94-12-31 Subcaos – Carcer Molochi – Chosen Choice

One of the (in)famous Vort’n Vis New Year’s Eve gigs…

‘Subcaos’ 3^rd appearance at the Vort’n Vis (after 93-08-01 & 94-04-02). The band came from Lisbon. Their vocalist Diogo Tovar Carvalho (vocals) was the editor of Recognize No Authority zine. In the beginning (’91) they had a bassist named Rui and drummer Hugo Begucho (ex ‘Alcoore’) in their ranks. Their ‘regular’ line-up became Diogo and ‘Xico’ (or Chico or FJ) singing, with guitarists João Abrantes & João Barrelas, bassist Tópê and drummer David.  There was also a female singer (Rita) in the band in 93/94. Slime recs (which existed since 1989) changed it’s name to Ataque Sonoro around 1994/95 (ataquesonoro.blogspot) and released their split-album with ‘Genital Deformities’ in ’94.

‘Subcaos’; photographed by Henk Loobuyck

The first appearance of ‘Carcer Molochi’ in their first line-up, consisting of Erwin Degryse (guitar), David Stubbe (drums), Danny Suffys (bass), Johan Sys (vocals), Michael ‘Mike’ Maes (guitar) and Inge Cappoen (vocals). They were locals and most of them were V.V. ‘shitworkers’ so they performed a bunch of times over the years (95-03-05, 95-09-16, 96-02-24 & 96-09-21). Michael, Danny & Johan had been in ‘As Usual’ before. In ‘96 Bram ‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht (R.I.P.) replaced David. And by autumn that year ‘Mike’ took over, and ‘Gork’ (ex ‘Coche Bomba’ guitarist) became the second vocalist and Yannick ‘PikPik’ Moulière played bass.

‘Chosen Choice’ was a “thrashpunk” band from Lublin with guitarist Piotr(ek) Kowalczyk & drummer Marek (who was also in ‘Amen’). I have a vague idea of one of them living in Amsterdam and being in contact with Afonso (see below) from Cascais. They would come back 95-07-09.

In the V.V. notes there was also mention of a band named ‘Cerebrus’ or ‘Cerberus’. No idea who they were or if they actually played…

Brob

This gig was booked on short notice. I think the ‘Subcaos’ line-up was completely different.

João Abrantes

I met you, Brob! I used to distribute your zine through my mailorder (Freedom – or F.D.M. – Distro; which was done by Roland of ‘No Oppression’ at first). At the moment I’m writing a book on Portuguese punk/HC from 1978-98. When I finish that I can send you material and stories: I still have – I hope – photos from the V.V. and will surely contribute them.

Afonso Cortez Pinto

I couldn’t go to that 3^rd ‘Subcaos’ tour in December ’94. Joao Abrantes didn’t go either I think (in fact he left the band in ’95). That line-up is different from the ’93 one (no Tópê on bass but Ricardo -on the photo- replacing Tópê (Antonio Pedro)… Not sure who’s the drummer on the pic).

I don’t remember the chronology of out line-ups very well anymore. The band recorded sporadically in the 2000s. In fact that was the best time of the band: we (the line-up consisted of metal guys into punk; ‘Libe’ – João Barrelas – also for a while) played a festival and several shows in Portugal; all very brutal and intense, We had a lot of fun.

Francisco ‘FJ’ Dias

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-09-16 D.D.I. – Oi Polloi – Glue – Coche Bomba – Insane Youth – Carcer Molochi – Rawness – Systral

2^nd day of the 7^th Leed festival

‘D.D.I.’ & co in front of the Vort’n Vis

(top; L=>R) Gio – Mohane – Irith – Piero – Dario – Edo – ‘Mila’; (bottom; L=>R) Mauro – Luca – ‘Gallo’ – Ciccio – ? – ?

‘D.D.I’ – Mauro, Dario, Edo in front of the van; Luca on top

‘D.D.I.’ (‘Degenerazione D’Incubo’) from Pavia were a wonderful anarcho collective/ political HC band who highlighted their lyrics and ideas with ironic/ tongue-in-cheek but smart little theatre/cabaret-pieces; almost comedia dell’arte… They promoted D.I.Y. and cooperation: their 10” Pazzi Da Asporto was co-released (’96) by a bunch of European D.I.Y. labels: Pawel’s Scream recs (Poland), Bob & Seth ‘Active Minds’ Loony Tunes recs (UK), Sned’s Flat Earth recs (UK), Jon Elliott’s Active distribution (UK), Nikt Nic Nie Wie (Pol), Maloka (Fra), etc. chipped in to support it’s release. Even my Tilt! distribution provided some funding… The original cover was a screen-printed envelope and contained 32 page booklet. They also did a self-produced 7”: Fanculo I Suoni Puliti (’94) (from the review in Tilt! #8: “Extremely energizing, straightforward melodic HC. Political/DIY.”). The band at this gig consisted of Dario Quatrini (guitar), ‘Gallo’ Alessandro Garlaschelli (guitar), Gianpiero ‘Mila’ Milani (vocals), Gio(vanni) Lazzaroni (drums) and Edo(ardo) Puglisi (bass) & Daniele ‘Lele’ Malabarba (bass) – yep, 2 bassists but ‘Lele’ didn’t play here… Mila, Irith Davidson, Piero Majocchi & Luca Musso ran AZ Autoproduzioni (distro and label). The band came back to the Vort’n Vis on 96-09-20 and I did an interview in Tilt! #9 with them…

The LP Fight Back with 80s tracks by ‘Oi Polloi’ was out on Campary recs (Armin Heitman & Katja from Düsseldorf). At that time the band consisted (besides vocalist Deek) of guitarist Matt Finch (a.k.a. Keith Chugwin), bassist Calum Mackenzie (nowadays in ‘Phobia’ & ‘Skelptarsis’) and drummer Murray Briggs (who replaced Chris ‘Wheelie’ Willsher). Here it was Riley Briggs drumming…

‘Oi Polloi’ (photographed by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Systral’ (from Bremen) played brutal crust-grind/death-metal with a screamo edge (2 vocalists). The members were Björn Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Carol’/’Mörser’), Denny Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Mörser’), Dirk Kusche (bass; also ‘Rusty James’; started the Chrome Saint Magnus label with ‘Acme’s drummer Gregor Iwanoff in ‘98), Sönke ‘Sonne’ Gabriel (drums; bassist of ‘Acme’) and Andy Lohmüller (guitar). That year they had 2 releases: Fever…The Maximum Carnage 10” (recorded July 95’) & Maximum Entertainment 7” – on the Per Koro label. They came a secon time the next year (96-09-22).

