More on this concert: 94-01-08 Growing Concern – Congress – Blindfold – Shortsight
Here’s a series of photographs taken and donated by Jean-Paul Frijns:
(also present: Chantal Collard, Jan ‘UJ’ Vandekerckhove, Joeri Hoste, Vik Bulik, Jeroen Lauwers, Dominiek Denolf, Bart Van Mulders, Peter Hoeren, Chris Van Dornick, Rob Franssen, Illona Stephan, Nick Royles, Nico Peeters, An Caers, Stef Goos, etc.)
BLINDFOLD
SHORTSIGHT
Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival
‘Thumbs Down’ (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. If I’m correct the band consisted of Roeland De Keulenaer (bass; later replaced by Andries Beckers of ‘Diablo Blvd’), Ken (drums; since ’99 Benjamin Buschgens – later ‘The Setup’), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar; later ‘The Setup’) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were also signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99).
Barricada #2: “I was baffled by ‘Thumbs Down’ because I thought they resembled ‘Battery’. There was also a black person in the band, reminding of ‘Battery’s Ken Olden (even the guitar was the same). An even bigger surprise was when they played that great old-school ‘Bold’ cover.”
‘Thumbs Down’ (photo by Sergi E. Costa)
‘ODK Crew’ played old-school HC influenced by ‘Judge’, ‘Rise Above’, etc. They were from Oostduinkerke (Belgian coast-town). That year Hans (of Sober Mind recs) released a 7” entitled Old School vs New School. These guys were members of ‘Vitality’ (guitarist Bob Van Lierde & bassist Marc Paccou) and ‘Congress’ (drummer Ilja De Ceuleneire); singer was Micha(ël) ‘Mika’ Sallaerts. They reformed halfway the noughties with ‘Lil’ Wayne’ (Chris Weyne; ex roadie of ‘Vitality) on vocals…
Barricada #2: “Boring old fast metal in the vein of ‘One Life Crew’.”
‘Metroschifter’ – from Louisville, Kentucky – did a first tour of Europe (22 days) with the band ‘Omaha’ (from Toledo, Ohio; with Dirk Hemsath of Doghouse recs) Dec ’96 – Jan ‘97. Drummer Chris(topher) Reinstatler (a.k.a. ‘The Hört’; ex ‘Transcend’) had joined the band because Mario Rubalcaba left. Mark Ritcher filled in on bass as Pat(rick) McClimans (ex ‘Endpoint’) was unable to go on the trip. But it was Brendan Bogosian who played bass on ‘Metroschifter’s August 1997 Euro tour. In June ’97 they recorded the Metroschifter 4 LP – “loud, distorted, mathematical rock”; post-HC – (released on Doghouse recs) and then came over to Europe again. The line-up here was Scott Ritcher (guitar/vocals; Slamdek recs; writer and graphic designer – kcomposite.com), Pat and Chris. Dec ’98 they came to Europe for the 3rd time; and a 4th time Dec ’99 (with Curtis Mead on bass).
Scott Ritcher (photo by Sergi E Costa)
Here’s a few words by Scott (from the zine Love, Sweat & Tears) on this:
Barricada #2: “They cleaned our dark ears and cooled the air in the hall.”
‘Intensity’, from Malmö/Lund (Sweden) played “fast, intense old-school HC à la Minor Threat”: Jonas Nilsson (guitar; later Mathias Blixtberg & Andy Dahlström, both also ‘Satanic Surfers’; works for Bad Taste), Rodrigo Alfaro (vocals; also ‘Satanic Surfers’; founder of the Putrid Filth Conspiracy label), Kristoffer Lind (bass) and Simon Ricci (drums; later Tommas Svendsen). At that time they had 2 albums our on Bad Taste recs (where Jonas & Rordrigo helped out – Bought And Sold (1996) & Wash Off The Lies (1998), and a 7” – Battered Soul – on Rodrigo’s label Putrid Filth Conspiracy. The band came back to the V.V. on 99-06-27 (because Bruno Genet recs had re-released their Bought And Sold album as a 10”)
‘Intensity’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)
Barricada #2: “Old school with vocals reminiscent of ‘Ignite’ but the music sounds more punk.”
‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area; heart of the H8000 area) had played in there new line-up (their “second phase”, more new-school metal-HC) at the V.V. already (97-06-27). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source, recorded in May) was replaced by Sim Meersseman (of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’) here, guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (a.k.a. ‘Tweet’, also Strike One zine) and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). They would do 3 LPs: Source on Sober Mind recs (1998), a split with ‘One King Down’ on GoodLife recs (1998) & Colors That Bleed on GoodLife recs (1998).
‘Spirit Of Youth’ (pic courtesy of Sergi E. Costa)
‘S.O.Y.’s ‘Marvel’ (+ ‘Lifecycle’s Sofie) (pic kindly donated by Jan Beckers)
Barricada #2: “A mix of metal and old-school. Their new album on SoberMind sounds quite good.”
‘Serene’ (from Gävle, Sweden) – Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (drums), Petter Karlsson (bass), Fredrik Nygren (guitar), Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; later ‘Leiah’) and Anders Nähslund (vocals) – had been at the V.V. earler that year (97-03-30). ‘They did a split-7” with ‘Separation’ on Genet recs that year. Their LP Inward Flowering was released on the same label in ’98. “Melody-driven hardcore and screamo punk.”
Barricada #2: “The surprise of the evening. After some small technical problems, they got started… So we could fly off. A brutal emo band lead by a teenage singer who made considerable effort. Only a shame that the band didn’t talk that much.”
‘Serene’ photographs ([1] courtesy of Olle Johansson, [2] Laurent Chopard)
The band with silliest nick-names: ‘Lenny LadyLover’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums; also in ‘Liar’), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. ‘Mousti’ or ‘Tripple Nipple’; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. ‘KungFu Mike’ or ‘Morbid Mike’; vocals). Since they were from from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village close to Ieper, they’d played the Vort’n Vis sevral times already (96-05-12, 96-08-17, 96-09-22). 1997 was the year Hans SoberMind released their 12”/CD Human Spots of Rust.
Barricada #2: “One of the spiritual fathers of the H8000 crew. [Oh irony!] Ultra-fast brutal metal with some aggressive dancing [see video], so we preferred staying outside where we felt safer (but it wasn’t that terrible).”
‘Blindfold’ did NOT play their last ever gig here at the ‘97 V.V. Fest. (see intro) Their set was recorded an released as Live At The Vort’n Vis on SoberMind recs. Mich Decruyenaere (ex ‘Fungus’, later ‘Hitch’) had started as 2nd guitarist; he’d already played on the band’s 1996 German tour. Most in the band were V.V. ‘shitworkers’ and practically the ‘house-band’ so they played their umpteenth set…
Wim ‘Blindfold’ (pic by JanCoert Toerse)
‘Blindfold’ (photo-shoot by Sergi E. Costa)
Barricada #2: “When hell passed away, we quickly returned inside since ‘Blindfold’, pioneers [???] of the hardcore in Belgium, started to play. The atmosphere was excellent: they played their most famous songs; music on the border of melodic HC and metal. Their performance was [NOT just yet] the last of the band’s six-year existence.”
‘Kindred’ was an SxE outfit from Limburg (metallic style of HC, often compared with ‘Unbroken’) with Jan Beckers (guitar) and Maarten Beckers (drums) – Jan was in ‘Acoustic Grinder’ (see: 93-02-27) & both in ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06 & 93-09-19) and ‘Churn’ (95-08-20); later ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Their earlier sets here (96-05-12 & 96-08-17) were with Raf Gielen playing 2nd guitar. The recordings for the LP on GoodLife recs (File 01) were done in October ’96 without Raf. The band was touring with the Americans of ‘Culture’ so there was a split out (on GoodLife recs) with tracks from ‘Kindred’s recording-session of March that year. (see ad below)
‘Kindred’: (1) Eric & Walter (pic courtesy of Jan Beckers), (2) Maarten (source unknown)
Barricada #2: “There were more people on stage than just the band: Belgian fans stood everywhere in-between the band-members. I couldn’t breathe so I went to out to gains some strength for ‘Liar’.”
