93-09-18 Health Hazard – Bambix – Witchknot – Doom – 6 Feet Over – Because – As Usual – Plum

See: 93-09-17&18&19 5th Leed-festival (Intro & Incident)

‘Sore Throat’ (UK) was announced in the preceding newsletter as “very likely” but this didn’t happen….

In Willy ‘Hiatus’ zine (Rabougri #1) ‘Doom’s Brian Talbot & Tony ‘Stick’ Dickens tell how they decided to throw J(h)on Pickering (vocals) & Pete Nash (bass) out, already before the Japan tour (but they did still come along) and after the recordings of The Greatest Invention. They were replaced by Tom Croft & Paul ‘Mall’ Mallen (guitarist & bassist of ‘Excrement Of War’, ‘Stick’ played drums for them aswell). This new foursome recorded for the splits with ‘Selfish’ (Ecocentric recs ’94) & ‘Hiatus’ (Lost The Fight, on Flat Earth recs ’93). ‘Mall’ was replaced by ‘Scoot’ and that line-up recorded Doomed To Extinction (split with ‘Extinction of Mankind’ on Ecocentric recs ‘94), the Hail To Sweden 7” (released in ’94) and Fuck Peaceville (recorded Feb ‘95). The Live In Japan EP (recorded April ‘92) also came out on Ecocentric recs. ‘Scoot Gladok’ played bass at this gig already…

‘Doom’ (photo courtesy of Willy ‘Hiatus’)

‘Witchknot’ (Bradford) played this one with Jane Graham (bass & vocals; later replaced by bassist Kess), Sarah MacHenry (drums), Lianne Hall (guitar & vocals), the ‘foundsters’. They stepped up from 3-piece to a 6-piece (see 96-09-21) when Sally Stone (vocals), Marion (violin), Gaynor Haggerty (cello) joined. They described themselves as “Punky ladies knitting songs with a load of instruments” and said their (experimental jazzy) post-punk was influenced by ‘The Slits’, ‘X-Ray Spex’, ‘The Ex’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, etc. etc. They put on punk and riot grrrl gigs and Witchfests at the 1 in 12. Sned put out ther EP (Suck) and LP (Squawk) on his label Flat Earth recs the years after. Their touring was in a van that they called Fanny the Tranny… I believe I’d gotten in touch with Jane though here zine Shag Stamp when she was still living in Sheffield. It was nice to meet her there.

‘Witchknot’

‘Health Hazard’: Sned (drums), Chris Gazza (bass), Mandy (vocals) & Alec Mac (guitar). The first of their 4 passages at the V.V. They’ld come back 94-03-05, 94-03-19 & 95-02-11.

‘Witchknot’ & ‘Health Hazard’ on tour

‘Health Hazard’ (photos by Karl Penando)

‘6 Feet Over’ had just come back from a very intense tour (14 concerts in France/Spain/Switzerland/Luxemburg) in August with ‘Hiatus’ (Chris ‘Gazza’ on bass then) where Sned was drumming for them. They had met him when he was the interim bassist for ‘Doom’ earlier that year (93-02-27). Pierre Anne had left after these gigs with ‘Doom’ so they asked Sned to fill in…

‘6 Feet Over’

‘Bambix’ played a tuneful, melodic brand of HC/punkrock with great vocals/chorusses. ‘Wick’ Dewilde played drums and sang originally. Just listen to their debut-7” (They Even Took The Memory)! The CD Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking was the last one they recorded with the orginal line-up (‘92). In 1993 first Nat and then Maniet left, ‘Wick’ went on with other people. The line-up changed quite a few times. (For their second album Crossing Common Borders, ‘Wick’ switched from drums to guitar and Beer Delsman started drumming. The 3^rd, Leitmotiv, was still with Maniet, and with Peter on drums.) and nowadays ‘Wick’ is the front-woman, still singing and playing guitar. They play/tour a lot, all over the world (even Latin-America). Check out bambix.org

‘Because’ (from Luxembourg) were Michelle Marnach (vocals), Brego (bass), ‘Gull’ Alain Gouleven (guitar; later ‘D’Rotzbouwen’) and Thierry Thill (drums). Michelle & Brego were a couple at that time. I started corresponding with them because they did the zine Persons Unknown. Some of the band’s music appeared on a demo: Some More Ugly Puke Stories.

