2001-05-11 Thee Plague Of Gentlemen – Sad Origin – 5 Day Getaway – The Deal – Kingpin

This was the last ever gig at the Kiekenmarkt 7 (original address of the Vort’n Vis) before saying goodbye on May 12th 2001 and moving to a new location… Some of the same people who played at the first gig (12 years before) did so here…

Drummer David Stubbe (drums) & bassist Karel Busschop joined ‘Thee Plague Of Gentlemen’ (sludge/doom band from Ghent) when ‘Holefiller’ quit. On the band’s first release (a split-7″ with ‘American Heritage’ released in 2000), the line-up was ‘x4’ (drummer Xavier Benoit), Paul Lamont (bass; also ‘Nahende Vernichtung’ & ‘Hitch’) and Steve W. (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Neuthrone’).

‘5 Day GetAway’ was ‘Blindfold’ directly after they’d split up, without Hans Verbeke and Mich Decruyenaere: Wim Vandekerckhove (guitar), Jan Maelfait (bass), ‘Chatn’ Sacha Baelen (drums), with the addition of Vincent Maes (vocals; ex ‘Instinct’, also ‘The Deal’ bassist). Discriptions of their music went from “melodic/rockin’ HardCore” to “emo with a punky old school touch”. There was a (6-track) self-titled CD released in 2001 that was distributed through Genet recs and they had a song on the The Crossroad Project compilation-CD.

‘The Deal’ was with Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes (bass; ex ‘Instinct’) & Bjorn Dossche (vocals; One Step Down zine) who had been in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ together. The others were Christophe Vandenberghe (guitar; later ‘Lockstitch’; Cedric ‘Cete’ Goetgebuer joined later), Pedro Tallieu (guitar, ex ‘Instinct’ bassist) and Bruno Tallieu (drums). This was probably their first concert in Ieper. They did a demo (rehearsal-tape) and Hans Verbeke released their (self-titled) debut EP (on his label SoberMinds recs). They were featured at the fest that year (2001-08-17).

‘Kingpin’ – Sim Meerseman (guitar; also ‘Spirit Of Youth’), ‘Vinnie’ Vincent Merveillie (drums; singer of ‘Spirit Of Youth), Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers (bass; ‘Natural Order’, ‘Congress’); Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar, ex ‘Spineless’) & Joost Noyelle (vocals; ‘Congress’/‘Liar) – had also appeared in the V.V. before. They played “groovy and catchy New York HC” (references to ‘Cro-Mags’, ‘Leeway’, etc.). In 2000 they recorded a 5-song demo. Hans Verbeke would release their 10″ Bad Habits Die Hard on his label Pyrorex in 2002.

‘Sad Origin’ (a death-metal band from Dendermonde) played a few times in Ieper aswell, being a band that released material on Genet recs. Playing for the band: Robin (bass), Wim Aerts (drums), Wes(ley) Steels (guitar) and Hans ‘Link’ Teirlinck (vocals).

Brob

The ‘T.P.O.G.’ line-up (the second one) that I was in was just Xavier, Steve and myself. We split up ón (!) stage in l’Escalier in Liège. Xavier and me had enough, called it quits when Steve left mid-concert…

Paul Lamont

I can remember ‘Kingpin’ playing; they did a tight set. ‘Fifi’ on guitar, Joost doing vocals. I was a fan of that band, with their New York grooves, actually. ‘5 Day GetAway’ was a project where Vince, our (‘The Deal’) bassist, was singing. They did stuff in the style of ‘Dag Nasty’. Their music was very well put together but the band didn’t last long. ‘Thee Plague Of Gentleman’ was from Ghent. A bit of an outsider-band on this bill.

Pedro Tallieu

93-09-04 Contropotere & Brawl (extra photos)

More on this concert:  93-09-04 Contropotere – Herb Garden – Brawl – Bad Influence

Here’s a series of photographs taken and donated by Carla Oliveira (a Portugese interrailing through Europe at that time):

‘Contropotere’

‘Brawl’

92-11-01 Nessun Dorma – Bad Influence – Pleum – [Steve Ignorant’s puppet-show]

Half a year after their previous appearance (92-05-02) Bristol-based ‘Nessun Dorma’ were back already. In Oct 1991 their Chew It Over LP was released on Mike Foster’s label M.C.R. so they were promoting that extensively… The band was Seamus Cummins (bass), Paul Perry (vocals), Phil (drums) and Ju(lian) Newby & Tony ‘Tone’ (guitarists). They came a couple more times…

‘Bad Influence’ were supposed to be guiding Steve ‘Ignorant’ (ex ‘Crass’; real name Steve Williams) around on his puppet-show tour… But I can’t recall have seen him at the V.V. He came over with Stratford Mercenaries (98-03-29).