‘Systral’ – Björn Schmidt & Dirk Kusche (pic by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Coche Bomba’ (from Lyon) played fast & brutal crusty hardcore-punk. They had 2 vocalists – Ivan Brun & Jean-Pierre ‘J.P.’ Davila – their (political) lyrics were in French, English & Spanish. The other members were André & ‘Gork’ (guitar), Cécile (bass; also ‘Dirt’; she replaced Christoff) and Steph Coi (drums; later ‘Befa’ Fabrice Drevet of ‘Vömit För Breakfast’ joined them, he also did Tranzophobia zine with Sylvain Fayard). They had recorded a demo (95-06-03) and there was a split-7” out with Enola Gay (Fra) on Bad Card recs 1995; Viva La Derelicción 7” (recorded May ’96 with André, Cécile, Ivan, J.P. & Steph) would follow… They kept going well into the noughties and did several tours (also Latin-America, etc.). Ivan Brun works as a cartoonist, comic book writer, painter (sickfuckermagazine.blogspot & http://ivanbrun.tanibis.net)…

‘Coche Bomba’ (photos courtesy of JP Davilla & Ivan Brun) – bottom pic: Yannick ‘PikPik’ & Ludovic Hache [R]

‘Coche Bomba’ (photo by Kerim Gönencer)

‘Carcer Molochi’ came from the ‘suburbs’ of Ieper and most of them volunteered at the V.V. in way way or another; so they supported quite a few bands at he Vort’n Vis. They were: Erwin Degryse (guitar), Johan Sys (vocals), Michael Maes (guitar; later ‘Link’), Inge Cappoen (vocals; later ‘Link’), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’ and later in many other bands), Danny Suffys (bass). David was later replaced by Bram ‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht and Danny by Yannick… Their demo had been recorded mid 1995. Some described their music as metal-crust, ‘Misery’ style (because of the female/male vocals).

‘Carcer Molochi’ (photos courtesy of Michael Maes)

‘Insane Youth’, a crustcore band from the Sint-Niklaas area, were: Jan ‘Fons’ Wuytack (drums), Thomas ‘Tomaz’ Van Rumst (bass), Steve ‘Stiv’ Descamps (vocals) and Tim De Baere (guitar); but here Stef De Leersnijder (also ‘Corpus Christi’ and later in ‘Visions Of War’) played along. Can’t remember at what time Vanessa Hoskens (who was their 2^nd vocalist for a while) was in the band.

‘Insane Youth’ – Stef [L] & Steve [R] (pic by Michael Maes)

‘Rawness’ played catchy melodic HC-punk. Christophe Mora said “NYHC-influenced”… They were from the Dijon/Lyon area. Members of the band: Jean-Marc Moratille (drums & vocals; ex ‘Blighted Area’ – he also did/does the JoliCoeur & Pay No More Than blogs), Michael (bass), Lamy Fumex (guitar & vocals) and Lionel Coing (vocals). They had a demo-tape and did a split with ‘Personal Choice’ on Yann Boislève’s label in 1995.

‘Rawness’ (photo by Ivan Brun)

The Scottish (Glaswegian) ‘Glue’ were compared to ‘Jawbox’, ‘No Means No’ or ‘Fugazi’… Others thought of ‘Black Flag’… It was melodic HC (post-punk?). Their bassist Angus McPhee had contacted me for the distribution of their records. Pete Darlington from ‘Kitchener’ was replacing Stef Sinclair (drums). Their former guitarist Allan McNaughton (nowadays living in California now, wrote a monthly column and record-reviews for MaximumRock’n’Roll; see: allanmcnaughton.blogspot) informs us that himself and Sandy Carson (vocals/guitar) were no longer in the band at the time of this gig. Here the singer/guitarist was ‘Hubby’/RM Hubbert. Our mate Joeri Hoste had already arranged a gig for them in Brugge (Oct 2^nd 1993: ‘Four Walls Falling’, ‘Sofa Head’, Blindfold, ‘Feeding The Fire’, ‘Nations On Fire’ and ‘Glue’). Later Angus came over again, driving for ‘Quarantine’/’Scatha’… (Or was that Angus Quinn?) At that time the band had released (on Angus’ label Feeble recs) an LP ‘Gravel (recorded July ’92; with Ritchie, Allan, Sandy, Stef & Angus) and the 7” From Here To Obscurity (recorded April ’94; with Rispey, Stef, Hubby & Angus)…

Brob

Unfortunately I was out of the band at that time because I was working nightshifts in a mall. Tim did the 2nd guitar. I don’t remember the name of some people but I remember that often some people (from El Paso squat in Torino, an another safe-house called Barocchio) came with us to do the distro and enjoy the gig. I played in Belgium during the 2nd tour…

Some years ago we did a little tour around Italy in squatted houses to promote a book entitled Make Music Not Money, so we played again as in the 90s! Read all about it on paviahc.wordpress.com

Daniele ‘Lele’ Malabarba

AZ was our distro & label from 1990 to 1996, we produced the ‘D.D.I.’ 7” and the 10” with the others labels (and many others records and tapes), then in 1996 we split up as a collective. I went into the techno-rave scene, Luca was bored with people interested only in music and remained in the anarchist political movement (he’s still active), and Mila did Agipunk and started his punk-star career, he later repressed the 10” ‘D.D.I.’ as Agipunk… [Brob: Irith lives near Genova, works in a highschool and has a passion for her vergetable-garden.]

