94-09-17 Citizen Fish – AOS3 – Bender – Inkisiçao – Bad Influence – Selfish – Agathocles – Der Machinisten

Intro: 94-09-16&17&18 6^th Leed festival

Helena ‘Inkisiçao’ – This Is Not Amerikka tour

In 1993 ‘Inkisição’ (from Aveiro), a HC/punk band singing in Portugese, consisted of Miguel [Helena: Miguel Angelo Marques Tavares] (vocals), Rui Maia (drums), Oliviera (guitar) and Píncaro (bass). At the time of this gig Helena ‘Lena’ Paula Burbuleta (Rui’s girlfriend/later wife) had joined the band as extra vocalist. Píncaro then played guitar (also in ‘Mentes Podres’) and Sérgio bass. The latter 2 died in the summer of 1995 [Helena: 1996; in a bicycle-acident]. Lena, Miguel & Rui formed ‘Intervenzione’ then… I think I started corresponding with Rui because he distributed DIY tapes & vinyl (Fuck Off And Act!) and did a zine, Diabo No Corpo (DNC). He put out a compilation taped entitled When The Punks Go Marching In!!! (with live tracks of ‘Inkisição’). I also interviewed Helena for the Women in HC section of my zine Tilt! #8. They did a demo called 2”Arroto (2^nd Burp) with the original line-up (Oliveira, Píncaro, Rui and Zé Vilao) and in ’92 they released a tape called Alternativa. Slime recs (Ataque Sonoro) put out the ‘X-Acto’/ ‘Inkisição’ split-CD in ’93 and a few years later a spit-7” with ‘Battle Of Disarm’. Their music was sometimes melodic, sometimes thrashy HC/punk… They toured with ‘Oi Polloi’ but these played on the Sunday…

Rui & Helena ‘Inkisiçao’ (band live pics will follow)

Third appearance of ‘Citizen Fish’ at the Vort’n Vis (after 93-02-21 & 93-10-24). Singer Dick Lucas had released a split-7” with ‘A.O.S. 3’ in 1993, hence the touring together, I reckon…? In March 1994 ‘C.F.’ recorded a couple tracks for a split-7” with the Japanese ‘Nukey Pikes’.

‘Citizen Fish’ Dick Lucas (pictured by Joeri Hoste)

Paula ‘Spitboy’ & Pete ‘The Roadie’ (wife & husband) were mentioned in guestbook… Pete was roadie-ing for many a band a that time. Nowadays he sings in the Californian band ‘Kicker’ (with ‘Mauz’ from ‘Dystopia).

‘Citizen Fish’ Jasper, Phil & Pete The Roadie

One of the umptieth gigs ‘Bad Influence’ played here. About a year before they already supported ‘Citizen Fish’ – they were the ‘usual’ support for bands from Bath/Bristol area. I reckon this was the Afterbirth (10”) era with bassist Tim ‘Crow’ Shapland (ex ‘Zygote’) on bass and guitarist Egbert ‘Eggy’ Verheyen…

‘AOS3’, now touring with ‘Citizen Fish’ and ‘Bender’, had been here earlier in the year (94-01-30). They were from Sunderland and played reggae-rock-ska-dub-punk. They state they were part of the anarcho-punk movement and that their “lyrics reflect the band’s political stance”. The band consisted of Bill Radford (bass), Colin Cumpson (guitar), Erl R. (drums) and John Horabin (vocals). By the time they played here, they’d already a a couple of 7”s out: one entitled Tottenham 3 (Words Of Warning ’92) and a split with ‘Citizens Fish’ (Bluurg recs ’93); the LP God’s Secret Agent would be released later that year (also on W.O.W.). They also put out a live+studio tape entitled Apparently We Had A Great Time (1992). When they split up (their last gig was December ‘94), singer John relocated to London and formed ‘P.A.I.N.’ (with Phil from ‘Radical Dance Faction’). ‘AOS3’ reformed in 2007.

‘AOS3’; photographed by Helena ‘Lena’ Paula Burbuleta

‘AOS3’ (Colin – John – Bill); photographer unknown (more band live pics will follow)

‘Bender’ (UK; reggae-dub-punk) also came along with ‘AOS3’ & ‘C.F.’ (see guestbook-entry). The band consisted of Alex Gordon (guitar/vocals), Jim Friedlander (bass) & Crum Hall (drums; he replaced Paolo). They had some tapes out and did a 7” & 2 LPs on Words Of Warning (94-96).