‘Bad Influence’s line-up changed quite a few times in the 90s. About a year after this, on 93-09-04, the baddies had Tim ‘Crow’ Shapland (ex ‘Zygote’) as bassist and Egbert ‘Eggy’ played guitar. On the New Age Witch Hunt LP – which was released in ’92 (recorded May/June) – it was Pat Delabie & Thomas Noppe.

‘Pleum’ (‘Pleûm’), a punk/HC band from the Rouen area (Normandy, France), were: Nico (bass), Ludo (guitar), Fred ‘Frédo’ Lachnowich (vocals) & Cyril(lo) (drums). They did a tape called Et ça Craint (D.I.Y.; 1989) and a CD Pue-La-Merde (1995) on a label from Poitiers, called On A Faim! They were also on a bunch of compilations (see discography).

Brob

My guess is that Steve had canceled last minute. We played with ‘Labie’ and Thomas then…

Holy Herwin

I don’t think I still played bass for ‘B.I.’ at that time…

Pat Labie

additions wellcome!…

90-09-28 Dreft – C.O.D.A. – K.U.N.T.

An almost forgotten gig with local ‘bands’…

The second gig of ‘Dreft’ here (a year after 89-07-09) – from the Izegem-Kortrijk area. Here in their grindcore phase (they started in ’85 but things got ‘serious’ in around ’88); with Dominik ‘Nolf’ Denolf (vocals), Pascal ‘Scalle’ Desplancke (vocals), Sammy Windels (guitar), Kris ‘Mosh(terd)’ Maes (bass) & Bernard ‘Narre’ Demeulenaere (drums). The death-metal sound came later when Erwin De Vriendt took over the guitar (without ‘Nolf’ & ‘Scalle’; ’88-’92), and in an even later stage ‘U.J.’ played bass and ‘Josh’ guitar ’92-’93?). Their demo Butchered was recorded September 1991 with Kris doing vocals…

‘C.O.D.A.’ (‘Co-operation Of Death Alcoholics’) was the band of Andy ‘Wanky’ Debaere (growls). There were two vocalists (Benny & Swatn/Swab), a drummer (another Andy/ ‘Anti’ Vandendriessche) and a bassist, Patrick Foré – no guitarist. They were from the Roeselare/Torhout area and surroundings. There’s a demo from 1989 entitled Growing A Moustache Isn’t Hardcore!? with 30+ tracks (labeled “noise-thrash”).

Brob

K.U.N.T. (‘Krisis Und Neurosis Theater’) was a figment of Dieter [Roelstraete]. He had lyrics and wanted to do something in the vein of ‘ Einsturzende Neubauten’, proto-noise with costumes and tribal drums. If I remember well ‘K.U.N.T.’ was myself, Fabrice Baclet, Dieter Roelstraete, Jeroen Vanhandsame and Philippe Dassonville [‘Fluppe the Hardrocker’]. We performed once together with a little project that Jeroen ‘nationsonfire’ [Lauwers] had: “The Jeroen Machine” – a benefit for god-kows-what. One hand-written poster, nothing more. Just a racket: everyone ‘played’ a character from Dieter’s lyrics; the idea of what later would become ‘Anus Mundi’ – Dieter’s little artist-club in Gent.

David Stubbe

We only did 2 gigs with ‘K.U.N.T.’, At First I was bassist, then drummer… We didn’t have songs; we did pure jam-sessions. Rather wild parties…

Philippe Dassonville

I think David Stubbe made a few too many wrong combinations of alcohol, mushrooms and other chemical substances in his life…

Jeroen Lauwers

‘K.U.N.T.’, ai, that was for fun really, just as that tape with 1001 ‘songs’ that David and I made under the moniker ‘Anal Disobedience’. Can’t believe we ever played live…

Dieter Roelstraete

‘C.O.D.A.’ was called ‘Chronic Death’ at first and had a guitarist.

Ben Adams

Benny was thrown of the band because of fascist ideas. Then I joined… I don’t have any recollections of this gig but I might’ve been there…

Andy Debaere

additions wellcome!…

99-09-11 Disbeer – Insult – Suppository – BloodSuckers – Sickness – LoggerHead – Distress – [Container Crusties From Hell]

Second day of the 1999 Leed festival – “a meeting of grind, HC, punk, crust & noise” – organised by Frederic Driessens.

The day before (99-09-10) ‘Yacøpsae’ played and their guitarist ‘Stoffel’ summed up the bands that played here: ‘LoggerHead’, ‘Container Crusties From Hell’, ‘Bloodsuckers’, ‘Disbeer’, ‘Distress’, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Insult’. ‘LoggerHead’ was supposed to play the first day but because they couldn’t make it so they gigged the following day.