As ‘Lele’ mentioned, the ‘old’ punx from Pavia struck again in 2007: we did a book about the D.I.Y. HC/punk-scene in Pavia and Italy, DDI reformed without Mila and we organised a tour (8 gigs) to sell the book directly. The following years we organised punk gigs in Pavia and in 2015 we started a new band ‘Malabrocca’ [see comment].

Piero Majocchi

It was a great time but too long ago to remember. The hospitality was great, the italian pasta market we made in the courtyard. As far as I remember we made a 30 min heavy metal set (‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Black Sabbath’,…) during a gig there. I’ve been playing with Lele and Giò from the old line-up, and Piero is doing vocals (he was from AZ distributione).

Edoardo Puglisi

Sandy and I were out of the band before the Vort’n Vis gig – by that time the band was a 3-piece with a singer/guitarist called ‘Hubby’/RM Hubbert. He is actually a famous musician in Scotland now, has won some prizes.

Allan McNaughton, ex-guitarist of ‘Glue’

My main recollections: 1. First date of a very long European tour. 2. I had a panic-attack whilst sleeping in the back of the van and fell head first out of the back-door into the Vort’n Vis courtyard. 3. The pastries were excellent. 4. Don’t remember much about our show, which probably means it was average. Pete Darlington from ‘Kitchener’ was playing drums instead of Stef on that tour. Think we had a show the next day so didn’t hang around… One thing I noticed was that Richey Dempsey recorded the album and EP but was never in the band…

RM Hubbert

It was a fun weekend!

Sas, KBaal wholsesale distro (Dordrecht); personal communication Sep ‘95

‘Rawness’ played right before ‘D.D.I.’… We met a lot of French people there, I recall seeing friends from Saint-Etienne and Montbelliard.

Jean-Marc, ‘Rawness’ drummer

I remember seeing ‘Glue’, ‘Rawness’, ‘D.D.I.’,… an drinking Jupiler… There was some sort of open-air festival in the streets of Ieper that evening. [The annual ‘Leet’ festival, the V.V.’s ‘Leed’ fest was meant as an alternative…]

Ivan Brun, ‘Coche Bomba’

I only played in ‘Coche Bomba’ from 99 to 2010 or something…and I played guitar there, not drums like in most of my bands. I think Ivan was just singing at the beginning of the band, he might have started to play bass (plus vocals) when Cécile left the band to play in ‘Dirt’. When a bunch of guitar-players left the bands, they started to do ‘Kuruma Bakudan’ which means ‘Coche Bomba’ in Japanese. That line-up consisted of Stef on drums, JP on vocals, Ivan on bass and Sandy on bass too. I guess they played like that from 96 to 99. After that, they asked Guigui (‘Vomit For Breakfast’, ‘Chaos ZZZ’ guitarist – later he played in ‘Silent Bones’ and ‘Maloko’ in Canada) and myself (‘Vomit For Breakfast’, ‘Chaos ZZZ’, ‘Unlogistic’, ‘State Poison’, ‘Deletär’) to play the guitars and call it ‘Coche Bomba’ again, so we jumped on the occasion. I left the band at the same time as Sandy and Stef in about 2010, but the band kept on going with one South-East Asia tour, a Mexico/U.S.’ tour and another tour in South-America. At some point Ivan came back to complete the dual vocals from the original days, but I’m not sure about the situation right now… [Brob: People also might wanna read this interview from 1997: Coche Bomba (Antipoder #9)]

‘Befa’ Fabrice Drevet

I played guitar with ‘Oi Polloi’ 1994-1997. I think I played 3 gigs at the Vort’n Vis. First was on the tour with ‘Subcaos’ [94-04-02]/ ‘X-Acto’ [94-09-17]. Played a couple of all-day events there… Pretty crust they were; ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ [95-09] & ‘Bad Influence’ [94-09] spring to mind.

Matt Finch

I remember this as one of our first gigs with Stef as an additional member. The stage was built up in the back of the Vort’n Vis garage for this one. I vaguely remember ‘Systral’ and ‘Oi Polloi’ as I was playing a lot of their records around that time. Sharing a stage with them was really exciting for me as a teenager. I’m really grateful to have experienced international communities coming together in magical places such as the Vort’n Vis. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

Tim De Baere, ‘Insane Youth’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Kirst did the merch on that tour. Pete Darlington from Kitchener was playing drums…

additions wellcome!…

 

96-02-24 Intestinal Disease – Cornucopia – Carcer Molochi – Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques – Noise Reduction

Another gig organised by Frederic Driessens (with practical help Christophe Delplace & Koen Vanthournout); presenting 5 Belgian bands…

‘Intestinal Disease’ had played at the V.V. before (94-01-30). The guys in this grind/noise-core band from the Diest area were: Philippe ‘Boezie’ Buze (vocals), Dave Houtmeyers (drums), Kris ‘Hazie’ Hazenbosch (vocals) and Rudy Pans (guitar/bass). Bruno ‘Sloef’ Mastyn had joined to play guitar – his first gig with the band. They did a few 7”s: Raped Inside Your Fault, a split with ‘Brutal Mutilation’ (93) and another split with ‘Violent Headache’ (94).