The Finnish ‘Selfish’, another band on Genet recs, performed for the 3^rd time (after 92-07-25 & 93-10-31). October 1993 they had recorded for the split-LP with ‘Doom’ (out on Matthias Weigand’s label Ecocentric recs) with Otto Itkonen (drums), ‘Basse’ Sebastian Särekallio (vocals, R.I.P.), ‘Jaba’ Jaakko Penttinen (bass) and ‘Vikke’ (guitar; later also ‘Wind Of Pain’). In 1994 there was also the release of their split-7” with ‘Disclose’ (‘Selfish’ recordings from September 1993). This photo shows Sebastian, Otto & ‘Pedro Anthares’ (Petri Niskanen; on bass!?).

‘Selfish’ (pics by Wim De Leersnijder & Kurt van den Eynden)

‘Agathocles’ played too… [unannounced; read below] Another appearance of the ‘masters of mincecore’)… I was never a big fan and questioned some of their dealings in the past but I must admit, now that they’re still going, that I admire especially Jan’s perseverance and dedication. With the many line-up changes, I can ‘t really recall who played when. Burt was kind of a constant factor to me; having known him from the Hageland Hardcore days and the gigs in his hometown Scherpenheuvel. In my brain guitarist Steve Houtmeyers doesn’t trigger any neurons and Rudy Pans is connected to ‘Intestinal Disease’…

Forgot who ‘Der Machinisten’ were…

Brob

‘Der Machinisten’… I did backing-vocals for them with my sister Benedicte in Ieper. Didier Volckaert, Matthias Cruyssaert, Ludovic Colpaert was the singer and someone else I forgot… They didn’t use any ‘real’ instruments. All industrial stuff.

Caroline Rouseré

‘Agathocles’ played on this day as well…

Rui Maia, ‘Inkisiçao’ drummer

Yeah, we played there! Around 1993 it was me, Rudy (ex ‘Intestinal Disease’ and nowadays ‘League Of Mental Men’- with an old Australian punk singing) on bass, Burt [Beyens] on drums and Steve [Houtmeyers; also founder of Intestinal Disease’, now in ‘Hypnos 69’]. On the photo below ‘Agathocles’ guitarist Steve is doing the vocals. He couldn’t play then…he had sprained his wrist. We did a few gigs with that line-up then, no recordings. It was in the “hall” of the V.V., not in the pub… Can’t remember much else though…

Jan Frederickx, ‘Agathocles’

‘Agathocles’; pic by Wim De Leersnijder

I used to play guitar for ‘Inkisiçao’ before this. I came over just for the concert because I live in Brussels and caught up with them.

Rui Ferreira

[After their first appearance 94-01-30] We came back to a completely contrasting event – hundreds of punks, a great gig in the bigger space which ended another great tour-run, and many tales from the road-crew of grandads who’d escaped death at Ieper by being seconded to the catering-crew just before the ‘big push’ – both under-age too – weird! The festival was fantastic and we were treated very well, then off to bed – with the biological experiment mattresses and still the same underwear nailed up.

‘AOS3’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brob

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

Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist

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

Harry Gandler, ‘Mastic Scum’ guitarist

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

Harold Gielen, ‘Mangled’ guitarist

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

the former ‘Necrophagist’ bassist

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

Vincent Morre

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

Wim De Leersnijder

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

Edwin Nederkoorn, ‘Pleurisy’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-11-05 Masskontroll – Enola Gay – Agathocles – Serpico – Core

>>The ‘Enola Gay’/‘Masskontroll’ tour included 15 individuals piled up in 2 vans. The first was French with on bord ‘Enola Gay’ in its new formation: Michel & Cyril (alternating between drums and guitar/vocals) – both from Auch, Anne-Gaelle [Manceau] (bass) & Gavus (2^nd guitar) – from Thionville, Philou the driver and myself. In the second van: Steph ‘Tofupunk’ (driver) & his inseperable dog Gargouille, Rebecca from Canada, ‘Masskontrol’ (bassist Jason, singer Adam, guitarist Kelly and drummer Chris [Pfeffer]), Saira with the thick American accent and Gi (Portugese-Belgian).

The first date was in Belgium at the Vort’n Vis. Cool to start a tour there, it’s a familiar place and an occasion to meet up with Belgian and French friends. Pleasant reunion. ‘Agathocles’ furious grindcore always pleases me a lot. Jan (vocals/bass – with just 2 strings) is totally crazy, it is worth seeing him alone! On the other hand, I don’t like the voice of the guitarist too much: way too death-metal to my liking… An unchained ‘Enola Gay’ is more chaotic than before; one feels very well that things don’t fit that well yet. It was their first gig in this line-up. ‘Masskontroll’ arrives very late from the U.K., where they had a few dates. I’m expecting something more powerful, more angry. I find especially that the singer doesn’t have a lot of his voice left and the sound didn’t sound that great either…<<

