94-07-27 As Usual

No idea if this was an actual gig at the Vort’n Vis… The only indication is the entry in the guestbook below… But the date mentioned is a Wednesday (which would be pretty unusual for a gig at the V.V.)…

‘As Usual’ was a local band that had a couple of V.V. shitworkers among their ranks. They’d done a few shows here already (93-09-18 & 94-03-05). The band consisted of Frederick Wyckaert (drums), Dimitri ‘Dimi’ Loones (vocals), ‘Boeze’/‘Booze’ Johan ‘Yoan’ Seys (vocals), Danny Suffys (bass) and Michael Maes (guitar). The latter 3 later formed ‘Carcer Molochi’.

Before this they had “experimented” under the name ‘Suffocating Emotions’, covering other HC/punk bands (‘Zero Positive’, ‘Nations On Fire’). ‘As Usual’ started in 1991. In an interview they stated ‘Sedition’ and ‘No More’ as influences… Around the end of ’93 they recorded a first demo (rehearsal; no mention of ‘Boeze’ yet) and they did a split-tape with ‘Hiatus’ (distributed by Olivier Hogie from Toulouse). They were also on the compilation-tape Possessed By Death (put out by Frederic Driessens in 1993).

So there’s this clipping from the guestbook but no indications to other bands playing. Perhaps the band was rehearsing? It was mid-summer and there were probably no concerts at the V.V. around that time, even though there’s mention of “gig”? Or they were being hosts for the UK band ‘Dirt’ that was doing a few shows in the neigbourhood)? (29 jul ’94 @ ‘De Kelk’, Brugge & 30 jul ’94 @ ‘Jeugdhuis’, Beverlo) ‘Yoan’ is referring to a ride to the latter…

Brob

According to me ‘As Usual’ didn’t exist anymore by then; but I can be wrong, my memory might play tricks on me…

Michael Maes

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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

94-03-05 Health Hazard – Kitchener – Ex Cathedra – Nessun Dorma – As Usual

‘Kitchener’ (from Hulme, Manchester) were originally Tim H*** (guitar, vox), Pete Osmond (bass, vox), Pete Darlington (drums) and Steveland Minta (guitar, vox). In the beginning they were called ‘Body Bag’ and played fast thrashy hardcore-punk (some people compared them to ‘Born Against’ too…). Then came the name change to ‘Kitchener’ and they slimmed down to a 3-piece after Pete Osmond left to run Land Of Treason distro. Their 7” The Price Of Progression was released by Flat Earth with the help of Nabate & Refusenik in 93/94. Later Steve did a band called ‘Grover’ (together with his brother) and played a more melodic punky style… (Click here for some more info on ‘Kitchener’)

Touring with them was ‘Health Hazard’ (Bradford; Mandy / Sned / Alec / Gazza)… Sned writes on his flatearthrecs.blogspot: “We toured in Europe together, I used to love watching the crowd watching Pete on the drums as the chaos ensued and the jaws dropped.”… It was their 2^nd time here after 93-09-18 and they would be back (2 weeks later 94-03-19, and 95-02-11). Seemed like those lads had a second home here in Europe… Their set in Toulouse (94-02-22) was recorded and Fred Jourdan (‘Ultimate Disorder’) put it out on a split-tape (with ‘Hiatus’). After this tour they recorded (with Bri ‘Doom’ Talbot behind the desk) for their 10” (released on Alec & Sned’s Flat Earth recs). For those who don’t know (?) or can’t remember: “abrasive, thrashing, overpowering blasts of hardcore fury with caustic female vocals”…

‘Ex Cathedra’ were/are an anarcho punk band from Glasgow, Scotland. Another band from Glasgow! But this one played ska-punk… The band consisted of Alex Aiken (guitar & vocals), Andy ‘Andi’ Chalmers (vocals), Isobel ‘Issy’ Craig (bass) and Jim (drums; nót the one who was ‘Fleas & Lice’). Around that time they had a 7” out (Stick Together; their first on their own label Tartan recs) which was rather eye-catching because of the fabric cover with a big ‘X’. More would follow, e.g. Karma Chameleon (with a cover of ‘Culture Club’s hit), an album entitled Tartan Material (produced by Frankie ‘Leatherface’ Stubbs), etc. The morning after the show they did a short interview for the 1^st issue of the Vort’n Vis’ zine (Fifi).

‘Issy’ provided a whole bunch of photos which I’ll post soonish…

‘Nessun Dorma’… Passage #4/4. (see: 92-05-02, 92-11-01, 93-04-11)

‘As Usual’ was the band preceding ‘Carcer Molochi’. Vort’n Vis shitworkers Michael Maes (guitar) and Johan Seys (vocals) played in that band… Vik B. told me once that Pierre (‘Congress’ vocalist) played bass for them at a time… But I have no recollection of that. Mike tells their story below…

