98-08-14 One X More – One Fine Day – Driven – Building – Contrition – Stack – Timebomb – Liar – Culture

Introduction => 98-08-14&15&16 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

Laurent Chopard (from Besançon, France) wrote in his zine Co-existence (that he did with his mate Olivier Bresson): >>We arrived around 18 hours. As usual, I will only give my opinion on the bands that I saw (more or less for a longer time). Know that there were about 25 of them. ‘Driven’ was playing at the time we got there. They’re Dutch and play a new-school HC, unpretentious but not too bad. Then it was up to ‘Stack’ to go loose. A very good powerviolencore gig; spoiled however (as well as the evening) by an individual, fan of windmilling and shouting homophobic slogans. Some people objected and there was a brief confrontation later on. It’s entirely legitimate, in our opinion, to prevent these types of people from spreading their hateful messages in this scene, and it’s even rather surprising to see that very few people in the end reacted to this kind of aggression. The atmosphere was tense from that moment on. The Italians of ‘Timebomb’ unleasehed their devils. I saw them two years ago. There had been some changes in the band; it was less black-metal and very disappointing musically. ‘Liar’ then took over. We see them every year and it seemed a little better than the other times but without convincing me; the nice surprise was that the singer took a stand against homophobia and violent dancing during their set. However, the homophobic individual from Brussels had to get noticed again, on scene. It’s sad to see that this type of people refuses dialogue, has no arguments and hides behind violence. The festival was taking a rather bad turn because of this kind of tension. ‘Culture’ started in difficult conditions (because there were also problems with the material). What could have been a great concert turned into an average one. The band had to stop playing several times. This is where we learned that there was a lot of agitation outside. Guess who was involved? The individual from Brussels in question and his friends who had been at a nearby pub. It’s truly pitiful for a community that claims to be alternative and “better” than society in general. Let’s no longer talk about unity.<<

————————-

‘One X More’ (from Wortel) were Jan Matthé (bass), Tim ‘Petrel’ Van de Plas(-Peeters) (vocals; did Cosy zine), Sis Matthé (guitar) and Krist Torfs (drums). They appeared on a couple of compilations with their “fast, blasting old-school HC with a positive message”. Around the time of this fest Robert Voogt released their debut 7” on his label label Commitment recs. Their 2^nd (They Say That You Sold Out) came out in 1999. Needless to say they were a SxE band. The Matthé brothers were also active on the zine-front: Jan & Sis did X Realm X and Pol did Willow Tree.

‘One Fine Day’ (described as a “post-hardcore” band) were Adriano ‘Baulo’ Fontaneto, Alessio Fornasiero (bass), Andrea ‘ics’ Ferraris (guitar; also ‘Burning Defeat’, ‘Permanent Scar’, etc.), Luca ‘Mouth’ Fontaneto (vocals; editor of the zine Outlet) and Stefano Bosso (drums). In 1998 the Vladimir Illich Ulianov’s Failure 7” (with Matteo Masciaga instead of Andrea) came out on Cycle recs (Stefano’s label) & Tough Guy Anthems CD on Impression recs. They did a demo earlier on.

‘One Fine Day’ (pic by Federico Albertini)

‘Driven’ from Amsterdam were: Bas Sondervan (bass), Nickel van Duijvenboden (drums), Joris Oonk (guitar), Rogier Stevens (guitar) & Vincent Hausman (vocals). Their music was described as “political hardcore metal” (quote by GoodLife). They did a demo in 1996or97 and Ed released the Cowardice Consumer Of The West EP on GoodLife recs in1999.

‘Driven’ (photographed by David Pujol)

‘Building’, a “youth-crew style” SxE HC from Antwerp, were: Olivier ‘Paco’ Packolet (vocals; later ‘True Colors’), Jelle De Cremer (guitar), (P)Andy Van Den Wijngaert (bass; later Werner Boes) & Bruno (drums; replacing Joris). They released material on SoberMind recs: In Time We’ll Grow (1998) & split-7” with ‘Up Front’ (1999). There’s also a live-tape of them playing at the GoodLife 1999 summer-fest.

