92-08-29 Sedition – One By One – Dreft

The first gig of ‘Sedition’ (from Glasgow) here. On their 1^st tour with ‘One By One… I’d probably already heard them on tape. Later I helped distribute the LP over here. I’d exchanged some notes before with ‘Brycey’ about his on Reel To Real tape-label but I didn’t realize it was the same guy who played with them. The band was: Angus ‘Gus’ Quinn (vocals; later ‘Scatha’), Martin Mann (drums; just joined before this tour, replacing Jamie Usher – who later also played in ‘Quarantine’ for a while), Billy Steele (guitar; ex ‘Disturbed’ – he replaced the original guitarist Davie Thompson after the 1^st 7”; also ‘Disaffect’ & ‘Scatha’) and Craig ‘Brycey’ Bryce (bass; later in ‘Dawson’ – see 93-10-03). They played raging political hardcore/ peace-punk. Their music was also often described as ‘Celt-core’ because of their love for the tribal societies of Ireland/Scotland (hence the kilts by times)… Their 1^st releases were the Dealing With Clichés 7” (1989) and a split with ‘Pink Turds In Space’ (the latter on Reel To Real recs, 1990 – re-issued in 1994 on Flat Earth recs). Later came the Earth Beat LP and the split-7” with ‘Disaffect’ on Sned’s Flat Earth recs (‘93).

‘Sedition’; photos courtesy of Karl Penando

‘One By One’ had been here before (91-08-18 & 92-03-08)… Karin joined the lads (Sned, Mac & Micky) early ’92 (after the World On Fire 7” and the LP on Words Of Warning). The first ‘One By One’ release with Karin on vocals was the Fight 7” (recorded Oct ’92). There was also the Atrapad@s En El Fascista Planeta Tierra 7” on the Spanish label Víctimas Del Progreso and the Les 40 Ans Du Vieux 7” (with one ‘Sedition’ track) – recorded at a farmhouse somewhere near Tours, France, both in 1994.

‘One By One’ (with an attentative Hazel on the L); pic courtesy of Karl Penando

For info on the starting ‘Dreft’ see: 89-07-09. I think by then they had already evolved from grind to death-metal… Can’t remember if U.J. was in the band at that time…

Brob

I was at the old V.V. when ‘One By One’ and ‘Sedition’ toured. And later at one or two festivals?! Sascha [May] and Gregor [Kanitz] went as well as, with some other people from Düsseldorf. Only thing I recall at once is the long yet comfortable train-trip with them cheap Belgian 6-trips group-tickets for the local/short-distance trains. Dead cheap really. The lot of us were still pupils/students and could ride free to the border.

Roland, autonomous centre Mülheim (Germany)

I am actually not sure whether I have been at this gig. Actually, I think our first trips were to Liège – I am sure I saw the lot there. We only knew about what was happening in Liège or Ieper because Gregor started his distro and dealt with Alain from Nabate & Bruno from Ieper. Otherwise, no info would come over to us. Düsseldorf and the Ruhr-area were pretty much dead in the first half of the 1990s. Occasionally, we could get Gregor’s mother’s car and took the ride to Liège. The [railway] GoPass would come into play later, for the longer journeys to Flanders. Dead cheap it was indeed: a 10-ride card costed about 30 Euro and that would be valid for journeys between any two Belgian stations. Problem for us: making the transition from Aachen to any first station in Belgium. I guess we did anything: hitchhiking to Welkenraedt, watching the conductor and try not to pay until Verviers, pretending to sleep until Liège. Eventually, we would have to get out at Liège to get a GoPass anyway. Things became a bit easier when Klumpi started an affair with Gratien from Gent, because she would always have a Pass to share. But very soon, people from the Düsseldorf-area came over quite a lot and there would have been always one or two cars to go to Ieper. But I bet I didn’t come to the V.V. in 1992 yet.

Sascha May

I have some video of ‘Sedition’ playing at the V.V. I think (an old Hi 8 tape that I am in the process of getting put onto DVD). It was our first escapade into Europe and I can remember it was nothing like we had experienced before, then we got woken in the night with cops with guns demanding our passports and lots of craziness that followed. I will get the whole story of the night and get it posted!!! [C’mon Billy!!!]

Billy Steele

Me and Jane [Graham; Shag Stamp zine & ‘Witchknot’] were together for 4 years from about 1990, we came over with ‘Sedition’/‘One By One’ and they played Ieper, Hasselt, Liège and probably some other places. We also stayed in Liège and Gent (with Leffe) while the bands went on to Germany.