‘Intestinal Disease’ (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

‘Cornucopia’ (a grindcore band from Mol) were Bert Dexters (bass; sometimes Dennis ‘Tyfus’ Faes), Erik ‘Smerik’ Minnen (vocals), Jim Faes (guitar; later drums) & Jens Ruts? (drums). Jim ran the Ear Smear tape-label. Erik and Bert also did a distro and tape-label called Moshi Moshi that released a bunch of ‘Cornucopia’ split-tapes (e.g. with ‘Karma’, ‘Rubbish Heap’, etc.) and -7”s (e.g. with ‘Intestinal Disease’ – the idea for this one grew here; ‘Cornucopia’ recorded their tracks with Jim on drums, Robin doin’ guitar and Filip for extra vocals). They did some more shows the following years…

‘Cornucopia’ (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

The first line-up of ‘Carcer Molochi’ (94-12-31) consisted of Erwin Degryse (guitar), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’), Danny Suffys (bass), Johan Sys (vocals), Michael Maes (guitar) and Inge Cappoen (vocals). They did their debut at the V.V. on 94-12-31. Since they were locals and some of them volunteerd at the Vort’n, they we regularly asked to do gigs (95-03-05, 95-09-16, 96-01-20) They played pagan, back-to-nature crust-punk (“a mix of ‘Antisect’, ‘Hiatus’, ‘E.N.T’ & ‘Antischism’…”, I wrote in my ‘zine). They had recorded their demo somewhere in 1995. At the time of this gig here Bram ‘Lawaai’ Calbrecht (R.I.P.) had replaced David on drums.

‘Carcer Molochi’ with drummer Bram Calbrecht (Yannick Moulière on the L) (photo courtesy of Erik Minnen)

‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’ (‘L.S.A.’; “the alcoholic smurfs”): were a band from Merchtem (where bassist Gerd Van Hoof helped organise gigs at the local youth-centre Ifigineia); the others in the band were Mike Du Bois (drums & vocals), Raf Du Bois (guitar; R.I.P.). They played (poppy/melodic) punk and had a demo out. In ’97 Tim Leten of Filth Ear distribution (also in the band ‘Karma’) released Screams From Belgium, a 4-way split with ‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’, ‘Muggles’, ‘Hirudo’ & ‘Honey Honey’. They also played on 97-02-28. Later Gerd & Mike started ‘Sunpower’.

‘Noise Reduction’ had already done a show at the V.V. (95-02-11) They came from Edegem, near Antwerp, and played crust-core. The band consisted of Kurt van den Eynden (vocals; also drummer of ‘Karma’), Stefaan Simons (guitar), Tim Wouters (bass) and Rudy Verhelst (drums). They did a demo and in 1995 they had a split-7” (with ‘Deadlock’) out on a Japanese label.

Brob

‘Cornucopia’ still had their first drummer – who couldn’t keep the pace… ;-) But that was a requirement for this musical genre! I remember Erik literally throwing himself…

Wouter Biesemans

‘Intestinal Disease’s first guitarist, Tom Peels, was more of a metal-man. Rudy en Dave started the band in ’92. ‘Hazie’ and I joined. Steve Houtmeyers (Dave’s older brother; who was in ‘Agathocles’ & ‘Hypnos 69’) also played guitar at one timepoint. Dave himself never played for ‘Agathocles’. I quit late ‘96 or early ‘97…

‘Boezie’, ‘Intestinal Disease’ vocalist

At that moment we had indeed a few EPs out. Later we did a split-LP with ‘Rot’ and in 2000 Counting The Damage. That one is best known to the audience (3000 pressed both in Belgium and Brazil).

‘Hazie’, ‘Intestinal Disease’ vocalist

additions wellcome!…

96-04-05 Carcer Molochi – Resist The Pain – Control

‘Control’ rehearsing before their actual performance…

That’s ‘Sientje’ [Nico Sinnaeve] on drums, Freddy [Frederik Vanhee] on bass (both in ‘D.S.A.’ around that time) and, I believe, ‘Lorre’ [Laurent] Peene (‘Sorehead’; R.I.P.) jamming with Steve Noyelle in the V.V. rehearsal-space… The performance was, in my opinion, a one-off.

Steve Lammertyn

I know that my first band was together with Steve Noyelle & Nico but the name escapes me… Frankly, I can ‘t remember… On the photo of the rehearsal I think that’s ‘Murph’ [Vincent Merveillie, ‘Resist The Pain’ vocalist] sticking out above the rest and Jan Volckaert [‘Resist The Pain’ drummer] on the left.

Frederik Vanhee

Yep, that was our first band, with Steve Noyelle: ‘Control’. We only played this one time. Pierre ‘Congress’ was there too and sang a few songs…

Nico Sinnaeve

Actually this wasn’t an official concert; just a cozy get-together in the rehearsal-room – no particular occasion. Piling too many people in a small shack and go nuts …

Pedro Fioen

*************************

a ‘concert’ díd take place… pics by Steve Lammertyn:

‘Carcer Molochi’: Inge Cappoen (vocals), Michael Maes (drums), Erwin Degryse (guitar); Johan Sys, Danny Suffys & David Stubbe might’ve just left the band around that time…

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‘Resist The Pain’: Steve Noyelle (bass), Jan Volckaert (drums), Vincent Merveillie (vocals), Pedro Fioen (guitar)

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‘Control’

 

96-09-21 P.A.I.N. – Witchknot – Quarantine – Bad Influence – State Of Filth – Kirous – Carcer Molochi – Clutch Assembly

Intro: 96-09-20&21&22 8^th Leed festival

‘Carcer Molochi’ played on Saturday early in the afternoon with Gork (who had been playing here with ‘Coche Bomba’ the year before: 95-09-16) and myself doing vocals, Michael [Maes] drumming, Yannick [from France] on bass and Erwin [Degryse; still] on guitar.