‘Building’ (pic Martijn Wouters)

‘Contrition’ (a “metallic hate-edge” band from Schleiz/Jena, ex East-Germany) released the following: in ’96 a self-titled mCD on Time For Revolt recs (Rico Majchrzak), a demo recorded live 97-07-30 in Jena, a 3-way split ‎-7” on Threesome recs (’97) and the Transitory CD (’98). They were: Eddy Langner (guitar), Lars Ostermann (vocals), Andreas Ferge (bass), Alex(ander) Fischer (guitar) & Ulli Walther (drums). Some of them went on as ‘Fall Of Serenity’.

‘Stack’, the powerviolence band from Ludwigshafen, had been at the V.V already (95-04-28). They recorded for the Mondonervaktion 7” in September ‘96 (their former bassist Corey released it on Equality recs in ‘97) with Bernd Bohrmann on vocals, Chris(tophe) Klimmer & Marcel ‘Croissant’ Hanneman playing guitars, Ralf Bock on drums and Michael Bergweiler on bass. This resulted in “deranged pissed-off blasts of total mayhem that threaten to split the ear”… The same sessions served for the Selbstfindungsgruppe 6” (Coalition recs), the split-7” with ‘Carol’ (on Holger Ohst’s label Summersault) and the two songs for the A Tradition Of 7″ compilation (on the US label Fall recs). In January 1998 they entered the studio again to record the songs for the split-7” with ‘Narsaak’ (released by Per Koro). After a 3 weeks tour in the summer of 1998 Marcel left the band and they became a four-piece for a few months before they split up for the first time in November 1998 (due to personal difficulties). In June 1999 they reformed with a new bass-player called Steffen Hinkel (the guitarist of ‘Fear Is The Path To The Dark Side’), Ralf on drums, Chris on guitar and Bernd on vocals. In March 2000 Chris decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. Steffen took over the guitar and Michael returned to bass again. In 20001 The Konkret Lichtgeschwindigkeit 10” – fast blasting manic HC – came out on Bernd’s label Scorched Earth Policy and Ralf’s label Flowerviolence recs. This was recorded with Chris doing the guitar-tracks.

‘Stack’ ([1] by ?; [2 & 3] courtesy of Roel Brals)

‘Timebomb’, from Rome, were a communist, vegan and straight-edge band playing metallic HC. They played at the V.V. on 95-08-20 & 96-08-17 aswell. The band consisted of Marco Ciccone (guitar), Daniele Marini (guitar), Simone Marini (bass; Kill For Love zine), Cristiano Suriano (drums) & Giorgio Fois (vocals; replaced by Emiliano). After releases on Paolo Petralia’s SOA recs they did The Full Wrath Of The Slave on Genet recs in in 1998.

‘Liar’ had been playing the V.V. August fests since 1995. The Invictus album was recorded in Spring ’97 with U.J., Josh, Hans and drummer Bert Guillemont. Don’t know if additional guitarist Lennart Bossu played here already (he was on Deathrow Earth that got out in ’99).

‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. If I’m well informed the band conisted of singer Damien Moyal (also ‘Morning Again’ & ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar), Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker (guitar), Jason Dooley (drums) and Gordon Tarpely (bass). They had been over here the year before (97-08-16) to promote the split with ‘Kindred’ and the Oath 7” (both on Good Life recs). The latter was – in the spirit of ‘free enterprise’ – extended to the Hetronome CD. Good’ole chugga chugga HC for the H8000 kids.

Brob

I joined ‘Liar in ‘99 so I didn’t play here.