From Ludovic Hache’s tour-report (in his zine Ras L’Bol #4)

‘Masskontrol’ & ‘Enola Gay’ (collage by Ludovic Hache)

‘Masskontroll’ (from Portland, Oregon) did D-beat crust-punk with japcore/scandinavian mid-80s HC influences and lyrics on political issues. The band was Kelly Halliburton (guitar; ex ‘Resist’, ‘Defiance’), Adam Jordan (vocals), Jason ‘Trousers’ (bass) and Chris was the replacement drummer (for ‘Jolly’ Roger Forbish) on the tour. Their driver was Stef ‘Panikeshi’ [Steph(ane) Guillet] (‘Viktor’s Hofnarren’, a mate of Pablo Resistance). The LP Will You Ever Learn? was recorded Spring of ’95 (produced by Pig Champion) and released by Mind Control. The Polish label Nikt Nic Nie Wie did a CD, Malarie recs from the Czech republic did a tape. The latter had already done a split-7” for them (with ‘Heartline’) in ’94. Kelly released the Recycle Or Die flexi 7” on his label Consensus Reality (’94). Also recorded in Spring ’95 was the 7” (with a cover of ‘Heresy’s Genocide) that Felix did on his label Havoc recs. Their last release was the flexi 8” split with ‘Battle Of Disarm’ (Consensus Reality ’95).

‘Enola Gay’, a grindcore band from Auch (France), used to be Michel Cebrian (guitar/vocals; also Reality Of War zine), Cyril Prieto (bass/vocals) and Fred Jourdan (drums). They had a new line-up here. They had done a split-tape with ‘Ultimate Disorder’, a few 7”s and a split-LP with ‘Vomit Yourself (on Panx prods entitled Exempted Authority / Nihilism…). in ’95 Sylvain Vilette released a split-LP between them and ‘Coche Bomba’ on his label Bad Card recs. Later they formed ‘Disbeer’…

If what is written in the guestbook is correct this was the 6^th time ‘Agathocles’ played at the V.V. Jan Frederickx (bass/vocals), Burt Beyens (drums) & Steve Houtmeyers (guitar/vocals) had recorded a bunch of tracks that would appear on the Razor Sharp Daggers album a few months before this.

‘Serpico’ (formerly named ‘Sleeper’, see: 94-05-22) was announced but I don’t find a trace of their passage. They melodic emo-influenced hardcore and came from Staten Island, New York. In April that year they recorded for They Shoot Babies Don’t They? 7” that came out on the Czech label Day After (with Anthony ‘TJ’ Quatrone on drums, John Lisa doing guitar/backing-vocals, Marc Treboschi on bass, Michael De Lorenzo on guitar and John ‘Apples’ Telenko doing vocals). On this tour Chris Guardino played drums (‘TJ’ only did the tour in ’94) and John T. wrote that he never toured Europe; Jeremy Weiss did vocals on tour. The Feed The Rainbow LP, finished end of ’94, came out on Equal Vision recs (that also released the Rumble LP in ’96). They also did a few split-7”s on various other labels.

‘Core’, from London, had been here already on 93-11-07. Don’t remember much about them or if they actually showed up. My review of their demo in Tilt! #8 goes: >>Strong material with a gloomy feel, based on metally riffs reminding me of ‘Prong’ or ‘Metallica’ by times. Slower to mid-tempo but well-structured. Steve ‘Neuthrone’s kinda stuff, I guess…<<.

André Hoppe of the German (from Hünxe; Two Face distro) visited…

Brob

This was a great show. I remember rolling around on the stage and barking like a dog. Our drummer was Chris (He wasn’t in the band in ’94 so it has to be ’95.), ‘TJ’ (played on the ‘94 tour) was on and off in the band. Chris had a lot of snot coming from his nose and I caught it with my tongue. The audience looked grossed out… Loved that place! The crowd was fantastic. I truly felt at home. I chatted with so many people. I remember a few guys from ‘Nations on Fire’ – Ed and Jeroen. [Brob: Perhaps that was in ’94?] I think the Vort’n Vis was legendary. Our tour was booked by Steffen Rose (Navigator); Haagen was the driver…

John Lisa, ‘Serpico’

I think [Brob: I’m sure!] I was at the V.V. for a show with ‘Masskontroll’ in ‘95… I honestly don’t remember… My zine started in ‘93 in Portland. I lived in Berlin for a year in 98-99 then moved to Minneapolis in 2000 and went to live in NYC in ‘09. I also played in ‘Resolve’ (Minneapolis) and I still play with ‘Question’ since we started in ‘06. ‘Detestation’ was from Portland (95-98)…

Saira M. Huff (Diminutive Rage zine, Portland; later vocals for ‘Detestation’, bass in ‘Faggot’, etc.)

