94-08-21 Iconoclast – Neckbrace – Feeding The Fire – Hopeman Path – Undone – Vanilla – State Of Grace

Intro: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

The ‘Iconoclast’ tour was organised by Bernd B. (‘Abolotion’/’Stack’/Equality recs/Scorched Earth Policy) who drove the whole time. The band, from New Jersey, played emo hardcore. They were: Kevin Sabarese (guitar), Dan Roberts (guitar), Ian White Williams (vocals; here replaced by ‘Merel’s singer José Juan Ruiz – see below), Kevin Kajetzke (drums) and Pat Kelsey (bass). That year their Groundlessness Of Belief 7” got out on Ebullition recs (after an untitled 7” and some others on Kevin S.’s Old Glory recs). They broke up a few months after this tour (last gig with ‘Avail in Philadelphia on Oct 2^nd). I really liked the band (music and people; we’d already met the week before when they played in Herentals) and I think I planned an interview but that didn’t work out. Their last recordings were released ‘post mortem’ on a split double 7” with ‘Abyss’ (from Germany).

‘Iconoclast’ (pic by Massimo Moscarelli) – Dan Roberts (L), Kevin Sabarese (M), Pat Kelsey (R)

‘Iconoclast’ with ‘Merel’s singer José Juan Ruiz (photographed by Albert Cheong)

‘Neckbrace’, a band from Bradford, played powerful vegan sXe HC (hence there 7” on the German hardline label No Cruelty recs; recorded in April of that year) playing “mid-tempo chugga chugga”. In the band: guitarist Andy/Andrew ‘Bez’ Berry (and James – also in ‘Unborn’ – for a short while), singer Heath Powell/Crosby (previously sang in ‘No Way Out’ & ‘Nailbomb’, later ‘Stampin’ Ground’), drummer Neil Godding and bassist Steve/Stephen Harran. (Andy, Neil and Heath had been in ‘Nailbomb’ together.)

‘Neckbrace’ (pics: 1, by Massimo Moscarelli; 2, by Frédéric Falzon)

A bit before Roger played his last show with ‘Feeding The Fire’s. The bassist here was Kay Roderburg, who was also ‘Backdraft’ with Illona and Rob – another band they had started with already (they played the day before this one)… Check the V.V. concert-list for the several shows they did before this one!

‘Feeding The Fire’ (photos courtesy of Heath Crosby) [1. Rob Franssen – 2. Illona Stephan, Rob & Kay Roderburg – 3. Kay & Har(ald) Brosselt]

‘F.T.F.’ pic by Fred Falzon

‘Hopeman Path’ was the band of my mates Dirk ‘Scum’ (vocals; ex ‘Zero Positives’), Stefan Goos (drums; Empower newsletter and later in the band ‘Vuur’), Bart Verelst (bass; also ‘State Of Grace’) & Gunter Braem (guitar). They were from the Kempen area (Herentals/Geel) and had played here already 93-04-25. They lasted a couple of years and would merge into ‘Vuur’ with members of ‘Deconsume’ and ‘Outrage’… Later some of them and myself engaged ourselves for the Newland collective (zine and concerts).

‘Hopeman Path’ (photo by Miguel Angel Lorca) – Gunter Braem (L) & Bart Verelst (R)

‘State Of Grace’ – Jeroen Vanlaer (guitar), Tom Gabriels (guitar), David Heylen (drums), Jan ‘Jakke’ Geeraerts (bass) and Sven De Backer (vocals) – had played the V.V. on 94-04-09. Later Bart Verelst (ex ‘Hopeman Path’) joined on bass and ‘Jakke’ played guitar; then they became ‘Sheen’ (who played the V.V. 95-11). No recollections of them playing this one here…

My friends from Paris, ‘Undone’ played the V.V. many times. They were announced for this one but can ‘t remember if they actually played…

‘Vanilla’ (an emo band from Paris) did a demo in ’94 and put out their I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space 7” on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer (together with Norbert Chomat) in 1995. On that record Jean Lebrun played bass and brothers Yann & Yves Maisonneuve (both ex ‘Ivich’), guitar and drums. Alain Vidal (also in ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘El Vidal Sonido’) joined them later (’96). Bruno released a self-titled LP of them on Genet recs in 1996. They also played 95-01-29, 96-03-24 & 96-08…

Some people thought ‘Nations On Fire’ played aswell but their bassist ‘Goofy’ explains they didn’t. Jaak had left ‘N.O.F.’ and David of ‘Scraps’ abondonned aswell… The line-up around this time (as on the Death Of The Pro-Lifer album) was with Wim Vandekerckhove (also ‘Blindfold’ vocalist) on guitar and Filip Devolder on drums; besides Ed(ward) Verhaeghe (vocals) and Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers (bass).