No idea anymore who ‘Plum’ were and if they actually played… Henk Lobuyck reviewed their demo in Fifi #5. Apparently they were friends of V.V. shitworker Peter Vanthuyne; a 3-piece from the Brussels area that played punkrock reminiscent of the ‘Ramones’…

Michael Maes (‘Carcer Molochi’, ‘Link’) claims the band he played guitar for at that time – ‘As Usual’ – performed at Leed ‘92. I’m pretty sure it was in ’93 (as is mentioned on the flyer and in Johan Seys’ zine Gash #1). The others in the band were Danny Suffys (bass), Dimi Loonis (vocals) and Frederick Wyckaert (drums). Before this they “experimented” under the name ‘Suffocating Emotions’, covering other HC/punk bands. A few months after this, end ’93, they recorded a first demo (rehearsal). Johan ‘Boeze’ Seys did vocals too.

‘As Usual’

Jon ‘Active’ Elliott came over and did a stall! At that time Bruno ‘Genet’, Joeir Hoste and myself had merged our distros (a project named Fuse!) and since I insisted we expanded the reading-material, this was a good chance to stock up on the vast amont of books that Jon was carrying. A cooperation that lasted when Fuse! broke up and I started Tilt! (the mailorder distro) up again…

Steve Hyland (Attitude Problem zine, A Network Of Friends distro, 1 in 12) was there aswell. A very nice bloke; vegan, sXe (at that time); a mate of Jaak ‘N.O.F.’ aswell. Interesting chap too, studied sociology and social history. And very active… I think, as of today he’s still putting up gigs (Means To An End)…

One of my French zinester-correspondents, Armel Presselin (Auf-Zu) also visited…

Brob

We played our last gig with ‘6 F.O.’ that day…

Karl Penando

My first ever gig ever outside of England, this all-dayer, a life changing moment indeed… It was overwhelming as I had never left the country before & I was playing my first concert with ‘Doom’ – a very special moment for a 19yr old. ‘Doom’ travelled alone, we just did the one gig, we all [Brob: the other bands/people from Bradford/Leeds.] travelled back together though, I felt very proud & happy to be a part of everything – never did I think I would be in a band/bands travelling the world, playing DIY punk music & involved in the community – magical… My memory isn’t as good these days and I’m afraid all my photos of this concert got stolen… ‘Sore Throat’ did not play – this I know for sure. ‘Doom’ arrived quite late if I remember well. I recall seeing ‘6 Feet Over’ and the rest of the bands. It was busy and people couldn’t get into the gig. I don’t remember any trouble!

Scoot (‘Doom’s bassplayer)

I can remember ‘Nations On Fire’ [the next day]… But was this the concert where we slept above the venue and got thrown beer at us?

‘Wick’, Bambix

This was my first time here; I hitch-hiked there with Wojtek from ‘HomoMilitia’. We almost missed the first day but luckily made it on time just to see the 2 bands we wanted to see: ‘Doom’ and ‘Health Hazard’. I kept coming to that fest every year till ‘98…

Pawel, Scream recs (Gdansk, Poland)

If I recall well this was with ‘Oi Polloi’. Hate to admit it but I was very nervous and very drunk after the show, but still: no regrets. I remember having a big discussion with ‘Oi Polloi’ because we accidentally took their sleeping-place…

[Brob: ‘Oi Polloi’ ??? They – Deek (vocals) / Calum (bass) / Murray (drums) / Brian (guitar) – were interviewed in Fifi #1 (published May ‘94). But Calum tells me: “No, I don’t think we played. I’m sure I would have remembered this incident.”.]

