99-09-11 Disbeer – Insult – Suppository – BloodSuckers – Sickness – LoggerHead – Distress – [Container Crusties From Hell]

Second day of the 1999 Leed festival – “a meeting of grind, HC, punk, crust & noise” – organised by Frederic Driessens.

The day before (99-09-10) ‘Yacøpsae’ played and their guitarist ‘Stoffel’ summed up the bands that played here: ‘LoggerHead’, ‘Container Crusties From Hell’, ‘Bloodsuckers’, ‘Disbeer’, ‘Distress’, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Insult’. ‘LoggerHead’ was supposed to play the first day but because they couldn’t make it so they gigged the following day.

Dave ‘Opoespook’ (‘Container Crusties From Hell’ drummer) insists that they never played the Vort’n Vis…

There was a third day announced (with sXe bands) but there’s no indications that this actually happened…

‘Insult’, from Dutch Limburg, played powerviolence/fastcore (on the flyer compared with ‘Infest’). They were ‘Grizzly’ Rob Herraets (guitar), Loek(ie) Peeters (bass), Rob Nabbe (drums/vocals; also vocals for ‘Mallorn’) and ‘El Sancho’ Willem-Jan ‘Edge’ Kneepkens (guitar; also ‘Mallorn’). ‘Scumbag Duke’ screamed on the split-7” with ‘B.S.E. (recorded summer of ’99). Most of their vinyl was released on Roy Meijnen (Slaves Of Mainstream zine)’s Balowski recs.

‘BloodSuckers’ had played at the V.V. before (97-05-18). They were from Wallony (Arlon area, in the Belgian province of Luxembourg) and played grind/crust. The guys in the band were Pierre Marchal (drums), Chris(tophe) Pels (guitar), Gregory Pels (bass) and Michael Thiry (vocals). They had a few tapes out, one of which was a split-tape with a thrash/metal-HC band with the same name from Slovenia. In 2001 ‘Kisaac’ (Isaac Roelens; later drummer for ‘MatrakAttak’) did a 3-way split CD with his band ‘Bob’s Bizarre Bazaar’ and ‘Angry Minded’ on his label Anvil Of Fury… In 2000 guitarist Stany Lamock (‘LoggerHead’) joined the band…

‘LoggerHead’ (described as “fast grind/mincecore”) were from the French-speaking part of Belgium (Fauvillers). They had done a split-tape and were featured on a couple of compilations (e.g. Music For The Dead Masses, on the French label Noise Solution recs)… Later there was a split-CD with the Japanese ‘Unholy Grave’ (on Romain Trocherie’s label Revolution recs). The band consisted of Stany ‘Lamince’ Lamock (guitar/vocals), Anne-So(phie) (guitar) & ‘Boule’ (drums/vocals).

‘Disbeer’ (Auch, France) also played at the Vort’n Vis already (on 97-10-28). This crusty metal-punk outfit consisted of Fred ‘Utopia’ Jourdan ‘the bomber’ (drums; ex ‘Enola Gay’), ‘the hammer’ (bass) and Michel Cebrian ‘the motherfucker’ (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Enola Gay’, also Reality Of War zine). In 1998 they had 2 releases out: Panx recs (from Toulouse) put out the Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers LP and Olivier Lacoste (Murder recs from Bordeaux) did a picture-EP entitled The Frost.

On their first release (2000) – a selftitled EP – ‘Sickness’ (a crust-punk band from Auch, France) were ‘Lolo’ Cyril Prieto (bass; ex ‘Enola Gay’), ‘Pit’ (drums; ex ‘Vomit Yourself’; R.I.P.), ‘Murdock’ (guitar) & ‘P.P.’ (vocals). They also did a demo in ‘98… At some timepoint Anne-Gaelle Manceau (bassist of ‘Enola Gay’ on 95-11-05) was also in the band (vocals) & before Greg Dupart played bass (when Cyril played guitar).

‘Distress’ (Alkmaar, The Netherlands) also had a previous passage at the V.V. (97-05-31). The band (D-beat style) at that time consisted of ‘Lucky’ (drums; replacing Bill ‘Boycot’) & Lennaert Roomer (guitar/vocals; was also in ‘Boycot’ and bands such as ‘Wartorn’ & ‘Solstice’ with Rich Militia), and bassist John-Peter ‘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).

‘Suppository’ (Dutch Limburg) had been invited to the Vort’n Vis twice already: 97-05-31 & 97-10-04. Boris ‘Bastard’ Cornelissen (vocals), Max ‘Goulash’ Duys (bass), Rutger ‘Ragout’ Noij (drums) and René (guitar; later Robin de Boer) played grindcore. They had 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’.

‘Container Crusties From Hell’ were the band of Dave ‘Opoespook’ (drums/vocals) & Ronan Gallou (guitar/vocals); Pepijn van der Geld (also in ‘Mihoen’) played bass. Their music was fast grindy/thrashy crust-core with anarchist lyrics in English and French. I used to correspond with Dave: he ran the Paria Collective and was involved with Anarchist Black Cross in Utrecht. He also booked bands at the Pariaschool squat in Veldhoven (The Netherlands). Only Ronan was from Dijon (France). In 2000 Maloka (punk collective from Dijon) released a split-7” with ‘Mihoen’. After the turn of the century Maloka also put out a benefit-LP the band did for the Food Not Bombs chapter in the Philippines. Plus they did a track for the album Au Pied Du Mur (Anarchist Black Cross benefit-compilation, Maloka 2001). There’s also a demo and a live-tape (recorded in the Czech Republic) out there.

Brob

This gig ‘Distress’ did in ‘99 was already with ‘Lucky’, the drummer after me…

Bill ‘Boycot’ Kuiper

I’m not sure if we actually played this gig. I know we had to cancel a few concerts but not why. It could’ve been that Bill had wuit and we had to find another drummer… By the way ‘Lucky’ is DJ at Baroeg in Rotterdam [venue for “alternative” music]…

Lennaert Roomer

After ‘Vomit Yourself’ [95-02-11], I played drums in ‘Sickness’ and also bass in ‘Ultimate Disorder’.

‘Pit’

In ‘99 I didn’t play for ‘Sickness’ anymore… Cyril Prieto played bass at that time.

Greg Dupart

I wasn’t in ‘Sickness’ anymore…at least I don’t think so…

Anne-Gaelle Manceau

An incredible evening with lots of alcohol… It was the eraly days of ‘Sickness’, with ‘P.P.’ singing.

Cyril Prieto

Pepijn ‘Mihoen’ lives in the U.S. nowadays…

Michael Kopijn

I believe us, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Distress’ were the only dutchies, can’t recall ‘C.C.F.H.’… We slept on the beach afterwards [Ieper’s not on the coast though], fucking cold…

Rob Nabbe

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

99-08-22 Instinct – Point Of Few – True Blue – Jane – Sunrise – Reaching Forward – Leiah – Vitality – John Holmes – Facedown – The Get Up Kids

Introduction => 99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

Laurent Chopard & Olivier Bresson (from Besançon, France) wrote in their zine Co-existence:

(1) The third day also had its share of boring bands. Regarding metal: only ‘Jane’ was a little out of the lot. I was curious to see what ‘John Holmes’ looked like and I didn’t get hooked (because of the voice?). On the other hand, I waited impatiently for ‘Leiah’ (with an ex-‘Serene’ band-member, the others having formed ‘Children Of Fall’) and my waiting was rewarded. I was told that there were 2 girls in the band but I actually think that the people who told me this aren’t acquainted with the glam-look, because indeed, it was indeed a singer (who could have played in ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’). During the concert, the drummer even told the audience that the y didn’t attend a ‘Marilyn Manson’ concert, despite appearances. The sad melodies of the band really fascinated me and I found the bassist (who made fun of the virile attitude of the band before) original. The curtain-call was done with just one guitar as the singer had the bad idea to throw away his (ah! rock’n’roll…) Otherwise, I saw a little bit of ‘Facedown’ (who play every year!) and it was pretty good even though the ‘Earth Crisis’ cover wasn’t mandatory. The long-awaited band that closed this edition was none other than the ‘Get Up Kids’ and I think this was the perfect band to finish in style. Everyone was dancing and singing along to the lyrics of the band. An excellent concert!!!