‘Liar’ (UxJx – bass, Josh – guitar, Bert- drums & Hans – vocals) had recorded the Invictus album in Feb/March at Midas studios. There was also the split-EP with ‘Family Of Dog’ (a freebie with H8Z fanzine #5)…
Barricada #2: “Contrary to last year – when ‘Liar’ seemed to be very intolerant towards people – their performance had changed a lot and there was a new ‘Liar’ in front of us. Even the singer (‘Blindfold’s guitarist) seemed very sympathetic to me. An excellent clear sound and new songs gave the concert dynamics. The hymn Blade was sung along by perhaps all Belgians. I was so excited, the dancing was not so brutal and the band was visible from the back of the hall.”
‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. The line-up changed a number of times over the years. Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker wrote me he was the guitarist of ‘Culture’ when they were on tour with ‘Kindred’ in 1997. The CD entitled Heteronome (“chugga chugga HC”) and the Oath 7” that GoodLife recs marketed in ’97 was recorded with Steve (also ‘Morning Again’), Jason Dooley (drums), Gordon Tarpley (bass; also in ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar) and Damien Moyal (vocals; also ‘Shai Halud’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘As Friends Rust’) – the guys who were on this tour.
Damien ‘Culture’ (pics by JanCoert Toerse & Laurent Chopard)
commodification…
Barricada #2: “They started with songs from Born Of You [1995 album on Conquer The World recs], followed by tracks from the split with ‘Kindred’. Towards the end, it got too hot on the stage: dozens of people packed together on a few square meters. They also played new things from the last mCD [Heteronome; which GoodLife released right before the fest] and when the microphone broke (it was astonishing that it lasted so long), they played the last song on this tour (They ended their summer-tour with ‘Kindred’ here in Ieper.): the older song Deforestation – the whole crowd sang and the vocalist could do nothing else than climb the iron girders that supported the roof, and watch the hell below him. Highlight of this Saturday night.”
Brob
I remember playing the Vort’n Vis in 1997 with ‘Culture’ on tour with ‘Kindred’.
Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker, ‘Culture’ guitarist
I didn’t do the first euro tours… I started the band but left shortly after we recorded the ‘Kindred’ split but currently I’m in ‘Culture’ again… Jason Dooley was on the 97/98 tours.
Joshua Williams, ‘Culture’
I played the Vort’n Vis twice with ‘Culture’ in both 1997 and 1998, and it was everything a hardcore punk show should be: sweaty, intense, crowded. I remember the stage being over-run with people singing along, and there was barely room to play. The height of the stage was perfect, the setting was perfect, the era was thriving. I’ll never forget those shows.
Damien Moyal
I remember I had to work and regretted I couldn’t stay. I do recall being very impressed by ‘Abhinanda’ [the day before]. It might be the day when ‘Vinnie’ said someone lost their clock and he’d found it: it was one of those giant clocks hanging on the wall… Vincent wore his giant nerdy specs. At the end of our set, I sang this song… Together In The Sand…? By ‘NoFX’…? No sure if it was then? We did so many gigs. And of course I a lot of had fun… Ah, and I assume there were loads of people sleeping at our house. My mom sometimes couldn’t open the door because our living-room was full of people.
Fred Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’
Our show here is partly on the H8000 DVD. The venue was packed and loads of people were diving and singing along. The best time we ever played there. The video shows everyone from the scene standing around us really, all colleague’s bands. It’s shot from the rear of the stage, in the direction of the crowd…
Dominiek Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’
97-08-16 was the first time we met the overly tattooed guys from ‘Endstand’. Great guys! We also hung out with the ‘Serene’ guys. I think we played another gig with them two days later at some small club. Awesome band! I think we were well taken care of at the festival but I don’t remember any details. I do recall that there was a disturbing number of pro-violence vegans everywhere. Guys with tank-tops, lots of muscles and a really bad attitude. And lots of Milk Is Murder shirts. It would surprise me greatly if any of them is still vegan today. They were just bullies looking for a fight, people who could just as easily have been nazi-skins or gay-bashers if they had grown up in a different environment. During our gig there was an extremely violent mosh-pit, where lots of people who had travelled a long way to see us couldn’t get near the stage. It was, of course, the well-muscled guys with shaved heads and tank-tops that were violent. I’m all for a little craziness in the pit but these guys were just nasty. Like entering the pit with a fly kick, hard. Idiots. Rodrigo, our singer, told them to calm down, or we would leave the stage. Anyway, macho assholes aside, the place was cool and I had a good time.
Simon Ricci, ‘Intensity’
That show is etched in my memory as the most intense show ever. The response and the commitment grabbed me by the throat. I still know that I looked at Vadim who was going berserk. Our sets weren’t ever quite long but I always gave myself completely. That time it was as if I could keep going, purely on adrenalin. I will never forget this! Thanks to the Vort’n Vis and everyone that was there that day.
Jeroen Therry, ‘Sektor’
That ‘Triple Nipple’ thing in the guestbook doesn’t ring a bell but it could be about me…
Piet Cardoen, ‘Sektor’
I remember the HC fest quite well; it was still in the ‘barn’. There’s a live LP from our show there. The shack was packed to the top of the roof, 35 degrees, people piled together and on top of these more people :-) Good times. I recall being mega-psyched about the fact that ‘Metroschifter’ was playing; I was already a big fan of that band.
Mich Decruyenaere, ‘Blindfold’
It was really super-hot that day, my lower lip was slightly lacerated because someone from the audience accidentally jumped against my mic. It was really wild in front and on stage. After the show I immediately got of the stage ‘cause I felt like passing out. Dead tired! It was also the lasts show of the ‘Culture’/’Kindred’ tour.
Eric Sefton, ‘Kindred’ vocalist
August ’97 was the only time I went out with ‘Metroschifter’; 5 weeks: Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and England (but the dates in England got cancelled so we just hung out). The bassist at the time (I don’t recall who it was; Pat maybe?) had a family-emergency and could not go on that tour. I was friends with Chris (‘The Hört’) and he asked me a few weeks before they were leaving if I would like to jump on bass! I had to learn a bunch of songs real quick, and rush to get a passport!
Brendan Bogosian
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Another benefit for Kakak Asuh, the Indonesian education-project that Blindfold’s drummer Sacha Baelen introduced us to (see 93-02-21 & 94-04-23). Organised by Joeri Hoste (and Aaron Vyvial) who had this thing Earthwill? / Earthwell? going… Of course other shitworkers (like myself, and Kurt & David of ‘Shortsight’ e.g.) were helping out.
‘Blindfold’ had played here at the V.V. several times. Sep-Oct ‘94 they went into the studio for the World Of Fools 7” (released on Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers’ Machination recs in ’95). Also the recordings for the Astreroid 164 LP started then but that one was only mixed in ’95 to be released in ’96 (by SoberMind and GoodLife recs). My interest in the band had disappeared by then because of their distribution-deal with the commercial company GreenHell. Pity ‘cause Wim, Hans, Jan & ‘Chatn’ were mates. Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; later ‘Hitch’) played on the 1996 German tour but wasn’t on the LP; on 95-08-20 he played with his former band ‘Fungus’ at the V.V.
We’d already had ‘Peace Of Mind’ over some months before (94-11-05). The 7” on World Upside Down (Urte Böhm’s label) and Harmony recs (Ralf ‘Ballo’ Ballschmieter) was recorded in June ’96 and that was with Aga singing and Antje S. on bass. In the band here were Jobst Eggert (vocals and guitar), Berti (drums), Jörn Allert (guitar) and Claudia (bass). Jörn left somewhere in ’95 and then Arndt Buck (ex ‘Spit Acid’) played guitar.
‘Liar’ (Roeselare/Ieper area) rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (93-01-09 & 93-06-13) and did one of their 1st gigs of a long series at the V.V. (They’d been announced a couple of times but I think they had to cancel, and this might be the very first time?). They would become of the most ardent H8000 promoters. During these early days the band consisted of Hans Verbeke (vocals; also ‘Blindfold’s guitarist), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass) and Raf (drums). They played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore with non-compromising, hard-hitting lyrics). Raf (Raphael) left the band in ‘96 to do other things in life, he turned into a professional snowboarder and played in a punk band called ‘Red Lobster’, together with some ‘Spirit Of Youth’ members. From then on Bert Guillemont (ex ‘Sektor’) played the drums. The recordings (still with Raf) of their debut Falls Of Torment (released on GoodLife recs in ’96 and announced as “a mix of ‘Unbroken’ & ‘Morbid Angel’…”) happened after some 10 rehearsals and a few shows.