Dave ‘Opoespook’ (‘Container Crusties From Hell’ drummer) insists that they never played the Vort’n Vis…

There was a third day announced (with sXe bands) but there’s no indications that this actually happened…

‘Insult’, from Dutch Limburg, played powerviolence/fastcore (on the flyer compared with ‘Infest’). They were ‘Grizzly’ Rob Herraets (guitar), Loek(ie) Peeters (bass), Rob Nabbe (drums/vocals; also vocals for ‘Mallorn’) and ‘El Sancho’ Willem-Jan ‘Edge’ Kneepkens (guitar; also ‘Mallorn’). ‘Scumbag Duke’ screamed on the split-7” with ‘B.S.E. (recorded summer of ’99). Most of their vinyl was released on Roy Meijnen (Slaves Of Mainstream zine)’s Balowski recs.

‘BloodSuckers’ had played at the V.V. before (97-05-18). They were from Wallony (Arlon area, in the Belgian province of Luxembourg) and played grind/crust. The guys in the band were Pierre Marchal (drums), Chris(tophe) Pels (guitar), Gregory Pels (bass) and Michael Thiry (vocals). They had a few tapes out, one of which was a split-tape with a thrash/metal-HC band with the same name from Slovenia. In 2001 ‘Kisaac’ (Isaac Roelens; later drummer for ‘MatrakAttak’) did a 3-way split CD with his band ‘Bob’s Bizarre Bazaar’ and ‘Angry Minded’ on his label Anvil Of Fury… In 2000 guitarist Stany Lamock (‘LoggerHead’) joined the band…

‘LoggerHead’ (described as “fast grind/mincecore”) were from the French-speaking part of Belgium (Fauvillers). They had done a split-tape and were featured on a couple of compilations (e.g. Music For The Dead Masses, on the French label Noise Solution recs)… Later there was a split-CD with the Japanese ‘Unholy Grave’ (on Romain Trocherie’s label Revolution recs). The band consisted of Stany ‘Lamince’ Lamock (guitar/vocals), Anne-So(phie) (guitar) & ‘Boule’ (drums/vocals).

‘Disbeer’ (Auch, France) also played at the Vort’n Vis already (on 97-10-28). This crusty metal-punk outfit consisted of Fred ‘Utopia’ Jourdan ‘the bomber’ (drums; ex ‘Enola Gay’), ‘the hammer’ (bass) and Michel Cebrian ‘the motherfucker’ (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Enola Gay’, also Reality Of War zine). In 1998 they had 2 releases out: Panx recs (from Toulouse) put out the Beer Drinkers & Hellraisers LP and Olivier Lacoste (Murder recs from Bordeaux) did a picture-EP entitled The Frost.

On their first release (2000) – a selftitled EP – ‘Sickness’ (a crust-punk band from Auch, France) were ‘Lolo’ Cyril Prieto (bass; ex ‘Enola Gay’), ‘Pit’ (drums; ex ‘Vomit Yourself’; R.I.P.), ‘Murdock’ (guitar) & ‘P.P.’ (vocals). They also did a demo in ‘98… At some timepoint Anne-Gaelle Manceau (bassist of ‘Enola Gay’ on 95-11-05) was also in the band (vocals) & before Greg Dupart played bass (when Cyril played guitar).

‘Distress’ (Alkmaar, The Netherlands) also had a previous passage at the V.V. (97-05-31). The band (D-beat style) at that time consisted of ‘Lucky’ (drums; replacing Bill ‘Boycot’) & Lennaert Roomer (guitar/vocals; was also in ‘Boycot’ and bands such as ‘Wartorn’ & ‘Solstice’ with Rich Militia), and bassist John-Peter ‘JP’ Kuiper (Billy’s brother). They did a self-titled 7” and 3 splits: with ‘Karma’ (on Tim Leten’s label Filth-Ear, ’96), with ‘Boycot (10”, ‘97) and with ‘Mind’ (Resuscitate recs, ‘98).

‘Suppository’ (Dutch Limburg) had been invited to the Vort’n Vis twice already: 97-05-31 & 97-10-04. Boris ‘Bastard’ Cornelissen (vocals), Max ‘Goulash’ Duys (bass), Rutger ‘Ragout’ Noij (drums) and René (guitar; later Robin de Boer) played grindcore. They had recorded their first efforts in March ‘97 (released on a split-7” with the Greek ‘Rakitis’ in ‘98). The same year there was a CD with ‘Agathocles’ where Matty replaced René on guitar. More releases followed… They also did a German tour that year with ‘Cornucopia’.

‘Container Crusties From Hell’ were the band of Dave ‘Opoespook’ (drums/vocals) & Ronan Gallou (guitar/vocals); Pepijn van der Geld (also in ‘Mihoen’) played bass. Their music was fast grindy/thrashy crust-core with anarchist lyrics in English and French. I used to correspond with Dave: he ran the Paria Collective and was involved with Anarchist Black Cross in Utrecht. He also booked bands at the Pariaschool squat in Veldhoven (The Netherlands). Only Ronan was from Dijon (France). In 2000 Maloka (punk collective from Dijon) released a split-7” with ‘Mihoen’. After the turn of the century Maloka also put out a benefit-LP the band did for the Food Not Bombs chapter in the Philippines. Plus they did a track for the album Au Pied Du Mur (Anarchist Black Cross benefit-compilation, Maloka 2001). There’s also a demo and a live-tape (recorded in the Czech Republic) out there.