(2) The last day, two old-school bands opened the ball, unfortunately I didn’t get to see them, too busy finding food other than french-fries (I know it’s the country but three days in a row at noon and at night gets disgusting!). When I came back ‘True Blue’ was playing; it wasn’t bad at all, a little bit like early ‘Cro-Mags’, and the rest of the programme wasn’t very uplifting, except for ‘Leiah’ who bewitched Laurent. To believe that he fell in love with the androgynous singer (Ah! glam-rock when you get to us!). The organisers had the great idea to end the festival with the ‘Get Up Kids’, which literally set things on fire. I found it quite pleasant, even if at times the ‘college band radio side’ was a bit annoying (these Americans: all rock stars, ah ah!).

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‘Instinct’ – “Tielt old school youth-crew mosh.”. These guys were indeed from my hometown (and Deinze). A “positive old-school” band. They’d played the V.V. a bunch of times before (97-03-01, 97-06-27, 97-07-12 & 97-08-15). Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar, Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ who played the first day of this fest, later played bass in ‘Rise And Fall’ & ‘The Deal’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment, that was released that year (the release-party was 98-04-18).

‘Point Of Few’ – “Wicked fast-forward HC/power violence.”. A band from Hoogeveen (The Netherlands) playing “political fast-core”. Some dubbed them “the new ‘Man Lifting Banner’”, others made comparisons with ‘Seein’Red’ & ‘Insult’. By that time they had done a self-titled 7” on Jeffrey Kroesen’s label Discontent recs (’98) and the EP There Is Not Much Left (Coalition recs, ’99). The band consisted of Marco ‘Creshi’ Klopstra (vocals), Jop Hoekstra (bass), Martheun ‘Bolle’ or ‘Bizkid’ Poolman (guitar) and Rik Penninga (drums).

‘Point Of Few’ (fanpage-pic)

‘True Blue’ – “Cromagnon HC, ex-‘Spawn’, rocks as hell!”. Patrick Kitzel (vocals; sang in ‘Spawn after Chris left, Repel zine), Flo(rian) Kehbel (bass), René Natzel (drums; ex ‘Feeding The Fire’, ‘Spawn’), Daniel Bebber (guitar) and Frank Olma (guitar). They had a tape out entitled Friday May 13th (‘98) and the 7” The Ice (Crucial Response recs ‘99).

‘Jane’ – “Ruhrpott metalcore, moshes hard!!”. A chaotic metal-HC band from Duisburg with Matthias Drost (guitar), Mike Masurczak (guitar), Marc Hess (drums), Thomas Kuhn (bass) and Markus Hohn (vocals). They had released a split-CD with ‘Shaft’ (Chorus of Doom) on Sascha Franzen’s label Alveran recs in ‘98 and their CD A Doorway To Elsewhere (same label, ‘99).

‘Sunrise’ – “Stripped vegan XXX metal mosh.”. A Polish (melodic) metal-core band from Ostrowiec. On their first demo the line-up was Daniel Kryj (guitar), Maciej Mazur (drums), Marcin Podsiadły (bass) and Patryk Bugajski (vocals). Adam (Tomasz) ‘Vegun’ Stepien did “ghost sounds”. At the time of this fest they had 3 releases under their belt: Fire Walk With Me (tape ’97), Generation Of Sleepwalkers (album ’98) & Child Of Eternity (mini-album ’99 SoberMind). The people in the band in 1999 were Daniel, Marcin, Patryk & drummer Piotr Grabinski.

‘Reaching Forward’ – “Old-school youth-crew, straight-forward HC.”. From the south of The Netherlands (Den Bosch). ‘JZ’ Johnny van de Koolwijk (vocals; ex ‘Mainstrike’; replaced 1^st singer Cay), ‘Mila’ Emiel Laurant (guitar), Arthur ‘Tuur’ Bek (guitar), Harm Haverman (bass) and ‘Bakkie’ Pieter Hendriks (drums; later Ries Doms). They released their first demo, Bite The Hand That Feeds in 1997 (without Tuur). They did the recordings (according to Arthur with ‘JZ’, not Cay) for the Pride Is Everlasting 7” (Commitment recs, ‘98). Their LP For The Cause came out on Reflections recs (‘99).

‘Leiah’ – “Gävle powerclass emo – 7″/mCD presentation.”. The music of ‘Leiah’ (Sweden) was decribed as indie-rock/emo-punk (“clone of the ‘The Get Up Kids’…”) by some, others called it pop-music. The band consisted of Annsofie Lundin (bass), Anders Gustavsson (drums; in 2000 Gunnar Forsman), David Lehnberg (vocals/guitar) and Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; ex ‘Serene’ – who’d played at the V.V. a couple of times). In 1999 they had 3 releases on Genet recs: a split-7” with (the Belgian) ‘Hebriana’, a 7” & CD entitled Mood Shifting Tones. I few months later they played in the V.V. pub: 99-10-31.

‘Leiah’ (photo: Laurent Chopard)

‘Vitality’ – “H8000 coastal mosh. Terrifying!!”. See earlier shows at the V.V.: 96-08-19, 96-09-22, 97-08-17).

‘John Holmes’ – “Old farts playing ‘Reversal Of Man’/‘Botch’/‘Deadguy’ style.”. The guys in this Britisch band (based in Leeds) were Brian Puplet (vocals; ex ‘Catharsis’, ‘Embittered’, ‘Manfat’, …), Dale Tomlinson (guitar; ex ‘Catharsis’, ‘Manfat’, …), Alastair Gordon (bass; ‘Force Fed’, ‘Geriatric Unit’, ‘Hard To Swallow’) & ‘Sned’ (drums; too many bands to mention). Earlier that year they had recorded for the El Louso Suavo LP (that came out on ‘Sned’ & Alec Mac’s label Flat Earth). The same year there was also a split-7” with ‘Canvas’.

‘Facedown’ – “Leading Belgian metal new school mosh.”. sXe band from the Antwerp region that played quite a few shows at the V.V. (96-08-16, 97-08-15, 97-10-12, 98-08-15)…

‘The Get Up Kids’ – “Nice & gentle emo indie-rock.” – was an emo-pop band from Kansas City (Missouri). A correspondent of mine, ‘Huey Proudhon’ Kevin Zelko (who visited the Vort’n Vis in August ‘97), released their 1^st 7” in 1996. This was followed by a shitload of records on commercial labels such as Doghouse recs, Sub Pop, Epitaph, etc. in 1999 their LP Something To Write Home About came out. It was recorded a few months before this fest with James Dewees (keyboards/vocals), Jim/James Suptic (guitar), Matthew Pryor (vocals/guitar), Robert Pope (bass) & Ryan Pope (drums).

‘The Get Up Kids’ (pic by Laurent Chopard)

Brob

I played the second guitar and then the bass but not in 1999 (or I don’t remember it).

Adam (Tomasz) Stepien, ‘Sunrise’

For couple of years I had heard stories about the mythical ‘mekka’ of European hardcore, THE Ieper Fest. Some of my friends had been going there since 1994, I believe and I finally made it with around 20 Polish hardcore kids in 1997. The local hardcore kids such as the mighty xStvx [Steve Lammertyn], the ‘Lifecyle’ kids and others hung out with us everyday while Jan [Claus], Stephen [Quintens] and the rest of V.V. crew were super hospitable to us and let us stay upstairs. We came back the following years and each time we spent a couple of weeks in Ieper, working doors at the fest, which was also pretty helpful. We met so many people from all over the world – from the Czech Republic (friends who later turned to be the masterminds behind the mighty Fluff Fest), Italy, Holland, Brazil and what not. With some of them I’m still in touch to this day. We traded stuff of the bands we were in, brought things home for distribution. We spent time in the pool or snacking the Aldi gingerbread with chocolate-cream (the Ieper diet). I’ll never forget the few dozens hardcore kids dancing to ‘Technotronic’ like nobody’s watching in the bar downstairs. Great times. Good gigs, too. My fave one was ‘Blindfold’ one that was supposed to be their final show [97-08-16]. ‘Liar’, ‘Purification’, ‘Culture’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Building’ – massive crowd-responses and stage-invasions. My band ‘Sunrise’ made it to Ieper in 1999 when the fest was held outdoors for the first time. It was still great, although I prefered the indoor one much more for its vibe. Our band at that time was Daniel Kryj on guitar, Marcel/ Marcin Podsiadly on bass, Peter/Piotr Grabinski on drums, and myself on vocals. We weren’t that tight, to put it nicely, haha. It might have been our second or third gig that year with hardly any rehearsals, so go figure. I remember myself being nervous as fuck, standing in front of a foreign crowd for the first time in my life. Good that I made it in one piece. We closed the gig with ‘Raid’s Blood Green. Bummer was that I skipped ‘The Get Up Kids’ gig that year, as I wasn’t into them. Bruno was so nice he invited us again in 2002, I remember it grew bigger and that was great edition. Last time I went to Ieper was 2003 and the highlight was Ken O’Keefe [anti-war and human rights activist] ’s speech. Lifechanging. Anyway, Ieper trips were always fun and I looked forward to them all year long. It has never been about Xmas or New Year, it was about Ieper Fest, that was the cycle I lived by. Blessed to be part of it in this way or another. “These days are gone but they’re not forgot [sic; ‘Judge’ quote]”.