Brob

The difference between ‘As Usual’ and ‘Carcer Molochi’? Better musicians to start with/ people that really had the true DIY punk mentality… 6 people all with different tastes that got together at the right moment, not shy to do their own thing and not copying other bands… Unfortunately that feeling was quenched after a few years and ‘Carcer Molochi’ was over! 20 years later it’s just David & me who’re still in bands, playing and touring… Johan (who was our 2^nd vocalist after a while and was also in ‘Carcer M.’) is totally getting into nature-photography (no contact even though he just lives a few km away…). Inge is concentrating on her sculptures (6 years art-academy) and myself, I’m still not bored with touring and recording. ‘As Usual’ were Frederick Wyckaert (drums), Dimitri ‘Dimi’ Loones (vocals), Danny Suffys (bass) and myself on guitar! Danny an myself were the only ones who were in ‘Carcer M.’… People who joined ‘Carcer M.’ [94-12-31, 95-03-05, etc.] later, were: Bram [‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht] (drums), Yannick [‘PikPik’] (bass) & ‘Gork’ (vocals). And even more later I played drums…

The story of Pierre ‘Congress’ is Vik’s phantasy! Pierre frequently attended our rehearsals together with Vik and probably there will have been some jam-sessions…. ‘As Usual’ started in 1991 and did one demo and a split-demo with ‘Hiatus’….

Michael Maes

I remember the response and enthusiasm from all our audiences were good; which surprised me ‘cause I didn’t think we were that good – haha! Plus it’s hard to remember anything as we were always full of beer and hash… Alex and Andy were always the original members. I quit in 1996; Jim kind of disappeared. The line-up after me was Stiff on bass and Jenny on sax…but various other drummers…

Isobel Craig, bassist of ‘Ex Cathedra’

I recollect there may of been some film-footage of that evening with ‘Health Hazard’… I remember that night at the Vort’n Vis fondly, it was a lot of fun. I was only there once this one time. It was a cool venue. Kinda dark if I remember right. The gig was great, full of energy and I recall members of the crowd were frequently on the stage…

Pete Darlington, drummer of ‘Kitchener’

‘Kitchener’: Steve M. (guitar/vocals) – Pete D. (drums) – Tim H. (bass/vocals)

Pete O. had left the band by this point. Me and Tim used to share the bass and guitar duties…

I used to have the gig on vid but not entirely sure if it still exists, my brother filmed parts of it… Absolutely awesome centre and was proper inspirational to us. The way things worked in Europe and in particular Belgium was a real eye-opener. Thanks for having us! The V.V. was amazing, a great space for bands to come and play. Well organized and nice people. Beer-tokens, etc. haha stand out.

Band of the day for me was ‘Ex Cathedra’… Seen them a few times previous but had never had the opportunity to play along side them. The audience were very accepting of our set even if we did leave them with the usual mouth wide open expression of ‘what the fuck was that’ on their faces. ;-)

It was the last gig of our tour with ‘Health Hazard’, I remember it like it was yesterday, fuckin’ top! The whole thing  came about pretty much off the back of Flat Earth putting out our EP. We were good mates with Sned etc., having already done a mini UK tour with ‘One By One’ and played the 1in12 club a few times. We also had a squat venue called the 125 and we had put on ‘H.H.’, ‘One By One’, ‘Sedition’, etc.

Pete O. left shortly after we became ‘Kitchener’ and played on the early demos and the Headscrew flexi. We were good mates with Steve Hyland [Attitude Problem zine, A Network Of Friends distro, 1 in 12]. He didn’t come on tour with us but was at this gig [Brob: he had been at the V.V. for the 1^st time in Sep 93]

Steve Minta, guitarist of ‘Kitchener’

We were totally blown away, while on tour, by the squats and community-venues we played (an enormous squat in Madrid next to an even more enormous police-station, a squatted alpine villa in Switzerland where they were discussing how to fix the outdoor swimming-pool, to an amazing squatted farm in Spain me & Pete visited), the amazing people we had met who were so interesting (their political commitment, warm-heartedness to take us in feed us and talk for so long) – I remember a snapshot of ‘Kitchener’ and about 5 people somewhere in Spain and a discussion that ranged from using LSD as a potential to shift consciousness in a framework of rebellion to arguments about being pro-choice and so on, and a Venezuelan illegal immigrant in Paris discussing problems with fascists there even infiltrating police & killing migrants but then saying how they were “no more” with the very minimum knowledge of what had happened or being involved in their being gone). Anyway starting to ramble…

Great job you are doing.

Feels strange that so many important bands in that era are just forgotten about while a band today has 3 practices puts it on Bandcamp and everyone knows them. Which do not get me wrong is actually totally amazing in many ways as long as we do not lose our history and voice from that time as well. It certainly would have made life easier back then but then there is something to be said for how it was done aswell.

Tim H***, bassist of ‘Kitchener’

‘Kitchener’ were always awe inspiring live. Proper explosion of chaotic magic. Great touring with ‘em + meeting lots of great folk like Tim said. Never really got the recognition they deserved. One of the best live bands + some of the best folk you could ever want to meet.

Gutted we didn’t get to Portugal because of the dangerous bread. I was pretty fried by the time we got back to the V.V. as I(d been doing all the driving, + it was a pretty full on tour, but the pics have reminded me it was a belting gig. Did we have to head off to the boat afterwards? probably…

Alec Mac, ‘Health Hazrad’ guitarist

top: Steve M. (thx for the pics) – bottom: Sned

Some extra pics here: 94-03-05 Ex Cathedra – Kitchener (photos)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Did ‘I.B.’ (‘Disaffect’ drummer) drive?

Blanche was Alex Aiken’s girlfriend at the time…

additions wellcome!…