First appearance at the V.V. of ‘Regression’ (Menen/Roeselare) too. H8000 style, crunchy metallic (vegan) straight-edge HC: “Perhaps the most heaviest of all the ‘edge-metal’ bands: uncompromising death-metal mixed with straight-edge hardcore spirit”. They were Bjorn Lescouhier (drums, ex ‘Shortsight’; he replaced Raf -who was in ‘Liar’ too- around July 95), Kristof Taveirne (bass; nowadays in ‘Spoil Engine’), Niek Jacobsen (vocals) and ‘Stuutje’ David Decoutere (guitar). A bit later they took ‘Lookmulle’ (Davy Vanlokeren of ‘Deformity’) as second guitarist. Hans Verbeke wrote about them that they “created their own style of technical hardcore/metal with ‘Carcass’ and ‘Machinehead’ influences”; other people compared them with ‘Earth Crisis’. They recorded a demo in ’95, then did the x-Heartless-x CD on GoodLife recs (‘96) and a split-CD with ‘Breach’ from Sweden followed (also GoodLife recs, ‘97).
Brob
Some info on Kakak Asuh:
from the Vort’n Vis zine Fifi #2
Intro: 95-08-18&19&20 Hardcore Festival
Vik B. crowdsurfing + Letske M. (L) smiling – during ‘Veil’s set? (pic by Patrick Federli)
‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) were: Jens Lauterbach (bass), Florian Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann (guitar). They played metallic hardcore. Around that time they the Dutch (Sittard) label Threesome recs (Ferry Krop of ‘Crisis Of Society’) put a self-titled 7” our (recorded in April). In 1996 Ferry did another one entitled Time Will Tell… and their LP The Burden Of Life was released by Frontline. The band was also on the bill of the 1997 HardCore – The Next Generation festival…
‘Veil’, photographed by Steve Lammertyn
‘Concrete’ was a (screamo) “chunky” hardcore band from Rome. Their line-up: Cristiano ‘Capoccia’/‘Nerone’ D’Innocenti (drums; later ‘Comrades, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Comrades’), Giorgio Gregorio ‘Greg’ Luciani (bass; also ‘Comrades’), Matteo Fadighenti (guitar), Tommaso ‘Tommy’ Garavini (vocals; tommasogaravini.com). At that time I think they had released, a demo (’93), The Sound Of Rome 7” (’94; mentioned on cristianodinnocenti.blogspot) and the Patior Ergo Sum 10” (recorded Nov ‘94) on Paolo Petralia’s SOA recs. Their next release was the Sescenti Sexaginta Sex 7” (recorded Feb ‘96) on Hailey recs.
‘Concrete’, pic by Steve Lammertyn
‘Doughnuts’ was an all-women vegan SxE (metal-influenced) hardcore band from Umeå (Sweden): Asa Forsberg (vocals), Linda Lundberg (drums), Sara Almgren (guitar; later in ‘Saidiwas’ & ‘International Noise Conspiracy’, and a bunch of mainstream acts), Sara Sjögren (guitar; on the 1994 CD) and – I think – Jenny Johansson (bass; replacing Helena Löfgren). In 1994 Desperate Fight recs put out their 1st CD called Equalize Nature (recorded March ’94). The following years Victory recs did their albums The Age Of The Circle (1995) and Feel Me Bleed (1996). They had just come back from a US tour with ‘Snapcase’ when they played here.
‘Doughnuts’, pictured by Patrick Federli [1-2] & Sarah Van de Mosselaer [3]
The Dutch ‘Rancor’ had played the V.V. a couple of months before (with ‘Strain’, see 95-04-09). They were Michel ‘Mike’ Senden (guitar; also ‘Bloodsport’), Fabrice Zander (bass), ‘R2D2’ (drum-computer) and Pascal Crombach (vocals). Later it was intended that Armand ‘Persecution’ would take over the bass so Fabrice could play guitar… They recorded a CD entitled Distinguish, released in ’97 by Lifeforce recs (Leipzig). Mike & Fabrice had the idea to do a label, One Solution recs…
‘Mainstrike’ (The Netherlands) also played the above-mentioned gig (95-04-09). Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar), Jasper Meijerink (bass), Jonas Moberg (guitar), Roland ‘Big’ Roller (vocals) and Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums) had this ‘practice’ a few weeks before they recorded for their 7” (Times Still Here). On the back-cover there’s a photo of the pit during ‘Mainstrike’s performance here… (also on the insert there’s pics from the V.V.). I read somewhere that “When the microphone broke down during their set, they played a three-song cover-set with a crowd of hundreds singing along.”… Later that year they would do a brief tour with ‘Onward’ (95-10-20).
‘Mainstrike’, shots by Steve Lammertyn
‘Blindfold’ were one of the Vort’n Vis’ ‘house-band’s. Hans, Wim & Sascha were also volunteers at the autonomous centre. Hans and and his sis Saskia also had a big hand in the ‘organising’ of this fest. The band came back from a summer-tour. Mike Warden (Conquer The World) traveled with them but I can ‘t recall if he was here. Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; also in ‘Fungus’ and later vocals for ‘Hitch’) played on their German tour but wasn’t on the LP (Astreroid 164) that had been recorded..
‘Blindfold’, stills by Patrick Federli [1 (with an admiring Vique Martin) + 2 (with an enthusiastic Joeri Hoste)] & Steve Lammertyn [3-4]
‘Comrades’ (Rome) was the band of Paolo Petralia (vocals; SOA recs). He told me that at that time the others in the band were, Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Concrete’, ‘Bruma’), Andrea Marra (bass), Giorgio Fois (drums; singer of ‘Timebomb’) and Greg of ‘Concrete’ was the other singer. This was one of their last shows, I guess, ‘cause they split up in September 1995 (to re-form later). Their music was harsh, crusty grindcore with dual vocals. Their early work was released on SOA recs (a self-titled 7” in ’97 and a split with ‘Eversor’ in ‘98). Later they did a few splits (with e.g. ‘Agathocles’, and ‘Cripple Bastards’; there is also one with ‘Los Vaticanos’ – Cristiano’s other band – on Fulvio Dogliotti’s label Angry recs).
‘Comrades’ (from Ludovic Hache’s zine Ras L’Bol #5)
‘Kosjer D’ had played here a couple of times before, even a month before this fest (95-07-02) and their last would be 95-12-03. They started out as a 3-some (acoustic guitar, bass & drums) and then Arne (Van Petegem; who was in a mainstream pop-band before and nowadays known as the person behind the indie/electronic/dance project ‘Styrofoam’) joined. The name was originally ‘Kosjer Dill’ (nickname of the singer’s girlfriend, who was from San Diego). They were an emo band (personal lyrics) hailing from Limburg, with (besides Arne – guitar/vocals), Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals), Stijn Persoons (drums; ex ‘Dawn Of Liberty’) and Kristien Hendrix (bass). The band did some recordings and asked Bruno (Genet recs) to release them as a 7” (entitled True?). People can read about how it came about in Wim ‘Blindfold’s zine Reminder #5…
‘Congress’ were regulars… Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), ‘Uniform’ ‘UxJx’ Jan Vandekerckhove (bass), ‘Pitbull’ Pierre Vanrumbeke (vocals), Ilja ‘Chill Jay’ De Ceuleneire (drums) and guitarist Michael ‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon. This was the Blackened Persistance (should actually be ‘Persistence’) period. The album is supposed to be released in ‘95 on GoodLife but actually the label started officially on Jan 1st ‘96…
some material from Steve Lammertyn’s ‘Congress’ collection… [J-F Fleury was video-taping the show but unfortunately the footage got lost… According to U.J. the bassplayer in the 2nd pic was Fabrice from ‘Rancor’, he did the soundcheck because “no one could see me before I got on stage”]
UxJx ‘Kiss’ Simmons ;-) (pic by Roel Brals)
‘Congress’ (UxJx & a constipated Pierre) (pic by Jean-Paul Frijns)
Another Euro tour for ‘Abhinanda’ (named Ever Increasing Bliss) and the second time at the V.V. (since 94-08-20). The EP Neverending Well Of Bliss was recorded in April 1995 with Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass), Jonas Lyxzén (drums), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Pär Hansson (who had replaced Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen) and José Saxlund (vocals). There’s a video of their performance at this fest.
the ‘Abhinanda’ show, documented by Steve Lammertyn [1], Roel Brals [2] (‘porter’ Hans Verbeke with Adam Nilsson on his shoulders; Raoul Festante upper R-corner white T-shirt) & Sarah Van de Mosselaer [3] (Mattias Abrahamsson)
Brob
We had arranged a gig for ‘Blindfold’ in Haldensleben [Germany] but a few day before we got a phonecall from Marko Raboldt (Emotion X recs; who was arranging their tour) that it was cancelled because M.A.D. tour-agency [Ute Füsgen & her partner Marc Nickel from Berlin] had promised them more money elsewhere…
Kirsten Klatt; personal communication ‘95
Man, I miss those days! Such a great time at both festivals we played. A very special place for me. On the pic of ‘Mainstrike’s 7” you can see Big in the middle and the guy with the ‘108’ shirt that’s me… Peter Hoeren is also there… Man, that show was magic!!! I remember quite a lot about this event. There was a was very good fanzine called Statue and we got an interview in it. Then I remember that I slept on that stage because there was no free place anywhere else. It was pretty interesting to wake up and then perform on the same spot. I remember meeting the guys from ‘Mainstrike’ and how great they were and I wish someone took a picture of that super packed sleeping-place on the second floor of Vort’n Vis where all the band-members and friends slept and had farting-contests.
Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’
Probably it wasn’t the best line-up we had. Bad show as far as I can remember. It was the year full of Italian & Swedish bands. We were probably the only semi-grind ultra-core band and we were playing for Italians only. It was still at the V.V. but in that bigger place. We share a song on the first GoodLife compilation too: at that time all in the band were sXe. The other guys [e.g. Cristiano D’Innocenti (‘Concrete’, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (‘Opposite Force’, ‘Bruma’)] joined later. We’re all still in bands even if we’re all over 40.
Paolo Petralia, ‘Comrades’ vocalist
I remember sleeping in the cold attic without a sleeping-bag, but we had immense fun. There was a Swedish invasion. I saw a green Straight Edge/Go Vegetarian shirt for sale there. I wanted it so desperately that I instantly threw away my sandwiches with salami…
Pascal, ‘Rancor’
About us wearing identical T-shirts: we might have found those on tour. Just a gimmick…
Wim, ‘Blindfold’
Indeed: halfway our set the mic got fucked up so we couldn’t play all those new songs. I was pretty pissed. But the fest was great!
Jonas Moberg, ‘Mainstrike’
The ‘Kiss’ face was done by Catherine Cabeza; good job – she did it without an example.
U.J., ‘Congress’ bassist
excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:
“Hello! This festival is completely cool!! Hope we will be back next year!!”
additions wellcome!…
Intro: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival
see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions
‘Fabric’ was a (post-)hardcore band from Brighton/London that we all got to know through Vique ‘Simba’ Martin (and/or Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers & Jeroen Lauwers)… Another great thing she introduced us to. ‘Fabric’ would also play on 95-01-29 (and 95-01-28 @ the ‘Arsenaal’ in Marke) when Jeroen Lauwers wanted to present their EP out on his label Machination recs; but this was their first gig on Belgian soil. ‘Fabric’ was Andrew/Andy Hartwell (vocals), Anthony/Tony Sylvester (bass; ex ‘Ordinary Eye’), James ‘Jamie’ Tilley (guitar; ex ‘Long Cold Stare’), Chris(topher) Turner (drums; nowadays in ‘Orange Goblin’) and Kevin Williams (guitar; he’s on photo so he had joined the band already by then). At the time of this fest they had done a demo (that also contained a cover of ‘Heresy’s song Genocide) and released (a bunch of 7”s (e.g. Colossus, Saturnalia, Dislocations) – on their own label (Whole Car recs) and/or Doghouse recs. Not sure if the Body Of Water LP was out then…
‘Fabric’ photos by Patrick Federli (1 & 2) and Albert Cheong (3) [Nick Royles bottom pic R]
Dennis of ‘Refused’ had been sending me their (second) demo plus a note asking for concerts the year before and they ended up playing in Kortrijk. They were an sXe band from Umeå. Their first tape was with Dennis Lyxzén (vocals), David Sandström (drums), Pär Hansson (guitar) and Jonas Lindgren (bass). Jonas left and was replaced by Magnus Björklund in August 1992. They also added a second guitarist – Henrik Jansson (of ‘Step Forward’). The new tape (Operation Headfirst; that Dennis sent me) was released by the end of ‘92. In ’93 they’d recorded the EP This Is The New Deal, an LP entitled This Just Might Be… …The Truth and the CD Pump The Brakes. The Everlasting 12” was registred in July ’94 with Dennis, David, Magnus, Pär and guitarist Kristofer Steen. Pär left after the recording… Magnus and Henrik were doing their military service. They took Jesper Sundberg as bass-player…
‘Refused’; photographed by Fred Falzon
‘Abhinanda’ photographed by Massimo Moscarelli (1 & 2) [René Natzel (‘Spawn’) behind the band] and Jean-Paul Frijns (3)
Also José of ‘Abhinanda’ had provided me a tape of his band, inquiring for gigs… They were on their 1st Euro tour (we’d seen them at Nieuwland in Herentals 94-08-14; and later played they at the V.V. 95-08-19 & 97-08), also came from Umeå. José Saxlund, their vocalist, was running the label Desperate Fight recs, which released most of their early recordings): Darkness Of Ignorance EP (‘93), Senseless LP (’94; recorded a month before this), Neverending Well Of Bliss EP (’95), Abhinanda (’96), etc. The others were Jonas Lyxzén (drums; later replaced by Daniel Berglund; played also in ‘Separation’, ‘Demon System 13’, etc.), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen (guitar; also ‘Refused’; later replaced by Pär Hansson) and Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass). They were one of the first Swedish sXe hardcore bands. The members were good friends with the band ‘Refused’ (they did a few shows in Norway together, earlier that year).
‘Backdraft’ played moshy sXe HC. They were: Rob Franssen (vocals) & Illona Stephan (guitar) – both also in ‘Feeding The Fire’ – and Marc Vleugels (drums), Kay Roderburg (bass) & Luc Vleugels (guitar). The Stream… 7” must’ve been out on Crucial Response recs. Peter Hoeren was there bringing that along, I believe. I think they’d also been recording already for their CD (The End)…
‘Backdraft’ photos by Massimo Moscarelli (1, 2 & 3) [Vik B. (1 – R)] and ? (4) [Saskia Verbeke (‘Shortsight’) behind the band / bottom pic L José Saxlund (‘Abhinanda’) & Chris van Dornick (‘Spawn’)]
The next months (Sep-Oct) ‘Blindfold’ recorded (@ Midas studio) for the World Of Fools 7” (in the original line-up). It was released on Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers’ Machination recs in ‘95. Hans reminds me that it was available on green vinyl only at a local show (94-12-23 at the Pits in Kortrijk). Also some recordings for the Astreroid 164 LP were started here but that one was only mixed in ’95 to be released in ’96 (by SoberMind and GoodLife recs).