Inge Cappoen, ‘Carcer Molochi’ vocalist

The band of V.V. ‘shitworker Michael Maes, ‘Carcer Molochi’, had played here quite a few times before. Their line-up had changed here: bassist Danny Suffys, drummer David Stubbe & vocalist Johan Sys had left, Michael switched instrument and some new people joined as Inge pointed out… A few months later (early 97) partners Mike & Inge would start ‘Link’ with Greg on bass and Juju on drums…

‘Witchknot’ (from Bradford) had played here already (93-09-18). Jane Graham (bass & vocals) was replaced by bassist Kess. ‘Foundsters’ Sarah MacHenry (drums; was in ‘Curse of Eve’ in the 80s), Lianne Hall (guitar & vocals) had turned the band into a 6-piece with the addition of Sally Stone (vocals), Marion (violin), Gaynor Haggerty (cello). They were described as “Punky ladies knitting songs with a load of instruments”. They put on punk and riot grrrl gigs and Witchfests at the 1 in 12. Sned put out their EP (Suck; Tilt! #8: >>The music these women produce is not based on the traditional rock’n’roll structures. The untypical use of instruments and the upbeat colliding rhythms make it sound really bright and refreshing. Songs about empowerment and protest. A true kick in the nuts of capitalism and patriarchy.<<) and LP (Squawk; Tilt! #9: >>Complex, rhythmic, yet danceable earthbeat-punk reminiscent of ‘Recusant’, ‘Dawson’… The dashing beats keep putting you on the wrong foot but these women are still able to drag me along in their whirligig. The violin and cello also give it a folky feel. […]<<) on his label Flat Earth recs during the years. Some people labeled their music (experimental jazzy) post-punk and mentioned influences such as ‘The Slits’, ‘X-Ray Spex’, ‘The Ex’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, etc. etc. Later Kes and Sarah formed ‘Baba Yaga’… Well into the new century Sarah’s in Wales, playing in ‘Mwstard’ with her partner Alec Mac…

‘Witchknot’ (from Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak #3)

‘Witchknot’ (photographed by Sascha May)

‘Quarantine’ (from Glasgow) were Brian Curran (guitar & vocals; ex ‘Disaffect’; later ‘Debris’), Tracey Fallon (bass & vocals) and Jamie Usher (drums; ex ‘Disturbed’, ‘Headstart’ & ‘Sedition’). If I’m well informed they did a tape – entitled Doin’ It Wrong – in ’95. Their LP Automatic Negative Thoughts was recorded in April ‘96 and released by Nabate. My reviwe in Tilt! #9 goes: >>Brutally refreshing music that provides people with the adequate energy to meet the demands and resist the pressure of life. Great melodic crusty HC with brilliant hooks and catchy riffs. ‘Strawman’ and ‘Jawbreaker’ jump to my mind. […] Wonderful!<< (The 7” Junction was registered July 1997.)

‘P.A.I.N.’ (Propaganda And Information Network) – with some people who were also in ‘AOS3’ and ‘Radical Dance Faction’- brought ska-punk with reggae/dub influences supporting anarcho-style rantings. They were compared to ‘Inner Terrestrials. The band was from London: John Horabin (vocals & keyboard; was here before with ‘AOS3’), Phil ‘Pain’ Beckett (guitar & vocals), Ozzy ‘Captain Ozbert’ Wilkins (bass & vocals) and ‘Dan the Man Bdlang’, Danny Sylvester (drums & vocals). In 1996 they put out the album Oh My God! We’re Doing It! on the Bristol label Inna State recs.

‘Bad Influence’ had also been playing at the V.V. many times… This was the period after the Afterbirth 10” was released (marketed as “the Belgian answer to ‘Amebix’ and ‘Zygote’), so this might’ve been with ‘Eggy’ Egbert Verheyen playing guitar…? And Tim ‘Cow’ Shapland on bass?

‘Kirous’ from Joutseno (Finland) were Jonne Kauko (drums; ex ‘Selfish’), Ossi Vepsäläinen (guitar), Toni Eiskonen (bass; editor of Downsided zine), Antti Valius (vocals; here replaced by ‘Sharpeville’s vocalist, later by Teemu Bergman). In 94 they’d put our a 7” the Parisian label Minstrel recs.

‘State Of Filth’ from Preston (Lancashire) played “fast, heavy crust-core with dual vocals”. A DIY/political band; in a later stage fronted by Wayne Southworth (vocals, ex ‘Sore Throat’, ex ‘Doom; also in ‘Blood Sucking Freaks’ with Bri & Stick of ‘Doom’; R.I.P. 2005). They did a demo (Forced Into Silence ; 20 tracks; “mostly sludgy punk/crust at 1000mph”) in 1996. Nick Loaring (‘Ebola’ vocalist) put out a split-7” with ‘Slain’ on his label Enslaved in 1998. 28 of their songs appeared on a split-CD in the noughties… On the 7”: Kev (guitar), James (bass), Adrian ‘Ade’ & Rob(bie) (vocals), and Stu(art) Knowles (drums; later ‘The Day Man Lost’). They also appeared on the The Boredom And The Bullshit 7” compilation (‘96, Refusenik) and on the 7” More Noise By Nice Boys (‘97, Czech compilation).

‘State Of Filth’ (pics courtesy of Kevin Whitlock)

‘Clutch Assembly’ was a duo into techno and techno-house: Hendrik Willemyns & Thomas Laureyssens. In ’97 they released some material on Nova Zembla, a Belgian label (based in Zwijndrecht) with a respected name in the techno-scene…

Brob

‘Clutch Assembly’ is the band ‘Arsenal’ nowadays… Hendrik was a friend of mine from uni…

Peter Vanthuyne (V.V. shitworker)

We always enjoyed playing the Vort’n Vis. Somewhere I have photos from one of our last (maybe the last…?) European gigs when we played there with ‘Quarantine’. Me and Alec [‘Health Hazard’, ‘Suffer’, …] live in the middle of nowhere now, but we do a band with a friend of ours [‘Mwstard’], maybe an oldies band on the way…

Sarah MacHenry, ‘Witchknot’ drummer

‘Quarantine’ played at the Vort’n Vis Leed fest in ‘96 along with ‘Witchknot’ (who were our touring-mates on that trip). First time I’d played in the big barn and not the bar. Really good gig I remember, apart from Tracey got her sleeping-bag stolen, that good times were had by all… We only stayed one day as we we were in Germany the day before and after. Think that was the only time ‘Quarantine’ played the V.V. We did quite a bit in a short period of time (95-98). LP, EP, demo, 4 Euro-tours with some pretty cool bands (‘Kort Prosess’, ‘Counterblast’, ‘Scatha’, ‘Witchknot’, ‘Battle of Disarm’, ‘Active Minds’ and plenty more). ‘I.B.’ and Adam [see guestbook] did come along with us as travelling companions on this trip.