Thierry Till, ‘Because’ drummer

Dominique & Philip Osier (from Antwerp) were 2 brothers playing in ‘Plum’… Later they played in the absurd cabaret ‘Circus Bulderdrang’ and after that they were musicians for Guido Belcanto [street-singer, variety-artist and “rock’n roll chansonnier”] … ‘Plum’ had a demo with 4 songs… I knew them from uni. [see comment]

Peter Vanthuyne

The ‘Plum’ demo was entitled Six Feet Down. Here’s the cover…

Henk Loobuyck

additions wellcome!…

93-09-17&18&19 5th Leed-festival (Intro & Incident)

This is a precursory page to the posts on the 5^th Leed-festival. There was quite some commotion and it led to a substantial evaluation of the Vort’n Vis’ policies…

from the preceding V.V. newsletter

 Accounts of the actual festival will be posted later:

17 sep ’93: Fingerprint (Fra), De Kift (Nl), Beerepoot Brothers (Nl)

18 sep ’93: Health Hazard (UK), Bambix (Nl), Witchknot (UK), Doom (UK), 6 Feet Over (Fra), Because (Lux), As Usual (Bel), Plum (Bel)

19 sep ’93: Nations On Fire (Bel), Strength Of The Will (Bel), Eversor (Ita), Hiatus (Bel)

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I don’t think ‘Viktor’s Hofnarren’ actually played… It’s the evening that Hans [Verbeke] needed to be rescued by ‘Doom’!

Bruno Vandevyvere

‘Viktor’s Hofnarren’, squatters (autonomous centre Schrottbar) from Biel/Bienne (Switzerland) played anarchopunk with a crusty edge. (Later on they did a split-LP together with ‘Jobbykrust’ from Belfast out on Maximum Voice.) They were: Steph(ane) Guillet (bass/vocals; Panikeshi zine & distro), Niggu Rimann (drums), Bänz (guitar), Annette Wagener/Suri Dawicki (vocals) and Tez (vocals). Annette later joined the Groninger band ‘P.C.P.’. Steph & Annette were also running Panik Bourgeoise (concerts, zine).

They’d come all the way from their hometown for the fest together with a whole bunch of friends. After all this time it isn’t clear anymore whether they were invited to play or just wanted to see the bands. I guess ‘V.H.’ and their mates got rather drunk pretty fast (or they arrived drunk/stoned). Their friends also didn’t feel like they had to pay entrance… This attitude certainly annoyed most of the V.V. collaborators. There was some friction between them and SxE people (to say the least) but the way I remember it is that the main issue was that they didn’t feel like contributing their share to the organisation of the event and the fees of the bands. The fact they were so wasted and behaving irresponsibly amplified everything…

At some timepoint V.V. collaborator Hans (perhaps provoked by the animosity) supposedly (tried to) hit someone with a baseball-bat (actually it was a table-leg; I didn’t see it happen with my own eyes) for attempting to sneak in for free… He was “physically attacked from various sides”. Things were threatening to go out of control and it was decided it was best for him to leave in order to remove the fuse from the powder-keg… He had to be more or less secretly evacuated from the V.V. premises and was driven out of town in the van of the band ‘Doom’…

The whole incident drove some of the collaborators to tears for realising there were people who didn’t value their hard work and that some (who came from far away) couldn’t care less that there was a huge risk the autonomous centre could collapse (organisationally or as a result of being shut down by the authorities). Personally, I was disappointed and angry because I had already seen it happen when the 1^st venue where I organised – in my hometown (De Marbel) – got shut down…

All this (together with previous) lead to the V.V. ‘shit-workers’ making up some sort of pamphlet calling for mutual respect, and listing some ‘rules’…which on it’s turn raised some questions with certain factions of not being ‘anarchist’ enough, etc.

Some people (squatters) from Gent and Liège even thought they were going to be refused entrance (Willy of ‘Hiatus/‘Unhinged’ wrote me that at that time). Of course that wasn’t the case… The 1^st issue of Fifi (Vort’n Vis zine), May ‘94, states: “The Swiss assholes of Zürich (…) are no longer allowed in the Vort’n Vis. Reason: violence, intimidation and a broken window.”

Brob

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Quite a lot has been published on the matter. Here’s a few bits – not to stir things up after all these years but for history’s sake (so that perhaps a younger generation will learn of it)…

This excerpt from the Swiss zine No Sanctuary #22 gives a rather detailed account …

This is the initial bit by Steph of ‘V.H.’ in No Sanctuary #21.