‘Blindfold’ shots by Massimo Moscarelli (1) and Albert Cheong (2)
I believe this was the last time ‘Shortsight’ played at the Vort’n Vis. (Their very last concert ever was in November 1994, in Poperinge.) They just finished the recordings for the Cold Wounds Waking CD (at Midas Studios, July 1994). Drummer Björn Lescouhier would move on to ‘Regression’ (nowadays he plays for ‘Smoking General’). Guitarist David Dumont and Saskia’s relation finished in ‘95 and after finishing his studies he became a backliner/roadie for several (commercial) bands (‘Goose’, ‘Das Pop’ and Flip Kowlier, etc.) and later played for ‘Waldorf’ & ‘Drums Are For Parades’ (all mainstream bands). He’s also into “electronica” and vintage synthesizers. Bassist Kurt Deprez lives/works in Indonesia and singer Saskia Verbeke withdrew from the scene…
‘Shortsight’ or ‘Blindfold’? (pic by Miguel Angel Lorca) [yours truly with the AK Press sweater]
‘Acme’ from Bremen played metal-core with ‘screamo’ vocals with references to ‘Born Against’ & ‘Rorschach’; Heavy stuff! Hannes Stang did the vocals, Gregor Iwanoff drummed, Sönke ‘Sonne’ Gabriel played bass (he also hit the drums for ‘Systral’ & ‘Carol’, later he was also in ‘Mörser’ for a while) and Sven Thora was the guitarist. They had been here already on 94-04-09, a day after Jeroen of Machination recs did a show for them in his hometown. We also were able to see them perform in Herentals (94-07-22). Even though they always left a big impression, they didn’t leave a lot of ‘traces’ (unfortunately). Jeroen Lauwers (‘Nations On Fire’s bassist) released their only 7” (referred to as The Demo) in ‘94. There was a ‘post-mortem’ discography (with some extra tracks from compilations) later on…
‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, an emo band from Augsburg, were: Marco Walzel (guitar; he ran Join The Team Player recs, owns and operates Avocado Booking), Simon Czermak (drums), Ralf Bamberger (vocals), Nina Hille (bass) and Markus Hofko (guitar). After their initial demo, they did 2 7”s: The Monotonous Beat Of Nothing New (Emotion X recs ‘94) and a split with ‘Kassiopeia’ (95; on Christian Mix-Linzer’s Outlet recs). They would be invited back the next year (95-07-02)…
Vique Martin had become the zine-queen and heroine of many. We’d been writing and I think we’d met the 1st somewhere in spring ’94. Talking to her showed she’s a damn intelligent woman; the kind of person that can influence a whole bunch of people (in a positive way)…
Brob
I was staying at Hans’ house… ‘Macca’ [Mark Wilkinson] was there, Edward demanded a lot of my attention… When the ‘Fabric’ kids arrived, I was with them all of Saturday night. I was also absorbed with Marco [Walzel] & the Americans (Sherry [Beth Sacks; see picture in the intro] & ‘Iconoclast’)…all good friends. There were many kids I left feeling I didn’t talk to ‘properly’; Kurt for one, a friend from France, Olivier for another. I had a fucking fabulous time, didn’t want to talk about negative things (consumerism, etc.) I didn’t want to be ‘brought down’. I wanted to stay on the high of being with friends, seeing bands and being really happy.
Vique Martin, Simba zine, personal communication Sep ’94 [This was a response on a column that I, Brob, did on the fest…]
I remember having a great time, we were treated well and well received from what I can recall. The place was full, kids standing on top of stuff to see the stage. Cool stalls set up, good vibe. It was hot as fuck too, I remember that much. I’m sure I was asked to lend my cymbals to ‘Acme’. Hadn’t seen/heard them before at that time. When they started I thought the dude was going to destroy them. Terrifying and awesome at the same time. Didn’t people also sleep over there? I have a memory of the gig finishing, and then people throwing sleeping-bags everywhere they could and crashing; it was nuts.
Christopher Turner, ‘Fabric’s drummer
‘Fabric’ chillin’ in Ypres (photo by Vique Martin); L=>R: Jamie-Kevin-Andy-Chris-Tony
I can’t believe there was so many bands! Have been racking my brains trying to remember stuff but I’m coming up vague… It’s 20 years ago! I remember I had a cool ‘Parliament’ shirt. The food was great and we did a lot of hanging out with all kinds of people, was fun times to be in Europe. We were at the festival the whole weekend but we did stay with someone… I still do music, just my own one man band (soundcloud.com/dootraanougat); I play the drums, the gits, the whole shabang!
James Tilley, one of ‘Fabric’s guitarists
I know that we where on our first Europena tour ever. We played Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. The Senseless album was released just before the tour and we sold alot of CDs at the festival. From what I recall we stayed there the whole weekend, played some soccer (we were the unbeatable Swedes!!) and watched a lot of bands. I think I even made a guest-apperence with ‘Refused’ and sung some silly Swedish rap (not sure though!). As it was our first time we got to know alot of people and made a lot of new friends. I discovered bands such as ‘Spawn’, ‘Blindfold’, etc.
José Saxlund, ‘Abhinanda’ vocalist
There’s a ‘black hole’ in my memory for Friday and Sunday (2 nights of no sleep). I think the UK bands played on Friday, and Sunday ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Undone’ & ‘Vanilla’. [???] On Saturday ‘Refused’ did a semi acoustic set, ‘Fabric’ played their first show outside the UK, ‘Acme’ probably their last ever. ‘Iconoclast’ was another US band that had actually already split but toured to get a free European tourist-trip (same as ‘Downfall’, ‘Merel’, … during that period). For me personally this day was the best ever at the V.V.: no bullshit, good atmosphere… I’m certain that everybody knew everybody that day. It also was the last time the fest took place in the pub. The next year it was in the ‘barn’ in the back and there were loads more people. I also attended in ‘96 or ‘97 and that was totaly shit, with 2/3 of the bands being metal-core ‘Congress’ clones an the rest playing uninspired emo-core. Then there was a huge crowd but you knew nobody and most had no idea about hardcore/punk before GoodLife recs. Most had never heard about the ‘Dead Kennedys’ or ‘Zyklome-A’ according to me…
Jeroen Lauwers
I remember our first European tour and our first Vort’n Vis gig quite well. We recorded Senseless in the spring of ´94 and in August we rented a van and drove the long way from Umeå down to play HC in Europe. To afford the trip we brought Sara Almgren [‘Doughnuts’ guitarist; see guestbook-entry] and Jonas Lyxzén’s girlfriend Jenny along (they contributed with gas-money, great spirits and helped selling merchandise). On our way South we stopped in Stockholm and the record-store Sound Pollution (with which Desperate Fight and Birdnest [Swedish punk label formed in 1980 and run by Per Granberg] collaborated with for distribution) to pick up a few boxes of our newly pressed album which none of us had seen prior to that. Excited we set off to Hultsfred (12-14 of August), Sweden’s biggest music festival at the time, where our friends ‘Refused’ were to play. Since we could only stay for one day (and didn’t have the cash to pay for the entrance); me, Adam and José gate-crashed the festival by pretending to have bracelets to be able to see the ‘Refused’ show, worked like a charm. I remember that we gave the guys in ‘Refused’ a copy of Senseless and they seemed a bit shocked when they could hear the massive improvement between Darkness of Ignorance and the new album. The contributions and musical influences Kristofer Steen brought with him to ‘Abhinanda’ had really upped our ability and musicality.
José had set up the tour so we didn’t really know what to expect but we drove South and played a couple of decent shows in some punk-squats in Holland. On the 19th of august we arrived in Ieper and we were greeted by some truly amazing people (Bruno and Edward) who took the time to show us around. The first night we slept in the loft assigned for the bands but then decided to sleep on some of the grassy spots around the city, running naked around the cemetery and a church became a regular routine.
At the time vegetarianism hadn’t really taken off in Sweden so we were really impressed with all the vegan alternatives Belgium could offer. On the 20th we were supposed to play and we received a meal-coupon for a fantastic vegan meal that we all appreciated (having only eaten punk-stew and chips for the last week). The atmosphere at Vort’n Vis was amazing, everybody seemed very supportive and though the ’94 festival was quite small it was quite big for us, since we hadn’t really played any HC festivals earlier.
‘Refused’ arrived quite late on the 20th (if I remember correctly), just in time to see our show. They were probably the only ones who had heard the new material. But it seemed like the audience had heard a rumor regarding the new album because the small venue was packed with people when we entered the stage. I remember that we wanted to start the gig with something different (as many of the bands we heard played a quite generic version of HC), we wanted to stick out. And for some reason I had the idea to play Bulletproof Poet by Dogs D’amour in a semi-acoustic fashion. Still don’t remember why but I did and the crowd cheered on and gave the start of the show a real boost in energy. The show was amazing, a milestone for us, the first really awesome show in Europe with one of the best crowds in my life. I think a real starting-point for us and Desperate Fight. That show made the word of mouth spread about the new album and the intensity of our live shows all across Europe. Hardline was a big thing at the time but our new song Competition In Hatred that opposes it was really appreciated, we had the ‘Refused’ guys on back-ups on that one, easy to sing along to…
Later at night ‘Abhinanda’ and the other Swedes got a guided tour of the Ieper (by Edward and some other guys). I remember David Sandström reading a book about WWI and the battles in the trenches in Europe at the time. And finding some names off the memorial arches that contained names from the book, crazy coincidences like that happen often on tour. The next day we enjoyed playing football and all the other bands. I remember another band borrowing the 5150 head we had borrowed from Pär Hansson [guitarist of ‘Refused’] and blew a fuse so we had to drive around in order to search for a store that could replace it so that we’d have something to play on. Big hassle back then without internet, GPS, etc.
After the festival I remember Edward setting up an extra gig in order to help us out with money for gas. Fantastic how the HC-scene can help you out! The rest of the tour we played with a self esteem and energy that the festival had given us. Thanks again for a fantastic festival. August of ’94 still has that extra place in my heart and Vort’n Vis especially.