I don’t know if ‘Serpico’ played, though… I don’t remember that. And I also have no idea who ‘Pedro the Drunk Punk’ is! [Brob: a mate of Wim & Stef De Leersnijder] Ha, ha…must have been someone I met at the gig and had some drinks with, there seemed to be those guys at every show, ha ha… I do remember showing up late, though… I recall we got a late start in London, and then we were delayed when Saira lost her passport and had to go through everything she was carrying to find it. After that we had to take a train and a bus to get to Dover to cross the channel, and then I think we went to Calais instead of Ostend…I guess I was still learning to tour back then and not doing it as efficiently as I could have been.

Kelly Halliburton, ‘Masskontroll’ guitarist

‘Enola Gay’ didn’t show up on the last show of their tour… [Brob: 95-11-19 @ Berchem’s youthcentre: Masskontroll (USA), Deconsume (Bel), Insane Youth (Bel), Skatta (Bel)]

Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist

Their van broke down before the last show and they didn’t have enough money to get it repaired…

Steve, ‘Insane Youth’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

The poem by Jan AgX is impossible to translate…

Steve ‘Neuthrone’ speaking in tongues…

Jaak De Cock (former ‘Nations On Fire’ drummer) expressing his discontent with the Vort’n Vis programmation…

additions wellcome!…

94-09-16&17&18 6th Leed festival

Evolution of announcements in the Vort’n Vis newsletters

=> the actual ‘bill’ (???) – Accounts of the actual festival-days can be accessed by clicking on the links below…:

16 sep ’94: Força Macabra (Fin), Insane Youth (Bel), Corpus Christi (Bel), Zabloudil (Cze)

17 sep ’94: Citizen Fish (UK), AOS3 (UK), Bender (UK), Inkisiçao (Por), Bad Influence (Bel), Selfish (Fin), Agathocles (Bel), Der Machinisten (Bel)

18 sep ’94: Rain Like The Sound Of Trains (USA), Ivich (Fra), Oi Polloi (UK), X-Acto (Por)

‘Inkisicao’, ‘X-Acto’ & ‘Oi Polloi’ toured together:

This Is Not Amerikka tour (somewhere along the road) – ‘Oi Polloi’s Matt Finch, Deek, Chris ‘Wheelie’ Willsher, Calum Mackenzie; plus Joao Barrelas ‘Libelinha’ (‘X-Acto’) & Guilherme Charters

Helena (‘Inkisiçao’) & Chris (‘Oi Polloi’) at the Vort’n Vis

‘Citizen Fish’, ‘AOS 3’ & ‘Bender’ were also touring together: the No World Order tour.

Since 1989 I was running a fanzine-distro-label in my hometown in Italy, Pavia, called AZ – DIY anarcho-punk hardcore crust stuff… In September 1994 I arrived in Belgium (Leuven, on a university-exchange program Erasmus) to stay there 8 months. I was already in contact with Brob (Tilt!, legendary epic mythological ‘zine) and Alain (Nabate, legendary epic mythological label), and I knew that the 2 places in Belgium to go were Vort’n Vis in Ieper and La Zone in Liège. My first gig was this festival in Ieper, and then for the following 8 months I was in Ieper or Liège in the pit at gigs, almost every weekend. At the time the mainstream in the Italian HC/punk-scene was US S.E. (not for me, I didn’t like the music and the stupid macho attitude and I’ve never been S.E.; my religion doesn’t allow me to be S.E. – I’ve always drunk, smoked, etc.) and Californian melo-punk (OK, the first 2 LPs of ‘Bad Religion’ are good but please give me something more powerful and political). I was into English anarcho-punk (‘Conflict’, ‘Amebix’, ‘Antisect’) and crust (‘Doom’, ‘Sore Throat’, ‘Nausea’) and Italian HC (‘Contropotere’, ‘Wretched’, ‘C.C.M.’). So Belgium in 1994 was simply fuckin’ heaven: the best beer of Europe at ridicolously ultra-cheap price, endless pubs with no closing-time, open all night long, just a few kilometers away from the Dutch border coffee-shops with the best weed of Europe and a lot of gigs to go see the best touring bands of Europe and US, and finally – my favourite band at that times – ‘Hiatus’.