Another bit from No Sanctuary #22 shows that ‘V.H.’ had caused similar problems in Germany.

Pamphlet issued by the V.V. collaborators after this event.

Letter by Willy ‘Hiatus’ & response by Vort’n Jan

Willy’s intro to his zine Rabougri (March ’94)

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Niggu (‘V.H.’ drummer) sings for ‘Unhaim’ nowadays. They released an excellent LP… [Brob: I tried hard to get in touch with anyone of V.H.’ but didn’t succeed…]

Pablo, Resistance prods, Biel

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Despite all the commotion, numerous people enjoyed themselves (crowd-shot by Karl Penando); in the foreground: Kurt Deprez (‘Shortsight’), Bruno Vandevyvere (Genet recs), Pierre Anne (‘6 Feet Over’) – in the back: Rudy Penando

92-02-22 Blindfold – Right Direction – 6 Feet Over – Burning Fight

Another gig with a mix of locals/regulars (‘Blindfold’ from Menen/Kortrijk & ‘6FO’ from Duncercque; just across the border in France) and ‘newer’ bands… Organised by the Touch My Heart Crew (basically an invention of Ed of ‘Nations On Fire’; more or less the forerunner of the H8000 Crew); who were promoting smoke-free shows.

Karl and his mates (Steph Cormary, Pierre Anne & Fred) were regulars, yes: this was their 3^rd gig and they’d just been here (92-02-09) and their 1^st appearance (91-06-08) was only half a year before this one here. It must’ve been the time their tape was available and right before they recorded their 7” (in Brussels) to be released on Panx recs…

‘Blindfold’s members Wim, Hans & Chat’n were V.V. shitworkers at that time… The band steadily became a established value. They’d done a few gigs here already (91-12-21 & 91-12-31), recorded the Deprogrammers 7” and some months later they would go into the studio for another 7”: Sober Mind Meditation released on Edward’s label Warehouse recs.

‘Burning Fight’ (from Oostende/Koksijde) was a SxE band (with connotations to hardline & Hare Krshna). I remember this young kid (at that time) – from the Oostende area – who used to write me – Keith Hioco – was their bassist. On the pic I also recognise Ilja De Ceuleneire (later drummer of ‘Congress’; nowadays a.k.a. Ill Jay) on vocals and Joost ‘Josh’ Noyelle playing guitar… In an interview in Wim Vandekerckhove’s Reminder zine, there’s mentioning of a gig which was their very first one (they “only had 2 songs” and were “all a bit nervous”). That was with Yoeri ‘TMC’ (vocals), Frederic ‘Fre’ (Flameygh) (drums; later ‘Vitality’) and Ilja ‘DAC’ (guitar)… In an other interview I read somewhere (blog.rwhaf.net) Joost (‘Congress’) says: “I knew Fre ([techno] DJ Flameboy) and Keith Hioco from the ‘Burning Fight’ period. I was in that band, which also had Ilja on vocals (!). Their bassplayer quit so I asked UxJ to join. He said yes but didn’t like the drummer, so Ilja switched from mike to drums and we had to find ourselves a singer to move on.”.

‘Right Direction’ from Maastricht played metal-influenced hardcore. The band soon outgrew the DIY scene… In 1991 they put out 2 7”s: The Struggle Continues, and No Reason To Laugh (with Daniel Immekeppel on bass, Richard Bruinen (a.k.a. ‘Ritchie Backfire’ – R.I.P.) on drums, guitarists Chris Immekeppel & Maurice Gijsbers, and Dave Reumers doing vocals. Their album How Many More Lies would appear on Old World recs the next year; it featured Dominique Katjili on lead-guitar and Chris Immekeppel on drums. After that they released stuff on labels such as Lost & Found and Victory recs…

Brob

Photos (kind donation of Bart Verelst):

‘6 Feet Over’ (Karl – Pierre – Steph)

‘Right Direction’ (UxJx bottom L)

‘Burning Fight’ (Joost – Ilja – Fré – Keith)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