Mattias Abrahamsson, ‘Abhinanda’ bassist
‘Abhinanda’ soccer-team (in Herentals, Belgium), by Jean-Paul Frijns
We only played Ieper once and it was a pretty wild. We had a good time. I remember that all the punks were really sceptical about us since we showed up wearing new shirts but the show was great. Really sweaty and intense!
Dennis Lyxzén, ‘Refused’ vocalist
I thought ‘Kassiopeia’ played there as well with us, at least I remember them being there… Claudius Gagalka was with us most of the time; he might have some photos…
Markus Hofko, ‘Nothing Left To Grasp’ guitarist
I do remember that show. I was there. But I never played guitar for ‘Acme’, that was Sven Thora. I was the singer of ‘Abyss’…
Sven von Thülen
Volker [Pohlschmidt] and me were just one time in Ieper for this one: we saw ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Backdraft’ and so on.
Stefan Uhe, ‘Steadfast’ guitarist
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
Spanish visiter
additions wellcome!…
Benefit for an education-project in Indonesia (Kakak Asuh)… Sacha ‘Chatn’ Baelen (‘Blindfold’s drummer) (helped) organise(d) a couple of benefits for that organisation (also 94-04-23 & 95-03-25).
Brob
A friend of mine worked in Indonesia and supported the project there. That’s how the idea to do something for it grew. For a certain amount of money one could pay for a whole schoolyear for a kid, I remember. [“1.000 BeF (25 Euro) enables 1 kid to go to school for 1 year!”]
Sacha Baelen
When ‘Culture Shock’ (cultureshock.me.uk) folded (we had them playing for Smurfpunx; 88-05-13), Dick Lucas (vocalist; Bluurg recs) got back together with some of his old mates of ‘Subhumans’ to play ska-influenced punk with a touch of reggae: Phil Bryant did guitar and ‘Trotsky’ drummed. Jasper Patterson (who’d also been in ‘Culture Shock’) played the bass (see also 93-10-24) for ‘Citizen Fish’ (citizenfish.com). Getting home they would record the tracks for the split-7” with ‘AOS3’ and the summer of that year they went into the studio for the LP Flinch. Dick also released live recordings from 2 German shows (from Sep ’92). A few years before this I’d arranged a show for them in Liège (when they toured with ‘Cringer’) and I was looking forward to skank to their tunes…
Dick Lucas (photo by Martin Vantomme)
‘Behind The Smile’ were a French (Valenciennes) hardcore/punk band with my mate Arnaud Huftier on bass (he did Uprising Decay zine), Frank (drums; Laurent on the demo), Rudy (guitar) & Laurent (vocals; Christophe on the demo). They had a second guitarist, Pierre, on their 7” (but I don’t know if he was playing here). Their 1st release was a tape entitled Suburban Wars. In 1992 the did a split 7” with the Fins of ‘Juggling Jugulars’ called A Wish To Dream on Sylvain Vilette’s Bad Card recs. They had played here already before (91-10-12)…
‘Blindfold’ started recording for their 1st LP (Restrain The Thought) at Cats studio (Brugge) the next month and finished it in September. It was released by Mike Warden on his label Conquer The World recs.
Just as the band of her brother Hans (‘Blindfold’), Saskia Verbeke’s band ‘Shortsight’ played here quite a few times already. Since this was before the summer-tour 93-07 ‘Shortsight’ & ‘Blindfold’, Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers (guitar) was still in the band here aswell. All of them (the women plus bassist Kurt Deprez, guitarist David ‘Mong’ Dumont, drummer Bjorn Lescouhier) were also locals and Vort’n Vis ‘shitworkers’. That year their 7” Why Spend Time Learning was released (Conquer The World recs). I did an interview with them briefly after they’d split up (’94).
About a month after this gig ‘Hiatus’ (Ben on drums, Azill & Phil doing guitars, Willy growling and Fred Alabas on bass) were also in Cats Studio for the recordings of their album From Resignation… To Revolt (to be released on Sound Pollution recs). Their live set in Liège a few days later (93-02-26) was recorded and released as a benefit-tape for the ‘Flamands Roses’ by Eric W. ‘React’.
Brob
Did we play with ‘Citizen Fish’? I was a big ska fan at the time. Still like it but I’m more into political/poetic hiphop nowadays… This was probably the first time we met the local SxE-ers. Never has been a problem for me, even if many crusties or “fans” of ‘Hiatus’ had stupid prejudices about it; just as some SxE kids hated crusties. Looking back at it after so many years, one can only laugh about this childish bullshit. Some time later, I had an American girlfriend that lived in Berlin. We went to see ‘Blindfold’ (together with Jeroen ‘N.O.F.’) there and they gave us their crate of beer. Better than throwing it away, isn’t it?
Willy ‘Hiatus’
I recall a great show by ‘Hiatus’…
Kurt Deprez
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
Herwin De Winter & Tim ‘Crow’ Shapland (ex ‘Zygote’; played bass in ‘Bad Influence’ around that time) travelled along…
additions wellcome!…
‘Chamberlain’ was an American emo/ post-HC/ alternative/ indie rock band, hailing from Indianapolis & Bloomington, Indiana. Previously they were known as ‘Split Lip’; changed the name after opting for a softer musical direction. They had releases on Dirk Hemsath’s label Doghouse recs (distributed in Europe by GreenHell): a 7” in ‘95 (Her Side Of Sundown) / split-7” with ‘Old Pike (’96) / Fate’s Got A Driver LP (’96; orginally for ‘Split Lip’ but remixed). They were: Curtis Mead (bass; ex ‘Endpoint’), Charles ‘Chuck’ Walker (drums, ex ‘Split Lip’), Adam Rubenstein (guitar), Clay(ton) Snyder (guitar) and David Moore (vocals).
‘Blindfold’ were one of the Vort’n Vis’ ‘house-band’s. Hans (who’s first ever performance on a stage was with my/our band ‘Yuppies’ Death!’), Jan, Wim & Sacha were fellow V.V. shitworkers. Their second guitarist Mich(ael) Decruyenaere (ex ‘Fungus’, later in ‘Hitch’) wasn’t on the LP (Astreroid 164) that came out that year but he was on the Steel Against Steel tour (with ‘Liar’ & Congress’) that summer… I consider the guys mates but my interest in the band was disappearing by then because of their distribution-deal with the commercial company GreenHell.
Brob
Tom Hussman [the guy who was in charge of selling merchandise] and Dirk Hemsath (owner of Doghouse recs; ‘Majority Of One’ and several other bands) wanted to come hang out just to have fun! The guy of GreenHell [Burkhard Jünger] recordstore booked the tour.
Clay Snyder
I know we were always treated well in Belgium… Other then that: I’m afraid I have the worst memory ever.
Curtis Mead
I lived in a town called Bierges [south of Brussels; home of the amusement-park Walibi], in Belgium, as a kid. I think I remember the Vort’n Vis but confusing it with a couple other Belgium shows…
Adam Rubenstein
I was the only non-SxEx… A bit the odd one out in our band: I drank, I smoked…but I liked playing in ‘Blindfold’: I’d been fan of them from the early beginning. Also the tours were always fun. Almost unimaginable that all that was possible then, without internet, smartphones, etc. That ‘Blindfold’, ‘Liar’ & Congress tour was something special. The scene was at its apex and it was unseen then that a small local band did a European tour in a nightliner-bus. :-) I remember that we had to flee for skinheads in Germany and there was also a show with ‘Earth Crisis’ that was very sketchy. Basically I always did my own thing, I was interested in the scene but I wasn’t really part of it. I also went to (still go) a lot of shows at The Pits in Kortrijk. It was an era of fights between straight-edgers and punks…
Mich Decruyenaere
excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
‘Blindfold’ was supposed to play their “last show ever” but they still did shows, even toured during the summer, in ’98, their drummer Chatn informs. According to Hans their last gig was at ‘t Molentje in Kuurne. They recorded their live-LP (with 2 new songs only to be heard there) at the V.V.
Brob
We released our CD [Redeem The Monsters] at this fest but we didn’t actually play… Our singer Mark arrived with the first 500 copies, straight from the prsssing-plant and they were practically all gone in a day (sold to people attending and on consignment to various distros. We had to order a second pressing immediately. Crazy!