Arkadiusz ‘Arek’ Lerch, Marcin Andrzej Czajka (‘Czaja’), Marcin Kucharski were people that played in the band later on…

Patryk Bugajski, ‘Sunrise’ singer

I only remember Alpro soy-desserts and some good vegan biscuits. And the public showers. And lots of nice and friendly people…

Daniel Kryj, ‘Sunrise’ guitarist

‘Hard To Swallow’ or ‘John Holmes’ never played at the V.V. [pub] We were meant to in ‘96 but van-trouble forced us back to the U.K. ‘John Holmes’ played the Ieper festival in ’99…

Alastair Gordon

I remember Ieper. We had a good time as far as I can remember… I liked all the tents and shit; pretty cool. It’s pretty funny to read that review there about ‘True Blue’. Kids always talked shit about us back then… And now they would never admit that… That wasn’t news to us at all though… A lotta jealous people and shit-talkers out there who didn’t understand this band… All I know is that I’m still playing after all these years… (‘EgoDestroys’ from Syracuse, NY) Hardcore is my life and I won’t slow down…

Daniel Bebber, ‘True Blue’ guitarist

I don’t remember much. It’s 20 years ago. ‘True Blue’ had an OK response. I don’t think there were that many people there when we played. I do have lots of fond memories of the original Vort’n Vis. Lots of great shows around 93/94. Also remember a great ‘Mainstrike’ show. That one was already in the bigger place in the back.

Patrick Kitzel, ‘True Blue’ singer

If I’m not mistaken, that was our last ‘Instinct’ show. Some internal troubles, friendships fading out… What I still know: we’d asked Bruno if we could play and he’d it was “OK, providing you don’t quit after that”. And we went like “No, no…” while we knew damned well that we were gonna stop. Empty Promises (One of our ‘Instinct’songs by the way).

Pedro Tallieu

I joined ‘Reaching Forward’ in 2001… But I did attend this fest in 99.

Ries Doms

I’m not very good at remembering specific stuff. Of course I recall playing there though. It was pure magic. I was a late teenager and guess I had a million feelings flying around all at once. I remember all the people up on stage. And how empowering that felt. I’m happy to read that I made fun of some macho guys. That makes me proud of my self. It was very special being in such a male-dominated culture playing and touring with ‘Leiah’. But the years on tour with ‘Leiah’ were also so magical and I’m so happy for all the wonderful meetings with different inspiring people. Our fans where always really cute and friendly. I learned so much during those years and it really formed me to be the one I am today. As an artist I have so much to be glad for that I have been on stage (wich was my absolute favorite part of ‘Leiah’) so much during my teens. I’m really interested in digging in this – seeing pictures and have been asking G (Anders Gustavsson) about the documentary that was made about ‘Leiah’ – but he’s not fast with replying. Being a part of ‘Leiah’ is absolutley a big part of my life and a big part of my artistery with ‘Min Stora Sorg’.

Annsofie Lundin, ‘Leiah’ bassist

I recall ‘JZ’ having a total black-out when we played a ‘Minor Treath’ cover. That’s it. I believe ‘Mila’ has a video of that show…

Arthur Bek, ‘Reaching Forward’ guitarist

I’ve been in Vort’n Vis only once for the festival, the year ‘John Holmes’ played.

Silvain Fayard, Tranzophobia zine (Saint-Etienne, France)

additions wellcome!…

 

99-08-21 Ochtenddauw – H-Street – Stroke Of Grace – Redemption – Ananda – Sabeth – Product – Mörser – Reveal – Spineless – Bloodpact – Thumbs Down – Pray Silent – Ensign

Introduction => 99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

Laurent Chopard & Olivier Bresson (from Besançon, France) wrote in their zine Co-existence:

(1) Overall, the second day announced to be more metal/old-school HC and it needs to be said, the least enticing. I’ll remember however some likeable stuff such as ‘Reveal’ and their wild cover of ‘Inside Out’s No Spiritual Surrender, ‘Lifecycle’ [???] and their SxE hard-rock, ‘Bloodpact’ for the very militant side, ‘Ananda’ and their chaotic metal or ‘Mörser’ for the impressing aspect (3 singers, bassists) more than for the music. Big disappointment was ‘Sabeth’ who seem to want to be early ‘Helmet’ without getting anywhere much because of an incredibly monotonous voice. As for ‘Ensign’: they quickly tired me despite the giant mosh-pit in the audience during a song.

(2) On Saturday the festival started with a band of local heroes, with little importance, that allowed me to finish my night. I arrived on the site for ‘H Street’, who made a good impression. I took advantage of the next bands to replace Laurent at the distro (Sell or die!) and make a tour of the record-fair. This day only the performances of ‘Bloodpact’ (We can be old-school and committed, right Guy?) and ‘Ensign’ (boys-band on tour) challenged me.

(1&2) Determined to take advantage of this night, we took some precautions (earplugs,…) but unfortunately the Belgian summer-nights don’t resemble nights of Ibiza, so we found ourselves victims of a chill we rarely experience in the East. Laurent managed to sleep an hour, Olivier none. Once out of the tent, surprise, the Belgian army paraded outside of the camping-site, determined to recruit two or three depressed vegan warriors who were looking for a new home since hardline stopped. In addition the soldiers organized their own festival in the camping-site. What a contrast to the troops heading for the Vort’n Vis.

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‘Ochtenddauw’ – “H8000 twisted power Metal.”. A local band (from Ieper; they rehearsed at the V.V.) with Wouter Keirse (guitar; keyboards in ‘Eclipse’, guitarist of ‘Warcraft’), Vince(nt) Tetaert (guitar; drummer of ‘Lifecycle; also in ‘Alignment’), Peter Leuwers (bass; also in ‘Lifecycle’), Ward Spruytte (drums; also guitar in ‘Solid’) & Steve Lammertyn (vocals). They had a demo out that year.

‘H-Street’ – “Snotty old school, start piling up now!”. SxE band from Vienna, Austria with Dan(iel) ‘El Toro’ Braaf (guitar), Thomas ‘Tom’ Krutzler (vocals), Mario Schöbinger (bass), Rob(ert) (drums) and Georg Ondrak (guitar). They did a demo (’98) and a self-titled 7” (’99). They got a massive response for covering ‘Token Entry’s The Edge here…

‘H-Street’ (photo by Marco Pasini)

‘Stroke Of Grace’ – “Limburg softcore! Great riffing!!”. Band from Belgian Limburg playing “pretty original and diverse metallic emo-core” with references to ‘Refused’ or ‘Abhinanda’: Stijn Vliegen (vocals), Jurgen Werelds (guitar), Steven Duchateau (guitar), Manu Fredericks (bass) and Luc Nicolaers (drums). Their CD The Body, The Soul, The Spirit was released in ‘98 (Flying World recs). They were also on some compilations.

‘Stroke Of Grace’ (photos courtesy of Stijn Vliegen)

‘Redemption’ – “Vegan metal mosh – split mCD presentation.”. From the “Roma Straight Edge Legion”. A band that was compared to ‘Catharsis’. They did a self-titled 7” & a mini-DC (Until The Next Day) on Surrounded recs (Maurizio Ricci’s label) in ’97 & ‘98, and a split-mCD with ‘Timebomb’ out on War.ds (’99). ‘Gipsy Rufina’ (Emiliano) was the “founder and everlasting member of the band”. The members were Liv Cosentini (guitar), Pierpaolo Perilli (vocals), Simone Achille (guitar), Dario (drums) & Emiliano Liberali (bass).

‘Ananda’ – “Terrifying metallic HC, sort of ‘Acme’ meets ‘Carcass’.” had already played at the V.V. on 95-07-02 & 96-09-22. They switched vocalists in 1998 which “marked a drastic change in their sound from screamo to heavy gloomy hardcore sludge”: Michaël joined in December ’97. Their Profane LP (2000) co-released by Snuff recs (Didier Severin & Roderic Mounir of the band ‘Knut’, Genève) and Molaire Industries (label run by Fabien Thévenot of ‘Iscariote’). Members were Jérôme ‘Gunthar’ Lacombe (bass), Jérôme Mizou (drums), Michaël Clergeot (‘Mikachu’; vocals) and guitarists Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (ex ‘Undone’) & Thomas ‘Tom’ Guillanton (ex ‘Fingerprint’/’Jasmine’).

