I think this gig at the Vort’n Vis was the best we’ve ever done. The atmosphere was just so brilliant – everybody having a good time, etc. I was just so please to be there that night and experience it. We made many new friends on the tour and it was so great to see our other friends such as your self, mate. Christ, it’s so depressing being back home again – I just want the rest of my life playing gigs in Europe!
‘Badgewearer’ díd eventually turn up at that gig but only after it had long finished and most people had gone home. It turns out that they had been driving all day to try and get to the Vort’n Vis in time but it was so far to travel that they couldn’t make it. It was a shame for them. They looked totally exhausted when they arrived.
Rumours are goin’ around that the Vort’n Vis is SxE? That’s strange. Sure, it’s obvious that a lot of straight-edgers go there but there’s also lots of other kinds of people and punks that go there too, from what I’ve seen. I definitely wouldn’t say that the venue was SxE dominated.
Andy ‘Orchy’ Irvine, bassplayer ‘Disaffect’; personal communication ‘93
‘Disaffect’ (a HC/punk band with political lyrics from Glasgow) had been here the year before (92-10-04)… I’d gotten to know Andy Irvine (bass; later ‘Scatha’, ‘Debris’, etc.) – in the early 90s through his Peace Terrorist distribution (he helped me bring my zine Tilt! to Glaswegian and other Scottish readers) and his DIY label Anonymous recs, so we were writing back and forth a lot. Through him I got to know his band-mates; a bunch of nice, warm-hearted people! They were: Lynne Entwistle (vocals), ‘Joe Fear’ (Jock Deacons; vocals; nowadays in ‘Constant Fear’), ‘IB’ Iain Blue (a.k.a. Debo Williamson; drums, later bass in ‘Scatha’) and Brian Curran (guitar; later ‘Quarantine’, ‘Debris’, etc.). Billy Steele (also in ‘Sedition’; I guess he was driving here…) played second guitar only the last time (94-05-22) they were here…
‘Disaffect’; pics courtesy of Brian Curran
They had a demo out and the 7” An Injury To One Is An Injury To All on Flat Earth & Nabate in ‘92. 1993 was the year of Work As One, the split-7” with ‘Sedition (Nabate & Flat Earth recs) and the Home Of The Slave 7” (Anonymous recs).
The video that Karl Penando did, was most probably from this gig (not the one in ’94). Brian Curran wrote: “Wasn’t Billy [Steele] playing with us on the ‘94 tour? [He’s not in the video.] I think this video is from ‘93, the gig with ‘Subway Arts’ and a makeshift ‘Hiatus’ borrowing our gear and doing a few songs…” The vid captures the amical and warm-hearted atmosphere quit well. Lots of ‘silly dancing’ (‘Fast music doesn’t mean violent dancing!’, remember…) goin’ on, mates from Liège, Lux and France, etc.
‘Badgewearer’s music was complex jazz-punk with quirky guitars and groovy bass-lines. They were also from Glasgow, Scotland. They released their stuff on (‘Dawson’ guitarist) Jer Reid’s label Gruff Wit recs. The band consisted of Tony Kennedy (bass & bugle), Jim Carstairs (vocals), Ross Main (drums) and Neil Bateman (guitar & sax) – but the latter wasn’t on this tour…
‘Subway Arts’ had been here before (93-02-06) and would come back a few times (e.g. 94-04-02), sharing their melodic “anarcho/peace-punk”. Steve ‘Diff’ Differding (guitar), Sabrina D’Aurelio (vocals), Fränz Laureys (bass) and Claude ‘Bourano’ Bour (drums) left their names in the guestbook. I guess guitarist Xavier was also playing; he was on their LP Una Definizione Perveresa Della Pace (I guess that should’ve been ‘Perversa’) that got out that year…
The second bassplayer of ‘Turmoil’ (formerly ‘Moribund Youth’), Tolga Güldal, did an anarchist zine (called 30%; in Turkish) and he’d written about his band (who got a split-tape with ‘Inkisiçao’ released by Resistance productions – Pablo in Switzerland). They were from Istanbul. Besides him there was Taylan/T(a)y Ipek on bass/vocals, Kerim Cönençer on guitar/vocals and Orkun on drums. Bruno announced them in the V.V. newsletter at that time but for some reason ‘Turmoil’ never made it outside of Turkey… The band did some split-releases, e.g. a 7” with ‘Acoustic Grinder (on Boezie’s label Grinding Madness)…
Brob
I’m pretty sure Ross Main was no longer in ‘Badgewearer’ then …but I don’t know who drummed on that tour – they had a few different drummers! … Maybe Duncan Sillars… Mmm could’ve been Duncan on drums … They also had a drummer called Rich but I think that was later on… Neil would know!