Brob

This gig ‘Distress’ did in ‘99 was already with ‘Lucky’, the drummer after me…

Bill ‘Boycot’ Kuiper

I’m not sure if we actually played this gig. I know we had to cancel a few concerts but not why. It could’ve been that Bill had wuit and we had to find another drummer… By the way ‘Lucky’ is DJ at Baroeg in Rotterdam [venue for “alternative” music]…

Lennaert Roomer

After ‘Vomit Yourself’ [95-02-11], I played drums in ‘Sickness’ and also bass in ‘Ultimate Disorder’.

‘Pit’

In ‘99 I didn’t play for ‘Sickness’ anymore… Cyril Prieto played bass at that time.

Greg Dupart

I wasn’t in ‘Sickness’ anymore…at least I don’t think so…

Anne-Gaelle Manceau

An incredible evening with lots of alcohol… It was the eraly days of ‘Sickness’, with ‘P.P.’ singing.

Cyril Prieto

Pepijn ‘Mihoen’ lives in the U.S. nowadays…

Michael Kopijn

I believe us, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Distress’ were the only dutchies, can’t recall ‘C.C.F.H.’… We slept on the beach afterwards [Ieper’s not on the coast though], fucking cold…

Rob Nabbe

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

98-04-11 Sorehead – Lifecycle – D.S.A. – Striker – Kalashnikov – Ignominy – Powers Of Discipline – Inside

The V.V. notes mentioned that ‘Lorre’ (Laurent Peene) & ‘Sientje’ (Nico Sinnaeve) were on bar-duties that day. The bands were mostly, if not all, locals. It probably wasn’t an announced gig (because there’s no other traces) but more like a get-together…

‘Lifecycle’ (‘new-school’ HC – H8000 but not with that typical sound, Ieper/Kortijk region) was one of the ‘house-bands’ of the V.V. in that periode (97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-08-17, may ’98-05-10). The line-up: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie soon went on to sing for ‘Spirit Of Youth’), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others). In a letter from May ’98, Sofie mentions that their bassist Jurgen Degryse had quit the band. His last show was in that month. He was replaced by Maarten Kinet (who later played for ‘AmenRa’)… Later the band had a few more changes…

‘Sorehead’ (from Ieper) played the V.V. a bunch of times (see: 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-05-10). They did a 5-track demo in 1997. Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene did vocals; the others were Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Jan Lazeure (guitar). ‘Lorre’ died in 2003.

‘D.S.A.’ (Ieper area) – old-school NY Hardcore – was the band of Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Davy Verhoye (R.I.P.)/Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (Vandenberghe?; guitar)… Have a look at 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-08-16 for their other V.V. shows

‘Striker’ (H8000 metalcore) was a band that Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene joined but he didn’t sing here fro them yet… The rest of the line-up: ‘Gerre’ Gerald Goedhart (guitar; later guitarist of ‘Core of Anger’), ‘Tomme’ Tom Bordeaux (guitar), PJ Vandamme (bass; later guitarist of ‘Retaliate’ & ‘Outcast’) & David ‘Terre’ Termote (drums). They released a demo entitled High Hopes For Nothing in 1999. Check also 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16.

‘Ignominy’ was a vegan straight-edge band; their guitarist Ward Dufraimont went on to play for ‘Firestone’. The others in the band were Ward Cecat (bass), Wouter Debonnet (drums; also ‘Rhymes Of Destruction’), ‘Jakke’ Jacob Vanluchene (guitar) & David Derammelaere (vocals). They recorded a demo (A Cry For Justice) early ’98.

‘Kalashnikov’ (metalcore from Diksmuide, so also H8000) would be back at the V.V. on 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16. The band was Thijs Plovie (guitar), Dave Willaert (bass), Tom Verheecke (vocals) & Bart Gouwy (drums).

‘Powers Of Discipline’ had the bassist of ‘Minotaur’ and ‘Archaï’ in their ranks.

‘Inside’ was an emo band linked with people from the first line-up of ‘Minotaur’

Brob

I can remember vaguely that we did this gig with the bands but nothing more…really.

Gerald Goedhart

I recall we did a ‘Merauder’ cover: the vocalist at the time sang the lyrics of the verse and chorus the other way round and people came up to me after the show saying that the new song resembled ‘Merauder’ a lot. (smile) It was the day we stole ‘Sorehead’s singer.  Before him we tried out some local guys: the first one was in ‘Evangelist’ [Frederik ‘Zwartn’ Deswarte], the second one couldn’t keep rhythm and became our roadie [Vincent Degryse]. ‘Lorre’ joined by the end of ’98: we played the old set a few times with him and then restarted with new tracks. He was one the demo.