‘Ananda’ (courtesy of Vincent de Roguin)

‘Sabeth’ – “Turbo stuff, like ‘Helmet’ meets ‘Botch’?”. Band from Böblingen, South Germany with Carsten Pflugbeil (bass), Felix Böhlken (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Dawnbreed’), Thomas Hahn (guitar; nowadays Thomas Harsem, producer) and Steffen Falcke (drums). Marten Thielges was only on their debut. They did their first (self-titled) 7” themselves (’96). Their next releases were on Marco Walzel’s Join The Team Player recs: the Zwei 7” (’98) and the Cobrajet LP (’99).

‘Product – “Rapid old school by really dedicated people.”. Italian poison-free (vegan SxE) band from the Milano area. Stefano Bertelli (guitar; was in ‘By All Means’ – but not when they played the V.V. in 95-08-20), Stefano Milani (bass), Chris(tian) Paracchini (drums), Dan(iele) Casti (vocals) & (Pier)Paolo Bruschi (guitar). Green recs put out their Dedication 7” (‘98) & Not An Answer 7” (’99). A 7” (Watch Your Step) came out on Genet recs (’99), together with New Type Crew (a mCD version of the 7” containing bonus-tracks previously released on their 1^st 7”).

‘Product’ (courtesy of the band’s fanpage)

‘Mörser’ from Bremen were not announced; apparently they replaced ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, who had split up. They played diabolic ultra-fast death/grind with 3-4 singers, 2 bassists, guitarist & drummer. At that time (I think): André Wendelken (drums; also ‘Carol’, etc.), Sven ‘Svenion’ Nienaber (guitar; also ‘Minion’, etc.), Matthias ‘Matze’ Trenne (bass; also ‘Carol’, etc.), Sven Seelkopf (bass; also ‘Metöke’, ‘Systral’), Björn Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Carol’ & ‘Systral’, etc.), Denny Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Systral’), Daniel ‘Grabi’ Grabowski (vocals; also bass in ‘Assay’, ‘Rusty James’) & Ulf ? (vocals). At that time they had an LP (Two Hours To Doom, ’97) out, and a split-7” with ‘The Swarm’ (’98) on Markus Haas’ Per Koro.

‘Mörser’: (1) Sven Seelkopf [taken from Bords Perdu fanzine] – (2) Sven Nienaber [courtesy of Sven]

‘Reveal’ – “Emo-metal, ‘Unbroken’ meets ‘Converge’?”. Another GoodLife – Genet recs band: Dissection Of Thought EP (GL 97), Through The Eye Of Perfection Evolution Dies Slowly CD (GL 98) & To Explore The Invention To Create CD (Genet 2000). Maarten van Oers (drums), Mischa van Rodijnen (guitar), Geert van Hoesel (vocals) & Dave van Beek (bass) were from Dongen (near Breda, NL).

‘Reveal’ (pic by Peter Hendricks) [drumset switched around so one can see the crowd]

‘Spineless’ – “Emo-metal, H8000 rocker-jacks! Last show?”. This band (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 in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). Their music was brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of Sober Mind recs released the Painfields 7” (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998). The band played the V.V. quite a few times. After Spineless ended in 1999, 3 members started a new band called AmenRa, which is still going nowadays.

‘Bloodpact’ (USA) were described as “old-school feat. ‘Earthmover’ & ‘Trephine’ members” or “political pissed-off hardcore”. They were from Ann Arbor/Detroit (Michigan): Andy Dempz (vocals; +/- recs, ex ‘Earthmover’, also in ‘Ruination’), Annie Sullivan (bass), Dustin Schoenhofer [see below] or Adam Arola (drums), John Skinner (guitar). At the time of this tour they had a split-LP (with ‘Varisty’; on +/-) and a 7” (As Good As Dead; on Element recs) out. Later they would release some stuff on Reflection recs and on Genet recs.

‘Thumbs Down’ – “Belgium’s old school HC pride.”. ‘This band (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. They’d played at the Vort’n Vis before (97-08-16, 98-05-10 & 98-08-15): Roeland (De Keulenaer?) (bass; or was he already replaced by Andries Beckers?), Ken or his replacement Benjamin Buschgens? (drums), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99).

‘Pray Silent’ – “Clevo style HC – LP/CD presentation.”. A Swiss (from Sankt-Gallen) vegan straight-edge band (metal-core) signed to Bruno VdV’s Genet recs. They’d played the fest the year before aswell (98-08-15). The band consisted of Andi/y Grob (guitar), Attila Varga (vocals), Etienne Geyer (guitar), Philipp Zimmerman (bass) and Roger Cadalbert (drums). They were compared with H8000 in ads…

‘Ensign’ (courtesy of the band’s fanpage)

‘Ensign’ – “Topclass old school, back after touring with ‘S.O.I.A.’!”. Hardcore punk band from New Jersey. Nathan Gluck (bass; replaced Walter Svekla), Ryan Donoghue (guitar; replaced John Fraunberger), Ryan Murphy (drums; ex ‘Undertow’; replaced Chris(topher) Ross) and Tim(othy) Shaw (vocals). Early on they were signed to Dave Mandel’s label, Indecision recs. They came back the next year (2000-08-18)…

Brob

For us it was the hugest audience we have ever played. It was a pleasure for us to play there. I think it was the biggest HC festival in Europe and everybody was there. I am not involved in the HC-scene anymore but I think about the gig in Ieper very often. I loved it.

Carsten Pflugbeil, ‘Sabeth’ bassist

I was at the ‘Ieperfest’ as a stage-hand ‘for Sabeth’…

Johannes Schreiber, ‘My Hero Died Today’

Thomas Harsem had taken over guitar for me when I moved to ‘Dawnbreed’ (now ‘Monochrome’).

Marten Thielges, ‘Sabeth’

I have a couple of pictures and 2 videos (‘H-Street’ & ‘Mainstrike’) from that Ieperfest.

Danny Braaf, ‘H-Street’ guitarist

That was an amazing gig!!! We came over from Bremen only for that night. I think we’d just come back from our US tour a few days before. So it wasn’t sure we could make it over to this festival. The organiser decided to put us on the running-order as a secret special headliner. We played before ‘True Blue’ I think. [These played the next day.] Even most people of the festival-team didn’t know we were the ‘special guests’. When we got on stage there were already rumours running through the crowd and a lots of people were already standing waiting up-front. And a lot of people surrounded us on stage (as you can see on photo). After the show we met some guy of ‘As Friends Rust’ in the backstage-kitchen. He was totally sad about missing us because he was informed too late were playing (he was on the camping-area). At that time ‘Mörser was: André – drums, Sven – bass, ‘Matze’ – bass; ‘Svenion’ – guitar, Daniel ‘Grabi’ – vox, Björn – vox, Denny – vox.

Ulf had left the band earlier to move to Berlin. Hajo (short for Hans-Joachim) was the guitarplayer of ‘Carol’ and ‘Rusty James’. There were much more bands we all played in but not every band released something.

Sven Nienaber, ‘Mörser’ guitarist

One of the Top 5 shows in 20 years.

Sven Seelkopf, ‘Mörser’ bassist

I believe we opened on Friday??? This was something we’d been looking forward to for a long time. I’d been visiting the fest for several years. That weekend some of my favourite bands were on the bill (‘As Friends Rust’, ‘Hot Water Music’, ‘JR Ewing’, ‘Reveal’, …). Some of them played in Tongeren (Pumpkeskal) aswell. There were quite some people from the beginning of our set; one of the biggest crowds we had. It didn’t go smoothly though: because of nerves and the over-enthousiasm, I myself as singer was the cause that the lead-gitaar was out of tune from the first note on. That wasn’t very helpful to calm us down :-). In the end it mustn’t have been that bad because Bruno [Genet recs] asked us that very day if we could play at the Frontline together with ‘The Get Up Kids’ a few days later. I still have the live recordings of our set somewhere. Apparently all bands were recorded. What also stuck, is the fact that is everything was so well organised. We didn’t have to ask anything: everything was made clear to us from our arrival. Something we didn’t anymore later on. ‘Ieperfest’ was a starting-point for ‘Stroke of Grace’. That was because of the international character of the fest. Because of that we got the opportunity to play a number of shows in Germany.