I got to the Leed festival by train, it was my first punk-gig outside Italy and I immediatly felt surprised in a positive way: no people asking for money and cigarettes all the time, no drunk people getting aggressive and creating trouble, lots of distros (I remember the ultra big stall John of Active distro did, it was wonderful to find so many things that I could not find in Italy brought to me directly from London!), very good and cheap beer, lots of people to talk with (many of which I was already in contact with by mail; and it was great to talk directly with people!) and, last but not least, a fuckin’ great gig, with a lot of my favourite bands at the time, especially from England: ‘Citizen Fish’, ‘AOS3’ and ‘Oi Polloi’; and then ‘Selfish’ – skandicrust at its best!! Sincerely: after 20 years, I remember mostly the atmosphere – angry but positive, “We’re fuckin’ tired of this shit but we don’t destroy ourselves, we want to create something different and alternative, something better…” And I remember on the way back to Leuven: alone on the train, exhausted and with a hang-over (“kater”, the only word I remember in Dutch…), looking at my new records and reading the Situationist books I got from Active distro, thinking “Holy shit! Great gig! I’ll go back to the next!”.

Piero Majocchi

I was at the ‘Citizen Fish’/’AOS3’ concert! It’s possible that Sammy [‘Soyhead’ Schneider, from Switzerland] was with me on that occasion, although I don’t remember exactly. I was travelling with him to North England and back, and we stopped in Belgium, but I don’t have very clear memories of us going to the Vort’n Vis concert together. What I do remember is being there with you, Brob. I also remember losing my glasses in front of the stage when everyone, me included, went crazy; and finding them while everyone around me was dancing.

Tomaz Trplan, Papermouth zine (Murska Sobota, Slovenia)

I’ll come to Ypres for the concert of ‘Inkisição’ & ‘X-Acto’. I’m so pleased they play at your place. I’m very much looking forward to see them again, especially Helena.

Michèle Marnach, Persons Unknown zine (Lux), personal communication Sep ‘94

Gregor Kanitz (A Jour distro, Düsseldorf) visited…

Was at this gig too, don’t remember too much of it I am afraid.

Bart Jansen, ‘Deconsume’ guitarist

I was there…

Luc Ardilouze, Scream zine (Bayonne, France)

I was there too, already my second Leed Fest at the V.V. Some great bands and amazing atmosphere. I kept coming to this fest for a few more years, always a pleasure!

Pawel, Scream recs (Gdansk, Poland)

I really don’t remenber how long we stayed in Belgium but I can recall that I really loved it and I talk about that tour-experience as the experience of my life :-)))) Unforgettable!

Helena Burbuleta, ‘Inkisiçao’ singer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Some Portugese stayed the whole weekend…

???

One of the S.F. movies that were shown?

94-02-05 Varukers – Corpus Christi – Agathocles – 4 Minute Warning

The ‘Varukers’ played a bunch of gigs in Belgium in 1986 but then kinda ‘disappeared’…to re-emerge in the 90s (they’d split and reformed). On their website (www.thevarukers.com) ‘Rat’ wrote: “I think about 2 years or less had past, when ‘Biff’ got in touch with me and mentioned that the ‘Varukers’ should get back together, ‘Biff’ would play guitar; ‘Rat’ on vocals, Kev Frost on drums and ‘Biff’s mate Brian on bass (This was the longest running and most stable line we ever had.). We recorded and released the 7” Nothings Changed (‘cause nothing had, the music, the attitude, the underpants) on Weird recs [in 1994; which indeed featured Anthony ‘Rat’ Martin (vocals; also in ‘Discharge’), Kev Frost (drums), ‘Biff’ Ian Smith (guitar) & Brian Ansell (bass)] and it sold well. Nothing’s Changed let people know we were back and offers for tours came flooding in: the band’s first American tour in 1994, a tour of Japan; the momentum was growing, we signed to We Bite recs from Germany and released Still Bollox But Still Here (1995), new versions of some of the band’s early materials that a lot of people could not get hold of the originals, unless they wanted to get ripped off by record-dealers.”. I guess people know ‘Varukers’ played D-beat à la Discharge… (The year after, 95-07-09, they would be back already)… The line-up changed quite a few times; people that were in the band at certain timepoints include Les Duly (‘Concrete Sox’), Todd (‘Distraught’, USA), ‘Kenko’ (‘No Security’, Swe), ‘Taff’ (‘Chaos UK’), etc. Tony ‘Stick’ Dickens (‘Doom’, etc.) plays drums for them nowadays…

‘Varukers’ (pic courtesy of Annabel de Jonghe)

‘4 Minute Warning’ were a gang of squatters from Gent: Fred ‘Fré’ De Vos (vocals), Leffe (guitar, ex ‘Chronic Disease’), Tom Van Hauwaert (drums) and Gratiën Versypt (bass). There were also some extra vocalists (Bart/Marleen) at a certain timepoint, if I remember well… They just had some tracks on a compilation-tape. Leffe told me he only played at the Vort’n Vis once with ‘4MW’ and Tom revealed that the one on 93-02-06 was indeed without him…