Brian Curran, ‘Quarantine’

We went on our first short euro-tour with ‘Kirous’ in 1996. First we took a ferry from Helsinki to Travemünde (Germany), and since we were young and didn’t have a car we rented one from Germany, the cheapest one available off cource. Something ended up going wrong with the rental company and they replaced our cheap car with a high-end Mercedes which was kind of silly and confusing. Our vocalist Antti was not able to tour, so we decided to double or nothing and ‘borrowed’ the two vocalist of ‘Sharpeville’. With this line-up we played around 5-6 gigs in Germany, some of them with ‘State Of Filth’ and I believe one with ‘Witchknot’ in Düsseldorf, and then the one at Leed festival. I vaguely remember that gig. There was a city festival at the same time and I remember going there to see some Japanese taiko drumming. I had a blast in Belgium and remember the taste of Jupiler quite easily to this day.

The guitar-player Ossi passed away in 1999 and that’s when ‘Kirous’ ended. Jonne and me formed a new band ‘Yhdeksäs Surmanluoti’ but we never did a record with that band.

Toni Eiskonen, ‘Kirous’ bassist

Angus McPhee, of ‘Glue’, drove ‘Quarantine’ around that tour!!!

Angus Quinn, ‘Sedition’

Your archival skills continue to impress me. It’s really nice to see the entries in the guestbook. ‘I.B.’ and Adam did travel with us and also a third friend Carolyn (not in bands). ‘I.B.’ and I were in a relationship at that time. Adam was Brian’s flatmate. We took Andy [Irvine] (‘Scatha’s) distro with us and Adam & Carolyn helped with that as well amongst other things. ‘I.B.’ played in Scatha – band that ‘Quarantine’ toured and played a great deal with due to mutual friendships and past musical connections – as well.

Tracey Fallon, ‘Quarantine’

I played guitar in ‘S.O.F.’ and bass in ‘The Day Man Lost’ (amongst others). Great to read up the reviews and remember so great times with great people. Even recognise my crappy handwriting in the guestbook ha! I We played the Vort’n Vis as a part of small tour (Chris of Aversion zine did a tour-guide that mentions we did a gig or two with ‘Quarantine’ on that tour. – see below). Loved the gig and people at the venue looked after us so well; real cool crowd. I played guitar. Prior to this I was in ‘Virus Insurrection’ (bass), ‘Hecatomb’ (guitar) and after ‘S.O.F.’ in ‘Belligerent’ and ‘Mass Of Bastards’ (both guitar and both with Stu Knowles) and ‘The Day Man Lost’ (bass). The others were Ade Goddard and Rob (God) Butcher to the best of my knowledge. Jimmy Rodgers played bass in ‘S.O.F.’ and was also in ‘Belligerent’ with me and Stu.

Kevin Whitlock

from Aversion #5

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘I.B.’ (‘Disaffect’), Angus (‘Glue’), Adam Johnston (‘Headstart’) were there as well…

additions wellcome!…

96-09-20&21&22 8th Leed festival

Accounts of the actual festival-days can be accessed by clicking on the links below… My descent into hell had commenced a bit before this, I don‘t think I attended this fest (or not all of it); so not really sure about the playing-order…:

96-09-20: D.D.I. (Ita), Boycot (Nl), Eversor (Ita)

96-09-21: P.A.I.N. (UK), Witchknot (UK), Quarantine (UK), Bad Influence (Bel), State Of Filth (UK), Kirous (Fin), Carcer Molochi (Bel)

– Clutch Assembly (Bel) was invited to set of a techno night/party

96-09-22: Strain (Can), Ananda (Fra), Systral (Ger), Elision (Ger), Sektor (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Family Of Dog (Bel)

‘Portobello Bones’ (from France) were announced at some timepoint but I think they didn’t come… There was a photo of the Berliner band ‘Y’ playing in the V.V. barn in Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak or was that from a gig earlier that year…?

Some pics courtesy of Dario Quatrini (‘D.D.I.’) – taken by the members of the band:

distro-stalls in the pub (first evening) – Joeri Hoste, Jeroen Lauwers, etc.

AZ distro from Pavia (with the charming Irith Davidzon on the left)

The ‘D.D.I.’ gang cooking dinner in the yard, DIY-style (L => R: Mila – Luca – Gio)

‘D.D.I.’s Gallo taking a break in front of the famous corner-shop…

95-09-15&16&17 7th Leed festival

Evolution of announcements in the Vort’n Vis newsletters

=> the actual ‘bill’:

15 sep ’95: Undone (Fra), Suffer (UK), Carol (Ger)

16 sep ’95: D.D.I. (Ita), Oi Polloi (UK), Glue (UK), Coche Bomba (Fra), Insane Youth (Bel), Carcer Molochi (Bel), Rawness (Fra), Systral (Ger)

17 sep ’95: Spite (UK), Catweazle (Nl), Extinction Of Mankind (UK), Uutuus (Fin) => Äpärä Kaaos (Fin/Tur) [don’t think Contramenation (Ger) played]

(Quite a few other bands had been announced: Fleas & Lice (Nl) played a couple of months earlier, Brawl (Ire) came over a week before, Defiance (USA) a month later; gigs for Subcaos (Por; Joao Abrantes had left the band) / Sanctus Iuda (Pol) / Dread Messiah (UK) / Meanwhile (Swe) with ‘No Security’s Jallo Lehto & Mattias Kennhed / Kirous (Fin) / Luzifers Mob (Ger) / Third World Disease (Fin) / Warcollapse (Swe) toured Germany, Poland, Czech Republic & Austria with ‘E.O.M.’ in September ‘95 / … fell through for some reason)

* reviewed in Persons Unknown (Luxembourg zine) #2 by Brego *

Brego interviews Piero Majocchi of AZ distro/label (‘D.D.I.’)