PJ Vandamme

We always said ‘D.S.A.’ was short for ‘Download Society Agression’ but in fact it was more like ‘Dikke Stront Affaire’ [“a huge load of crap”] from the very beginning. ‘Sien’ and myself started ‘Edgecrusher’ to take a totally different direction (thrash-metal). ‘Retaliate was supposed to be a side-project; ‘Edgecrusher’ came earlier.

Freddy Vanhee

I only remember I liked ‘Striker’.

Wouter Debonnet

I remembered little of that show but a fellow band-member gave me some info. The bands were all just starting out; it was a matinee type of thing in the afternoon (so hardly any people whowed up – the same day there was a mega-cool show in Wevelgem with ‘Sektor’, ‘Vitality’, ‘Arkangel’, etc.), organised by ‘Schmitters’ [Stijn Desmyter], in the Vort’n Vis pub. We played with our original line-up: Wouter, Jacob, Ward, David & myself.

Ward Cecat

I set up a few gigs at the Vort’n Vis, often on request of the bands themselves… Most of them were Belgian. My principle was that we have some ‘home-grown’ gems that earn a stage and I wanted something other than ‘Madball’ clones with a fucked-up attitude. I booked bands that I could trust, knew and had seen live. I also always tried to mix styles to avoid monotonous shows.

Stijn Desmyter

‘Powers Of Discipline’ was Alexander Ronsse on guitar and some guy named Filiep or Philippe on drums. Helmert Decavele was also our bassist (‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’). He replaced someone else, can ‘t remember his name. I might have rehearsed with ‘P.O.D.’ once. Long time ago…

Jeroen Algoet, ‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’ drummer

Maarten Byttebier was the drummer for ‘Inside’. He was one of the vocalists of ‘Minotaur’ in the beginning…

Bram Algoet, guitarist of ‘Minotaur’, (occasionally) ‘Archaï’ & ‘The Curse’

‘Powers Of Discipline’ was me (bassist of ‘Archaï’ & ‘Minotaur’) as a singer, Alexander Ronsse on guitar, Jelle Vandepitte (bass) & Dimitri Dias (drums).

‘Inside’ was Maarten Byttebier (singer of ‘Minotaur’ in its early days), his brother Thomas Byttebier on bass, Dimitri Declerq and Bart Wattez on guitar. Natascha Jaumain & Amber Omez were singing.

Bram Algoet wasn’t part of ‘Archaï’ [he was an occasional stand-in: see 99-11-27]; that was Brecht Algoet (guitar), Jeroen Algoet (drums), Liesbeth Meyfroid (vocals), Helmert Decavele (bass) & Dimitri Declerq guitar.

Helmert Decavele

additions wellcome!…

94-07-27 As Usual

No idea if this was an actual gig at the Vort’n Vis… The only indication is the entry in the guestbook below… But the date mentioned is a Wednesday (which would be pretty unusual for a gig at the V.V.)…

‘As Usual’ was a local band that had a couple of V.V. shitworkers among their ranks. They’d done a few shows here already (93-09-18 & 94-03-05). The band consisted of Frederick Wyckaert (drums), Dimitri ‘Dimi’ Loones (vocals), ‘Boeze’/‘Booze’ Johan ‘Yoan’ Seys (vocals), Danny Suffys (bass) and Michael Maes (guitar). The latter 3 later formed ‘Carcer Molochi’.

Before this they had “experimented” under the name ‘Suffocating Emotions’, covering other HC/punk bands (‘Zero Positive’, ‘Nations On Fire’). ‘As Usual’ started in 1991. In an interview they stated ‘Sedition’ and ‘No More’ as influences… Around the end of ’93 they recorded a first demo (rehearsal; no mention of ‘Boeze’ yet) and they did a split-tape with ‘Hiatus’ (distributed by Olivier Hogie from Toulouse). They were also on the compilation-tape Possessed By Death (put out by Frederic Driessens in 1993).

So there’s this clipping from the guestbook but no indications to other bands playing. Perhaps the band was rehearsing? It was mid-summer and there were probably no concerts at the V.V. around that time, even though there’s mention of “gig”? Or they were being hosts for the UK band ‘Dirt’ that was doing a few shows in the neigbourhood)? (29 jul ’94 @ ‘De Kelk’, Brugge & 30 jul ’94 @ ‘Jeugdhuis’, Beverlo) ‘Yoan’ is referring to a ride to the latter…

Brob

According to me ‘As Usual’ didn’t exist anymore by then; but I can be wrong, my memory might play tricks on me…

Michael Maes

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

98-04-26 Sektor – Spineless – Canvas – Arkangel – Natural Order – Outcast – Belief