Sven Leys, ‘Rain’s guitarist
I ended up there with some SxE friends from Vienna (Daniel Eberharter of Eloquence zine), from Vienna (Austria), that were going to the fest. I was also friends with ‘By The Grace Of God’ (ex-members of the Louisville band ‘Endpoint’ [BTGOG had been touring earlier. They were already back in the states by August.]) who I think played the fest. They were on tour in Europe and I dragged along as van-duty, slacker, bad jokester for some shows. I toured with them on and off throughout the tour. We had a blast at Ieper and met great people. It was a nice meet-up of us all. I slept in the ‘loft’-area on an old couch. I had a giant necklace with a cock-ring on it. Good times! The venue was pretty unique in what I’ve seen around the world. It was impressive seeing the show set-up and so successful, especially with so many bands. The diversity in the punk-styles was evident and it was great to be apart of. There were New York style harcore, crust-punk and metal bands; and kids all hanging out.
Kevin Zelko; Wellfair? zine (also helped putting out ‘The Get Up Kids’ record)
Kevin Zelko & friends (Daniel Eberharter and Henrik from Stockholm)
I was at the Vort’n Vis with ‘Acheborn’… I have very good memories of sleeping in the park nearby in the festival. It was only us and another two people the first time The next year it was pretty full in there. The groundkeeper was actually so friendly that he almost didn’t let us go. A bit like in the movie Misery ;-) (Where a nurse takes care of an author that had a car-accident, in her house; and at the beginning she is all caring but then becomes this psycho who doesn’t let him leave her house, etc. We thought maybe he is all nice and then he won’t let us leave anymore…)
Here’s a few random memories:
There were 2 guys sleeping in the middle of the main square close to the venue because it was super-packed with people occupying every inch on the floor. We were walking past the main square when they were waking up and they were surrounded by market-stalls and people shopping. I guess they were too polite to wake them up to tell them that there is a market going on in their new bedroom….
There was this guy selling rare test-pressings of ‘Infest’, etc. for big bucks and American bands were spending a lot of money on it. I was sleeping at this guy’s house once on tour and he had hundreds of sleeves left and was making a test-pressing every once in a while. Power-violence hardcore capitalism…
And once I hitchhiked half way and was picked up by two guys from Munich at a highway-stop along the way but didn’t have a seat to get back. I didn’t really find anyone and at the last night there were four guys with a tiny car from Frankfurt that didn’t have any space as it was loaded with records that they were selling… Either way they squeezed me in and we all had records literally up to our nose driving for 6 hours or so. I think that was in the top 10 of the worst car-drives I ever had. but I guess that was the price to pay for going to the Vort’n Vis.
Christian Mix-Linzer (Outlet recs)
I was here aswell: I drove ‘Acheborn’. That was my first time at the V.V.
Marc Hartmann (Scorched Earth Policy, ‘Man vs Humanity’ drummer)
The persons (Jan & Jakub ‘Kuba’ Dušek of the sXe band ‘Balaclava’) that wrote a report in the Czech zine Barricada #2 mentioned that they got a discount on the admission-fee (a ticket for all three days costed 40 DM [20 Euro] – which was too much for them). The first day “of the three-day marathon” started about half past three. They spent the first (hot) night on the sand near the shore, and in the morning went skipping in the sea. They came back to the city and after lunch got ready for “the next round”. After day 2 they they left the hall “soaking in sweat and with torn earrings”, looking for a place to sleep in town. But there was hardly a place to lie down? “It’s not easy at all in this part of Belgium: there’s either cow-pastures and corn-fields surrounded by wire, or villages everywhere; but no forests where one can lay down one’s head.” After straying around for a long time, they found that single one place in the whole state and “slept the sleep of the righteous”. The last day started early right after lunch to get everything finished by nine o’clock… “Compared to the year before, there were fewer bands that took our breath. We probably also knew what was coming and the Belgian bands weren’t that big of a risk. But where else can you see so many wonderful bands and people together, find things you don’t know about, and especially to meet new friends and learn about European scenes. Beautiful memories…”
(full posts with photos of some bands playing are planned…)
[‘Natural Order’ & ‘Timebomb’ were not listed on the poster but they signed the guestbook. They didn’t play… Some bands got switched around… ‘Lifecycle’ was added to the bill last-minute.]
crowdshots by Sergi E. Costa
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
visiters from the Czech republic; some of them wrote a review in Barricada #2
‘Roman vegan sXe legion’
militant… or hardline…?
all sorts of visiters…
additions wellcome!…
Local (Menen/Roeselare) straight-edge hardcore band ‘Regression’ was announced but didn’t play. Perhaps because they just switched drummers? (Bjorn Lescouhier, ex ‘Shortsight’ replaced Raf – who played in ‘Liar’.)
‘Steadfast’, a band playing “powerful new-school sXe hardcore” from the Osnabrück/Munster region, didn’t play either. Their guitarist Stefan Uhe and bassist Volker Pohlschmidt (R.I.P.) did visit.
‘Chokehold’ wasn’t announced but they showed up anyway; read the story below. Also ‘Solid’, ‘Concrete’ and ‘End In Sight’ were added to the bill…
18 aug ’95: The Jedi (Bel), Solid (Bel), Burning Defeat (Ita)
If I remember correctly Christophe Mora (‘Undone’, Stonehenge recs) was there. Henk Smit (Kangaroo recs) was selling records. Patrick Federli took photos… Yann Boislève from Rennes wrote a review about this fest in his SxE newsletter #13.
Brob
Mathias Hartmann and I attended together. The V.V. was too full, the weather nice, so we slept a few hundred metres away on some nice grass in front of a church, I think. People strolling by the next morning were not amused about us. ;-)
This summer-festival in the bigger ‘hall’ in the back of the V.V. I remember ‘Kosjer D’ and ‘Chokehold’ from Canada played there. The ‘Chokehold’ guys were coming from the train-station with their guitars and bass in hand. Their European tour [with ‘Feeding The Fire’] was a mess (some of the last gigs of their tour got cancelled) and they got robbed if I remember correctly. I felt sorry for them for having such a bad experience over here. They mention it in an interview.
Carsten Pötter, Frankfurt
If my memory serves me right, this was my first Ieper HardCore Fest. I turned 18 just a few months earlier, I had a very broad musical taste ranging from simple hardrock to the most extreme black/death metal, but it was just a year or so that I really started to appreciate the HC-scene and started to attend a lot more HC shows than metal. Because of the music and especially the very metallic sound of the H8000 bands, but also because the HC-scene was – in my eyes and at the time – a much more interesting scene with a lot more open-minded people (that was of course, pure bullshit, but it was a nice smoke-screen that got me fooled for a while :-) …). You soon learn that assholes are everywhere but so are nice people really… You just need to know who to avoid, that’s all. :-)
Anyway, I remember this fest as the most underground thing I had ever seen or been to… I just took a backpack with some basic ‘go-away’-stuff and just headed to Ieper… There was not really a camping back in those days. I remember people sleeping in the bar, the barn, on the upper floors. I remember those funny Hare-Krishna kids that seemed to attend every show in the whole Benelux (bands like ‘Abhinanda’ and other Umea-area bands were kinda the big thing then… So a lot of people became Krishna all of a sudden – LOL).
All the bands I have seen then performed legendary sets… I was just blasted away by the atmosphere … The barn was as full as it could get and then some more, people were flying all over the place, the pictures I have of that HC fest are still some of my favourite ones. It was pure madness!!! HC the way it should be! Massive mosh-pits, pile-ups, sing-alongs, circle-pits, you name it… From morning till evening, all day long. If I were to attend now, I probably would see 1 band and need 2 other sets to catch my breath… Yeah, we were young and unstoppable then :-).
I remember also ‘taking a shower’ on the Ieper market, in the fountains with a lot of people… It was a ‘group-shower’ (at least 30 people, strength in numbers huh?) in the morning. With all the soap we used, the market was quickly transformed into a big foamy place. :-) Lotsa fun, but not appreciated by the police… Ah well…what’s new???
Also, we met some nice gothic kids and had a very cool evening in their bar ‘Den Donkeren Helft’ [The Dark Half]… After an afternoon of HC-metal, nothing better than some wave/EBM/gothic to relax a little. :-). Since that day, I always go to that bar when I go to Ieper (I think it’s gone now…).