‘Corpus Christi’, by this time a new line-up, were: Bram De Cock (drums), Peter Vancolen (vocals), Stef De Leersnijder (guitar) & Koen ‘Siesele’ Lammens (bass). See also 92-11-22, 93-10-31, 93-11-21, 94-09-16

‘Corpus Christi’: (1-2-3) by Wim De Leersnijder; (4) by Jurgen ‘Spatje’ Fiems; (5) by Annabel de Jonghe

‘Agathocles’ (Jan Fredrickx – bass/vocals, Steve Houtmeyers – guitar/vocals and Burt Beyens – drums). Second show at the V.V.? (91-09-01, 94-09-17, 95-11-05)

Brob

‘Agathocles’ (pic by Wim De Leersnijder)

This was the only gig that Marleen Deneys did with us… We played an anti-XXX song (Middleclass Rebellion) and the PA was briefly turned off (by Ward ‘N.O.F.’???). Our first concert at the V.V. was indeed just Gratiën, Tom and me. The gig in Oldenburg was with ‘Oi Polloi’ and ‘Legal Suffering’ [from Brugge]. We did a gig @ Democrazy (Gent; organised by ‘Zwarte’ Jan) [93-12-03] with Bart ‘Xinix’ singing. He didn’t know our lyrics and had written them on a piece of paper. We did a “cover” of ‘The Dead Kirks’ song Mr. Kirk, Your Son Is Dead. A bit before a bunch of nazi-skins had died in a car-crash so we sang “He died in a car crash.” Instead of “He died of an overdose.”. Stefaan Van Leuven (‘Soulwax’) rehearsed with us a few times (for fun). He was a buddy of mine; he wasn’t into punk but we swapped tapes and he thought ‘Crass’ and ‘Conflict’ were OK.

‘Fré’ De Vos, ‘4 Minute Warning’ vocalist

‘4 Minute Warning’: (1) by Wim De Leersnijder; (2-3-4-5) courtesy of Fré De Vos

Don’t recall much more than being super-psyched about playing with ‘Varukers’… and the healthy rivalry between us and ‘Corpus Christi’… according to some haha…

Tom Van Hauwaert, ‘4 Minute Warning’ drummer

I’d made the banner of Squatter Bart especially for the trip the Germany (our gig in Oldenburg; 93-12)…

Gratiën Versypt, ‘4 Minute Warning’ bassist

I know we played with ‘Varukers’ in Geel [94-05-02] but forgot about this one…

Peter Van Colen, ‘Corpus Christi’ vocalist

This was our first time out for a very long time. Have good memories of this tour & especially this gig in particular. The venue was great & all the bands were in top form. Great crowd too :-) I was surprised that we even played as I though we were going to get deported due to “Mad Andy’s” antics in Ieper. I definitely remember this venue as we slept upstairs & it was bloody freezing!!! The windows were broken and the mattresses were on a concrete floor. We also nearly killed ‘Rat’ as he snored all night! We were very grumpy the next morning! I remember the bassplayer Brian passing out just before we went on stage due to drinking too much. He can always still play notes perfect though. We were well pissed if I remember correctly as we had been out all day. I recall the venue well though. Reminded me of an old café. Small stage & great audience. The ‘Varukers’ line up at that time in my opinion was their best.

I have vague memories of ‘Corpus Christi’ whom I liked. The other bands I’m afraid I have no recollection. Over the years we played with thousands of bands. 99% I have no idea about.

Great venue & we played there again over the coming years (with ‘Chaos UK’) [95-07-09].

Kevin Frost, ‘Varukers’ drummer

Looking at the date of this gig, I guess we played a lot of new songs which we had just recorded for split 7”s with ‘Man Is The Bastard’, ‘Social Genocide’, ‘Audiorrea’, ‘Smash The Brain’…at the end of 1993. A session which was more D-beat/raw punk inspired. As most of the time, it was again very nice to play at V.V. and also to meet people from that time. Great to see these old photos.