Russ Snell, ‘Stalingrad’ guitarist

This was the first time the bands toured together, so it must have been the one with ‘Sedition’ in a crazy bus called Amyerbus, driven by Angus Buchan [The guestbook mentions ‘Fazzy’…]. They got refused entry to Switzerland, Arjen [van der Meulen; Groninger who organised quite a few tours] got arrested (that happened a few times back then ) and … I got other memories but we toured a few times in a short time and I get them mixed up…

Sned

I’m the Angus that used to be in the band ‘Glue’ and also drove for ‘Quarantine’ / ‘Scatha’ a few times. We have indeed met more than once and also had some correspondence. [Brob: I’d mixed the 2 Angus-es …]

Angus McPhee

We had a nice dinner with the blokes of ‘Sedition’ & ‘One By One’ upstairs at the old Vort’n. Our line-up was probably still the one from the demo with myself on vocals, Erwin & Sammy on guitars & ‘Narre’ on drums.

Kris ‘Mosh’, ‘Dreft’

This was the day before they played in Hasselt [92-08-30 @‘De Hazelaar’] and a week later they were in Liège [92-09-11]…

Ralf Leesen

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

93-05-01 Spitboy – Ivich – One By One – Bugeyed – Dirt – Sedition

Extra photos of ‘Spitboy’ & ‘Dirt’

‘Spitboy’ was an all-female political HC band from the San Francisco Bay Area. The band consisted of Adrienne Droogas (vocals; she also did a zine called Too Far that I distributed – later she was also in ‘Aus-Rotten’), Karin Gembus (guitar; helped out at M.R.R. & Lookout! recs), Paula Hibbs-Rines (bass; later replaced by Dominique ‘Nikki’ Davison) and Michelle ‘Todd’ Gonzales (drums; played guitar for ‘Kamala & The Karnivores’ end of the ‘80s).

At the time of touring they had a self-titled 7” out on Lawrence Livermore’s Lookout! Recs (’92) and an LP (True Self Revealed) on Kent McClard’s Ebullition recs (’93). The last recording with Paula on bass was June 1994, for the Mi Cuerpo Es Mio 7” on Allied recs. In August ’94 they recorded the Rasana 7” with Nikki (also out on Ebullition). Their last vinyl was the split-LP with ‘Los Crudos’ (Viviendo Asperamente – Roughly Living) on Ebullition Recs (1995).

I recall I intended to do an interview with them for my zine but for some reason that went wrong; Vique ‘Simba’ Martin did one before this tour (read); ‘Hazel’ Lepers in her zine Superfluous #2 and Nathalie D. for Tom De Pauw’s Holy Hardcore #2…

‘Spitboy’s performance at the Vort’n Vis was video-taped.

‘Bugeyed’ (from Leeds) played (as described in Tilt! #7) “Noisy and heavy HC loaded with angry power.”. I also wrote: “Devilish! It brings out the bad in people.”. For those who want comparisons; I read somewhere: “‘Venom’ meets ‘Black Flag’; down-tuned, sloppy, negative punk rock”. They were: Andrew ‘Monkey’ Clark-Monks (guitar), Paul ‘Pig Havoc/Havok’ Clarke (vocals) – both ex ‘Pleasant Valley Children’ (see 90-06-24), Sarah Smith (bass; ex ‘Generic’) and Brian Talbot (drums; also ‘Doom’). Eric ‘Rich’ Rucker (2^nd guitar on the album) wasn’t in the band anymore… Karl Horton released the Monsters Rule My World LP on his label Words Of Warning around that time. My pen-pal Steve Buxton (Ripping Thrash zine) also released some live tracks on a benefit-tape (for hunt-sabs; together with ‘Concrete Sox’) and Bri tells me there was a demo too…

‘Bugeyed’ – early line-up; (92-07-01) Duchess Of York, Leeds, UK (courtesy of Brian Talbot): Andrew – Bri – ‘Pig’ – ‘Rich’ – Sarah

The 2^nd gig of ‘Sedition’ here (see 92-08-29). Glaswegians – or should I say Caledonians? – Angus ‘Gus’ Quinn (vocals), (Gill)Martin Mann (drums), Billy Steele (guitar) and Craig ‘Brycey’ Bryce (bass) came over again to give us a taste of their ‘pagan HC’. After their earlier material, that year (‘93) they did the Earth Beat LP (the one in the cloth bag) and the split-7” with ‘Disaffect’ on Sned’s Flat Earth recs. After they split up Craig went on to play with ‘Dawson’ (93-10-03), Billy played second guitar in Disaffect (94-05-22) and Angus and some mates formed ‘Scatha’…

‘Sedition’ (photo by Karl Penando)

‘One By One’ had been playing here before aswell (91-08-18, 92-03-08 & 92-08-29) and it wouldn’t be the last time either (94-08-06). Almost like family (from ‘up North’ – Newcastle), these people: ‘uncle’s Sned & Alec bringing us prezzies, and ‘cousin’ Karen and her boyfriend Micky… The Fight 7” (first release with Karin on vocals) was recorded Oct. 10^th 1992. Later that year (Nov. 1993) they recorded a few tracks for the Atrapados En El Fascista Planeta Tierra (Caught On Fascist Planet Earth) 7” (the B-side was recorded live – Sned tells me in Leeds, at their 100^th gig, supporting ‘Neurosis’).