Stijn Vliegen, ‘Stroke Of Grace’ vocalist

Always loved playing at the V.V.! A personal highlight will always be ‘IeperFest’ [not yet that name] 1999, I think it was. Where we had the hugest circle-pit I’ve ever seen!!!

Nathan Gluck, ‘Ensign’ bassist

Hey, I did play in ‘Ensign’, was one of the original members, but left the band in 1996 or 97 before they toured Europe. Tim and Nate were definitely in the band. Not sure if Chris Ross was still drumming or not at that point. John F had been playing guitar but was probably out. I think I saw them in Seattle in 99 or thereabouts…

Walter Svekla

I did not play with ‘Bloodpact’ in Europe.

Dustin Schoenhofer

additions wellcome!…

99-08-20 Hundred Years Of Forgetting – JR Ewing – Once Never Again – Surface – Hebriana – [Tumult] – Heaven Shall Burn – Discount – Sad Origin – As Friends Rust – Mainstrike – Hot Water Music

Introduction => 99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

Laurent Chopard & Olivier Bresson (from Besançon, France) wrote in their zine Co-existence:

(1&2) This year we went to the famous Vort’n Vis festival again. Our car was filled to the brim. After a long drive we arrived in the ever charming town of Ypres, where we had to find the new place where the festival was (the old one had become too cramped). This new place happened to be in the yard of an old school. The joys of the outdoors!

(1) I was disappointed to have arrived too late to see ‘Hebriana’ that first day… We had to wait until a local thrash band (read: H8000) stopped playing to see the first interesting band: ‘Discount’ that I only knew by name until then. Poppy punk rock with female vocals. Nice surprise! Their gig was pleasant and many made a diary-entree because of the singer. ‘As Friends Rust’, who accompanied ‘Discount’ on this tour, gave a good concert musically (tinged with emo and metal), that brought the audience together. On the other hand, I was rather disappointed by the performance of the ‘old-school heroes’ in ‘Mainstrike’, compared to the concert they gave two years ago. Normally this was their last concert. The band of the day was undoubtedly ‘Hot Water Music’: they offered the audience an excellent energetic emo-rock concert. A lot of people were there for them and they even managed to convince the youth-crew 88 (like Olivier; who even bought their CD); congratulations guys!

(2) We weren’t hardly out of the car when metal chords of the worst kind reached our ears. A shiver ran through my body. Would I once again have to endure a treatment of metal during this Belgian weekend? Fortunately we were just at the end of ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ (phew!) The rest of the day (in my opinion) more accessible groups were scheduled. I was pleasantly surprised to discover ‘As Friends Rust’ and ‘Discount’ that I didn’t know yet musically. On the other hand the performance of the grandpas of ‘Mainstrike’ disappointed me a lot. It was super flabby. The last band of this first day was ‘Hot Water Music’ and something that didn’t really had to happen, did happen. It was a revelation. I’m still in love with it. Emo rock’n’roll at its best.

(1&2) After this busy first day we had to find the famous camping-site (where no one pays) and especially find ourselves a place, something rather difficult at past 1 a.m. Most seemed to believe that everyone had a soundproof tent. After this very ‘white night’, restless people had decided to skate at 7 a.m., destroying all chances to close our eyes…

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‘Tumult’ – “Ruhrpott powerviolence” – were announced but apparently didn’t play. It was a fast-core band from Bonn/Köln with Christian Czerwinski (vocals), Marco Andree (guitar), Dirk Weißenfels (guitar) and others. They did a few 7”s: The Heroic Bloodshed (Defiance recs ’97), a split with ‘Gomorrha’ (on Anomie recs & Marco Andree’s Bastardized recs ’98) & a split with ‘Yacøpsæ’ (Spiral Objective 2000); and a self-titled LP on Per Koro (2000). For some reason they didn’t show up…

‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ – “Rocking slomo emo HC.”. A Belgian SxE band. Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes, the singer of ‘Instinct’ was in this band… So was Bjorn Dossche (One Step Down zine). The band had a demo out. Both guys were later in later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’.

‘JR Ewing’ – “Noisy & pissed off, feat. ‘Amulet’ member – split set with ‘O.N.A.’.”. Norwegian HC band with (at that time) Andreas Tylden (vocals; ex ‘Lash Out’, also ‘Amulet’), Erlend Mokkelbost (guitar), Martin Molden (guitar), Jonas Thire (drums) and Nils Petter Strand (bass). At that time they had 3 7”s (also compiled by Scorched Earth Policy) out on Dance Of Days Recording Coalition: a split with ‘Break (97), Integritas.Consonantia.Claritas. (98) and another split with the Belgian ‘S.Y.C.’ (99). Together with his gig they did 5 (!) other shows in Belgium (Kontich, Leuven, 2 in Antwerp & Tongeren).

‘Once…Never Again’ – “New school, CD presentation – split set with JR!”. A “heart-core band” (as their label dubbed them) from the Antwerp area. Originally a straigt-edge band but that changed… They did a CD entitled Others Came Along And Killed My Dreams (on Funtime recs, ‘99) which was referred to as resembling ‘Morning Again’. Members: Bram De Laet (guitar), Hans De Groef (guitar), Kristof Van Den Broeck (drums), Stijn Op De Beeck (bass) & Stijn Davignon (vocals).

‘Surface’ – “Metallic new school mosh!!”. Another “Ruhrpott metal-core band.” (with 5 sXe-ers): Frank Knöfler (drums), Sven Pust (bass), Thorsten Kleine-Hegermann (guitar), Boris Pracht (guitar) and Sammy Eftekhari (vocals). They did 2 albums on Mad Mob recs: To Millenium…And Beyond (’97) & Shadows Cast By The Light Of The World (’99); toured with ‘Snapcase’ in ’98.

‘Hebriana’ – “Rapid, distorted Merksplas emo-core.”. They’d just played the V.V. (99-06-27) supporting ‘Shai Hulud’. Stijn Colson (guitar), Sven Hoskens (bass/vocals; later ‘Confuse The Cat’), Peter Bols (drums) & Vaast Colson (guitar/vocals) came from a little town in the North of Belgium and were described as an emo/post-HC band with references to ‘Reiziger’. They did a split-7” with ‘Leiah’ (from Sweden) ‎on Genet recs in1999. A review mentioned their music is “herky-jerky post-hardcore with vocals that are pretty shouty, kind of Dischord-y”…

‘Heaven Shall Burn’ – “Blistering H8000 style metalcore.”. A “melodic death-metal/ metal-core” band from Thüringen (Germany). They’d released some demos, an EP (In Battle…There Is No Law) in ’98 and a split-LP (with ‘Fall of Serenity’) in ’99. At that time they were Eric Bischoff (bass), Maik Weichert (guitar), Marcus Bischoff (vocals), Matthias Voigt (drums) and Patrick Schleitzer (guitar).

‘Discount’ – “Poppy punkrock/HC, female vocals. Shake it up!”. In the band (from Florida) were: Alison Nicole Mosshart (vocals; nowadays ‘rockstar’), James Parker/Todd Rockhill (bass), Justin Focco/Bill Nesper (drums) & Ryan Seagrist (guitar). Comparisons with the melocic HC band ‘Tilt’ were made. To mention just a few of their relases: a split-7”with ‘As Friends Rust’ (GoodLife recs 1999), split-LP with ‘J Church’ (on Rugger Bugger Discs 2000)… In 1999 their album Crash Diagnostic was released (recordings with Alison, Todd, Bill & Ryan).

‘Sad Origin’ – “DMD brutal stomping HC – LP/CD presentation.”. Their album A Double Edged Sword In A Triangle of Emotions was released by Genet recs. They did a demo in ’96 and a ‎mini-album entitled Window Of Sarcasm on Inner Belt recs (‘98). The band (from Dendermonde) consisted of Robin ‘Robby’ (bass; replaced Peter De Bondt who played on 98-08-15), Wim Aerts (drums), Wesley Steels (guitar) and Hans ‘Link’ Teirlinck (vocals). Peter XKombatX did backing vocals on the Genet CD. Some people reviewed it as “metal with an early ‘Morbid Angel’ sound” or “metalcore with NYHC influences” or (On Display #3) “bad death-metal”. Alain Herszaft put out the split-CD with ‘Misura’ on Released Power Productions in 2000. Some of the members went on as ‘Die My Demon’.