92-02-09 No Security – Hiatus – 6 Feet Over – Neuthrone

First time I saw ‘Hiatus’ (what a blast!). Swedish ‘No Security’ (like that style of ‘Scandi-trash’!!!) and of course ‘Neuthrone’ (who played some sort of doomy ‘slow-core’)…

Henk Loobuyck

‘No Security’, a raw/fast crust/trash band from Eskilstuna, Sweden, were (at that time; I think) Jari ‘Jallo’ Lehto (drums; also in ‘Disfear’, ‘Totalitär’, etc.), Mattias ‘Kenko’ Kennhed (guitar), Harri Mänty (vocals) and Robert ‘Robban’ Eriksson (bass). They existed for some years already but had gotten even more popular because of the split with ‘Doom’ on Peaceville recs and the D-beat wave…

After a few ‘surprise-appearances’ and a gig on New Year’s Eve (91-12-31; with mostly local bands and a not so overwhelming attendance), ‘Neuthrone’ got to ‘support’ a touring band. Steve Wackenier (guitar & vocals) and David Stubbe (drums) had just asked Tim ‘Nutje’ Denutte to play bass (because of Fabrice’s departure); so that was probably their first gig in this line-up. The Half a Skull’s Size’ 7″ was due on Genet recs…

This was ‘Hiatus’ 3^rd gig here (after 90-09-15 & 91-04-21), I think… They’d just came back from their tour in the U.S. & Canada. Willy played bass here, Ben Fery hit the drums and Azill Kamizol played guitar-hero… No clue where the other guitarist (Phil ‘Kill’) was. And Fed Alabas (Don’t think he had left the band already…)? Spatje & Vrokker (‘P.J.D.’) did some of the vocals.. The band toured Europe with ‘No Security’… No further introduction necessary, I guess…

‘6 Feet Over’ were from the Duncerque region, pretty close to Ieper, so they were invited to play at the V.V. quite often. Here, they made their 2^nd appearance at the V.V. (after 91-06-08) and had recorded their demo-tape a few months before. The 7” on Panx recs would follow later that year. The band consisted of Stephane Cormary (vocals), Fred (bass), Pierre Anne (drums) and Karl Penando (guitar). Energetic old school HC. I reviewed them in Tilt! #7: “Reminds me of ‘Stikky’ or ‘Stark Raving Mad’. Short but raging. Political lyrics.”.

Brob

This was the first European tour for ‘Hiatus’ and the last one for ‘No Security’. Ieper and Liège were good; the rest a bit chaotic. What an idea to tour Sweden in February and the Spain in August!? I was the one organising these tours… I was young… It was the first time I met ‘6 Feet Over’ (later we toured Spain together – with uncle Sned on drums) and ‘Neuthrone’. Hi David & Steve!

Willy ‘Hiatus’

I remember this one for sure! This really left an impression… Vrokker was singing for ‘Hiatus’ those days and they had to play with ‘No Securityi in Liège. I had come along that day to ‘sing’ a ‘Doom’ cover with ‘Hiatus’ and do it over the next day in Ieper. Together we travelled in ‘No Security’s van to Ieper, learned a bit of Swedish on the way and once in Ieper there was an atmosphere of true fraternity. The place was too small, ‘No Security’ was super!!! An energy-attack, full throttle and no looking back!!! I also remember that Vrokker and myself almost demolished the joint… What Vrokker did on stage with them…was most probably a ‘Mob 47’ cover but I could be mistaken… It was one of my better performances at the Vort’n Vis…by far!

Jurgen ‘Spatje’ Fiems

That was the night before my birthday and I was very excited to play with ‘No Security’. I believe we didn’t have amp-problems this time, so a reasonably successful gig. ‘No Security’ were fantastic and super tight. After the concert, Jan Claus and myself slept on the V.V.’s stage because there were a lot of burglaries in the Vort’n at that moment (local heroine-junks) but there were no thieves that night.

Steve W., ‘Neuthrone’

I wasn’t the only guitar-hero that night, you can see Phil just behind Spatje on the picture! That was ‘Hiatus’ second line-up: Phil (guitar+vocals), Willy (bass), Ben (drums) and me (guitar+vocals). That was the Way Of Doom line-up. Later on when we discovered (by accident!) that Willy was a good frontman, he left the bass for the microphone and then we recruited a bass-player (Fred) to become a 5-piece. We recorded the first album From Resignation… with that 3^rd line-up.