Bruno (Genet recs) had organised a tour for ‘Scraps’ that turned out rather “disastrous” (with disorganised dates in Spain, administrative & van-trouble in France). Can ‘t recall if Ma Raab (‘Egotrip’) toured with them or in ’95… Amanda Trevens, a correspondent of mine, did a tour-diary about it (Looking Back It Doesn’t Seem So Bad). She played in a band called ‘Timmy’, was helping out at Neil Robinson’s Tribal War recs (actually an internship, studying ‘music technology’) and the HC/punk venue ABC No Rio in NYC, also was the guitarist of ‘Huasipungo’. David of ‘Scraps’ had been staying with her in N.Y.C. the month he spent there and she was asked to be in the band as (guitarist) Raph(aël) couldn’t make it. Touring at that time were David (vocals), Pierre (drums), Tomoy (bass), ‘Straw’ & Alex. Later, Amanda was in band called ‘Ex Teenage Rebels’ with Chris (‘Scraps’ roadie)… The ‘Scraps’ tour had ended prematurely so they didn’t play here, she told me.

Brob

Ed and I hadn’t talked for a few months until I heard that he’d gotten seriously ill in July 1994…

Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers, ‘N.O.F.’ bassist

The Vort’n Vis was pretty rad. I liked it a lot. It’s difficult to tell from one show but it was a nice atmosphere, there weren’t any fights (though I was told it was violent when ‘Oi Polloi’ played). […] I know now why you reacted the way you did when I asked you if you were Bruno when I first got to the V.V. […] Things that were very different at European shows were sound-checking, putting everything through the P.A. at most places, getting fed at shows. This is a rad custom but I still don’t think it should be taken for granted. Most shows are pretty well attended.

Amanda Trevens; personal communication Sep ‘94

In ‘94 I came over in May; practiced for 2 weeks (living in Lille) and toured for 6. I was at the Vort’n Vis for one show – dont remember which one. I’m pretty sure we didn’t play the Vort’n Vis or in Belgium at all. I went there with David or Pierre or both, before the tour started and met you, and maybe Edward. Neil [Robinson] and I were involved in putting on shows at ABC No Rio, and being part of the collective for many years and we were roommates for a bit.

Amanda Trevens

‘Goofy’ (‘Nations On Fire’), Pierre Anne (‘Scraps’) & Amanda Trevens (taken from Fifi #2)

I’m pleased to have been at the Vort’n Vis for the festival. I discussed with a lot of people… But I also was a bit disappointed because of what I saw and heard during these 2 days! I’m talking about the people who, like you said, were showing themselves off. It was incredible. A lot of them were rather superficial, relation-wise. I also have a hard time understanding that thing with the X-s on hands and feet! […] On the other hand, I met a lot of people that I never seen before (Vique [Martin of Simba zine] e.g.). […] It was true what you said about ‘scene-celebrities’: it’s rather strange because when you listen to socalled ‘important’ people, they tell us they’re not doing anything extraordinary and that everyone could do what they do (and that’s true), but then why is there this distance that is being created? […] All this irritates me a bit…

Olivier Lépine, Laissez-Nous Jouer (later ‘L’Invention de Morel’; personal communication Sep ‘94

I found my journal from that time and it says that ‘Iconoclast’ played on Sunday. Sadly I didn’t write about the bands we played with, I only remember that I tried Hoegaarden [beer] for the first time. I have some good memories about the Vort’n Vis and I remember that show especially because José from ‘Merel’ had to sing because Ian went home early to prepare for college. I don’t have so many detailed memories, as we were in a different town every single day, making it a lot of experience in little time. The thing is that the experience of being in that underground scene forever changed me and put me in contact with all kinds of cool people. I met Inge Wynants and [her friend] Judith [Wuytens] that day… I lived in Hoogheultje near Olen [Belgium] for nearly a year back in 1996. That was because I kept in touch with Inge and after seeing her again on the ‘Merel’ tour, I went to visit her and then became romantically involved with her sister Katrine for a few years.

Kevin Kajetzke, ‘Iconoclast’ drummer

Like Kevin K., I also found my journal from that time… It was day 51 of the tour; we were just in from a show in London the previous day and had a rare day off the following. Apparently I was on band-finances at the time, because that’s what the page is about. We made good on 350 DM of expenses to Bernd, took in 6.000 Belgian francs for playing (about $275 in 2017 USD), 2.850 Belgian francs in shirts/records were sold (thanks everyone!), and Kevin K. and I got both into and out of a small amount of debt to the band the following day. Well, it was a hell of a lot better of a time than that dry entry suggests, at the tail end of a good two months to get lost in Europe. I have many very detailed memories from those two months but I have not been able to come up with anything specific from this day – I took the time to look at all the inside/outside photos I could find, and so far…nothing. It is a strange feeling to see yourself in a photo at a place you cannot otherwise remember. It is perhaps not so surprising, as while I feel there are so many things I do remember about that summer, it was an incredible number of people and places in a relatively short amount of time. Maybe exhaustion was setting in by then.

Patrick Kelsey, ‘Iconoclast’ bassist

I visited the Vort’n Vis during a festival in the beginning of the 90s. ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Fabric’, ‘Acme, ‘Vanilla’ and more bands were playing. I’m sure ‘Acme’ and ‘Vanilla’ played. ‘Acme’s set was very short and intense… I travelled together with Carlos Arillo and other friends…. Carlos Arillo was the guy organising gigs at that time in Madrid. He booked shows for many bands: ‘Doom’, ‘Shortsight’, ‘Disrupt’, ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Abolition’, ‘Health Hazard’,…

Miguel Angel Lorca, Madrid

I attended this festival at the Vort’n Vis… Mostly straight-edge bands on the bill who didn’t take too kindly to us lot who were all quite big smokers and drinkers! It said it wasn’t a straight-edge festival but it certainly felt like one! My main recollections of the straight-edge bands were they were very young with very expensive guitars and amps that I didn’t have a hope in hell of having myself at the time. Also I found the bands too be quite serious and self-righteous. I remember really enjoying seeing ‘Iconoclast’; I think they were the stand-out band of the weekend. It sounds like I didn’t enjoy it! But that wasn’t the case; I had a real good laugh with my mates I was with – still see Louis [Warren] now who I went to the festival with; he is now singer in ‘Rotunda’…

Marcus Jones, ‘Marker’ guitarist

That was my first longer tour…been on the road for 8 weeks but it was fun.

Bernd Bohrmann

‘Iconoclast’ on tour – with Bernd B. (squatted), Sherry Beth Sacks & Franziska ‘Franzi’ von Hasselbach

I went to 2 Vort’n Vis festivals. I had a brilliant time at both. During the 2^nd visit I sprained my ankle while dancing to ‘Acme’. I had do go to hospital. ‘Acme’ played in the dark… Simon Johnson organized both the trips. He was a punk/hardcore promoter in Birmingham.

Louis Warren, ‘Rotunda’ vocalist

We were there when ‘Iconoclast’ and ‘Acme’ played but I don’t think we were there the day before…

Karl Penando

Bernd Bohrmann organised that ‘Iconoclast’ tour indeed… There was an American young woman named Sherry [Sherry Beth Sacks; Beehive activist and drummer] on tour with ‘Iconoclast’. [Sherry was a friend of Hazel too. H. named a band that Jeroen L. and her started ‘Sherry’…]

Joeri Hoste

I do have memories of that awesome concert. That was an important first trip to Europe for me. I later returned many times and eventually met my husband Pau (Aina/Barcelona).

Sherry Beth Sacks (sherrybethsacks.tumblr.com)

I remember we hired a small car to travel over to Ieper. Four of us cramped in the car with musical instruments and the boot filled with drum-stuff and a guitar amp-head! Travelling along: myself, ‘Bez’ (Andy) on guitar, Neil on drums and Steve on bass. We were totally blown away to be playing and to be given the opportunity to play such a great festival, with so many other great bands. I would play it one other time doing vocals for ‘Stampin’ Ground’ [96-08] but that’s another story… I remember the car-journey well, crammed, sweaty and suffering from cramp! When we arrived we were amazed so many hardcore kids hanging around, we were like “This is amazing”! The show was great, with lots of people supporting ‘Neckbrace’, with a few people even knowing the tunes. I can’t remember the other bands that played; we were only over for the day. The journey back to England was again with cramps because of the confined space, filled with four sweaty bodies!