There’s some photos of the distro-stalls, visiters and the run-in with the police in In and around the Vort’n Vis …

Some people that visited that weekend: Ilja S. (Yahoo distribution, Berlin) and his girlfriend, Gregor Kanitz & Sascha May (Evilspeak zine, Düsseldorf), Sas (‘Anarcrust’ bassist & Kbaal distribution, Rotterdam), ‘Enco’ Enzo Giurgevich (vocalist of ‘No Limits’, Koper, Slovenia), ‘Bumpy’ of ‘Sea Shepherd’ (Orléans, France), Luc Ardilouze (Scream zine, Bayonne, France), …

‘Suffer’ meets ‘D.D.I.’ (1: Gazza, Mac, Mila, Gio, Sned / 2: Sned, Dario, Mac)

‘Oi Polloi’ & friends

Matt Finch: “Calum Mackenzie (blue top), I’m holding the bottle, next me is Colin Douglas (‘Oi Polloi’ driver). Don’t know who the guy with the dreads is.”.

Colin Douglas: “There is 4 people that I know from Slovenia there. Is that Riley beside me? The person next to Deek is Lea, and Matjaž in front of Deek. The guy behind Calum is Enzo and his partner is in front of Calum.”

‘Enco’ Enzo Giurgevich: “Matjaž, Lea ‘Piercing’, Marija and myself. On the left are two Finnish guys [Jonne & ‘Pedro’ from Äpärä Kaaos]. Matjaž [Lican] used to do the Atomic Fart distro-label [live-tapes of concerts at MKNZ in Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia]. We traveled from Koper [Slovenia] to Ieper in my old Yugo (car). I did around 20 hours of driving in one direction…”

And fun was had by all… ;-) “dancing king Lalli” dixit Wim De Leersnijder

French visitors at Leed ’95; with Bumpy (white t-shirt) from ‘Sea Shepherd’ (Orléans), died in a car-accident in 1997… [the alley opposite of the V.V.] (photo by Ivan Brun)

Italian cuisine à la ‘D.D.I.’ (with on the left Deek ‘Polloi’ & Kerim Gönencer)

For some pics of the cops getting hassled here: scroll down => In and around the Vort’n Vis

96-01-20 Misery – [Extinction Of Mankind] – [Carcer Molochi]

Apparently ‘Müsgüb’ (driver/tour-organiser Martin Fleischner; I already knew him from tours in the 80s as he organised gigs in Göppingen’s venue Remise) had to switch around the schedule a bit… From a review I dó know this gig actually took place on January 20^th.

‘E.O.M.’ (“anarcho crust punk metal” from the Northwest of the U.K.) did their 3^rd tour of Europe, this time with ‘Misery’, with Marvin (Varukers) playing bass because of family-commitments of Ginny. The latter had replaced Fozzy (who left the band after the ’94 tour with ‘Doom’. Their LP Baptised In Shit had been recorded in May ’95 (with Ginny on bass, Dave Foz on drums, Mass Centi on guitar & Ste Dux on vocals) and released on ‘Kleister’s Skuld Releases. They didn’t play here though because their van broke down… On 94-08-06 they also didn’t make it but they did play on 95-09-17. Nowadays ‘E.O.M.’ (extinctionofmankind.wix.com/online) still exists (‘Doom’s Scoot plays guitar).

Dan (Profane Exstence) was back in Europe with ‘Misery’. He had been briefly in the band as bassist early on. They were an anarcho-punk/crust (with references to ‘Amebix’) band from Minneapolis. (Their 1^st show was in Dec ‘88 with ‘Nausea’s Al Long on vocals.) In the band here: Todd ‘Gags’ Gaglione (bass & vocals), Gary Winger (drums), Sid Klingeman (guitar & vocals) and John Greenslit (guitar & vocals). The album Who’s The Fool…? had been relased in ’94 by Profane Existence & Skuld. These also put out an EP entitled Next Time for the tour. Their show in Slovenia (at MKNZ in Ilirska Bistrica, 96-01-19) was released on tape.

‘Carcer Molochi’, local band with V.V. shitworker Michael Maes, had played here a few times already (94-12-31, 95-03-05, 95-09-16)… According to ‘Insane Youth’s singer Steve Michael’s band didn’t play either: ‘Carcer Molochi’ cancelled. ‘Insane Youth’ were asked last minute but guitarist Tim wasn’t available…

Brob

After the record low with ‘Misery’/‘Extinction Of Mankind’, Flo [Helmchen; HeartFirst recs] and I agreed that there’s really no point in booking bands at the V.V. unless it’s emo/mosh…

Ilja S., Profane Existence Berlin; personal communication ‘96

When we went for some fries, there were 2 people of ‘Misery’ there, indulging in meat and cokes; rather disappointing… ‘E.O.M.’ didn’t show up because of car-trouble. More disappointment. When we returned home in Gent we met their guitarist who was returning to the U.K.

Steve ‘Insane Youth’ in Kurt Van Den Eynden & Anja Hermans’ zine (Wat Is Er Aan De Hand? #2)

1 out of 3 ain’t bad!? It was good we were still alive… Vort’n Vis was always the last show on the tours…

Mass Centi, ‘E.O.M.’

I remember it being very cold, same weather we get here in Minneapolis at that time of year. Some windows were broken in the upstairs so it made the whole place cold. We didn’t mind though. Also some guy was messing with everyone in ‘Misery’ and ‘E.O.M.’, Steve from ‘E.O.M.’ stood up to him and it almost came to a brawl, The show went well, being such a cold night the crowd was thin but very responsive to the music from all bands. All in all I would not have traded the experience for anything, life kinda is funny in that way, it was a fine time and I have another good memory to share with others due to playing there.

Gary Winger, ‘Misery’ drummer

I was there but don’t really remember any details of that show… We played so many in our 25 years together!

Todd Gaglione, ‘Misery’ bassist

Photographs by Wim De Leersnijder:

Pictures by Michael Maes:

Wim DL (R) enjoying a beer… and the band

Yannick ‘Pikpik’ (R) enjoying a beer… and the band

additions wellcome!…

95-03-05 Naked Aggression – Kurort – Carcer Molochi

New Year card Kirsten sent me…

‘Propagandhi’ were/are a “Political, yet humorous punk-rock band” from Winnipeg. They were signed to Fat Wreck Chords (a commercial label dealing with majors). That’s why I didn’t want them to play the Vort’n Vis. Bruno had other opinions… The band was: Chris Hannah (guitar & vocals), John K. Samson (bass; replaced by Todd Kowalski in ‘97) and Jordy/Jordan Samolesky (drums). Mike of Bad Food For thought (distro from Propaghandi’s hometown) wrote me (March 96) that Jord, the drummer, got ill with mono(nucleosis) the day they were supposed to leave on tour. Guess they didn’t make it over then… Can’t recall them playing anyway…

Brob

That sounds right. Was either mono or he broke his foot playing hockey. Can’t remember which. We have played Belgium since. Marcus from ‘But Alive’ and Marco [Walzel] from Avocado bookings did the later tours I think.

Chris Hannah

The locals (Ieper and surroundings) of ‘Carcer Molochi’ had done their debut here (94-12-31) and filled in… Most of them were or would become Vort’n Vis shitworkers: Erwin Degryse (guitar), David Stubbe (drums), Danny Suffys (bass), Johan Seys (vocals), Michael Maes (guitar) and Inge Capoen (vocals) played pagan, back-to-nature crust-punk (“a mix of ‘Antisect’, ‘Hiatus’, ‘E.N.T’ & ‘Antischism’…”, I wrote in my ‘zine). A few months after this they recorded their demo. In ’97 Michael and Inge (who are a couple) started ‘Link’…

demo-tape

‘Naked Aggression’, an anarchist classic HC/punk band (originally from Madison, Wisconsin but at the time of this tour they were already living in N. Hollywood) were Kirsten Patches (vocals), (Phillip Emil) Phil Suchomel (guitar; R.I.P. 1998), Ty Smith (drums; he’d been here also with ‘Resist’, R.I.P. 2011) – looks like Greg Watson was the bassist on this tour (he was also on the Bitter Youth 7” & the March March Alive LP). On the ‘Aus-Rotten’/‘Naked Aggression’ split-7” & on the Plastic World 7” (both out in 1994) John/Juan Jiminez (later also in ‘Los Crudos’) played the bass but he didn’t do this tour as he had quit the band… At that time I distributed the They Can’t Get Me Down 7” that was re-released on the German label Campary recs (ran by Armin Heitman and his girlfriend Katia, from-Düsseldorf)…. Kirsten still keeps the band going. Have a look on their website: http://www.nakedaggression.com/main.html

‘Naked Aggression’ (photographed by Wim De Leersnijder [1]-[2] & Joeri Hoste [3]-[4])

‘Kurort’, a HardCore band from Bad Ischl (Austria) played here for the 2^nd time (see: 92-05-02). Andreas ‘Andi’ Wimmer (vocals), Florian ‘Flo’ Sedmak (guitar & vocals), Martin Wimmer (bass), Rudi Vogtenhuber (drums). They played strong, powerful HC with personalized political lyrics (sung in Upper Austrian dialect). They already release some stuff themselves but we got to know them through the Stachanov LP on Tiberiju’s Sacro Egoismo (Stachanov in ’94; Miss Fitness USA in ‘95). The latter was a co-release with Joris De Buysser’s Conspiracy recs). Joris would also release the Oslo 7” in’96. A fan wrote about them: “The flagship of Austrian 90s moshcore. ‘Kurort’ knew the handicraft of advanced thrash-riffing as no other Austrian band and embedded this in the drag-and-strain-Hardcore (Zerrcore) of the times. Their musical proficiency never resulted in technical hick-hack virtuosity but in well-constructed songs with doomy riffs checked by high impact drumming and driving blast beats. Andreas Wimmer on strained vocals added suffering and memorable choruses, that even showed some pop-sensibility.”…

Brob

‘Kurort’ (Flo – Rudi – Andi – Martin) promo-pic

I remember the Vort’n Vis very well, as it donated a running gag in the ‘Kurort’-conversations: “We have some nice sleeping-places upstairs.”, I think it was when we toured with ‘Naked Aggression’: it was March, it was very cold and it even snowed a bit. There was no heating in the venue except for all the people showing up. When we took a look at the ‘nice sleeping-places’, we decided not to use them, no matter what: What I recall, are empty and ice-cold rooms, broken windows and wet and foul mattresses. After the gig we wanted to sleep the on stage – even there with all the spilt beer, etc., it was cleaner than upstairs. And it was still warm from all the people that had gone then. But whoever was in charge refused because we were suspected to empty all the bottles at the bar overnight. We insisted anyway but our promise that we wouldn’t take anything from the bar was not trusted, so one of the V.V.-collective played the watchdog and slept on the floor behind the bar.

I also remember that the driver in the car riding before our van suffered a heart-attack on the highway and rolled off the road down into a field a few minutes before we came into Ieper – I guess that was in 1995 aswell.

Touring with ‘Naked Aggression’ wasn’t too enjoyable: up to 9 people in a small van… We only made friends with their hired drummer Ty Smith. He ‘who cannot be named’ [Dolf H.] and his network booked the tour…

I don’t remember ‘Propaghandi’ playing.

Florian ‘Flo’ Sedmak (sdmk.at)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

David Carcer’s surreal scriblings are untranslatable, I’m afraid ;-) * Apparently it was Johan’s birthday…

additions wellcome!…