‘Sad Origin’ (source unknown)

‘As Friends Rust’ – “Damien & co back in Europe!”. American punk/hardcore band founded in 1996 in Gainesville, Florida; with Damien Moyal (vocals: ex ‘Culture’/‘Shai Hulud’/‘Morning Again’). In early 1996 Jeronimo Gomez (bass), Henry Olmino (guitar) and Matt Crum (drums) were jamming and recruited Damien. After recording six songs and making a three-track demo, the band soon disbanded and was not picked up until 1998 when Damien revived it with new members, mostly from the breaking up band ‘Culture’. The new line-up recorded a single new song, and used four from the demo, to come out with the debut The Fists of Time (GoodLife recs). A year later, with a slightly different line-up, the split with ‘Discount’ came out and they quickly went on tour. Another line-up change and the new EPs God Hour and As Friends Rust were released on GoodLife recs. Damien posted a video of ‘As Friends Rust’ playing Encante at this festival here. They came back the next year…

‘Mainstrike’ – “Youthcrew masters.”. They played the V.V. before They did their last gig 99-10-30 at their hometown’s Goudvishal (where Pytrik Schafraad interviewed them for It’s Raining Truths #4) so this was probably their last Belgian show… On the www there’s a video of ‘Big’, Jonas, Jeroen, Johnny & Pepijn performing their song Break The Cycle… In May 1998 they’d recorded the album No Passing Phase. And in January & April 1999 four songs meant to be for two split-7”s (with ‘Ensign’ and with ‘True Blue’); but the band later decided to put all the songs on one record. The self-titled 7” came out in 2000 (a year later after they had already had broken up). Former V.V. gigs: 95-04-09, 95-08-19, 95-10-20 & 97-08-17.

‘Mainstrike’ (photographed by Marco Pasini)

‘Hot Water Music’ (pics courtesy of Stijn Vliegen)

‘Hot Water Music’ – “Leading Florida emo hardcore.”. Melodic punk/hardcore band. Releasing material on No Idea recs and more recently Epitaph recs. The band still exists (hotwatermusic.com). Members of the band are Charles Allen ‘Chuck’ Ragan (guitar), Christopher James ‘Chris’ Wollard (guitar), Jason William Black (bass) and George Rebelo (drums).

Brob

The first revived line-up of ‘As Friends Rust’ – the one that recorded Home Is Where the Heart Aches (1998) was me, Tim Kirkpatrick (drums), Joe Simmons (guitar), Kaleb Stewart (bass) & Gordon Tarpley (guitar). The ‘Discount’ split line-up (1998): me, Tim, Joe, Kaleb & Peter Bartsocas (guitar). The God Hour line-up (1999): me, Tim (drums), Joe, Kaleb and new guitarist James Glayat (guitar).

It was the first year in that outdoor space. Great energy. I think that was sort of a peak year for us in Europe…

Damien Moyal

Actually I do have some pics and stuff of that festival. Stories too, cause we slept in our cars most of the time.

Sammy Heininger, ‘Surface’ vocalist

I know I have some pics from when we played that Vort’n Vis fest in ‘99. Just need time to find them…

Jonas Thire, ‘JR Ewing’ drummer

From 1999 on, when ‘ADESIATOE’ was recorded, Robin took over the bass.

Peter De Bondt, ‘Sad Origin’s first bassist

Bruno (Genet recs) asked us to do a split-set with ‘JR Ewing’… Can’t remember which band we had to replace. [Probably ‘Turmoil’ from Germany] Our band only lasted about one and a half year.

Stijn Davignon, ‘Once Never Again’ vocalist

One of our band-members had to work a bit longer than expected that day so we weren’t sure if we could make it in time. We asked the organiser (the Genet recs guy) what would happen if we’ld arrive later than planned in the time-schedule. He replied “If you’re to late, you won’t play. You hàve to be there in time otherwise you won’t play.”. I remember him being quite inflexible, not giving us the chance playing later, so we quickly decided to stay at home. We were really looking foward to play Ieper but that guy didn’t give us any leeway. Imagine us in a hurry arriving like 20 min late and that guy’s like “Tough luck, you’re too late.”. To avoid this awkard situation a.k.a. trouble we decided not to show up at the fest. That’s it.

Christian Czerwinski, ‘Tumult’ vocalist

I’m not 100% sure about our line-up because we had a change that year but it must’ve been me and Tommy on guitars, ‘Sabbel’ [Christian] doing vocals, Jens on drums and bassist Marco. That’s at least the line-up we recorded our LP with that year.

Dirk Weißenfels, ‘Tumult’ guitarist

I recall that we were all super nervous. It was our first ‘big’ concert (I was only 16) and everything was pretty overwhelming. Because of the tense nerves we played our set twice as fast. Actually one of our worst gigs ever. But we were, and still are, proud for being able to play the Vort’n Vis fest. And we could see the rest of the bands for free. A gift of the gods for a 16-year old with a flat wallet…

Hans De Groef, ‘Once…Never Again’ guitarist

We only played the festival in 1999 (and 2002), I believe. At least when I was in the band. Unfortunately I can’t say that much because we went there in an overnight drive, played in the afternoon and left in the early evening. We were supposed to play another festival in East-Germany the next day, early afternoon. I only remember that it was a rather bad show for us, but a good way to introduce ourselves to a wider audience. I wish we could have stayed longer and watch the other bands…

Matthias Voigt, ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ drummer

additions wellcome!…

99-06-27 Shai Hulud – Intensity – Hebriana – Clouded – Alignment

The third day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis

‘Shai Hulud’ (“hardcore with progressive metal influences”) were originally from Pompano Beach, Florida. The line-up of the band changed quite a few times… The people that signed the V.V. guestbook here were Matt Fletcher (originally guitar, but then moved on to bass) & Andrew Gormley (drums; ex ‘Rorschach’) (plus Matt Haraway (?) & Lauren (Gormley ???); probably friends). Matt(hew) Fox was playing guitar and Dave Silber bass, I assume. Damien Moyal, Steve(n) Kleisath (drums) and Chad Gilbert (vocals) had quit the band. The www mentions Matt Fletcher filled in as singer until Geert van der Velde joined the band to do vocals during the tour. In June 1999, the band recorded a cover of Fearless Vampire Killers for a ‘Bad Brains’ tribute-compilation.

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

‘Hebriana’, from Merksplas, were described as an emo/post-HC band with references to ‘Reiziger’. Earlier on they had a punkrock band going called ‘Sidewinder’. The guys in the band were Stijn Colson (guitar), Sven Hoskens (bass/vocals; later in ‘Confuse The Cat’ with Geert Plessers from ‘Kosjer D’/‘Reiziger’), Peter Bols (drums) & Vaast Colson (guitar/vocals). They did a split-7” with ‘Leiah’ (from Sweden) ‎on Genet recs in1999.

‘Clouded’, a metal-core band from Kontich/Antwerp, were: Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serge ‘Serch’ Carriere (drums; later ‘The Setup’, also toured with ‘Liar’ in 2006, replacing Bert Guillemont) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar). Their 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in 1998. They’d already played on the festivals (97-08 & 98-08)

‘Alignment’ was labeled as H8000 but I believe they were from the Deinze-area and Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes (‘Instinct’) was involved… The guestbook mentions Ringo (guitar), Kristof and Liselotte… Apparently Vince(nt) Tetaert (‘Lifecycle’ drummer) also played in this band; as was Kristof Mondy (‘Spineless’ bassist).

Brob

I didn’t play with ‘Shai Hulud’… Actually have never played with them in Europe.

Damien Moyal

I never drummed for ‘Shai Hulud’ overseas, so I had already left the band prior to this show.

Steve Kleisath

I joined ‘Intensity’ on drums in 1999. My first show with them was in December ‘99. I loved that band, one of the best HC/punk bands around at the time in Europe. And I ended up joining them! I haven’t played with them at the Vort’n Vis though. But I attended the festival the year they played there. [‘97] I have a lot of great photos of that.

Tommas Svendsen, ‘Intensity’

I just did vocals during the very first show of ‘Alignment, in Harelbeke (I believe).

Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

99-06-26 Faroutski – The Lovehandles

The second day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis. This was the day there were no bands of Bruno VdV’s label playing but where 2 bands from Kortrijk’s indie-scene around The Pit’s (a place that started organising gigs almost at the same time of the V.V.) were asked to perform. It happened from time to time that people from the Pit’s exhibited their talents here; see: The Pit’s aficionados performing @ Vort’n Vis

‘Faroutski’ (from the Kortrijk area) had played at the Vort’n Vis before (95-06-18). They called their music punkrock’n’roll and stated they were “a DIY band in the tradition of old punk-bands”. They released their material on their own Funarchy label (previously Rocklabyrinth recs). The band consisted of people of the scene around the Pit’s (small rock/indie venue): Geert ‘Barney’ Blomme (drums), ‘Kyvie’ Johan Dekyvere (guitar) and Rine Amelynck (bass).