This one was announced as a presentation for the new ‘Spineless’ album (A Talk Between Me And The Stars), released by SoberMind recs (Hans Verbeke)… but Roland Frey might have taken care of some of the organisation… Their Painfields CD had also been wellcomed with a release-party (97-06-27)

‘Canvas’, a noiseHCdeathmetal band from Leeds, were Andy Sutcliffe (guitar), Dan Kearns (drums), Gareth ‘Gaz’ Brown (bass), John Sutcliffe (vocals) and Karl Fieldhouse (guitar; later ‘Born From Pain’). They did 2 split-EPs in 1999 – with ‘John Holmes’ (on Devil Rock) & with ‘Hard To Swallow’ ‎(Contrition recs), and 2 albums on Household Name recs: a self-titled one (‘98) & Lost In Rock (2000). The music of the latter was described as “psychedelic rock/metal with electronics, synthesizers, effects, soundscapes; an unpredictable musical experience”.

‘Arkangel’ were/are a metalcore band from Brussels. The line-up in the beginning was Baldur Vilmurdarsson (vocals), David Vande Zande (drums), Numa (guitar) and Vince(nt) Messeuw (bass; ex ‘Out For Blood’; later replaced by Mehdi Thepegnier). Guitarists Julien Chanut & Michel Kirby (ex ‘Mental Disturbance’ & ‘Deviate’) would join after the turn of the century. Alain Herszaft did a miniCD (Prayers Upon Deaf Ears) on his label Released Power Productions (’98) and their LP Dead Man Walking would appear on GoodLife recs (’99). They were invited to play on the fest the next year (99-08).

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on the fest in August ’96 and came back a few times. They were Kristof Mondy (bass; Yoda zine; later ‘AmenRa’), Colin H. Van Eeckhout (vocals; later ‘AmenRa’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Mathieu Vandekerckhove (guitar; replaced Koen Sandra in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). They played brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) they did the Painfields 7” (‘97) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (‘98) – an album inspired by their “near-dead-experience’ (car-crash on tour) – for Sober Mind recs.

‘Belief’ (Liège) wasn’t on the poster but the V.V. notes mention them playing. This was a metalcore band with – at that time – Pierre Boudry (vocals), Tito ‘Fury’ (guitar; vocalist of ‘Surge Of Fury’), Jef(f) Pauly (drums) & Ange Koetz (bass).

The ‘Sektor’ line-up had changed by then (since early ’98)… ‘Lenny’ had taken over vocals from Jeroen Therry. Wesley Bral replaced Piet Cardoen. A guy named Ringo played bass (later ‘Wulf’ Kristof Dewulf of ‘Deformity’). Drummer Bert Guillemont (also ‘Liar’) and guitarist Vadim Vandekerckhove stayed put.

‘Natural Order’ had already played here (97-10-12). They were a vegan sXe hardcore / hardline band (“violent dancers and pro-life” as someone described them once) with Roland, the brother of Cindy Frey (Hans’ girlfriend at that time) singing, hence their track on Animal Truth’s Animal Rights Benefit Sampler (out on Sober Mind recs in ‘98). The others were guitarists Pedro Fioen (also ‘Spineless’) & ‘Lenny’ Wouter Cael (also ‘Sektor’), bassist Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers (also ‘Congress’) and the drummer of ‘Spineless’ (Stefaan Buyse), I believe.

‘Outcast’ (from the Gullegem/Kortrijk area) started out as “a heavy NY-styled mosh-band”. Also dubbed as “deathcore” or “tuff guy hardcore death-metal mosh” (in 1997). They used to be an all straight-edge band. Their guitar-player also played bass in ‘Sektor’ (Wesley Bral – also played the bass in ‘Strong Individual’, together with ‘Sektor’s Lenny & Bert, and Outcast’ vocalist Gerrit). I believe their line-up here was Tim Vanglabeke & Wesley Bral (guitar), Nick Vanglabeke (drums), Nico Degroote (bass) and Gerrit ‘Gerre’ Van Horebeek (vocals; quit halfway ’99; replaced by Pieter Vanham). Read Tim’s comment below. They also played the V.V. on 2000-09-16.

Brob

‘Outcast’s first line-up was with Nico Degroote op bass (also played with us in ‘Whatever It Takes’). The vocalist and bassist changed a few times and we also had a couple of 2nd guitarists. Our first Vort’n Vis “show” was in the rehearsal-space upstairs, with ‘D.S.A’ & ‘Spineless’. In ‘98 this had to be one of our first shows with Wesley. Gerrit quit halfway ’99; later Pieter Vanham did vocals…

The line-up here was Tim Vanglabeke (guitar), Nick Vanglabeke (drums), Nico Degroote (bass) and Gerrit Hannicar (vocals). Wesley joined later as 2nd guitarist.

‘Outcast’ original line-up (courtesy of Tim V.)

