification’; courtesy of Adam Malik

‘Clouded’ was a “new-school” metal-core band from Antwerp (Kontich) with Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serge ‘Serch’ Carriere (drums) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar; he replaced Kurt). They started rehearsing November ’96 and did their first show March ’97. The 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in ‘98. They played a show at the V.V. pub (98-05-10) and also did the ’98 & ’99 fests.

‘Endstand’ was a HC/punk band from Riihimäki consisting of Jani Kivijärvi (drums), Janne Tamminen (vocals), Joel (Asseri) Sipilä (bass) and Mika Kaukonen (guitar). They’d done a demo-tape (Fear Of Future) in ’96. A split-7” with the Swedish band ‘Outlast’ came out on Grey Days recs / Bridge Of Compassion (‘97). The same year as their Tolerance 7” (on Arto Savolainen’s label Rising Justice recs). The next years there was the Freedom mCD (’98, on Impression recs, the later Lifeforce recs) and a split mCD with ‘Aurinkokerho’ (Halla Julkaisut ‘99). Learn more about the band’s history from the documentary Fire Inside that is on the www.

Barricada #2: “I went to relax in the car when ‘Starmarket’ was supposed to play. About half an hour later I went to the hall and I was horrified: instead of the Swedes, ‘Endstand’s show was in full swing. I only saw the last 6 songs but these were full of energy, which was evidenced by the people piling up on stage. The guys in the band said it was their best concert ever.”

‘Endstand’; (1)&(2) from Hobson’s Choice #4 zine, (3) by JanCoert Toerse

‘Reiziger’ evolved from ‘Kosjer D’; their music was described as “post hardcore” and “emo-core”. I think they were an ‘indie’ band on the edge of the DIY scene… The band consisted of Sven Gielen (drums), Pascal Hens (guitar), Kristien Hendrix (bass) & Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals). At this time I think they were about to release their 1^st (12”) EP Don’t Bind My Hands (Genet recs)… They’d just done an intimate show at the V.V. pub (97-06-14) and would return for the ’98 fest.

Barricada #2: “Things calmed down a bit with ‘Reizger’. Pleasantly affectionate emo!”

‘Reiziger’; pics courtesy of the band

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on the fest in August ’96. They were Kristof Mondy (bass; Yoda zine; later ‘AmenRa’), Colin H. Van Eeckhout (vocals; later ‘AmenRa’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Mathieu Vandekerckhove (guitar; replaced Koen Sandra ex ‘The Jedi’ in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). Their music was brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of SoberMind recs released the Painfields 7”/mCD (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998).

Barricada #2: “After peace had filled our hearts, a more violent band came along. A very compact mix of HC and metal, in the vein of ‘Morning Again’. Their new MCD is very brutal.”

Not the first time for ‘Facedown’ (‘new-school’, metal-influenced, vegan SE-HC band from Kontich, near Antwerp) either… Thomas Baeken (bass), Youri Baeken (drums), Daniel Mies (vocals), Niko Poortmans (guitar) and Geert Ceuppens (guitar) saw the Ferket brothers (Evil Twin recs) release their 7” Friendship Is Everything (recorded at Studio 195 in July 1996) but Bruno re-released it – with some additional tracks – on Genet recs this year… … The same for the split-7” with ‘Earthmover‎’ (on Moo Cow recs). “Powerful, brutal, moshing emo-core”…

Barricada #2: “Evening fell when ‘Facedown’ came up. They surprised us last year but now it was really worth checking them out. The whole hall rumbled when they played songs from their EP and also new ones that should appear on the new album. As a bonus, they added ‘Earth Crisis’ Firestorm – that was screamed along by all.”

‘Facedown’; by JanCoert Toerse

The 3^rd appearance (after 94-08-20 & 95-08-19) of the Swedish SxE band ‘Abhinanda’. In ‘96 they had released their self-titled CD. As Mel Hughes put it: “hardcore passion…metallic riffs speaking to you in poetic tones; fuelled by the power of ‘Verbal Assault’, ‘Shelter’ and ‘Inside Out’…”. It was recorded with José Saxlund (vocals), Pär Hansson (guitar; replacing Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass) & Daniel Berglund (drums; replacing Jonas Lyxzén). When they recorded in spring of ’98 for the album The Rumble, Niklas Rudolfsson played guitar instead of Adam. Niklas also played at this gig. Their set was recorded on video.

Barricada #2: “The Swedes appeared with a new guitarist and drummer. During the first riffs everything seemed calm but as soon as the singer started, a wave of people rose and made their way to the stage, striking the microphone. The musicians disappeared in the piles of people, sometimes the guitarist and the singer peeked over the heads of the crowd. They played songs from the last album but also old hits such as Senseless or Needle. All rocking and thrashing. The classic Let’s March! dragged some 100 people along. The best show of this Friday – as could be expected.”

‘Abhinanda’; (1) courtesy of Adam Malik, (2) by JanCoert Toerse

Two years after their first performance ‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) returned. Jens Lauterbach (bass), Flo(rian) Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann played metallic hardcore. In 1996 Ferry Krop (of ‘Crisis Of Society’) had released the 7” Time Will Tell (Threesome recs label) after he did their first self-titled one. The same year their LP The Burden Of Life was released (Frontline).

Barricada #2: “They arrived last minute. People were screaming along to their best songs, such as Everyday or Time Will Tell. But it seemed to me that ‘Veil’ gave a bit extra that evening.”

Brob

It sure was quite an experience to play this festival in Ieper and I have good memories about it.

Joel (Asseri) Sipilä; ‘Endstand’ bassist

We did play at the V.V. in ‘97 (when ‘Abhinanda’ played there as well)… Actually we arrived so late that they were forced to play before us, so we ended up being the headliners of that night… I remember that so well since we got out of the car (had an accident during the day which was a reason for the delay) after an 8 hour drive… When we finally arrived, we stretched out and and got right on stage. Holy moly! I’m pretty sure the first crowd-shot on the intro-page was during ‘Veil’s set.

Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’s vocalist

What I always remembered is the good atmosphere, the warm welcome by the audience. Not obvious at that time , ‘cause ‘Reiziger’ was not a typical hardcore-band.

Sven Gielen, ‘Reiziger’

Our record Our Kodo was just out then… I remember we were the ‘the odd one out’… Geert started our performance with “Hello, we’re ‘Reiziger’ and we’re gonna play half an hour of pop-music for you.”. It was a legendary gig, incredible ambience, very hot on stage, warm reactions afterward aswell. One can hear on the compilation that Bruno released, that Geert’s voice was broken…

Pascal Hens, ‘Reiziger’

I don’t remember that much gigs we played with ‘Clouded’. But the ones I will never forget are the shows at the Lintfabriek in Kontich (our second home) and at the Vort’n Vis festivals. I think we played there the last two times before the festival moved outside, to a much bigger location. We still played in the barn (no other way to call it), with sweat dripping of every wall, people diving from the ceiling-beams,… Chaos, but in a very contagious way. It was amazing to see how much people actually fit in that barn :-) … I remember being knocked out after our show – too many people, too much sweat, too little oxygen – but also kind of high on adrenaline at the same time. The Fest always had the most receptive and the most enthusiastic ‘crowd’. People were singing along with songs we played for the very first time. Songs that had no lyrics yet (I just shouted something). When ‘Kindred’ and ‘Culture’ played (my favorite bands back then), the barn just exploded.

I don’t know what it’s like nowadays, but back then all the bands (also the American ones) stayed at the same camping-site. We all hung out in the city and we played soccer together. I made friends in Ieper that I’m still in touch with 20 years later. Sweet memories.

Jeroen Verelst, ‘Clouded’ singer

What I particularly remember of that show is that we, being a young band, got a lot of support from the audience. Our song Positive Kids was enregistred that day and used for the H8000 sampler.

Alex Dierickx, ‘Instinct’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-08-16 Culture – Liar – Kindred – Blindfold – Sektor – Serene – Spirit Of Youth – Intensity – Metroschifter – ODK Crew – Thumbs Down

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

‘Thumbs Down’ (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. If I’m correct the band consisted of Roeland De Keulenaer (bass; later replaced by Andries Beckers of ‘Diablo Blvd’), Ken (drums; since ’99 Benjamin Buschgens – later ‘The Setup’), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar; later ‘The Setup’) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were also signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99).

Barricada #2: “I was baffled by ‘Thumbs Down’ because I thought they resembled ‘Battery’. There was also a black person in the band, reminding of ‘Battery’s Ken Olden (even the guitar was the same). An even bigger surprise was when they played that great old-school ‘Bold’ cover.”

‘Thumbs Down’ (photo by Sergi E. Costa)

‘ODK Crew’ played old-school HC influenced by ‘Judge’, ‘Rise Above’, etc. They were from Oostduinkerke (Belgian coast-town). That year Hans (of Sober Mind recs) released a 7” entitled Old School vs New School. These guys were members of ‘Vitality’ (guitarist Bob Van Lierde & bassist Marc Paccou) and ‘Congress’ (drummer Ilja De Ceuleneire); singer was Micha(ël) ‘Mika’ Sallaerts. They reformed halfway the noughties with ‘Lil’ Wayne’ (Chris Weyne; ex roadie of ‘Vitality) on vocals…

Barricada #2: “Boring old fast metal in the vein of ‘One Life Crew’.”

‘Metroschifter’ – from Louisville, Kentucky – did a first tour of Europe (22 days) with the band ‘Omaha’ (from Toledo, Ohio; with Dirk Hemsath of Doghouse recs) Dec ’96 – Jan ‘97. Drummer Chris(topher) Reinstatler (a.k.a. ‘The Hört’; ex ‘Transcend’) had joined the band because Mario Rubalcaba left. Mark Ritcher filled in on bass as Pat(rick) McClimans (ex ‘Endpoint’) was unable to go on the trip. But it was Brendan Bogosian who played bass on ‘Metroschifter’s August 1997 Euro tour. In June ’97 they recorded the Metroschifter 4 LP – “loud, distorted, mathematical rock”; post-HC – (released on Doghouse recs) and then came over to Europe again. The line-up here was Scott Ritcher (guitar/vocals; Slamdek recs; writer and graphic designer – kcomposite.com), Pat and Chris. Dec ’98 they came to Europe for the 3^rd time; and a 4^th time Dec ’99 (with Curtis Mead on bass).

Scott Ritcher (photo by Sergi E Costa)

Here’s a few words by Scott (from the zine Love, Sweat & Tears) on this:

Barricada #2: “They cleaned our dark ears and cooled the air in the hall.”

‘Intensity’, from Malmö/Lund (Sweden) played “fast, intense old-school HC à la Minor Threat”: Jonas Nilsson (guitar; later Mathias Blixtberg & Andy Dahlström, both also ‘Satanic Surfers’; works for Bad Taste), Rodrigo Alfaro (vocals; also ‘Satanic Surfers’; founder of the Putrid Filth Conspiracy label), Kristoffer Lind (bass) and Simon Ricci (drums; later Tommas Svendsen). At that time they had 2 albums our on Bad Taste recs (where Jonas & Rordrigo helped out – Bought And Sold (1996) & Wash Off The Lies (1998), and a 7” – Battered Soul – on Rodrigo’s label Putrid Filth Conspiracy. The band came back to the V.V. on 99-06-27 (because Bruno Genet recs had re-released their Bought And Sold album as a 10”)

‘Intensity’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “Old school with vocals reminiscent of ‘Ignite’ but the music sounds more punk.”