‘The Lovehandles’ were Greet Tanghe (drums & vocals), Annette ‘Unwanted’ Declercq (guitar & vocals) and Rine Amelynck (bass & vocals). On the flyer here dubbed as “the ‘L7 from West-Flanders”. Nowadays Annette & Rine play “punky rock‘n’roll” in the band ‘Unwanted Tattoo’ (with Rine’s partner ‘Barney’ on drums).

Brob

I’m Johan’s brother; I used to play in ‘ErsatzNoise’, ‘D.M.H.’ [‘Dallas Memorial Hospital’; with Rine singing], ‘The Valentine Girls’ [also with Rine], ‘Wij Stinken’ [= “we stink”] and ‘Wij Klutsers’ [= “us dumbfucks”; with ‘Barney’] myself; bands with ‘Bowy’ (Dirk Bouwens [Pit’s co-founder])… I remember a gig somewhere in Ieper (several bands) a long time ago (before ‘Faroutski’) with ‘Bowy’, ‘Barney’ and a drummer – but I don’t think the Vort’n Vis even existed then…

Luc Dekyvere

Can’t remember anything about this concert but I know we played some other time in the pub too with ‘The Lovehandles’…

‘Barney’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

99-06-25 Standing 8 – 8 Days Of Nothing – Shank – Hernandez – Lifecycle

This was the first day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis

‘Shank’ from Glasgow played super-fast screaming HC/thrash; influenced by ‘Half Off’ & ‘Stupids’: John ‘Wurzel’ Burridge (vocals), Jamie ‘Lamberta’ Thomson (guitar), Jason Boyce (drums; ex ‘Stretchheads’, also ‘Scatha’), Andrew Nolan a.k.a. ‘Andy Stick’ (bass & vocals; ex ‘Ebola’, also ‘Sawn Off’). At the time of this concert they had 2 split-7”s out: with ‘Minute Manifesto‎’ (on Nick Loaring’s Enslaved recs, 1998) and with ‘Scalplock’ (Retribution, 1999). Recordings for the 7” with ‘Unholy Grave’ were just finished. Andy once described their music as follows: “We just rip off old Boston and Japanese bands, dropped the tune to B, speed shit up, slow shit down, chuck in a few cheesy breakdowns…” (he didn’t like the term powerviolence).

Andrew Nolan tells me ‘Hernandez’ were Simon Henderson (vocals, guitar, keyboards; ex ‘Curll’; lives in NY), Derek Brown/Sexton (bass, vocals, keyboards; nowadays in ‘Headless Kross’) and ‘Hoppy’ (drums). They were touring with ‘Shank’…

‘Standing 8’ “sounds like ‘The Locust’…” it said on the flyer. This hardcore band from was Pickering, Ontario (Canada): Jesse Frederick Keeler (guitar/vocals), Sean Chamberlain (guitar/vocals), Mark Wallis (drums) & Robin Young (keyboards). They had a (self-titled) 7” out and a split-10” (1998) with ‘This Robot Kills’. The latter was released on Bates recs (that also released the 7” by ‘8 Days Of Nothing’). Scott Henderson became the band’s singer right before their European tour.

‘8 Days Of Nothing’ … “A legendary punk band in Sweden; formed by 4 friends in Gislaved in the spring of 1997. During 3 years they played about 100 shows (including 3 European tours) and released 2 records. The last show was at Kråkenäsryd festival in August 2000.”. Their 7” was entitled The Next Thing That Happened Was A Mind-Mangling Explosion Of Noise & Light, and they did also a 10” (split with ‘Die Kosmo Gesellschaft’). Members of the band were: Daniel ‘Fagge’ Fagerström (guitar), Henrik Grevesmühl (vocals), Janne Hanhela (drums) and Pär Fridholm (bass; Reinforced zine). Their music was described as emo/screamo. The flyer states “ex ‘End In Sight’ (guitarist Janne) (who played at the V.V. 95-08-20)…

One of the many times ‘Lifecycle played at the Vort’n Vis… A couple of months after this (99-08-01) Lieve Goemaere interviewed the band for her zine Ugly Duckling; present there were Sofie Vantomme (vocals), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), bassist Peter Leuwers & drummer Vincent Tetaert. So I’m guessing that was the line-up here…

Brob

At the show, someone randomly asked if they could play The Trooper by ‘Iron Maiden’ (I think that’s what they said) on my bass in front of everyone as I was setting up. I told them no and they looked really disappointed. Being the person I was back then I told them to get off stage and stop wasting everyone’s time.

The Canadian band that played had a guitarist (Jesse) that went on to be one half of the mildly famous ‘Death From Above’ (bass and drums rock band). They were doing this vaguely ‘The Locust’ inspired thing (i.e. not wearing punk uniforms and having keyboards) and I remember enjoying them live and liked hanging out with them and the Swedes after the show.

‘Hernandez’ were 3 good friends of ours from Glasgow that we took on tour; they were good touring partners, unfortunately nothing ever really came of that band. They played a sort of heavy post-emo but that was probably a few years too early to be fully understood and appreciated by people at the time. ‘Disaffect’s drummer IB was driving. He was a friend of all of ours, bandmate of Jason and co-worker of ‘Wurzel’.

Just before the show started a guy dressed as Jesus Christ (complete with a giant crucifix he was carrying) dramatically dragged himself on stage, said a few words in Flemish, then threw his crucifix to the ground and left. I have no idea what that was about and he didn’t seem to be a part of the event or Vort’n Vis. I may have a photo of him somewhere…

Andrew Nolan (survivalist-deathcult.blogspot)

It was a pretty fun night so I have some good memories of it. But whether anyone else will agree, I can’t say…

Jamie Thomson, ‘Shank’ guitarist

This is what I remember about that show. Fish-shaped construction-paper beer-tickets, playing hacky-sack [circle-kicking with a crocheted foot’ball’] in the courtyard, a guy dressed like Jesus interrupted ‘8 Days Of Nothing’, and half of ‘Standing 8’ went to cause shit at the rival jock bar across the street and ‘Shank’s lead-singer said to me in a thick Glasgow accent “There’s now’t to come of that but tears.”…

‘Standing 8’ relaxing in the Vort’n Vis courtyard

It was our 2^nd last show on our 27 day tour that was set up by Johan Lagerlöf and his label Bates recs. We toured for 2½ weeks with ‘8 Days Of Nothing’ from Gislaved. I remember that the space was nice, with a small stage and a little bar. We had fun before the show, hanging out with the friendly staff and the guys from the other bands in the courtyard. There was an audience of around 30 I think which was good for an unknown Canadian band. ‘Shank’ played a heavy set, as did ‘8 Days’ excluding the part where they were interrupted by a random guy dressed like Jesus.

Scott Henderson, ‘Standing 8’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘Lifecycle’ (Steve, Peter, Sofie) & crew (Brecht Vanderwee, Aline Noyelle)

additions wellcome!…

99-07-17 Deformity – Mindstab – Cry For Change – 187 – [Barton Dean] – [Fokkum]

‘Deformity’ played on one of the fests before this (97-08-17). I found no track of this gig in the V.V. notes but the band mentioned it in their internet-writings of that time… Perhaps it was announced but never happened? ‘Deformity’s drummer Dominiek ‘Bolle’ Defrancq provided the flyer but no idea if these bands actually played…

The band played death-core/metal and were from the H8000-area (Menen/Houthulst/Roeselare). They 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). Recordings for Murder Within Sin were in spring ‘99 and that got released July ‘99 on Next Sentence recs (Charleroi, Bel) and Blasphemour recs (U.S.).

Early 2001, ‘Lookmulle’ left ‘Deformity’ due to throat-problems, with ‘Wulf’ replacing him as main singer. Promo-talk of that era mentions: “Nevertheless, ‘Deformity’ kept on raging and sees this effort paying off in a record deal with ‘Displeased recs’, one of Europe`s largest metal-labels”…

‘Mindstab’ (H8000 “industrial metalcore”, from Lichtervelde) had a CD (Borderlined) out on GoodLife recs in 2000. The people in the band were Francis Borlé (guitar/vocals), Niek Devos (guitar), Bjørn Bossu (vocals), Brecht Verduyn (bass) & Domien Crevits (drums). They had also done a 5-track self-titled mCD (1998) on Polar Bear recs.