We were the first band in the H8000 area that played slow slam HC-style… We were, because of circumstances, an sXe band: Gerrit and myself used dope when were younger and decided to become clean. So we ended up with SoberMind but a few months later we already dropped the X’s and our record was never released. We did a second demo instead.

‘Natural Order’ started after they’d seen us play in Kortrijk. The slow-paced bands emerged like mushrooms. We already had ‘Sightless’ in ‘95, later ‘Ignorance’, ‘Stronghold’ and that became ‘Outcast’. I also played in ‘Strong Individual’…

Tim Vanglabeke

I only played one show with ‘Outcast’… Not this one here…

Gerrit Van Horebeek

Jeroen was in the band until end ’98. We still did a 97-98 winter-tour with him Jeroen. The people in the guestbook were myself, Wesley, Vadim, Bert & Ringo (don’t know his full name)…

Wouter Cael, ‘Sektor’

I used to drive bands around in ‘Doom’s van. I drove the band ‘Canvas’ from Leeds round Europe. They played a straight-edge gig at the Vort’n Vis. I felt very intimidated and fucking hated all that hardline shit. I couldn’t believe the stupid violent karate dancing. Some young girl got accidentally kicked in the face and they all thought it was hilarious. Needless to say I sat outside for most of it and got drunk on lovely Belgian beer.

Brian Talbot

We played in Belgium a couple of times with ‘Canvas’. [Brob: I only know of GoodLife Fest 98-12-31] My memory is fuzzy, to say the least…

Karl Fieldhouse

We played the V.V. a number of times.The first time there we were really impressed with how the scene was compared to the UK. There were some really strong Belgian bands at the time. We nearly recorded something for GoodLife but for some reason it all fell through… After a while we became a bit more technical but the kids weren’t that into it as they all just wanted to do that generic hardcore dancing and show-off pit-moves that I believe still goes on today… As time went on the UK scene got a lot better and the bands were much more varied and by the time we were ready to come back over to play one last V.V. show, we broke up! Happy memories of watching ‘Regression’ and ‘Convinced’ and ‘Deformity’ etc. in the sun. Got to meet and hang out with some really awesome people.

John Sutcliffe, ‘Canvas’

We had a second guitar-player later… I just remember ‘Arkangel’ was playing that show; for the rest it’s too long ago, just that it was a sunny Sunday.

Tito ‘Fury’

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

“windmills are fun; a boot in your face aswell”

additions wellcome!…

98-09-18 Money Drug – Hellfiller – Charlie Don’t Surf – King Creole – Lieselotte

Intro: 98-09-18&19 10^th Leedfestival

‘King Creole’ (from Deinze) was the band my mate Frederik ‘Fré’ Danneels (who ran Bezoumny distribution and was part of our Newland collective) played bass in. The others were ‘Zimmerman’ Pieter Teirlinck (vocals), Bram Walgraeve (guitar; ex ‘Sincerity’) and Frederick De Vogelaere (drums; ex ‘Sincerity’).

‘Charlie Don’t Surf’, from Aarschot/Leuven, was Kurt De Bont (drums), Roberto Gasparini (bass), Gert Goris (vocals; gert-kleinkunst.be), Kurt Van Asselberghs (guitar) and Philippe Anthonis (guitar). That year their 7” Six Songs To Die For came out (co-released by Funtime recs, Kurt’s label Hageland Strikes Back, Filth-Ear distribution). The year after there was a split-CD (with ‘End Of Ernie’, Funtime recs & Hageland Strikes Back). Earlier that year they had already played the benefit for Dirk Van Alboom (guitarist of ‘Time Out’)’s wife and kid (98-02-13).

The band ‘Lieselotte’ did a tape (titled Pakita M.S.) in ’98, a split-LP with ‘Bagger’ (with some people of ‘Viktor’s Hoffnarren’) in 1999 and had 2 tracks on the Swiss Punk Benefit LP (Romp productions 2000). They were: Pipo (drums), Riket (guitar), Rob (bass & vocals) and Kroll (vocals). ‘Lieselotte’ were from Genève (active in the autonomous cultural centre L’Usine) and played “grind with a touch of death-metal and sludge”. They sung English, French and Spanish lyrics.

‘Money Drug’ had been the only band that played on the day that Dirk of ‘Tme Out’ died on the V.V’s stage (97-09-19). They were from Gdansk (Poland), played crust/grind and shared some members with ‘Filth Of Mankind’ (who played the day after this (98-09-19). The band consisted of vocalists Filip ‘Kalka’ Kalkowski (nowadays graphic artist) & Selim (replacing Paweł ‘Balon’ Szymański), Miłosz Gassan (drums; nowadays in ‘Morne’) and Sławomir ‘Młody’ Białecki (bass). Maciej Kowalski played guitar but (according the F.O.M. website) he wasn’t present here. ‘M.D.’ had a split-7” with ‘Wind Of Pain’ (Finland) out on Scream recs (’95) and 2 live tapes (’96 & ’97).

‘Hellfiller’ was actually ‘Holefiller’ (97-02-28 & 97-12-26) with the addition of Billy’s electronics: slow, dark, doom-metal mixed with industrial parts. Sometimes they performed as a trio producing industrial noise, then they call themselves ‘Hellfiller’. ‘Holefiller’ was with ‘Leffe’ (ex ‘Chronic Disease’, etc.) on guitar. Drummer was David Stubbe (ex ‘Neuthrone’), bassist Karel Busschop. After ‘Holefiller’ quit, David & Karel went on to play in ‘The Plague Of Gentlemen’…

Not sure if the local ‘Hellcorn’ (see 98-04-18) played aswell?

Brob

I definitely didn’t play this one… I ripped the ligaments of my ankle during soccer…

There seems to be a slight misunderstanding about the ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’ releases. In 1997 we released our split-CD with the ‘End of Ernie’. Later on in 1998 we released our 7” (Six Songs To Die For). Both were recorded at Studio 195 but the split-CD was just with me on guitar – Philippe joined later (he played on both CD releases). ‘C.D.S.’ split up in 1999!

Kurt Van Asselberghs; ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’ guitarist

We were very proud that Michael invited us to play. It was stressy to get there on time, being a Friday-evening. We had 2 rehearsal-spaces at that time and Pieter was waiting at the wrong one. No cell-phones then. I got pretty pissed and the atmosphere was not optimal, but that blew over. When we got there eventually I was probably so nervous, on the verge of fainting, that I wasn’t very conscious about anything…

Fré Danneels, ‘King Creole’ bassist

We played in the pub. I didn’t wear my glasses so didn’t see anything. In those days we also still smoked on stage.

Pieter Teirlinck, ‘King Creole’ singer

Since ‘Money Drug’ didn’t release any records/tapes when I was in the band, my name isn’t anywhere. I replaced Paweł who sang for up until ‘97 (he played drums in ‘F.O.M.’)

Selim

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

“thank you for the beers”

“that’s life”

additions wellcome!…

98-03-14 Born From Pain – Surface – Anticipation – Legion – Conspiracy

We (and probably the other bands too) were contacted by a German guy to play at the V.V. No-one local seemed to be involved. I think there were only about 5 paying visiters (the rest were band-members). I don’t think we played there with ‘Breathstealer’ [as Tim Debrabandere suggested]. This is the flyer of that ‘Legion’ show in the pub.

Mike Coens, ‘Legion’ guitarist

In 1997 ‘Born From Pain’ (Limburg, The Netherlands) recorded a demo with Rob Franssen (bass), Wouter Alers (drums), Servé Olieslagers (guitar) & Ché Snelting (vocals). Same line-up did the recordings for their Immortality EP in July ‘98. The next time they were on was 2000-08-19.

‘Surface’, from the Ruhrpott-area, played metal-core. The band was Frank Knöfler (drums), Sven Pust (bass), Thorsten Kleine-Hegermann (guitar), Boris Pracht (guitar; later in ‘Caliban’) and Sammy Eftekhari (vocals). They did 2 albums on Mad Mob recs: To Millenium…And Beyond (’97) & Shadows Cast By The Light Of The World (’99). They played the fest on 99-08-20.

‘Anticipation’ (Germany) had a CD out (entitled Rude) on the German metal-label MDD (run by Markus Rösner).

‘Legion’ (Jabbeke/Knokke/Brugge, Belgium) were Maarten Berkers (bass), Mike Coens (guitar), Wim Jacobs (vocals; later ‘Blood Redemption’, ‘Crimson Falls’) & Frederic ‘Fre’ (DJ Flameboy) Flameygh (drums; ex ‘Burn Fight’, also briefly in ‘Vitality’). The band played typical H8000 style metalcore (“more deathmetal than hardcore”, references to ‘Deformity’). They did a (self-titled) demo (98) and released a mCD (Embedded In Darkness) on the British label Days Of Fury in 1999. The latter was with Dieter ‘Minx’ Meyns (later ‘Flatcat’) playing second guitar, and ‘Wulf’ (Kristof Dewulf) of ‘Deformity’ doing back-up vocals.

‘Legion’ (source unknown)

No idea about the Belgian ‘Conspiracy’…

‘Breathstealer’ was Davy De Schrooder (guitar; Distract zine; later vocals for ‘Disengage’ & ‘Maudlin’), Tim Debrabandere (guitar; later ‘Severance’), Maarten Berkers (bass; later ‘Disengage’), Mike Coens (drums) & Ken(ny) Jones (vocals; R.I.P.). They had a demo out in ’98.

Brob

I thought ‘Breathstealer’ and ‘Legion’ played together at the Vort’n Vis (the pub, not the festival) in 1998.

Tim Debrabandere, ‘Breathstealer’

additions wellcome!…