Heath Crosby, ‘Neckbrace’ singer

‘Neckbrace’ travels (photos courtesy of Heath Crosby) [1. Andrew ‘Bez’ Berry (L) &  Stephen Harran (R) – 2. Heath (L) & Neil Godding (R)]

I remember playing at the Vort’n Vis. I was the drummer in the band ‘Neckbrace’. The band at that time was Heath Powell [nowadays named Crosby] (vocals), Andrew Berry (guitar), James ‘Bim’ Johnston (guitar), Stephen Harran (bass) and myself on drums… We were crammed in a tiny car with all our gear and we drove from Bradford UK, got the ferry across to France and drove to Ypres [Ieper]. I don’t think Rich Corbridge [Armed With Anger zine and label] came with us, we could only fit 5 people in the car. I remember we arrived at the venue to find that the bass-guitar was broken, so I crafted a new headstock nut from an old dirty comb I found in the street. In the venue I remember seeing all the people, the disturbing PETA videos and some band on stage getting crazy. We were (I think) the very last band of the night and we played at maybe 1 a.m. We gave it our all. I was sweating like crazy, so much so my recently tattooed forearm (‘Neckbrace’ tribal X) cracked, and has scars in it, that always reminds me of Vort’n Vis. At some point during the day I walked to the WW1 memorial and found the name of one of ancestors who died in the war.

Neil Godding

I have no recollections of playing this one with ‘Undone’. Not sure that we played! I don’t remember too much… Not even about playing with all these great bands on the concert-list… I just remember that we were all always so happy to drive up to Belgium and meet our friends up there…

Christophe Mora, ‘Undone’ drummer

additions wellcome!…

94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

 follow-up to 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

I admit that I don’t recall these events very well. I was 24 years old, I’m writing this 20+ years later. I don’t remember which bands played, what I ate, where I slept, and a lot more, but I still have vivid emotions about those days. The Vort’n Vis was the hardcore punk centre of Europe, the place where you had to be. I am very happy to be reminded about it. Yes, I was there and I can’t forget it.

It wasn’t easy to get to Ieper. I didn’t have the money because I didn’t have a job. Mum and dad payed a part, and temp jobs were my income. Air-travel was ruled out immediately, trains were cheaper. Another travel to Belgium after less than a year (after being there on tour with ‘Eversor’). This time a holiday with Interrail, discount-tickets to travel by train in Europe. What I did, is in the following report that was published in my zine Tough Guys Don’t Dance; it was an attempt to say something about things outside the confinement of our Italian boundaries. The English language was a means to communicate outside the country. I could have done more to distribute it though… All was translated by Andrea Marra (the author of The Vort’n Vis Experience). I did the rest (editing – a matrix-printer and a photocopier – and photos).

A fun fact: I remember that the bathrooms were partially out of order (too many people) after a couple of days; and there was a lake of water, piss and shit between the building and the yard…and crusties were wading through it as if it was a normal thing.

I don’t remember much about the bands at all! The concerts were only part of the fun, the main thing was the atmosphere. I liked almost all the bands and knew about them all, so it wasn’t crucial to talk about them in the zine. I still listen to hardcore music, I never quit it.

Massimo Moscarelli (Rome)

Some of Massimo Moscarelli’s photos (grazie mille!) – band-pics will follow in the actual posts on the festival-days:

crowd-shots

upstairs [1: Bruno entertaining the Italians (L => R: Giangiacomo De Stefano (‘Ivory Cage’), Paolo Petralia (S.O.A. recs/’Comrades’/’Colonna Infame’), Andrea ‘Ics’ Ferraris (‘Burning Defeat’/‘One Fine Day’), Andrea Marra (‘Comrades’/’Notorius’/’Bruma’), one of the Marini twins (‘Comrades’/‘Timebomb’); 2: Paolo Petralia, Massimo Moscarelli & one of the Marini twins; 3: Andrea Marra]

in the courtyard [1: Bruno ‘Genet’ & ‘Goofy’ (R); 2: prom-queen & -king Vique ‘Simba’ & Ward ‘N.O.F.’; 3: Bruno’s biz]

walk on by (or not) [2: Pawel ‘Scream’ from Poland selling stuff; 3: ‘Hazel’ (Bernd B. in the background)]