Jan Fredrickx, ‘Agathocles’

I remember that we played a ‘Varukers’ cover, as a tribute: Protest To Survive, if I’m right…

Bram De Cock, ‘Corpus Christi’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

93-04-25 Hiatus – Congress – Hopeman Path – Agathocles

I remember this one only vaguely… I do recall being tremendously nervous when I had to sing a song myself. Well, wánted to sing. I’m not sure ‘Agathocles’ played though. We did do gigs together but not here, I think…

I also recall people having a discussion outside (or was it some other gig) because someone was selling a ‘Skrewdriver’ LP; the guy claimed it was a stolen one and he was offering it for sale to see the reactions – bullshit off course – Dirk and I were around…

Gunter Braem, ‘Hopeman Path’ guitarist

No, ‘Agathocles’ didn’t show up then…

Dirk ‘Scum’, ‘Hopeman Path’ singer

Steve [Houtmeyers; ‘Agathocles’ guitarist at that time and now in ‘Hypnos 69’, also founder of Intestinal Disease’] couldn’t play then…he had sprained his wrist. We did a few gigs with him doing vocals around that time…

Jan Frederickx, ‘Agathocles’

‘Hopeman Path’ (from the Kempen area) were Dirk ‘Scum’ (vocals; ex ‘Zero Positives’), Stefan Goos (drums), Bart Verelst (bass) and Gunter Braem (guitar). A hardcore band – named after the home-address (in Glasgow) of Stef’s and my pen-pall Adam Johnston (Go! Zine & the band ‘Headstart’) – with a D.I.Y./political attitude. They lasted a couple of years and would merge into ‘Vuur’ with members of ‘Deconsume’ and ‘Outrage’… I have vague recollections of Yannick Daems singing for them too for a while…

Probably the first or one of the very first concerts ‘Congress’ (a “vegan straight-edge metal-core” band) played here; with their first singer (who got replaced a bit later): Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar) & Ilja De Ceuleneire (drums) – both were also in ‘Burning Fight’ (92-02-22), Roy Cappan (vocals; R.I.P.) and Jan ‘U.J.’ Vandekerckhove (bass) – who played in ‘Dreft’ for a while (together with Joost). As you can read below their 1^st singer wasn’t really an asset. With Pierre things changed for the better until…

One of the many dates ‘Hiatus’ played… This one was about a month after they recorded for the LP From Resignation…To Revolt (out on Sound Pollution). The usual ‘gang’: Azill, Wills, Ben, Phil and Fred Alabas (on bass).

After their gig on 91-09-01, ‘Agathocles’ got invited back. People say (see above) that they didn’t make it but they actually were there: there’s a record of them in the V.V. notes.

Brob

About the incident with ‘Congress’… I expressed my opinion clearly (as always); stuck my neck out. And you can’t imagine how much shit I got over me. I’m not afraid to speak up. I constantly criticize the ‘status quo’ in the HC-scene. I say out loud what people only barely dare to trust onto paper. My harsh reaction towards the singer of ‘Congress’ was a response to his aggressive attitude. My anger only got worse because other V.V.-collaborators came back on their earlier decision… [The group of VV-collaborators had been putting question-marks behind the homophobic statements of one (Roy) -or more?- members of ‘Congress’. On one of the collaborator-meetings there had been a decision that we were not gonna tolerate this and not let them play. For some reason (some collaborators were good friends with them) this happened anyway and I spoke up about it when they started their gig…]

Brob, personal communication ‘94

About Roy, I believe a lot of people didn’t get you (Brob). I didn’t know that the V.V. collaborators had agreed on a meeting the very day of the concert, not to let ‘Congress’ play. Why didn’t ‘Congress’ know about that? Or did they? Why didn’t some sort of representative make a clear statement at the very beginning of the concert, on stage? And explained clearly that the V.V. didn’t want ‘Congress’ to play? If I remember well, Dirk [of ‘Hopeman Path’] started about it first… The audience could’ve decided on yes or no (letting them play), or there could’ve been agreed that the people with ‘Congress’ were to outside. The latter would’ve had a much bigger impact on Roy and the band, I think, then 1 or 2 people announcing the decision… I had the impression that your words didn’t affect Roy; on the contrary: they seemed to convince him he was right – even though your arguments were valid. I think it would’ve been better if we all had sat down without starting a war… Just make it clear to Roy that he stood alone with his opinion. Perhaps let him explain where his ideas were coming from and have a discussion. Or did all of this uncover that more people had ideas similar to Roy’s?

Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers, personal communication ‘94

With all respect, but Roy is dead and he was a good friend. Roy will never be able to prove that this was a adolescent mistake because he is no longer among us. Anyway, Roy wasn’t a person that carried hate within him. Politically he can be ‘caught’. His argument was that homosexuality isn’t natural. […] This “it is not natural”-argument stemmed mainly from his religious beliefs… Personally I never saw him hurt or humiliate gays. But I understand your protest… [Brob: I’m not the mouthpiece of the gay community but I didn’t wanna be the guy who said “I’m not gay so I’m not gonna speak up”…]

That gig at the Vort’n Vis was indeed historical, legendary even, for so many reasons… For instance that for once there was no preaching on stage between the songs but true discussion. For many that was an informative dialogue; like with the guys of ‘Hopeman Path’. I loved it because it was HC, and in full effect! Not always fun for everyone but generally fair. I found what happened at that show a positive thing rather than a negative one. Consultation is the solution! So without restraint and with direct access to a decent right to reply, simply by jumping on stage and grabbing the mic. Precisely as it happened. Wonderful, actually.