Lennart Bossu

I remember ‘Culture’ and of course ‘Seein’Red’. I left the band to start ‘Prone’ later that year… [Powerviolence trio with Christophe Klimmer (guitar) and Ralf Bock (drums), all ex ‘Stack’]

Michael Bergweiler, ‘Stack’ bassist

I remember that we played second or third, and that we just got back from our first touring-adventure in Spain (together with ‘Between The lines’). Fantastic and fun times!

Tim ‘Petrel’ Van de Plas(-Peeters), ‘One X More’ vocalist

We played our last show on our European tour with ‘Building’ here.

Jan Matthé, One X More

We got there after a trip of more than 20 hours (problem with IDs, gas and various shit)… It has been a great esperience and we hope someone enjoyed our gig; we thank everyone who was there standing in front of us, waiting for us to play even if we were late…

‘One Fine Day’

In a first version of ‘One Fine Day’ we were called ‘XconsciousnessX’ (with Matteo Masciaga).

The V.V. Fest was like our home away from home. Bruno treated us well…

Let me tell you this: looking in retrospective, let alone few humans and few ideas that stuck in life, HC has been a bunch of white guys preaching to the converted; a toxic heterosexual environment where girls where treated like human hangers. The whole emo sucks. I find it equal to the black-hating and the whole way women are treated nowadays. I find the entire hardcore-movement to be a very conservative and old-thinking component of people that are mostly white and male. What’s so interesting? Also a bit jaded and naïve. As of today… I’m the only PUNK I know, including all the people I met during my punk years. I still live up to it.

Luca Fontaneto

I think we played twice at the V.V. I recall spending the night on the camping. And that the mosh-pit was extremely aggressive. I have a recording of the concert in ’98 … It was one of the better shows we played despite the preaching of our frontman Vincent, who was rather preoccupied with expressing his beliefs. There are still people confused if we were a completely vegan straight-edge band. Looking back a rather childish matter. ‘Driven’ was mainly about the music, we were musicians and for the hardcore scene dependent of the ideological passion of our frontman, who maintained all contacts.

I have a lot of memories about ‘Driven’ but nothing specific. The musicianship stayed, the political shifts, the adolescent militancy disappears for a big part. I’m not in touch with the other bandmembers anymore (Vincent is the singer of ‘Howl’ (US); Rogier is a lawyer, Joris is a composer, Bas is a journalist, philospher, musician; Max Porcelijn [the first bassist] is a director (won a Gouden Kalf [prize at the Dutch Film Festival]) and I’m a graphic artist, teacher, writer & classical tenor); we share too little to meet up.

The person in the pic singing along with Vincent is Antje Klaster (who’s running a model-agency, I believe)…

It was awesome to be in the band ‘Driven’. We toured 3 times (twice across Europe, all the way to Spain, Slovenia & Hungary; once across the UK with shows in Leeds, Londen & Manchester). People can watch a movie with footage.

Nickel van Duijvenboden, drummer of ‘Driven’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

97-08-16 Culture – Liar – Kindred – Blindfold – Sektor – Serene – Spirit Of Youth – Intensity – Metroschifter – ODK Crew – Thumbs Down

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 3^rd time; and a 4^th 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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!…

 

97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

‘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.]

97-08-15: Instinct (Bel), Purification (Ita), Clouded (Bel), Endstand (Fin), Reiziger (Bel), Spineless (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Abhinanda (Swe), Veil (Ger)

97-08-16: Thumbs Down (Bel), ODK Crew (Bel), Metroschifter (USA), Intensity (Swe), Spirit Of Youth (Bel), Serene (Swe), Sektor (Bel), Blindfold (Bel), Kindred (Bel), Liar (Bel), Culture (USA)

97-08-17: Lifecycle (Bel), Acheborn (Ger), Starmarket (Swe), Deformity (Bel), Mainstrike (Nl), Rubbish Heap (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Congress (Bel), Morning Again (USA)

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!…

 

98-08-14&15&16 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

Paul Van den Berg wrote me (around that time) that ‘Seein’Red’ had discussed the fact whether they would play this fest or not (also with people like Bernd ‘Stack’, ‘Beertje’ & Marcel of Coalition recs, Theun Koelemij and some others) because there had been a lot of communication from various people (and myself) that this fest was not truly D.I.Y. They’d taken a collective decision to confront the audience and not compromise… “By staying away, you’re not gonna change things!”. I might’ve gone there for an afternoon (allthough I have no recollctions, it might’ve been the year before) to try and explain some people but I definitely didn’t pay entrance or saw any of the bands, because I considered this whole thing nothing more than a ‘year-market’/fair(ground) intended as promotion for the record-labels GoodLife and Genet… The latter also relased a CD of the Fest.

Brob

The HC-fest was a mix of fun and some irritation. We travelled down with a whole gang and that was cosy of course. Also met nice people in Ieper; old friends and contacts. A minus was ‘Arkangel’ and the monotonous program. ‘Seein’ Red’ was great. A real party and they also had sensible things to say. Also ‘Eyeball’, ‘Reiziger’, ‘Stack’ and ‘Highscore’ were good.

Jeroen ‘ Beertje’ Vrijhoef, ‘Mainstrike’ guitarist; personal communication Sep ‘98

I was at the Ieper SxE festival this summer and it sucked. I didn’t pay entrance and only managed to get in when ‘Seein’Red’ played. But besides the dumb consumerist kids, I met some nice friends from Germany so being on the train for 15 hours was worth it.

Philipp Smeh (Austria), personal communication Nov ‘98

That was my first Ieper fest ever, great memories! First time to I saw ‘Seein’Red’ and ‘Stack’ as well. Great! I remember there was some fuss during the ‘Stack’ set when a girl was asking the band to say something about some people dancing violently in the back during their set.

Stig Koppen

[Brob: “propaganda-flyer ‘Stack’ frontman Bernd wrote a few years later…]

This was the first time I went to this Fest!

I remember going with Arnaud Benoist (drummer of ‘2138’ & ‘Hippies Of Today’ – now ‘Llamame La Muerte’) and Romain Trocherie (who ran Revolution recs). I have some recollections of the ‘Facedown’ & Reiziger’ shows (awesome songs but ‘Kosjer D was better). There were a lot of French people (the Boislève bros, guys from Strasbourg, perhaps Christophe Mora from Stonehenge recs, …)

Vincent Troplain, Rouen (nowadays Emergence recs & photo-zine)

Two friends of mine wanted to go to the unholy Vort’n Vis to meet / see & hear ‘Seein’Red’, ‘Highscore’, ‘Stack’, ‘Grade’ [???], … I didn’t give it much thought and drove to Ieper, and was very surprised to see so many stupid, trendy HC kids. It was terrible …

Christian Dreker, ‘Asmodinas Leichenhaus’ (Germany); personal communication Nov ‘98

column by Sophie, singer of the French band ‘Aside’, in Empowerment #9

additions wellcome!…

(full posts with photos of some bands playing follow…)

98-08-14: One X More (Bel), One Fine Day (Ita), Driven (Nl), Building (Bel), Contrition (Ger), Stack (Ger), Timebomb (Ita), Liar (Bel), Culture (USA)

98-08-15: Sad Origin (Bel), Highscore (Ger), Opposite Force (Ita), Pray Silent (Swi), Clouded (Bel), Seein’Red (Nl), Spineless (Bel), Thumbs Down (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Earthmover (USA)

98-08-16: Reply (Bel), D.S.A. (Bel), Lifecycle (Bel), Inflexible (Pol), Ashlar (Bel), Caliban (Ger), Firestone (Bel), Arkangel (Bel), Reiziger (Bel), Eyeball (Ger), Congress (Bel)

crowd-shots by Patrick Federli

British HardCore women – Camilla Bradshaw Burke / Louise Brown / Nicola Waterson (photo Nick Royles)