I have very fond memories of ‘Liar’, ‘Congress’, ‘Veil’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Mainstrike’, ‘Abhinanda’ and ‘End In Sight’. You can see me going nuts on the back of the H8000 The Way It Is – European SxE HC compilation-CD (GoodLife recs)… I’m in the picture with ‘Mainstrike’ playing in the barn at that fest. [Brob: There was also a pic ont the ‘Mainstrike’ 7”?] A lot of bands that played that summer in Ieper are on the CD.
After that weekend I got home with sooooo many adresses and phone-numbers, I didn’t know where to start… I made a lot of friends, had wonderfull conversations,… good times in general! From then on until 2005 I attended every single HC fest… but none were so memorable than my first one… And for me, the Vort’n Vis became an icon of underground DIY music.
Greg ‘DragonBreath’ (90s zine; Bruxel)
I’ve only been to Vort’n Vis once, back in the summer of 1995. I went there for, what we called then, the Vort’n Vis festival. I remember a lot of Italian bands were playing, so it felt like I knew half of the people at the fest. [Brob: Dario is Croatian but lived in Rome at that time…] It was almost 20 years ago, so my memory is a bit fading, but I believe ‘Concrete’, ‘Timebomb’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Burning Defeat’ and ‘By All Means’, all from Italy (the first three from Rome), played at the festival and it was bands whose members I knew very well. I remember spending most of the time with ‘Sardo’ from ‘Tear Me Down’ [Massimo ‘Il Sardo’ Leonardi, vocalist], and I recall the sleeping-place was upstairs and there were dozens of bodies and arms+legs everywhere – it was almost impossible to find a free spot to lie down.
Everything was very DIY and there were several small distros, as well as bigger ones ran by Edward of GoodLife and Burkhard [Jünger] of GreenHell [label, record-store & mailorder in Münster, Germany]. I remember meeting one of the Boislève brothers [Yann & Pierre] for the first time at the festival, and that kid [Aaron Vyvial?] that used to make a really nice fanzine and later moved back to the US with ‘Hazel’ of ‘Rise Above’. ‘Mainstrike’ played one of their first shows and the crowd went pretty wild. I’ld see them later both in Italy and the USA. ‘Kosjer D’ were solid. I liked their first 7” a lot. I wasn’t impressed by ‘Doughnuts’ and I think I missed ‘Abhinanda’. I checked both ‘Liar’ and ‘Congress’, but that wasn’t really my cup of tea. I remember the ‘Congress’ bass-player was nice to us, but musically it’s nothing I would listen to at home…
Dario Adamic, Zips & Chains zine
I was there with Christophe (Mora). Brob, you were screaming against the business during the ‘Abhinanda’ show. I found your attitude so cool; I totally agreed with you!
Fabien Charlot, later vocals for ‘JeanxSEberg’, Bordeaux; personal communication spring ‘96
I only went to the festival on Saturday. I couldn’t stand it very long. Firstly: I felt very lonely; I didn’t feel like communicating. It didn’t feel right…the people that were attending, all that typical sXe fuss. I had the feeling that a lot of these girls and boys were just there to be seen. It seemed like a competition: who has the newest T-shirt, who can dance the hardest, who knows the most lyrics by heart? It all seemed so fake. I don’t want to generalise though: there were also kids that seemed sincere…
Dirk De Vriendt, Introverted Outlet zine; personal communication August ‘95
I was seriously annoyed: everybody’s speaking out against pollution, using big words; but for perhaps half of them it remains just that: words. Have you seen the public road? Simply outrageous! Do people still understand what HC is about? The ‘scene’ has grown enormously but the ideals haven’t evolved. I think it’s sick!
Nico Peeters, ‘Outrage’ bassist/Day One distro; personal communication August ‘95
I thought there were only few really good bands. ‘Kosjer D’, ‘Mainstrike’ & ‘Burning Defeat’ were cool though. I saw a video of the fest and it was cosy. There was a bit of a fight between ‘Rancor’s guitarist and someone. What struck me was that flirting with satanism seems to become popular…Scary, because it equals extreme rightist ideas (egoism, fascism, war, etc.).
Peter Kroes, Ruinerwold (NL); personal communication December ‘95
I’ve been at the Vort’n Vis once in 1995. I was young, my first festival abroad I think…travelling alone by train, by the way. I remember enjoying the concerts of ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Doughnuts’, ‘Congress’ a lot. There were many Italians there! ‘By All Means’ played a crazy show, ‘Timebomb’ were great. I remember buying the ‘Rorschach’ discography CD, great vegan food, soy-milk in stores (I was stoked: in Italy nobody knew what that was). I recall hanging out with several country-mates but also with the guys from ‘Abhinanda’ in some kind of disco. It was fun and I keep great memories of that weekend. I also think some of the Italian bands being pissed off for not being treated like the Swedish bands but I’m not totally sure about that, haha!!!
Borys Catelani, Montorsoli/Sesto Fiorentino (Ita), Agipunk recs
I have the worst memory so details are very sketchy! I had some amazing times at Vort’n Vis… Vique always drove and I spent a lot of time at the festivals (I was there in ’94 as well) helping out with her distro and checking out everyone else’s. In the pre-download/-streaming days it was amazing to be able to get hold of so much great stuff all in one place. My strongest memory from Vort’n Vis was ‘Kosjer D’ playing here… One of my favourite gigs ever. I think it may have been their last show… Anyway, it was so much fun – great band (totally under-rated) and an incredible moving joyous set.
Mark ‘Macca’ Wilkinson, Brighton
I think Ieperfest 1995 was my first time at the V.V. Jenni wasn’t there, I think ’96 was the first time for her.
Robert Matusiak, Refuse recs (at that time Warsaw, nowadays Berlin)
I was there to support ‘Veil’ (who had a 7″ on my label Thressome recs)
Ferry Krop, Sittard (NL)
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
organisers Saskia & Hans Verbeke (of course together with a whole bunch of other Vort’n Vis collaborators…)
additions wellcome!…
follow-up to 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival
I admit that I don’t recall these events very well. I was 24 years old, I’m writing this 20+ years later. I don’t remember which bands played, what I ate, where I slept, and a lot more, but I still have vivid emotions about those days. The Vort’n Vis was the hardcore punk centre of Europe, the place where you had to be. I am very happy to be reminded about it. Yes, I was there and I can’t forget it.
It wasn’t easy to get to Ieper. I didn’t have the money because I didn’t have a job. Mum and dad payed a part, and temp jobs were my income. Air-travel was ruled out immediately, trains were cheaper. Another travel to Belgium after less than a year (after being there on tour with ‘Eversor’). This time a holiday with Interrail, discount-tickets to travel by train in Europe. What I did, is in the following report that was published in my zine Tough Guys Don’t Dance; it was an attempt to say something about things outside the confinement of our Italian boundaries. The English language was a means to communicate outside the country. I could have done more to distribute it though… All was translated by Andrea Marra (the author of The Vort’n Vis Experience). I did the rest (editing – a matrix-printer and a photocopier – and photos).
A fun fact: I remember that the bathrooms were partially out of order (too many people) after a couple of days; and there was a lake of water, piss and shit between the building and the yard…and crusties were wading through it as if it was a normal thing.
I don’t remember much about the bands at all! The concerts were only part of the fun, the main thing was the atmosphere. I liked almost all the bands and knew about them all, so it wasn’t crucial to talk about them in the zine. I still listen to hardcore music, I never quit it.
Massimo Moscarelli (Rome)
Some of Massimo Moscarelli’s photos (grazie mille!) – band-pics will follow in the actual posts on the festival-days:
crowd-shots
upstairs [1: Bruno entertaining the Italians (L => R: Giangiacomo De Stefano (‘Ivory Cage’), Paolo Petralia (S.O.A. recs/’Comrades’/’Colonna Infame’), Andrea ‘Ics’ Ferraris (‘Burning Defeat’/‘One Fine Day’), Andrea Marra (‘Comrades’/’Notorius’/’Bruma’), one of the Marini twins (‘Comrades’/‘Timebomb’); 2: Paolo Petralia, Massimo Moscarelli & one of the Marini twins; 3: Andrea Marra]
in the courtyard [1: Bruno ‘Genet’ & ‘Goofy’ (R); 2: prom-queen & -king Vique ‘Simba’ & Ward ‘N.O.F.’; 3: Bruno’s biz]
walk on by (or not) [2: Pawel ‘Scream’ from Poland selling stuff; 3: ‘Hazel’ (Bernd B. in the background)]
Massimo, the warrior and his aid (Jeroen Lauwers)
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 