Massimo, the warrior and his aid (Jeroen Lauwers)

additions wellcome!…

94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

The first weekend of September 1992 the Vort’n Vis organised what was then called Hardcore ’92. A festival with a mix of punky/crusty bands and straight-egde outfits. The same was intended in September 1993. I wrote about the incident that happened there… Although it was unfortunate, even reprehensible; for myself the motivation to try and bring all sorts of people together stayed. However other people made it so that the 2 ‘factions’ wouldn’t meet so easily anymore. In 1994 an SxE fest (weekend around half of August) and the Leed fest (half of September; the Vort’n Vis’ alternative to the city of Ieper’s mainstream Leet festival) were organised independent from one and other; and caused this ‘split’. One of the protagonists in the aforementioned incident (Hans Verbeke, ‘Blindfold’) obviously was reluctant to see the same thing happening again and set up (with good intentions, I’m sure) a “Positive Festival” – together with his sister Saskia (‘Shortsight’) and Rob Franssen (‘Feeding The Fire’).

This setting would over the years grow into a huge event (not unlike a lot of the commercial summer-festivals) and moved outside of the Vort’n Vis premises. Unfortunately (and that already was from the beginning), it turned out to be a market-place for big/commercial labels and distributions (local and others). I’ve never been able to see what the value of that was and I kept reacting against it. Having SxE and non-SxE friends I also wasn’t keen on the separation.

I wrote about it in a column that appeared in my friend Joeri Hoste’s zine Emotive Impulse (Sep. ’94):

>> We were all very excited about it for months. Myself not in the least; as it came closer it promised to be something wonderful, something that could last a week instead of a weekend. (…) After some shitwork, I wanted to start a bunch of conversations but unfortunately practically all ended up being quite short and superficial (…) consuming seemed like the most important thing again… (…) “I BUY, therfor I am” (actually this goes for the whole capitalist system – ergo: the HCpunk-scene is not so diffrent form the capitalist system nowadays, no?) (…) Another thing: no matter what we all say, there are distinct cliques in our scene. We all pretend they don’t exist but they do… I’m not talking about the obvious devide between SxE and ‘crustpunx’. Also within SxE (as within the crustpunx) there are micro-communities with their own rules, prescriptions, ‘incestuous’ behaviour, etc. How are you ever gonna evolve, learn,… when you never break out these micro-units. You don’t have to know everyone but at least look for different things once and a while; and on the other hand: allow others to get into your group of peers. I try to pick up things from various people, why restrain and stick to one groove? This scene we’re in, this subculture – again – is supposed to offer an alternative to the mainstream, the capitalist/patriarchic system. Let’s all work to create this. Don’t fool yourself and others. (…) <<

The newsletter of March that year started out with announcing a “3-day festival with ‘Scraps’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Voorhees’, ‘Iconoclast’ and plenty more”. A few months later there was mention of 3 bands on Friday, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Refused’ & 5 or 6 more on Saturday, and ‘Iconoclast’, Scraps’ & ‘Voorhees’ on Sunday. And as you can see on the flyers that were made this expanded/changed gradually.

This is from the newsletter right before the festival:

As far as I can remember this was the actual programme:

19 aug ’94: Spawn (Ger), Congress (Bel), Kosjer D (Bel)

20 aug ’94: Refused (Swe), Abhinanda (Swe), Fabric (UK), Blindfold (Bel), Shortsight (Bel), Acme (Ger), Backdraft (Nl), Nothing Left To Grasp (Ger)

21 aug ’94: Iconoclast (USA), Neckbrace (UK), Feeding The Fire (Nl), Hopeman Path (Bel), Undone (Fra)

Also got on the bill/played: ‘State Of Grace’ (Bel), ‘Vanilla’ (Fra), … But can’t remember which day… Pretty sure ‘Stormwatch’ (Ger) didn’t play.