‘Cry For Change’, from Deinze, (not the band with the same name from the early 90s) played their 1^st show @ 4AD in Diksmuide (with ‘Congress’; 99-03-14). The guys described their music as “viking mosh core” (mix of metalcore and old-school HC) and mentioned ‘Liar’, ‘Congress’ & ‘Family Of Dog’ as influences: Stefan ‘Billy’ Van de Voorde (drums), Dimi(tri) D. ‘Tri Dimi’ (vocals), Alex Dierickx (guitar; also ‘Instinct’) & xThomasx (bass). Alain Cheng (guitar) joined a bit later. They did a demo in ’99, and a promo-tape and a mCD (Broken Hearts, Broken Trust) in 2000. Stefan was replaced by Thomas Hautekeete after the demo.

‘Barton Dean’ (Nl) was a skatepunk band with (ex)members of (the mainstream power-doom-metal band) ‘Within Tempation’: Remko Klumpes (guitar), Richard ‘Ries’ Willemse (vocals), Floris Backx (drums), Michiel Papenhove (guitar) & Jeroen van Veen (bass). They did 2 tapes (Stiekum Ontzettend in ‘97 & Coming Out in ‘98).

‘Fokkum’ (Hazerswoude, Nl) played grindcore or “melodic crust-core” as they put it themselves. The line-up early on was with Richard ‘Ries Fokkum’ Willemse (drums), Daniël Bal (vocals), Michiel Papenhove (bass) & Floris Backx (guitar). Later Lisa Wessling (Ries’ partner) joined on bass…

‘187’ (or One Eight Seven; from Ingelmunster / Meulebeke) played “deathcore”. The band consisted of Kathy Verhelle (vocals; sister of ‘Retaliate’s vocalist Geoffrey), Steve Vanhoutte (bass; later vocals for ‘All My Sins’), Wesley Gielen (drums), Steven De Backer (guitar) & ‘Rumme’ Rumminick Vanluchene (guitar). Some of their tracks were recorded live at the Animal Truth Benefit Festival in Eeklo (98-02-22) and they did a demo in 1999. (See also 2000-09-16)

‘Tempest’ ???

Brob

I do believe that show took place but I’m not a 100% sure ‘cause I played the V.V. so many times with my bands and I can ‘t remember every show. The timing could be right though because the guys from Evil Sheep recs asked us to be on their label in that period…

Alex Dierickx, ‘Cry For Change’, ‘Instinct’

I joined ‘C.F.C.’ in July 1999 and my First show was a few weeks later in Bornem… I never played the V.V. with them.

Alain Cheng

I can barely remember but we seem to have played that show. It was for ‘Schmitters’ [Stijn Desmyter from Oostnieuwkerke] birthday. Our first line-up was me (vox), Alexxx (guitar), Stefan (drums), Karim (guitar) & Jamal (bass). Stefan was indeed replaced by Thomas Hautekeete; later Jamal was replaced by xThomasx [Maes]. After a few years Alex and the 2 Thomas’s formed ‘Fullcirclebroken’ (now ‘Lotus Tree’)… Oh, and I set up a few shows…

‘Tri Dimi’, ‘Cry For Change’ vocalist

What I can remember of that period is that we were often billed with H8000 bands, even though we weren’t officially part of that scene but we didn’t really care a lot. We got along well with bands from that scene. There was a mutual respect. The aucience sometimes needed some more convincing from our part but that was mainly because of the style we played: it wasn’t really HardCore so for some that was more difficult to digest. We were just doing our thing and tried to expose people to another genre or musical style.

Francis Borlé, ‘Mindstab’

I believe our Marshall stack got stolen that day and hence (as protest) went back home; so ‘Barton Dean’ & ‘Fokkum’ never were on the V.V. stage. I still play in bands: ‘Zonde’ [sin] (fast melodic hardcore/punkrock with Dutch lyrics) & ‘Slavery Farm’ (absurd brutal D-beat/HC/deathmetal).

‘Ries Fokkum’

additions wellcome!…

99-09-10 Phobia – Yacøpsae

Start of the 1999 Leed festival – “a meeting of grind, HC, punk, crust & noise” – organised by Frederic Driessens.

Playing here in ‘Phobia’, at that time a grindcore band from Mission Viejo, Orange County, California – a “crust whirlwind” – were (I believe) Shane McLachlan (vocals; also ‘Final Conflict’), Steve Burda (guitar), John Anthony Haddad (drums; Dino Sommese of ‘Dystopia’ during one recording-session) and Bruce Reeves (bass – originally guitar). Earlier that year they had recorded for the Destroying The Masses 10”…

‘Phobia’, courtesy of Erik Minnen

‘Yacøpsae’, a noisecore/power-violence (the announcement says “highspeed grind”) outfit from Hamburg, were Stefan ‘Stoffel’ Jenkel (guitar/vocals), Frank Venet (bass; replaced by Ramiro later on) and ‘Emu’ Oliver Ebeling (drums). They had done several split-EPs (e.g. with ‘Active Minds’), appeared on a buch of compilations (e.g. Chards Of Civilisation 7” on Grinding Madness recs) and done some tapes (e.g. a split-tape with ‘Selfish’ & ‘Mrtvá Budoucnost’ with tracks recorded live in the practice-room of ‘Völkermord’ and ‘Impftest’ – Düsseldorf, 98-05-17). You can watch them play this gig here (part 1 & part 2).

The next day LoggerHead (a band that was due here) turned up. Also played: ‘Distress’ (Nl), ‘Disbeer’ (Fra), ‘Insult’ (Nl), ‘Suppository’ (Nl), ‘Bloodsuckers’ (Bel), ‘Sickness’ (Fra). More on that: 99-09-11. On ‘Yacøpsae’s website it’s mentioned that ‘Container Crusties From Hell’ played but Dave ‘Opoespook’ (their drummer) assures me they never played the V.V. It was also announced that on Sunday there were a bunch of SxE bands playing but I find no track of these…

Brob

Me and Shane were in ‘Final Conflict’ together. We met on that tour. I think I joined ‘Phobia’ in 2008 or 2009. I’m still in the band. Bruce is back in the band right now [Oct 2016]; he’s playing guitar while Cece [‘CC Grind’ Loessin] takes some time off: she’s opening her own vegan bakery in Austin, Tx.

Calum Mackenzie, ex ‘Oi Polloi’

I know I had a blast playing everywhere we went in Europe. Hard to sift through all the memories exactly per show to be honest. I do recall though the show in Belgium being a great one. Lots of support from the fans, and great food and hospitality.

John Anthony Haddad, ‘Phobia’ drummer

I’m a painstaking archivist of our band’s chronology and so I list àll our shows (incl. the other bands of the bill). To be correct, here’s the precise list of that weekend. It was a two-day-event. September 10^th 1999: ‘Yacøpsae’ & ‘Phobia’; September 11^th 1999: ‘LoggerHead’, ‘Container Crusties From Hell’, ‘Bloodsuckers’, ‘Disbeer’, ‘Distress’, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Insult’. The first day ‘LoggerHead’ was supposed to play too but someone told me that they couldn’t make it, so they would catch up their gig the following day. Our show here was taped on video.

We didn’t tour with ‘Phobia’. We were booked for the V.V. show on the first day. The next day, we played in Mülheim (Germany) on another 2-day event. As far as I remember, we hung around with some of the ‘Phobia’ members the other day. It was sunny and we stayed outside. Our drummer got very drunk and kept sleeping in the attic. Our bass-player Frank and I went downtown for a while.

‘Stoffel’, ‘Yacøpsae’ guitarist

For me it was a really good concert and there were very nice people there. I liked the place and the people, and I remember we got a little bit drunk… Our dummer ‘Emu’ tasted all beers he could get. I sat on stage after the concert with some guy and saw Sonia for the first time (one of the biggest fans of ‘Yacøpsae’)… Some French guys slept there in tents on the first floor.

Frank Venet, ‘Yacøpsae’ bassist

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis

If my memory serves me right the very first gig at the Vort’n Vis was on 89-07-09. To celebrate this the autonomous centre served it’s audience a mix of touring and local (H8000 and other) bands; plus drinks at the price of 10 years before…

For full posts on the bands that were playing: click below…

25 jun ’99: Standing (Can), 8 Days Of Nothing (Swe), Shank (UK), Hernandez (UK), Lifecycle (Bel)

26 jun ’99: Faroutski (Bel), The Lovehandles (Bel)

27 jun ’99: Shai Hulud (USA), Intensity (Swe), Hebriana (Bel), Clouded (Bel), Alignment (Bel)

For some more history:

Vort’n Vis genesis

20 (+) years Vort’n Vis

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook: