Continuation of the ‘Ceaseless Suffocation’ festival. The gigs on the previous evening took place in the pub, this part of the festival in the ‘barn’…
There’s also extra photos provided by Sned…
‘Dropdead’, a political power-violence outfit from the U.S. East-coast (Providence, Rhode Island), were – during those days – Bob Otis (vocals), Brian Mastrobuono (drums), Ben Barnett (guitar) and Brian’s brother Lee on bass (later Devon Cahill). They were touring with ‘M.V.D.’ and ‘Suffer’ (organised by Carsten Kissler, the drummer of ‘Pink Flamingos’, ‘SM-70’ and later ‘Cold War’). At that time they already had a load of tapes and 7”s under their belt, and even a discography (released as a 12” in 1995 on Flat Earth recs: “Kings of the chainsaw thrash-attack, high-priests of the worship of ‘Siege’ […]. Feast on the savage smoldering legendary accelerathrashcore!”). The band still exists (records and tours).
‘Dropdead’ (photos by Wim De Leersnijder)
pic by Chrstophe Mora
‘Final Warning’ (a political band from NY playing metal-influenced crust) were touring with ‘Dirt’. The band here was: Neil Robinson (vocals; Tribal War recs, first vocalist of ‘Nausea’, ex ‘Jesus Chrust’), Steve ‘Distraught’ (bass), Tom Ota (guitar) and Russ (from ‘Dread Messiah’; drums). Their LP Stop Vivisection…By Any Means Necessary was recorded during this European Tour. In 1994 Neil had already released the Eyes Of A Child 7”; featuring Tom Kaz (bass), Paul Kaz (drums), Tom Ota (guitar; R.I.P.) and himself (referred to as ‘Moses; vocals).
‘Final Warning’ (photos by Wim De Leersnijder)
‘Suffer’ was basically ‘Health Hazard’ without Mandy: Alec Mac (guitar & vocals), Chris ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne (bass) and ‘Sned’ (drums). They did 3 7”s on Flat Earth recs: a self-titled 7” one a few months after this tour, and a split with ‘Urko’ and ‘Forest Of Spears’ (both in ’98). From the review in Tilt! #9: “Diabolic, super-fast HC with enraged shouted vocals and tension-building beaks. Breath-taking!”…
Alec Mac (source: the French zine Chill Out #3)
‘Dirt’ had been here a couple of times before (93-04-04, 93-05-01 & 93-11-21). Here they were touring with ‘Final Warning’ that done a tour with them in the U.S. As Sned explains below: Stacey from ‘Mankind?’ was doing the vocals for ‘Dirt’. Deno wrote me she ‘s left the band 3 weeks prior…
‘M.V.D.’ (Mundus Vult Decipi (ergo decipiatur); “The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived.”) was a band from Berlin playing brutal crust-punk: Dita (guitar), Henning (vocals), Marco (vocals), Obst (bass; also ‘Ebola’) and Ralf (drums). They’d done a split-LP with ‘Malinheads’ in ’91 and a bunch of (split-) 7”s (e.g. with ‘Pink Flamingos’).
‘M.V.D.’ (photo by Wim De Leersnijder)
‘Miskatonic University’ (from Ravenna) were Emiliano Lanzoni (vocals; Boundless recs – but in 94/95 Alessandro ‘Alle’ Bucci sang), Chris(topher) Angiolini (guitar), Mario Lamargese (bass), Andrea Musetti (drums). Their music was “NY style mosh HC” (metalcore; some compared them to ‘Helmet’), others described it as “Post-Core à la Rollins”. They supported ‘Sick Of It All” in Italy in spring of that year… ’95 was the year of the release of their CD There Will Be Only One (they had already 2 7”s and a demo out). I’m not sure if they actually played. They did tour (even wrote me for gigs as you can see below)…
‘Wordbug’ was a band from Exeter (U.K.) playing melodic post-HC/indie stuff: Adrian Stroud (drums), David Goodchild (bass), Martin ‘Ed’ Edmunds (vocals) and John Tripe (who replaced Steve Craig on guitar). All their releases are available from Boss Tuneage: the 7”s (a split with the Belgian ‘Byetail’ – with my mate ‘Lompie’ on drums, Locked In & Die/Waiting) and the Losing It All LP (with Alex Vann on guitar – ex ‘Hate That Smile’ drummer). ‘Wordbug’ later became ‘Annelise’ (x1984x.com/annalise) – same members. David Goodchild runs The Cavern in Exeter (concert-venue since 1991) nowadays (exetercavern.com). A year earlier ‘Lompie’ had helped them out with a few gigs (also in my hometown). The video on this blog was made at a show at someone’s house.
‘Deconsume’ (a crust band from Hoogstraten) had played at the V.V. a few months before (94-10-09). They were Bart Jansen (guitar; later ‘Vuur’ and nowadays ‘Nervous Mothers’), Koen Luyckx (vocals; later in ‘Vuur’), Michiel Mostmans (bass), Steffen Geypens (vocals; later a short while in ‘Visions Of War’), Pieter Brosens (drums) & Nico Braspenning (guitar).
Bernd ‘Stack’ (apparently ‘Stack’ didn’t play together with ‘Seein’Red’ the evening before)
Brob
Most of the bands were crust, punk or powerviolence oriented. ‘Wordbug’ was different, they played an awesome set; more melodic hardcore, with some emo influences. I bought the 7” but the live show was a 1000 times better. Later on, they changed their name to ‘Annalise’.
I played here with the crust band I formed with my highschool friends: ‘Deconsume’. I am happy to say they all are still friends. We only played 5 or 6 gigs in our existence but we all agree this was by far the best one. There were already quite some people there when we played second. The crowd went quite berserk on our simple, double vocalist crust approach (which really surprised us). Most of the visitors didn’t really expect us, quite clean cut boys (I think our bassplayer even had his ‘Pennywise’ T-shirt on ), to play this kind of music. Regarding crowd-response, I think this is the best gig I ever played and I have done quite some afterwards with my later bands ‘Vuur’ and nowadays ‘Nervous Mothers’…
‘M.V.D.’ was a very ‘Extreme Noise Terror’ influenced crust band, also with dual vocalists; good show. I believe they still play [Brob: their last gig supposedly September 2014] but I haven’t seen them since. ‘Final Warning’ had just released their Eyes Of A Child 7” on Tribal War recs. More metal influenced punk. Must have been their one and only European tour I guess. ‘Suffer’ was the new band of Sned and Alec, who were previously together in ‘Health Hazard’ and ‘One By One’. They were totally great and nice people. This was the first show we saw from them. Like all the bands and shows they did, this was totally awesome. ‘Dirt’ was a more classic punk band with a female vocalist [Deno]. A bit less aggressive than the other bands on the bill, but great singalongs and a really good atmosphere. One band blew the entire shed away though: ‘Dropdead’ (their first European tour; releases on Nabate and Flat Earth); on record they killed it, live they slashed it. There was so much energy. Bob Otis was and still is a great frontman. The politics, lyrics and music is amazing. I still love them, they never stopped and I am totally happy to have played with them in those days. They inspired me a lot.
Bart Jansen, ‘Deconsume’
I organized the continental part of this tour because I wrote with Ben at that time and was a big fan of ‘Dropdead’, so when he asked me to help out for a European Tour, I couldn’t resist. In the beginning I developed the idea that ‘Pink Flamingos’, the band I was playing drums for, could do the support but some of us were not available. So I asked ‘M.V.D.’ for support and backline, and they approved. Meanwhile I was also in contact with Sned, who was doing the UK part of the tour, and his band ‘Suffer’ was going to support ‘Dropdead’ over there. So I came up with the idea to make it three band tour. A lot of work for the promoters, for food, sleeping-places and money, but finally 3 great bands all together. It was just great.
Carsten Kissler, ‘Pink Flamingos’ drummer [96-04-27]
The only reason I remember this gig was because our original bass-player got very drunk and couldn’t play well. Also saw some girls pissing in the street outside the gig. The band was Bob, Ben & me (always has been) and Lee [Mastrobuono] (we’ve had two bass-players since then). I don’t recall anything about the other bands at all. I’d seen ‘Suffer’ and ‘M.V.D.’ for like 2 weeks everyday before this and they were good; I know this much!
Brian Mastrobuono, ‘Dropdead’ drummer
Yeah, I wasn’t in ‘Dropdead’ until ‘96. Wish I had been there!
Davon Cahill
Last gig of the of tour with ‘Dropdead’… I’d been doing all the driving, doing the stall and was pretty fried by this point. Seem to remember it being pretty busy and probably our last gig at the V.V. [‘Suffer’ played again 95-09-15] Sned played for ‘Dirt’ for a bit and Neil from ‘Final Warning’ put us up when we went over there so it was good to catch up…
Alec Mac, ‘Suffer’ guitarist/vocalist
I have some photos from this gig somwehere!… Alec said I played in ‘Dirt’ for a while? That is not correct. I did however play in ‘Final Warning’ on their US tour in 1994. Stacey from ‘Mankind?’ was singing for ‘Dirt’ on this tour in ‘95 as Deno had left (this was most likely one of ‘Dirt’s very last gigs).
Sned, ‘Suffer’ drummer
In Belgium we played at venues like the Pits and the Vort’n Vis; that really formed what I did with my own venue the Cavern which I opened in 1991. We were always treated really well when we played Belgium.
This is some stuff from my diary-notes about the V.V. show:
>> The Vort’n Vis all-dayer was one of the final shows we did as ‘Wordbug’, just before we started our new band ‘Annalise’. We had a lot of good mates in Belgium at the time and had already played a number of shows with local punk-bands like ‘Byetail’ and ‘Faroutski The V.V. show was a real high-point, even though in those days we were completely broke and roughing it every night in squats and round various mates’ houses. We were doing the whole tour in a Nissan Micra that belonged to our drummer’s mum, so you can imagine what a nightmare it was for transporting gear. I couldn’t even fit my hard-case into the front-seat and had to spend the entire time with a ‘77 Fender Jazz Bass on my lap, machine-heads thumping dents in the vinyl roof every time we went over a speed-bump.
We arrived at Stefaan (‘Lompie’) from ‘Byetail’s house at about 5 a.m. and immediately started on cans of Scrumpy Jack [cider] and shots of a Belgian liquor called jenever. ‘Lompie’s hospitality was legendary with UK punk-bands at the time and he was never slow to start the party. He organised punk-shows at venues like The Pits in Kortrijk and also drummed in a bunch of bands. [Brob: We were in ‘Repulsives’ and ‘Yuppies’Death’ together…]
Then we drove up to Vort’n Vis. Apparently the venue had been threatened by neo-nazis earlier on in the week, so everyone was on high alert and a bit suspicious when we rolled up. A bunch of crusties surrounded the car to check our credentials and ‘Tripey’, our guitarist at the time, opened the doors and cranked up the tape he had on: ‘The Wurzels’. Soon a large group of anarcho-punks in unlaced army-boots were dancing round shambolically to Where Be That Blackbird To? and I Am A Cider Drinker, and we were all drinking cans of Special Brew and having a party of our own in the car-park. I remember the whole place stinking of weed and patchouli oil.
It was a great vibe at V.V. that day, U.S. band ‘Dropdead’ being a big draw at the time. There were distros all along one wall selling copies of Maximum Rock’n’Roll, Punk Planet and various other punk zines. This was in the days before the internet, when DIY publications were the punk-scene’s main source of info. Punk wasn’t on TV 24 hours a day like it is now. I think that started in the U.K. with the short lived P-Rock channel, followed by Scuzz and Kerrang! TV, but the upside of having a strong DIY punk-scene was a certain kind of authenticity you got then that is more difficult to find now.
Punks from all around Europe had turned up at Vort’n Vis for the show that day, flogging lots of cool vinyl on their stalls. Eddy, our singer, managed to trade a stack of our Fettered EPs for some rare ‘Queers’ and LookOut recs 7”s. What a deal! I also bought a replacement-copy of Cynthia Connoly’s book Banned In DC which had really influenced my photography.
I met Edward (Ward) Verhaeghe from ‘Nations On Fire’ at one stall – he was a person we knew from our hometown of Exeter after his band turned up and blagged their way onto the opening show for our punk-club, The Cavern. I think they were big fans of the headline band we had booked that day: ‘Quicksand’.
‘Wordbug’ played in the afternoon and I remember Tripey’s JCM 2000 blowing up because we were using the wrong adaptor. I’ve got a feeling we really sucked, which was a shame because it came right after an amazing show in Tielt. Eddy did his normal trick when we were fucking up of getting off the stage and in with the crowd. It didn’t totally make up for our lack of energy but at least gave something for the crowd to react to and a few wasted punters might have enjoyed themselves
‘Dropdead’ played a fantastic set, which made me feel even more inadequate, but I’ll never forget the vibe at Vort’n Vis that day. The memory of shows like that is what keeps me going through a lot of the mundane bullshit you get with some of the so-called alternative bands of today. It felt authentic at V.V., which is something I always hope to recreate in my own venue, The Cavern.<<
David Goodchild, ‘Wordbug’ bassist
‘Wordbug’
Here’s what I remember…Great show! An all-dayer with tons of bands – ‘Dropdead’ and ‘Dirt’. I think. I’d heard of the Vort’n Vis from reading scenereports in MRR so it felt good to be playing there. I thought it was weird playing with ‘Dirt’ – I’d seen them support ‘Crass’ back in 1980/81???
This was the final ‘Wordbug’ tour before we changed our name to ‘Annalise’ and we were having a good time knowing these were the last ‘Wordbug’ shows. I remember it was a hot day and we pulled up into a courtyard outside the venue and left the car there while punks drank and talked around us. John our guitarist had a tape of an old comedy UK band called ‘The Wurzels’ that he played on a loop from the car real loud. They had a hit called I Am A Cider Drinker and he was teaching a load of crusty punks the words while sharing some booze with them. Whatever they were drinking was disgusting!
As for the gig, I can’t remember if there was a stage but ‘Wordbug’ definitely played on the floor. It was a good crowd. We played well and people got into it-it was fun. I was always on the look out for crusty punks (there were a few outside) as we had had bad experiences in the past but it was a good mixed punk crowd and all was cool and friendly. Tons of record and fanzine stalls around the venue which I always loved about punk-shows. We traded a lot of singles and chatted to some great people. We had put ‘Nations On Fire’ on in our hometown Exeter and the main guy of ‘N.O.F.’ was there and came to some other shows we played. We left late afternoon as I think we played somewhere else that evening (I could be wrong – it’s a long time ago). Not sure who organized the show. We played in Belgium 3 times, twice Stefaan from ‘Byetail’ organised the shows and the other time a band called ‘Faroutski’ organised them.
‘Ed’, ‘Wordbug’ singer
A wonderful experience, a bit intimidating because we were rather young and the only Belgian band on the bill… It was the gig with the biggest audience we ever had. I believe someone (from a far away country, Japan?) was filming. Would be nice to see that…
Pieter Brosens, ‘Deconsume’
I’m sure we played at the Vort’n Vis but I don’t remember if it was at this fest.
Chris Angiolini, guitarist of ‘Miskatonic University’
I didn’t play in ‘Final Warning’. Although, I started it with Neil as ‘Warning’.
Todd Ciavarella
I remember ‘Final Warning’ covered Electrodes by ‘Nausea’ at this show… With the female singer [Stacey Scapeccia] of ‘Mankind?’ [political hardcore punk from New Haven, Ct; they did a split-7” on Neil’s label] on guest-vocals if memory serves me right… So good… I also remember ‘M.V.D.’ stole the show that day, they were amazing.
Luc Ardilouze (France), Scream fanzine
‘M.V.D.’ was epic that day!
Michael Maes, V.V. ‘shitworker’
I bought a copy of Soy Not Oi from Brob there…
Lieven Vanhoutte, Deerlijk
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
Carsten Kissler
additions wellcome!…
‘Suffer’ & ‘Dropdead’: Alec – Chris – Brian – Bob – Ben – Sned – Lee
Alec Mac – one of the 2 solid, reliable Flat Earth pilars
Neil Robinson (Tribal War recs) & Jon ‘Active’; ‘brothers in arms’
‘Dirt’ with vocalist Stacey
‘Dropdead’
Neil ‘Final Warning’
Bernd ‘Stack’ (apparently ‘Stack’ didn’t play together with ‘Seein’Red’ the evening before)
audience during ‘Final Warning’s gig (with centrally Ludovic Hache of Ras L’Bol zine)
audience during ‘Dropdead’s set (with on the left ‘6 Six feet Over’s vocalist Stéphane Cormary)
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 