I enjoyed touring with ‘No Security’, that was our first European tour. The dudes and their driver were very cool. Their music was fast, energic and the singer looked like he became mentally disturbed during their performance! We learned some cool Swedish words and we improved it later while touring with ‘Svart Snö’! ’6 Feet Over’ were nice people too (not from Nice but from Dunkerque ah!). Fast hardcore with amazing drumming, even when Sned (‘Health Hazard’) replaced Pierre behind the drums. At that same time, Chris (‘Health Hazard’) replaced Fred in ‘Hiatus’: we toured in Spain together – British reinforcements!

What else? I can see my t-shirt wasn’t grey yet… I don’t remember how many times we played at the Vort’n Vis but this must be one of the first. Vrokker and Spatje helped us because me and Phil didn’t feel comfortable singing and playing guitar at the same time. Leffe (‘Chronic Disease’) also helped us in that way a bit later. Thank you guys!

Azill, guitar zero.

great photo-shoot by Eric ‘React’ (thanks a lot!!!):

‘Hiatus’ with Spatje & Vrokker on vocals

‘6 Feet Over’

‘No Security’

Vrokker stealing the show… ;-)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘No Security’ expressing their appreciation for the hospitality…

Sonia Lord & Jules Lowery (Missing The Point, London) visiting…

additions wellcome!…

93-02-27 Doom – [Pissed] – 6 Feet Over – Acoustic Grinder

My pal Ilja S. (Berlin, Profane Existence contributor) wrote me a whole argumentation about why ‘Pissed’ shouldn’t have toured Europe (yet) at that time. I’m not gonna rehash it here. Bruno (Genet recs; who set up the tour) obviously thought otherwise… Actually only Joel made it to the Vort’n Vis. (Unfortunately we didn’t manage to sit down and talk a lot because there were loads of people – ‘Doom’ played and after the show he took off with them and Bruno to Spain.) Todd, the guitarist left the band after the gig in Eindhoven (Nl). I’d hoped to speak to Dan again (First met him at the ‘Nausea’ gig: 91-04-28) but he wasn’t in a good mood and went to Amsterdam after the gig. My friends from ‘Alians’ from Poland did it alone… (They would also have troubles continuing later on…) I wanted to help Bruno out by tryin’ to find other bands (‘No More’, ‘Hiatus’, ‘Acid Rain Dance’ – the drummer of the latter, Quaddel drove for ‘Anarcrust’ in the earlier part of the tour) to come along but none of these were available…

‘Doom’ (crust band from Birmingham) at that time was (Anthony) Tony ‘Stick’ Dickens (drums) (ex ‘Extreme Noise Terror’), Brian ‘Rancid Trout’ Talbot (guitar), Sned (bass, ad interim), I think Tom Croft (ex ‘Genital Deformities’) was singing at that time…

4^th appearance of ‘6 Feet Over’ at the Vort’n Vis… (More about their 1^st time: 91-06-08)

‘Acoustic Grinder’, a -what else- grindcore/noisecore band from Riemst (Belgian Limburg), were Raf ‘Stevie’ Vandeweyer (vocals), Jan ‘Gore’ Beckers (guitar), ‘Putrid’ Peter Peumans a.ka. ‘Slebber’ (bass) & Joost Peumans (drums).

Brob

flyer kindly provided by Peter Peumans. Cheers!

I think that no US band should tour Europe without having first made a tour in the States!

Ilja S., Profane Existence Berlin; personal communication 1993

I guess I can’t thank you enough for your help with our tour-disaster. Yes, the blame for the demise of the tour sits mostly on our shoulders for splitting up half way through.

Dan ‘Troll’ Siskind, bass & vocals for ‘Pissed’, Profane Existence Minneapolis; personal communication 1993

‘Pissed’ were indeed supposed to play at the Vort’n Vis in Feb. 1993 with ‘Doom’. We broke up that day so it was all pretty dramatic. Dan (‘Pissed’ bassist) was actually at this gig, too. He was really depressed and got really drunk, and then took off to Amsterdam and then home the next day. Then I went off to France, Luxemburg, Spain and Portugal with ‘Doom’. That was as fun as playing with my own band!