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area; heart of the H8000 area) had played in there new line-up (their “second phase”, more new-school metal-HC) at the V.V. already (97-06-27). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source, recorded in May) was replaced by Sim Meersseman (of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’) here, guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (a.k.a. ‘Tweet’, also Strike One zine) and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). They would do 3 LPs: Source on Sober Mind recs (1998), a split with ‘One King Down’ ‎on GoodLife recs (1998) & Colors That Bleed on GoodLife recs (1998).

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (pic courtesy of Sergi E. Costa)

‘S.O.Y.’s ‘Marvel’ (+ ‘Lifecycle’s Sofie) (pic kindly donated by Jan Beckers)

Barricada #2: “A mix of metal and old-school. Their new album on SoberMind sounds quite good.”

‘Serene’ (from Gävle, Sweden) – Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (drums), Petter Karlsson (bass), Fredrik Nygren (guitar), Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; later ‘Leiah’) and Anders Nähslund (vocals) – had been at the V.V. earler that year (97-03-30). ‘They did a split-7” with ‘Separation’ on Genet recs that year. Their LP Inward Flowering was released on the same label in ’98. “Melody-driven hardcore and screamo punk.”

Barricada #2: “The surprise of the evening. After some small technical problems, they got started… So we could fly off. A brutal emo band lead by a teenage singer who made considerable effort. Only a shame that the band didn’t talk that much.”

‘Serene’ photographs ([1] courtesy of Olle Johansson, [2] Laurent Chopard)

The band with silliest nick-names: ‘Lenny LadyLover’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums; also in ‘Liar’), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. ‘Mousti’ or ‘Tripple Nipple’; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. ‘KungFu Mike’ or ‘Morbid Mike’; vocals). Since they were from from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village close to Ieper, they’d played the Vort’n Vis sevral times already (96-05-12, 96-08-17, 96-09-22). 1997 was the year Hans SoberMind released their 12”/CD Human Spots of Rust.

Barricada #2: “One of the spiritual fathers of the H8000 crew. [Oh irony!] Ultra-fast brutal metal with some aggressive dancing [see video], so we preferred staying outside where we felt safer (but it wasn’t that terrible).”

‘Blindfold’ did NOT play their last ever gig here at the ‘97 V.V. Fest. (see intro) Their set was recorded an released as Live At The Vort’n Vis on SoberMind recs. Mich Decruyenaere (ex ‘Fungus’, later ‘Hitch’) had started as 2^nd guitarist; he’d already played on the band’s 1996 German tour. Most in the band were V.V. ‘shitworkers’ and practically the ‘house-band’ so they played their umpteenth set…

Wim ‘Blindfold’ (pic by JanCoert Toerse)

‘Blindfold’ (photo-shoot by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “When hell passed away, we quickly returned inside since ‘Blindfold’, pioneers [???] of the hardcore in Belgium, started to play. The atmosphere was excellent: they played their most famous songs; music on the border of melodic HC and metal. Their performance was [NOT just yet] the last of the band’s six-year existence.”

‘Kindred’ was an SxE outfit from Limburg (metallic style of HC, often compared with ‘Unbroken’) with Jan Beckers (guitar) and Maarten Beckers (drums) – Jan was in ‘Acoustic Grinder’ (see: 93-02-27) & both in ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06 & 93-09-19) and ‘Churn’ (95-08-20); later ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Their earlier sets here (96-05-12 & 96-08-17) were with Raf Gielen playing 2^nd guitar. The recordings for the LP on GoodLife recs (File 01) were done in October ’96 without Raf. The band was touring with the Americans of ‘Culture’ so there was a split out (on GoodLife recs) with tracks from ‘Kindred’s recording-session of March that year. (see ad below)

‘Kindred’: (1) Eric & Walter (pic courtesy of Jan Beckers), (2) Maarten (source unknown)

Barricada #2: “There were more people on stage than just the band: Belgian fans stood everywhere in-between the band-members. I couldn’t breathe so I went to out to gains some strength for ‘Liar’.”

‘Liar’ (UxJx – bass, Josh – guitar, Bert- drums & Hans – vocals) had recorded the Invictus album in Feb/March at Midas studios. There was also the split-EP with ‘Family Of Dog’ (a freebie with H8Z fanzine #5)…

Barricada #2: “Contrary to last year – when ‘Liar’ seemed to be very intolerant towards people – their performance had changed a lot and there was a new ‘Liar’ in front of us. Even the singer (‘Blindfold’s guitarist) seemed very sympathetic to me. An excellent clear sound and new songs gave the concert dynamics. The hymn Blade was sung along by perhaps all Belgians. I was so excited, the dancing was not so brutal and the band was visible from the back of the hall.”

‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. The line-up changed a number of times over the years. Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker wrote me he was the guitarist of ‘Culture’ when they were on tour with ‘Kindred’ in 1997. The CD entitled Heteronome (“chugga chugga HC”) and the Oath 7” that GoodLife recs marketed in ’97 was recorded with Steve (also ‘Morning Again’), Jason Dooley (drums), Gordon Tarpley (bass; also in ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar) and Damien Moyal (vocals; also ‘Shai Halud’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘As Friends Rust’) – the guys who were on this tour.

Damien ‘Culture’ (pics by JanCoert Toerse & Laurent Chopard)

commodification…

Barricada #2: “They started with songs from Born Of You [1995 album on Conquer The World recs], followed by tracks from the split with ‘Kindred’. Towards the end, it got too hot on the stage: dozens of people packed together on a few square meters. They also played new things from the last mCD [Heteronome; which GoodLife released right before the fest] and when the microphone broke (it was astonishing that it lasted so long), they played the last song on this tour (They ended their summer-tour with ‘Kindred’ here in Ieper.): the older song Deforestation – the whole crowd sang and the vocalist could do nothing else than climb the iron girders that supported the roof, and watch the hell below him. Highlight of this Saturday night.”

Brob

I remember playing the Vort’n Vis in 1997 with ‘Culture’ on tour with ‘Kindred’.

Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker, ‘Culture’ guitarist

I didn’t do the first euro tours… I started the band but left shortly after we recorded the ‘Kindred’ split but currently I’m in ‘Culture’ again… Jason Dooley was on the 97/98 tours.

Joshua Williams, ‘Culture’

I played the Vort’n Vis twice with ‘Culture’ in both 1997 and 1998, and it was everything a hardcore punk show should be: sweaty, intense, crowded. I remember the stage being over-run with people singing along, and there was barely room to play. The height of the stage was perfect, the setting was perfect, the era was thriving. I’ll never forget those shows.

Damien Moyal

I remember I had to work and regretted I couldn’t stay. I do recall being very impressed by ‘Abhinanda’ [the day before]. It might be the day when ‘Vinnie’ said someone lost their clock and he’d found it: it was one of those giant clocks hanging on the wall… Vincent wore his giant nerdy specs. At the end of our set, I sang this song… Together In The Sand…? By ‘NoFX’…? No sure if it was then? We did so many gigs. And of course I a lot of had fun… Ah, and I assume there were loads of people sleeping at our house. My mom sometimes couldn’t open the door because our living-room was full of people.

Fred Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’

Our show here is partly on the H8000 DVD. The venue was packed and loads of people were diving and singing along. The best time we ever played there. The video shows everyone from the scene standing around us really, all colleague’s bands. It’s shot from the rear of the stage, in the direction of the crowd…

Dominiek Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’

97-08-16 was the first time we met the overly tattooed guys from ‘Endstand’. Great guys! We also hung out with the ‘Serene’ guys. I think we played another gig with them two days later at some small club. Awesome band! I think we were well taken care of at the festival but I don’t remember any details. I do recall that there was a disturbing number of pro-violence vegans everywhere. Guys with tank-tops, lots of muscles and a really bad attitude. And lots of Milk Is Murder shirts. It would surprise me greatly if any of them is still vegan today. They were just bullies looking for a fight, people who could just as easily have been nazi-skins or gay-bashers if they had grown up in a different environment. During our gig there was an extremely violent mosh-pit, where lots of people who had travelled a long way to see us couldn’t get near the stage. It was, of course, the well-muscled guys with shaved heads and tank-tops that were violent. I’m all for a little craziness in the pit but these guys were just nasty. Like entering the pit with a fly kick, hard. Idiots. Rodrigo, our singer, told them to calm down, or we would leave the stage. Anyway, macho assholes aside, the place was cool and I had a good time.

Simon Ricci, ‘Intensity’

That show is etched in my memory as the most intense show ever. The response and the commitment grabbed me by the throat. I still know that I looked at Vadim who was going berserk. Our sets weren’t ever quite long but I always gave myself completely. That time it was as if I could keep going, purely on adrenalin. I will never forget this! Thanks to the Vort’n Vis and everyone that was there that day.

Jeroen Therry, ‘Sektor’

That ‘Triple Nipple’ thing in the guestbook doesn’t ring a bell but it could be about me…

Piet Cardoen, ‘Sektor’

I remember the HC fest quite well; it was still in the ‘barn’. There’s a live LP from our show there. The shack was packed to the top of the roof, 35 degrees, people piled together and on top of these more people :-) Good times. I recall being mega-psyched about the fact that ‘Metroschifter’ was playing; I was already a big fan of that band.

Mich Decruyenaere, ‘Blindfold’

It was really super-hot that day, my lower lip was slightly lacerated because someone from the audience accidentally jumped against my mic. It was really wild in front and on stage. After the show I immediately got of the stage ‘cause I felt like passing out. Dead tired! It was also the lasts show of the ‘Culture’/’Kindred’ tour.

Eric Sefton, ‘Kindred’ vocalist

August ’97 was the only time I went out with ‘Metroschifter’; 5 weeks: Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and England (but the dates in England got cancelled so we just hung out). The bassist at the time (I don’t recall who it was; Pat maybe?) had a family-emergency and could not go on that tour. I was friends with Chris (‘The Hört’) and he asked me a few weeks before they were leaving if I would like to jump on bass! I had to learn a bunch of songs real quick, and rush to get a passport!

Brendan Bogosian

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

97-06-29 Satanic Surfers – Pridebowl – Unsure – Family Of Dog – Sincerity

In 1997 the annual Ieper Rally took place June 27-29. Always a good time to stirr up some shit… Friday 97-06-27 there was the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD. ‘Satanic Surfers’ had been announced – another Genet recs promotion day … “Skool’s Out” – together with ‘Gwyllions’ for Sunday 97-06-29 but apparently that got changed around…

‘Satanic Surfers’, a melodic punk-rock band from Lund (Sweden), were at that time: Rodrigo Alfaro (drums/vocals; later singer of ‘Intensity’), ‘Tomek’ Tomasz Sokolowski (bass), Fredrik Jakobsen (guitar) & Magnus Blixtberg (guitar; also ‘Intensity’). They did numerous albums on Burning Heart recs & Bad taste recs but in ’97 Genet recs released a split-7” with covers (together with the Belgian band skate-punk band ‘Concrete Cell’). They were described as ‘NoFX’/’Bad Religion’ clones… ‘Intensity’ did a show at the V.V. on 99-06-27…

‘Pridebowl’ were mates of ‘S.S.’ and on the same label (Bad Taste recs). They played speedy, melodic punk-rock. The band consited of the Californian Aaron Goulding (vocals) and Henrik Nilsson (guitar), Stefan Glendell (guitar), Oskar Andersson (bass) & Martin Bodin (drums) who are all from Varberg, Sweden. In 1997 Genet recs released their LP Where You Put Your Trust. They did a one-week tour, playing three shows in France, a skate-festival in Italy and a couple of shows in Belgium.

‘Unsure’ (from Kontich) played catchy (skate)punk-rock. They were: Sam Van Meirhaeghe (vocals), Kurt Weckhuysen (drums), Hans Van Den Eynde (bass) and David Du Mont (guitar). Genet recs released their recordings: Buckle-Up LP (‘97) & Sunshine Lake CD (’98).

‘Family Of Dog’ from Deinze, had already performed at the V.V. on 96-09-22 and would be back on 97-07-12. They played “metal” (Steve Noyelle’s words). The band was: Bert Walgraeve (bass), Stijn Everaert (drums), Peter Staelens & Wim De Taeye (guitar) and Tom Claus (vocals; also sang for ‘Congress’ on their Angry With The Sun CD). They released a promo-tape in ’96, did a split-7” with ‘Liar’ in ’97 (Genet recs) and a self-titled CD (Midas prods, ’98).

‘Sincerity’ was another band (metal-influenced HC) from Deinze. Members: ‘Sjaab’ Frederic Chaboteau (vocals), Maarten Kinet (bass; later ‘Lifecycle’ & ‘AmenRa’), Bram Walgraeve (guitar; brother of ‘Family of Dog’s Bert Walgraeve), Fré(derick) De Vogelaere (drums) & Thomas Hauttekeete (guitar; also ‘Instinct’). Bram & Fré were later in ‘King Creole’… The band played 2 more times here (97-07-12 & 97-10-12) but they split up somewhere in ‘98…

Brob

‘Family Of Dog’ did indeed open for ‘Satanic Surfers’, together with ‘Sincerity’. Don’t have the flyer anymore…

Tom Claus, ‘Family Of Dog’

Hilarious that guest-book entry!!! That’s us indeed. All I remember is a decrepit, improvised wooden stage where jumping was ‘not done’.

Sam Van Meirhaeghe, ‘Unsure’

‘Sincerity’ was a band that ‘Sjaab’ and I founded with Bram Walgraeve; soon Frederik De Vogelaere & Thomas Hauttekeete joined. I have vague recollections of ‘Sjaab’ writing something in the guestbook but no idea if it was the day we played the Vort’n Vis. I do know that we played there another time [97-10-12] with ‘Catharsis’, ‘Gehenna’, ‘Natural Order’ and some more bands I forgot about. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Family of Dog’ played then aswell; I saw them so many times that I might mix up some shows. It’s been a while after all. Anyway, we visited the V.V. quite often back then. I also rehearsed there with ‘Lifecycle’ (when I joined them after ‘Sincerity’ split up). Good & bad memories. But I have fond memories of that show with ‘Sincerity’: it was a band that I was proud of.

Maarten Kinet

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Fredrik Jakobsen: “Fruitcake was more of an internal joke in the band.”

additions wellcome!…

97-10-04 Mastic Scum – Mangled – Necrophagist – Pleurisy – Suppository – [Agathocles] – [Cornucopia]

This was the second day of the grind/death Bulldozer fest, an “underground meeting with brutal death and bestial grind”, organised by Fred(eric) Driessens. The poster announces ‘Mastic Scum’, ‘Agathocles’, ‘Cornucopia’, ‘Suppository’, ‘Pleurisy’, ‘Judgement Day’, etc. The V.V. notes also mention ‘Mangled’ (Nl), ‘Necrophagist’ (Ger), ‘Disjunction’ (‘Disjunctor’) (Bel), but no ‘Agathocles’ or ‘Judgement Day’. ‘Cornucopia’ didn’t get to play because the cops shut down the concert.

[First day: Last Days Of Humanity (Nl), Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition (Fra), Catafalque (Nl), In-quest (Bel), Ectopia (Bel)]

‘Mastic Scum’ (from Vienna) was described as an “in-your-face” grindcore bands. The guys in the band: Harry Gandler (guitar), Man Gandler (drums), Steff Moser (bass) and Linga & Jesus (vocals; Will Schett joined later). The bands still exists (masticscum.com)… Thijs VDS from Katwijk-aan-Zee (The Netherlands) contacted me to arrange a gig for these Austrians. He was involved with Eurodusnie, a collective set up in 1997 (Koppenhinksteeg squat, Leiden) to organise protests against the Euro-summit in Amsterdam… The band didn’t wanna play the Hogepont-squat in Gent so I guess they ended up at the V.V. Thijs came along with them.

‘Mangled’ was a Dutch death-metal band (from Horst) with Erwin Hermsen (guitar), Floris de Jonge (drums), Harold Gielen (guitar), Loek Peeters (bass; also ‘Insult’) and Pepijn Houwen (vocals). Their album Ancient Times was recorded January 1997.

‘Necrophagist’ – a German technical death-metal band – consisted of (at that time) Muhammed Suiçmez (guitar/vocals), Daniel Silva (drums) and Jochen Bittmann on bass. They had 2 self-released tapes out.

‘Pleurisy’ (from Amersfoort, The Netherlands’) also played death-metal. They had a few tapes out and had released a split-12” (with the Germans of ‘Asgaia’) in ’96. Guitarist Alex Seegers had recorded the latter with bassist Bas van den Boogaard, drummer Edwin Nederkoorn, guitarist Axel Becker and “grunter” Mathieu van Hamersveld (or was it Johan Wesdijk mentioned in the guestbook?).

‘Suppository’ played the V.V. already half a year before this (97-05-31). They were a grindcore band from Dutch Limburg. Boris ‘Bastard’ Cornelissen (vocals), Max ‘Goulash’ Duys (bass), Rutger ‘Ragout’ Noij (drums; also ‘Catafalque’) and René (guitar) recorded their first efforts in March ‘97 (released on a split-7” with the Greek ‘Rakitis’ in ’98). The same year there was a CD with ‘Agathocles’ where Matty replaced René on guitar. More releases followed… They also did a German tour that year with ‘Cornucopia’.

‘Judgement Day’ was Dutch metal band with guitarist Theo van Eekelen. Don’t think they actually played here…

No idea who ‘Disjunction’/‘Disjunctor’ were…

In April 1998 ‘Agathocles’ recorded the tracks for the split-LP with the Brazilian ‘Deadmocracy’ in their rehearsalroom in Zichem, Belgium. During that session Vince(nt) Morre played bass, Burt Beyens hit the drums, Matías ‘Matty’ Dupont played guitar and Jan Frederickx growled. The recordings for the split-7” with ‘Abstain’ were done in September 1997 with the same line-up. If the band performed here, it must’ve been with them…

‘Cornucopia’ had already played the V.V. on 96-02-24 & 97-02-28…

Brob

As far as I can remember: no ‘Agathocles’, ‘Cornucopia’ and ‘Judgement Day’, but definitely ‘Necrophagist’ and ‘Pleurisy’!

Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist

I remember this show at the Vort’n Vis, as we played the night before in Vienna (we did a small tour called ‘Hang Over tour’ with some more gigs in Belgium and the Netherlands) and drove the whole night to Belgium. We arrived in Ieper in the afternoon and then played. It was aweseome but can ‘t recall anything more, hahaha! ‘Suppository’ from the Netherlands also played.

Harry Gandler, ‘Mastic Scum’ guitarist

Quite some alcohol-conumption that night… Playing there also got us a gig in France (organised by the singer of ‘Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition’)…

Harold Gielen, ‘Mangled’ guitarist

We played our first gig outside Germany in Belgium at the Vort‘n Vis. We were headlining the gig but when we were in as 3rd or 4th, the police ended our gig because of complaints from neighbours regarding the noise-level. Details are very fuzzy. The only two things I can recall were that 1) we had to sleep in one room with all the other bands and their members and that this room was not heated/very cold and 2) the room where we played was a former barn or slaughterhouse and that you still could smell the scent of animal-excrements.

the former ‘Necrophagist’ bassist

I believe I was there but I didn’t play for ‘Agathocles’ yet… I was their ‘roadie’ the years before. To long ago to remember anything about the gig but I think Wim De Leersnijder a.k.a. ‘Herrie Kederrie’ was there…

Vincent Morre

Don’t think I was there. Can’t remember….

Wim De Leersnijder

Too long ago to remember. In retrospect, it’s kinda cool that ‘Necrophagist’ played there and later became very big. One of my all-time favourite bands.

Edwin Nederkoorn, ‘Pleurisy’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-10-03 Last Days Of Humanity – Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition – Catafalque – In-quest – Ectopia

First day of the grind/death Bulldozer fest, an “underground meeting with brutal death and bestial grind”, organised by Fred(eric) Driessens. The poster announces ‘Catafalque’, ‘Last Days Of Humanity’, ‘In-quest’… The V.V. notes also make mention of ‘Ectopia’, ‘S.C.D.’, but not ‘Catafalque’…

[Second day: Mastic Scum (Öst), Necrophagist (Ger), Suppository (Nl), Pleurisy (Nl), Mangled (Nl)]

‘Last Days Of Humanity’ was a grindcore band from The Netherlands. They formed in 1989 and split-up in 2006 but reformed in 2010. In 1998 their CD The Sound Of Rancid Juices Sloshing Around Your Coffin was released. The recordings (from 1996) were with Hans Smits (vocals), William Van De Ven (guitar), Anne Van De Burgt (guitar), Glenn Jagers (drums) & Erwin De Wit (bass). They came back to the V.V. with 98-09-25 with Bart Boumans as vocalist & (Rutger-)Rogier Kuzee (bass).

‘In-quest’ was a death-metal band from the Antwerp/Turnhout region. At that time probably Gert Monden (drums; ex ‘System Shit’), Jan Geenen (bass/guitar; ex ‘System Shit’), Wim Roelants (guitar), Laurent Swaan (guitar; ex ‘System Shit’), Manu Van Tichelen (bass) & ‘Noisegrinder’ Ben Adams (vocals; ex ‘System Shit’, later ‘Caducity’ and replaced by Sven De Caluwé of ‘Aborted’). In ’97 they released a CD entitled Extrusion-Battlehymns.

‘Ectopia’ was a grindcore band (from Ronse, Belgium) with Steven ‘Roy’ De Rui (bass; later ‘Leprasy’), Guy (guitar), Kurt ‘Monie’ Termonia (vocals; also ‘Serial Butcher’) & ‘Narre’ Bernard Demeulenaere (drums; ex ‘Dreft’). They did a self-released tape (entitled Necronymphomaniac) in 1997 and later a CD (Sickly Private; with Wesley Carrez on guitar, also ‘Caducity’).

‘Ectopia & friends; L => R: ‘Narre’, Steven De Cracker (nowadays vocalist of ‘Putrid Inbred’, back then ‘Serial Butcher’, Nico Veroeven (‘Serial Butcher’ drummer), Kurt

‘S.C.D.’ or ‘Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition’ is (still active) a grindcore band from France. They recorded a bunch of tracks in February 1997 that appeared on a split-tape with ‘Infected Pussy’. The guys playing these were with Yov (drums), Bruno (guitar/vocals) & Seb (vocals). Nowadyas only Seb remains.

There was a Belgian band named ‘Catafalque’ (from Loppem, near Bruges) that did technical melodic death-metal. Steve Folens (guitar/vocals), Pol Van Tieghem (bass) and Frank Rosseau (drums) recorded the tape Ruins Of A Forgotten Age in 1996. Vocalist Kris Maes (ex ‘Dreft’) joined them for the recording of the Awakening CD (GoodLife recs 1997).

‘Catafalque’ (Nl); courtesy of Kris Maes

Kris tells me that it was probably the Dutch ‘Catafalque’ that played. In 1997: Rutger Noij (drums; also ‘Suppository’, ‘Last Days of Humanity’), Jozef ‘Jupke’ Folkerts (bass/vocals) & Susan Gerl (guitar).

Brob

I was there that friday, it was the first concert of ‘LDOH’ with the new singer, Bart Boumans.

Hans Smits

We were together with the boys of ‘Suppository’… Fantastic times!

Jozef Folkerts

I’m 85% certain that we played there with ‘Catafalque’… An eternity ago!

Rutger Noij

I remember there was a big crowd. We played in the pub, not the barn in the back and that I got of the stage for a moment to release the surplus of beer from my stomach. :-) During our act.

Kurt Termonia, ‘Ectopia’ vocalist

We had already been at the Vort’n Vis to see ‘Dead Infection’ [97-05-31]. There weren’t a lot of grind gigs in France at that time so we used to come to Belgium (the Vort’n Vis in Ieper or the Frontline in Ghent, or the Zichem Open Air of ‘Agathocles’). I recall we came to the V.V. at one time to see bands and that one almost cancelled because of a health-issue so we asked Frederic Driessens to play ‘cause our band was there already. In the end the health-problem wasn’t too bad and it we didn’t get to replace them. But we kept in touch with Fred and soon after he proposed that we would play the Vort’n Vis. We got to play there several times (and slept on upstairs, in the attic). I’m almost sure that the picture of our band in Hard’n’Heavy # 72 was taken at the Vort’n Vis [Brob: Yes, I recognise the V.V. courtyard.]. I also believe we met Nico [Nicolas Foubert] of our first label (Bones Brigade recs) at a gig in the V.V.

L => R: Yov – Bruno – Seb (‘S.C.D.’)

Seb, ‘Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition’ vocalist

I have a recollection of this: 2-day fest and nice weather. I came to the Vort’n Vis often, also when we didn’t play ourselves; always good atmosphere. To me there were a few places that stood out: Groningen, La Zone in Liège and the V.V. Quite far away for us but always worthwhile. Grind or crust or punk, everyone was getting along well (most can learn from that nowadays)…

Erwin De Wit, ‘L.D.O.H.’ bassist

additions wellcome!…

97-10-28 Hellkrusher – [Boycot] – Insane Youth – Disbeer

Another show organised by Michael ‘Mike’ Maes…

‘Hellkrusher’ (anarcho-crust-punk from Newcastle) were touring again… They also played Belgian dates in Deurne (Antwerp), Leuven & Tessenderlo. They played a couple of times earlier (93-04-04 & 93-11-21) but the line-up had changed by then. In December ’96 they had recorded for the Doomsday Hour LP (Skuld releases/Profane Existence) with regulars ‘Scotty’ Ian Scott (guitar) & Alastair ‘Ali’ Lynn  (vocals), the old drummer Ian Curry, second guitarist ‘Scoot Gladok Von Stickleback’ (also in ‘Doom’/‘Extinction Of Mankind’) & Rob on bass.

‘‘Hellkrusher’ [1 = Scotty & Curry – 2 = Ali, Rob & Scoot – 3 = Ali & Rob – 4 = Rob] (source unkown)

‘Disbeer’, a crusty metal-punk band from Auch (France), were: Fred ‘Utopia’ Jourdan ‘the bomber’ (drums; ex ‘Enola Gay’ & ‘Vomit Yourself’), ‘the hammer’ (bass) and Michel Cebrian ‘the motherfucker’ (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Enola Gay’, also Reality Of War zine). Fred & Michel had been at the V.V. with ‘Enola Gay’ (95-11-05); ‘Vomit Yourself’ played on 95-02-11 an dthey would come back with ‘Disbeer’ once more (99-09-11). They had recorded for the Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers LP a few months before (March ‘97) that would come out on Panx recs…

‘Boycot’ & ‘Insane Youth’ released a split-7” in 1997…

‘Insane Youth’ were from the Sint-Niklaas area but hung out in Ghent a lot so they became mates. I liked what they were doing (musically and attitude-wise) so I did an interview for Profane Existence with them. It wasn’t their first time at the Vort’n Vis: 94-09-16 & 94-10-22 – in the original line-up: Steve ‘Stiv’ Descamps (vocals), Thomas ‘Tomaz’ Van Rumst (bass), Jan ‘Fons’ Wuytack and Tim De Baere (guitar) – and 95-09-16 & 96-05-19 with Stef De Leersnijder (ex ‘Corpus Christi’) on second guitar. They also played 98-02-13 and continued until about 1999. Steve & Stef did their first recordings with their new band ‘Visions Of War’ in December ’98.

‘Boycot’ from Alkmaar (The Netherlands) – Jeroen Maas (bass), Pim Bakker (vocals; ex ‘C.K.N.’), Lennaert Roomer (guitar), Billy Kuiper (vocals) & Taco Rietveld (drums) – had played here a couple of times already too (96-09-20 & 97-05-18)… They gained my repsect for speakin’ out against commerciality in the HC/punk scene (e.g. with the Only Stupid Bastards Help Epitaph 7” that they released through Axiome prods in 1995). But apparently they didn’t play that day.

Brob

I think I remember ‘Disbeer’ actually… I have photos from this tour… We played in a cellar somewhere with ‘Chaos Bastard’. [Clockwork, in Leuven]. Someone from ‘Hiatus’ was there. At the V.V. we taught Stef the Newcastle dialect… Geordie…which he still uses whenever I meet him. My wife came with us on this tour and there are photos of myself/my wife/Stef and Annabel.