Jer Reid
It was nice because we’d started friendship-links with lots of Scottish people and mates. As you know ‘Hiatus’ reformed for 3 gigs in 2009 and we did these with ‘Sedition’. Very good times! ‘Subway Arts’ were very good too; I still have both their records…
Willy ‘Hiatus’
I remember we shook hands in 1993 (or perhaps when I was there in 1995). Lots of memories from those times, all the people and the mighty Vort’n Vis where I slept at least a couple of times… It was Bruno’s good intention to help ‘Turmoil’ with touring Europe and with a (split)LP; which never happened because of hard situations in Turkey. It was a nice dream anyway. I tried my best and with the help of Bruno I showed up alone instead of a tour and had a great time. There was also a great gig with ‘Scraps’; ‘Subway Arts’ & ‘Subcaos’ were touring. [93-08-01]. There were lots of cool people at V.V. like the guy from ‘Neuthrone’, the unknown crusties of ‘War Cry’ and ‘Corpus Christi’, the people of Nabate recs and – I want to mention these names – Boezie, Stevie, Jimyh. I’m still a noise-freak, still enjoy a lot of the same old stuff. I wouldn’t care sounding like ‘Youth Corps’ or ‘Terveet Kadet’…
Tay Ipek, ‘Turmoil’
This was one was with our good friends ‘Hiatus’ and ‘Subway Arts’; we met Diff for the first time. ‘Hiatus’ weren’t on the bill but borrowed our gear and played all the same, and as usual were great.
Brian Curran
All 3 gigs we (‘Disaffect’) played at the Vort’n Vis were brillant. All the people we met, the bands we got to see and play with… Sleeping up in the attic after the gig and getting up next morning to croissants + jam and loads of fruit-juice after a night of boozing and smoking just hit the spot. It was amazing to see this kinds quiet town with this amazing venue and punk-scene, just blew me away. I think the first time we played there me and Andy were looking at gig listing and we had just missed ‘Nausea’ by a couple of weeks, gutted to say the least ;-).
I returned to the Vort’n Vis a couple of years ago with my old band ‘Constant Fear’ and no one told us that the place had moved, so I was arguing with the drummer (as usual) about where the bloody place was. Anyway after travelling for 2 days with 4 hours sleep, we didn’t go down that well, in fact we were shit. But I was disappointed to find that it was not the same place. Didn’t recognise anyone there and I don’t think we will be invited back.
Hard to imagine that the ‘Disaffect’ gigs were all 20 years ago; time just seems to have run away. I don’t remember a lot about the gigs we played as I was pissed but they amazing. So a big thanx to everyone involved with the venue, who put us on, fed and watered us, came to see a band and left as friends. Cheers!
Joe Fear
That was the day we drove from Vienna through Germany at 200km/h to try and get there…
Tony Kennedy, ‘Badgewearer’
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
The Slinke Molen squatters from Gent were there…
Olivier Hogie from Toulouse…
Laurent ‘Lorenzo’ from Liège…
Yannick ‘PikPik’ from Lille…
Arnaud Waterblez from Pérenchies…
Pascal Bortzmeyer from Trelon: ” I remember the day when the drummer of ‘Crimpshrine’ & ‘Pinhead Gunpowder’ [Aaron ‘Cometbus’ Elliott], who was travelling around Europe, showed up and we took him to Fourmies [France]…” [Brob: Aaron (who’s zine I’d been distributing) was riding his bike through several European countries; he wrote about it in one of his issues.]
additions wellcome!…
‘Fabric’; photography by Vique Martin
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 