Joel Olson, ‘Pissed’ drummer [once co-editor of HippyCore zine & contributor to Profane Existence]

‘Pissed’ split up before this part of their tour they played U.K. in January . We took Joel on the tour though; he was a good friend from HippyCore…

Sned, bass for ‘Doom’

One of the ‘Pissed’ guys came with us. I remember playing there on a tour Bruno “organised” (the tour was badly thought out; too much driving & no cash left at end – all went on diesel & road-tolls) & we played in the garage & it was so cold I played in my coat & wooly hat. That’s only ever happened there.

I have no idea why ‘Pissed’ broke up but the tour was such a disaster it would have cost a lot more money for both bands to travel so Bruno would still be paying for it now…

Stick, ‘Doom’ drummer

One memory I have of the Vort’n Vis is being attacked while I was having sex with a girl upstairs. I didn’t know she had a boyfriend and was at the gig also! I think that was the ‘Doom’ gig when we played in the garage at the back in winter. It was so cold that Stick played the set with his donkey-jacket on.

Bri, ‘Doom’ guitarist

None of us were there: ‘N.O.F.’ was touring around that time, played elsewhere…

Jeroen Lauwers

Stick ‘Doom’ & Karl ‘6 F.O.’ (Sned & Bruno in the background) [courtesy of Karl]

‘Doom’ in the snowy V.V. yard (courtesy of Sned)

‘Doom’ & ‘Pissed’ on the road…

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Yep, it was cold indeed (no heating in the ‘big room’)… Wim & Chat’n (‘Blindfold’ singer & drummer) apparently ‘stood guard’ at the entrance

‘Pissed’ was supposed to play here but we didn’t. It’s okay ‘cause we suck anyway. Cheers to Bruno (master of the universe), ‘6 Feet Over’, Sned & ‘Doom’. Also, a fucking huge thanks to all who work at the Vort’n Vis. Many European people don’t realize how great the autonomous/anarchist/punk culture here is and how well organised it is, especially compared to the shitty U.S. Work to keep what you’ve got so it grows and eventually all nazi/capitalist jerk-offs die a crushing horrible death while we fuck shit up to the new ‘One By One’ lp. Anarchy & peace. Joel/Profane Existence

Sned filled in on bass for ‘Doom’ on this tour; Billy Steele (‘Sedition’) was the designated driver…

‘Doom’s way of saying thank you to Bruno ;-)

additions wellcomed!…

91-06-08 Go! – N.O.F. – 6 Feet Over – S.O.Y.

My mate Esneider (of the NYC band ‘Huasipungo’ and a volunteer at ABC No Rio) had already informed me that the band ‘Go!’ of his friends from the ABC No Rio scene were going to tour (see: Go! tour 1991 infosheet)… The band consisted of Mike ‘Bullshit’ Bromberg (vocals, ex ‘S.F.A.’, also did a zine called Bullshit Monthly), Aaron Kaufman (guitar, also shortly in ‘S.F.A.’ and later on the ‘Hell No’ Euro tour), James ‘Jimmy’ Paradise (drums; also in ‘Hell No’) & Stephen Gardner (bass). They definitely were not a typical NYC HC band but had pro-gay and -lesbian, feminist, anti-racism and -violence lyrics.

Read more about ‘Go!’ here…

Because First Strike records from the UK released some material by ‘Go!’, I think Alan Woods sent ‘Decline’ along to tour with them… I think they had a demo out at the time and a 7” called Blind (recorded in November ’90 with Ju(lian) doing guitars & vocals, ‘Cyb’ on drums, ‘Stey’ on 2^nd guitar and ‘Fletch’ on bass). The band came from the Manchester area and played melodic HC.