‘Scotty’ Scott

Billy Kuiper, ‘Boycot’ vocalist: Our archives tell we didn’t play the V.V. that they…

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-03-15 Gwyllions – Lunatic Society – Little White Feet

All Belgian bands here…

‘Gwyllions’ (a melodic skate-punk band – in the vein of ‘NoFX’, ‘Lagwagon’, ‘Pennywise’ – from the Lintfabriek scene in Kontich) were Dimi(tri) Vinck (vocals/guitar; ‘Jakke’ sang when they started out as a 5-piece), Kris Willems (bass), Redg(y) Peeters (drums) & Tom(my) Willemijns (guitar). GreenLeaf recs (a subsidiary of GoodLife recs) released two albums of them: Facedown… ‎(’96) & Idiosyncracy ‎(’97).

‘Lunatic Society’ (from Merchtem) started out as an old-school English punk-rock (“beer-punk”) band. They had a demo out and appeared on the compilation On The Streets (We Bite recs ’97). The music evolved into ska-punk (even adding a horn-section). The line-up back then was Erik De Smedt (drums), Mich(ael) De Neve (vocals; later Hans Bogaerts), Herman Bastelé (guitar) and Wim De Neve (bass; later replaced by Ludwig De Wolf). They split up but reformed and did a few albums in the new century.

‘Little White Feet’ was a local outfit (Wervik) that started out as a cover-band. Melodic pop & rock. They mention in the guestbook it was their second show here. No idea when the first one was…

‘Primal Urge’ were also mentioned in the Vort’n Vis notes…

Don’t think there was a big attendance: there were 3 other gigs elsewhere that day (‘State Of Fear’, etc. in Liège; ‘Veil’, etc. in Sint-Niklaas & ‘Deformity’, etc. in Tielt)…

Brob

I recall that I’ve been admitted that night (40°C fever) [see guestbook].

Dimi Vinck, ‘Gwyllions’

I was in ‘Lunatic Society’ (as 2^nd guitarist) from around ‘96 (did a gig with them in Herzele 96-06-29, supporting ‘G.B.H.’ & ‘UK Subs’) and I read in the biography (‘cause I don’t know anymore myself) that in ‘98 a few members quit… The first line-up was Mich(ael) doing vocals, his brother Wim on bass, Herman playing guitar and Erik De Smedt drumming. The demo was still with Mich & Wim De Neve (also ‘Counter-Attack’). I’ve been at the Vort’n Vis but I can’t recall that gig anymore…

Ben Notaert

‘Lunatic Society’ was indeed my first band (I was about 14/15 then). I can’t remember the gig at the Vort’n Vis. Probably I didn’t play for them anymore at that timepoint…

Wim De Neve

1997…is 20 years ago and a lot of beers later, and this makes it impossible to remember and to add extras about this night. I was certainly the drummer and still am after 25 years. This gig was also one of Michaël’s last gigs and Ludwig (bass) had already joined. Nowadays ‘Lunatic Society’ is working on new material with Herman (guitar), Ludwig (bass), Hanske (singer), Sam (2^nd guitar) and we hope to record our 5^th album soon. One thing I do know is that we had an awesome time in Ieper and I’m very pleased to hear that the V.V. is still kicking ass.

‘Smekke’ Erik De Smedt; ‘Lunatic Society’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘Primal Urge’?

additions wellcome!…

97-06-14 Sleepytime Trio – Fourhundred Years – Reiziger

‘Fourhundred Years’, an emo/hardcore (references to ‘Rites of Spring’ & ‘Fugazi’) band (originally from Tucson, Arizona) who moved to Richmond, Virginia. There Eric ‘Bull’ Gervasi (bass; ex ‘Policy Of 3’ – see 95-07-02) joined them (replacing Erin Housholder). The others were Ash Bruce (drums), Dave Jackson (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Groundwork’) and Daron Hollowell (guitar/vocals). They had a split-7” out with ‘Sleepytime Trio’ – who they were touring with – besides their own 7” and the Suture LP. Later they would also do a split-7” with ‘Seein’Red’.

On the www one can read: >>Intelligent and intricate with a perfect blend of melody and dissonance in all the right places, ‘Fourhundred Years’ had unparalleled abilities to captivate their listeners and turn them loose on an unsuspecting music world. Combined with the weight of their political views, the tension of ‘Fourhundred Years’ music is simultaneously a catharsis and a call to arms. They toured Europe, Japan, and America numerous times.<<

‘Sleepytime Trio’, from Harrisonburg (Virginia), were Ben Davis (bass/vocals), David Nesmith (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Maximillian Colby’), Drew Ringo (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Maximillian Colby’) and Jonathan Fuller (drums; also ‘Young Pioneers’). They had the split-7” (mentioned above) under their belt, along with the Songs & Stories 7” and the Plus 6000 12” (recorded a few months before this tour). Their discography ‘Memory-Minus’ contains all their recorded tracks as well as live songs from their 1997 Europe tour (Wermelskirchen, Germany). Musically they were described as screamo post-hardcore…

‘Reiziger’ evolved from ‘Kosjer D’ (see 94-05-22, 94-08-19, 95-07-02, 95-08-19, 95-12-03); their music was labeled as “post hardcore” and “emocore”. I think they were an ‘indie’ band on the edge of the DIY scene… The band consisted of Sven Gielen (drums), Pascal Hens (guitar), Kristien Hendrix (bass) & Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals). At this time I think they were about to release their 1^st (12”) EP Don’t Bind My Hands (Genet recs)… They would also play the 1997 & ’98 Fests…

Brob

I drove the Americans throughout the complete European tour.

Markus Haas (Per Koro)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…