Didn’t know that show disrupted some things for you. [Brob: Here I got the mark of ‘pain in the arse’ – no pun intended…] But actually it was the same for Roy. He was so impressed by the whole thing because he never made an issue out of it. It wasn’t important. And he didn’t want to have a negative impact on the scene…so shortly after he left ‘Congress’ and the scene.

Anonymous

Read more on the homophobia discussion …

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

91-09-01 [N.O.F.] – Agathocles – Cry For Change – Spirit Of Youth – Scraps

This concert was meant to be the presentation of ‘N.O.F.’s lp but mid August Jaak had an accident with his car (crashed and went upside down) – (together with Jan ‘Blindfold’, U.J. and Hans – while returning from the studio in The Netherlands (where we’d done the final mix): I was suffering from a back-injury (couldn’t move for a few weeks) and Jaak was ‘out’ (in hospital) for a couple of months with some serious fractures and surgery. He didn’t start drumming again a few months later. The concert took place without ‘N.O.F.’ and the record only got released in March 1992. The album wasn’t ready anyway: the recordings had been in May and August; shortly after this gig Ed went to L.A. – beginning of September until end December – to work for his family, and got the record (re-)mixed (Onno [Hesselink]’s original mix was rather questionable) by someone who at that time also mixed ‘Bad Religion’.

Jeroen Lauwers, ‘N.O.F’ bassplayer

I believe all other bands were XXX and a big part of the audience as well, but I’m not really sure. If I remember correctly, everybody left when we got on stage with a tray full of beers and started our noise, haha. Those were the straight-edge heydays :-). Our line-up in ’91…that would probably have been Burt [Beyens, drums], myself [vocals at that time], Erwin [Vandenbergh, bass at that time] & Chris [guitar].

I really liked ‘Spirit Of Youth’ in their early days. Very young guys , full of commitment and energy. Coincidentally, a while ago, I ended up at a bar-counter with one of the members of ‘S.O.Y.’ when he was playing with his new band.

All in all, the end of the 80s/beginning of the 90s were great times at the V.V.

Jan Frederickx, ‘Agathocles’ bassplayer/vocalist/guitarist

I don’t recall ‘Behind The Smile’ playing that day. [Brob: ‘B.T.S.’ was considered to play there at some timepoint…] I think it was ‘Scraps’. [Brob: Could well be ‘cause David & Raph wrote something in the guestbook that day…]. ‘Spirit Of Youth’ was still Hans [Verbeke] drumming, Jan [Maelfait] singing, myself playing guitar and my brother Fré doing the bass.

Dominiek Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’ guitarist

‘Cry For Change’ had played at the Vort’n Vis before and ‘Scraps’ were no new-comers either of course (with various crossings of the border into I-town; see e.g. 91-03-16).

‘Cry For Change’ (photo courtesy of Johan Maes)

‘Scraps’ vocalist David was technically ‘unemployed’ with ‘N.O.F’ being half handicapped anyway. They kinda replaced ‘N.O.F.’, even did some ‘N.O.F’ covers. Besides the 2 brothers Dutriaux, there was Tomoy on bass and Xavier on drums. I think their show was taped on video for the SCALP-benefit that Wim & Chat’n (‘Blindfold’) did… By then, ‘Scraps’ had their LP Wrapped Up In This Society out on Be Yourself recs (Carl Levecke & Ghilain Vermeersch)…

‘Scraps’ – Raph, Tomoy, Xavier – pics from Wim Vandekerckhoves’s zine Reminder #1

‘Spirit Of Youth’ had just appeared at the V.V. for the 1^st a few months before (91-06-08).

And does ‘Agathocles’ need an introduction…?

This was another organisation of the ‘Touch My Heart Crew’ (see 91-05-03). It would seem like Ed(ward) (‘N.O.F.’ guitarist, later Good Life recs) had adopted some sales-techniques during his stay in L.A.: he even had T-shirts printed of this bill (see picture)…

Brob

In the Vort’n Vis , everybody is taking care: we don’t need bouncers, we don’t need cops, we can decide for ourselves. Today was a good example: people can decide and act for themselves. This is what we’re into…

David Dutriaux, in Reminder zine 1991

pic kindly provided by Rudy ‘Rudee’ Penando

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

The ‘Scraps’ Dutriaux bros expressing their ‘warm’ feelings…

‘Crivits’ guitarist Jeff expressing his wish to play the V.V. That would happen a few months later (91-12-21)…

additions wellcome!…