‘Nations On Fire’ didn’t do a show. Also Steve W. tells me his band ‘Neuthrone’ didn’t play, ‘Scraps’ cancelled and ‘Voorhees’ didn’t show up (read 94-08 [Voorhees])…

Even though this fest attracted a lot of people, it still took place in the pub (and not in the ‘shed’). The distros had a lot of space in the courtyard… So did the people who wanted to ‘socialize’…

L corner: Stéphane Cormary, Ludovic Hache and Agnes (photo by Miguel Angel Lorca); the ‘Abhinanda’ crew on the R

Besides the bands I remember Vique ‘Simba’ Martin was there. So were Nicole ‘Upsi’ Vokrouhlik (from Augsburg) – who was doing a mailorder/label and organised a festival – and her boyfriend Daniel… Volker Pohlschmidt (‘Steadfast’) most likely… Marco Walzel (‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, Speak So That I May See You zine); some of the ‘Doughnuts’ girls signed the guestbook; Albert Cheong from Barcelona (Heartcore zine) took pics… Alan Davis who did Train Of Thought zine (Bristol) was there… Also Nick Royles (Sure Hand recs, How We Rock zine and various bands)… Miguel Angel Lorca from Madrid came over with a friend. My correspondent Amanda Trevens (guitarist of ‘Timmy’ & ‘Huasipungo’) who was helping out Neil Ribonson at Tribal War recs (actually an internship, studying ‘music technology’), and volunteering at ABC No Rio (all in NYC) was in Europe (actually toured with ‘Scraps’) and visited… Some French non-SxE people came over aswell (which was great): Ludovic Hache (Ras l’Bol zine) and Agnes, Karl & Steph (‘6 Feet Over’). And a hell of a lot more… Olivier Lacoste (‘Öpstand’ singer, Bordeaux)?

There were also some people that tried to get to the Vort’n Vis but didn’t make it (unfortunately)… In his zine J’Ai Le Regret A La Joie Mélé #4, Gérome Desmaison (guitarist of ‘Peu-Être’ / ‘Alcatraz’) describes how him and his friend Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (vocalist in the same bands) took of hitchhiking from Niort/Poitiers (France) to the Vort’n Vis but got stuck (spending the night in gasstation along the highway) before reaching the border, somewhere between Paris and Lille… They returned home but decided to rent a van the next time…

Brob

audience (Wim ‘Blindfold’ centre); pic by Patrick Federli

I was at every ‘fest’ there in the 90s (I guess up until 2001) and all I can say, is that I always had the best of times. The first couple of times at the V.V. were the best. The yard, the stinky toilets, the little shop at the corner, playing football with the Swedish kids… The list is endless… Best of times and always the highlight of every summer!

Patrick Federli

We ended up at the Vort’n Vis because it was basically the place to be for red edge kids like us! ;-). I went from Marseille to Bordeaux to meet up with my mate Manu who was doing a red edge zine called Wolfpack. We took the train all the way to Ieper, that was a long fuckin’ ride! Ah ah and we sure didn’t regret it.

Frédéric Falzon

 

photo courtesy of Heath Crosby (Sherry Beth Sacks in the background)

Marco Walzel

see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

additions wellcome!…

Vort’n Vis & homophobia ?

This is an essay that Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers wrote in her zine Superfluous #2 (1993) in relation to the discussion about homophobia that occured at ‘Congress’ performance (93-04-25)

93-04-25 Hiatus – Congress – Hopeman Path – Agathocles

I remember this one only vaguely… I do recall being tremendously nervous when I had to sing a song myself. Well, wánted to sing. I’m not sure ‘Agathocles’ played though. We did do gigs together but not here, I think…

I also recall people having a discussion outside (or was it some other gig) because someone was selling a ‘Skrewdriver’ LP; the guy claimed it was a stolen one and he was offering it for sale to see the reactions – bullshit off course – Dirk and I were around…

Gunter Braem, ‘Hopeman Path’ guitarist

No, ‘Agathocles’ didn’t show up then…

Dirk ‘Scum’, ‘Hopeman Path’ singer

Steve [Houtmeyers; ‘Agathocles’ guitarist at that time and now in ‘Hypnos 69’, also founder of Intestinal Disease’] couldn’t play then…he had sprained his wrist. We did a few gigs with him doing vocals around that time…

Jan Frederickx, ‘Agathocles’

‘Hopeman Path’ (from the Kempen area) were Dirk ‘Scum’ (vocals; ex ‘Zero Positives’), Stefan Goos (drums), Bart Verelst (bass) and Gunter Braem (guitar). A hardcore band – named after the home-address (in Glasgow) of Stef’s and my pen-pall Adam Johnston (Go! Zine & the band ‘Headstart’) – with a D.I.Y./political attitude. They lasted a couple of years and would merge into ‘Vuur’ with members of ‘Deconsume’ and ‘Outrage’… I have vague recollections of Yannick Daems singing for them too for a while…