‘6FO’ were Fred (bass), Pierre Anne (drums), Karl Penando (guitar – ‘petit nain’ or ‘little dwarf’ as we lovingly called him), Stéphane Cormary (vocals), a bunch of lads from the Dunkerque area that visited the V.V. regularly. They usually came down with a whole bunch: Karl’s girlfriend Agnès, his brother Rudee, etc. were ‘regulars’. I had been corresponding with Stéphane (originally from the region of Toulouse), who had been doing a zine called ‘God Bless Cheese Steaks’… This was their 1^st gig…

Of course everyone knew ‘Nations On Fire’ by now… ‘Spirit Of Youth’ was a starting band with 2 young brothers (guitarist Dominiek ‘Dompi’ & bassist Frederik Denolf; in their very early teens), Jan Maelfait (vocals) who would later play the bass for ‘Blindfold’ and Hans Verbeke (ex ‘Rise Above’, later ‘Blindfold’, ‘Liar’) on drums. This was probably their very first gig aswell…

Brob

‘Decline’ were from the UK, Alan from First Strike recs arranged that. Great guys – really got along well with them. They also has a van and equipment we could use.

Mike ‘Bullshit’ Bromberg

I moved to Toulouse. Steph and me did a new band a few years ago called ‘Mediocratie’. Later he played in ‘Dissiped’ and I’m still in ‘Tol Eressëa’… The most important things to all these concerts wasn’t just the music! That period didn’t change my life but just consolidated the political and ethical opinions I already had! I still see Steph (we share a rehearsal-space). Fred: nobody knows what became of him. Pierre is still a good friend which I see when I go up North, he plays surf-rock since no less than 10 years! His band ‘Les Chefs’ released an lp.

Karl Penando, ‘6FO’ guitarist

We exchanged records and zines, I got a bunch of Tilt!s and tried to distro it here, a place where people cared little about non-USA punk. We have never met person to person: I was illegal in the USA for many years meaning I never could travel and my band could never really tour anywhere but here. I finally got documents and so has the rest of the band slowly so now we are planning to tour somewhere soon.

Esneider

‘S.O.Y.’ started out with Jan singing and Hans drumming. When Hans left, my brother started drumming, Ignace De Meyer took over the bass (Ward Verhaeghe sang also for a while, some time later Hans played the bass again); that was the period of The Abyss 7” (Crucial Response recs). ‘S.O.Y.’ became ‘Love, Truth and Honesty’:-) and afterwards started ‘Solid’ (myself on guitar, my bro drumming, Sid on vocals & Kris Kasier on bass. After that we re-started, putting out unreleased ‘S.O.Y.’ songs (with Vincent Merveillie singing, Vincent Theeten on 2^nd guitar & Sim Meerseman on bass): 3 CDs – Source on Genet recs, the split with ‘One King Down’ (USA) on GoodLife recs & the Colours That Bleed full-length on GoodLife recs. After the split ‘S.O.Y.’ became a phenomenon upto Japan :-)…

Dominiek Denolf

‘Decline’ were Paul ‘Cyb’ Lewis (drums), Graham (bass), Julian [Parkinson] (guitar & vocals) at that time. We were playing a sort of HC type music à la ‘Prong’. I remember the show, the stage was made up from crates and boards, it was hot and there was a great HC crowd. I remember before the Vort’n Vis show we went for vegan food at a house with some really nice people, the guys who put the show on were great people. We played another show in Belgium in a very small café [the Pits in Kortrijk] as well….

Paul ‘Cyb’ Lewis, ‘Decline’ drummer

some photos from Karl Penando’s archives (Muchos gracias!):

‘Six Feet Over’

gentil p’tit nain Karl Penando

‘Go!’ (in the audience Bruno VdV & ‘Scraps’ Raph exchanging appreciation)

Mike Bullshit addressing his public (a certain zine-editor listening attentively)…

‘Nations On Fire’: Ed – Jaak – David – Jeroen

‘Decline’

Dompi – Fré – Hans – Jan (‘Spirit Of Youth’)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Hans Verbeke, at that time drummer for ‘S.O.Y.’

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F.’ bassplayer

Yep, I had  a great time too…

Nick Zimmer, visitor & gig-promoter in Mons: “Vort’n Vis; hope for a united and positive scene! Very good atmosphere.”

additions wellcome!…