Probably the first or one of the very first concerts ‘Congress’ (a “vegan straight-edge metal-core” band) played here; with their first singer (who got replaced a bit later): Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar) & Ilja De Ceuleneire (drums) – both were also in ‘Burning Fight’ (92-02-22), Roy Cappan (vocals; R.I.P.) and Jan ‘U.J.’ Vandekerckhove (bass) – who played in ‘Dreft’ for a while (together with Joost). As you can read below their 1^st singer wasn’t really an asset. With Pierre things changed for the better until…

One of the many dates ‘Hiatus’ played… This one was about a month after they recorded for the LP From Resignation…To Revolt (out on Sound Pollution). The usual ‘gang’: Azill, Wills, Ben, Phil and Fred Alabas (on bass).

After their gig on 91-09-01, ‘Agathocles’ got invited back. People say (see above) that they didn’t make it but they actually were there: there’s a record of them in the V.V. notes.

Brob

About the incident with ‘Congress’… I expressed my opinion clearly (as always); stuck my neck out. And you can’t imagine how much shit I got over me. I’m not afraid to speak up. I constantly criticize the ‘status quo’ in the HC-scene. I say out loud what people only barely dare to trust onto paper. My harsh reaction towards the singer of ‘Congress’ was a response to his aggressive attitude. My anger only got worse because other V.V.-collaborators came back on their earlier decision… [The group of VV-collaborators had been putting question-marks behind the homophobic statements of one (Roy) -or more?- members of ‘Congress’. On one of the collaborator-meetings there had been a decision that we were not gonna tolerate this and not let them play. For some reason (some collaborators were good friends with them) this happened anyway and I spoke up about it when they started their gig…]

Brob, personal communication ‘94

About Roy, I believe a lot of people didn’t get you (Brob). I didn’t know that the V.V. collaborators had agreed on a meeting the very day of the concert, not to let ‘Congress’ play. Why didn’t ‘Congress’ know about that? Or did they? Why didn’t some sort of representative make a clear statement at the very beginning of the concert, on stage? And explained clearly that the V.V. didn’t want ‘Congress’ to play? If I remember well, Dirk [of ‘Hopeman Path’] started about it first… The audience could’ve decided on yes or no (letting them play), or there could’ve been agreed that the people with ‘Congress’ were to outside. The latter would’ve had a much bigger impact on Roy and the band, I think, then 1 or 2 people announcing the decision… I had the impression that your words didn’t affect Roy; on the contrary: they seemed to convince him he was right – even though your arguments were valid. I think it would’ve been better if we all had sat down without starting a war… Just make it clear to Roy that he stood alone with his opinion. Perhaps let him explain where his ideas were coming from and have a discussion. Or did all of this uncover that more people had ideas similar to Roy’s?

Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers, personal communication ‘94

With all respect, but Roy is dead and he was a good friend. Roy will never be able to prove that this was a adolescent mistake because he is no longer among us. Anyway, Roy wasn’t a person that carried hate within him. Politically he can be ‘caught’. His argument was that homosexuality isn’t natural. […] This “it is not natural”-argument stemmed mainly from his religious beliefs… Personally I never saw him hurt or humiliate gays. But I understand your protest… [Brob: I’m not the mouthpiece of the gay community but I didn’t wanna be the guy who said “I’m not gay so I’m not gonna speak up”…]

That gig at the Vort’n Vis was indeed historical, legendary even, for so many reasons… For instance that for once there was no preaching on stage between the songs but true discussion. For many that was an informative dialogue; like with the guys of ‘Hopeman Path’. I loved it because it was HC, and in full effect! Not always fun for everyone but generally fair. I found what happened at that show a positive thing rather than a negative one. Consultation is the solution! So without restraint and with direct access to a decent right to reply, simply by jumping on stage and grabbing the mic. Precisely as it happened. Wonderful, actually.

Didn’t know that show disrupted some things for you. [Brob: Here I got the mark of ‘pain in the arse’ – no pun intended…] But actually it was the same for Roy. He was so impressed by the whole thing because he never made an issue out of it. It wasn’t important. And he didn’t want to have a negative impact on the scene…so shortly after he left ‘Congress’ and the scene.

Anonymous

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