Here’s some photos on the 93-05-15 concert they did in Lumigny, France…

‘One By One’ (photo by Karl Penando)

It was only a few weeks earlier (93-04-04) that ‘Dirt’ had been here (with ‘Hellkrusher’)… The line-up was the one of the Feast Or Famine demo (1993) with Deno on vocals, Gary ‘Gaz’ Buckley doing guitar, Karen on lead-guitar, bassist Mick and drummer Stef…

The day after this one they played @ Hof Ter Lo in Antwerp (with ‘Spitboy’, ‘Instigators’ and some others) so the ‘Baddies’ were already here to pick ‘em up and start the party. Deno mentions meeting ‘Instigators’ (but that must’ve been in Antwerp).

From Deno ‘Dirt’s diary (thank you!):

[Jimyh Anti (with bandana) – Holy Herwin & redhead friend]

‘Ivich’ came over for the 2 ^nd  time aswell (see 92-07-25). This was around the time they released the Chacun Sa Vérité 7” (on Pikaϊa): “fast and fiery emotional HC, chunky mosh-metal and odd, free-form undistorted pauses”. Eric, Yann, Yves & Cedric also brought their trumpet-player…

‘Ivich’ (photo by Karl Penando)

Brob

I remember trying to crash out upstairs while there was a techno-party going on after the gig with ‘Bugeyed’. I also have an image of Alec of ‘One By One’ dancing rave-style, possibly even DJ-ing? That time I drove so was probably knackered. We were only in Europe for a week or so I remember we played Hamburg and the last gig was in Amsterdam followed by a mad dash to the ferry.

I found the last ‘Bugeyed’ recording on a cassette which I’d forgotten existed. 10 tracks which I think are the best thing we did. It was supposed to be an EP but never went any further as I went travelling and everything just ground to a halt. I have put one ‘Bugeyed’ track (Breakout At The Science Lab) on-line. I do a bit of computer-music nowadays and mess about with new software (‘Monobrow The Biped‘)…

Andrew ‘Monkey’ Clark-Monks , ‘Bugeyed’ guitarist

Sorry, no recollections…

Rich was part of ‘Disney Corpse Graphics’ with Ash and ‘Pig’… They did cover-art for ‘Sore Throat’s Disgrace To The Corpse Of Sid & ‘Doom’s Greatest Invention…

Bri Talbot

I wasn’t in ‘Bugeyed’ anymore at that point, in fact I think I would have already been living in Italy! Not that anybody cares but I wasn’t part of ‘Disney Corpse Graphics’ who did the cover-art for ‘Sore Throat’s Disgrace To The Corpse Of Sid, that was just Ash and ‘Pig’. Ash, ‘Pig’ and me had a different thing called Secret Devil that did the cover for Doom’s Greatest Invention. Secret Devil did – if I remember properly – a booklet of poems by Syd Migx from ‘Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers’, a booklet of stuff by ‘Pig’, one of drawings by Ash and some other stuff, as well as three copies of a fanzine called Clowns Killing People. And a ‘Sore Throat’ single-cover, now I come to think about it. Also, I was in ‘P.V.C.’ too – it’s me playing on the Fuck Kill Destroy album, I joined after Percy left (Or whatever happened, I was too young and stupid to ask!). Like I say, of no possible interest to anyone but just for the sake of exactness!

Eric ‘Rich’ Rucker (2^nd guitar on the album)

Paula was our first bass-player – she left the band and Dominique joined for the last couple of years. Paula toured Europe with us – Dominique was with us on one US tour and when we toured Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

There’s some pieces on my blog about ‘Spitboy’ (The Riot Grrrl Controversy) and touring (The Spitboy Rule: Part I & Part II)

Top: Michelle ‘Todd’ Gonzales, Paula Hibbs-Rines, Pete the roadie; Middle: Jon Hiltz, Nolde, Erich (merch and drivers); Bottom: Karin Gembus & Adrienne Droogas

Michelle Gonzales, ‘Spitboy’ drummer

We had my birthday-party after the Vort n Vis gig (May 1^st) we’d played next door… Got dragged off the dance-floor by ‘open-minded’ punks who couldn’t understand how we could play like ‘Sedition’ but like gabbers as well! [for some pics scroll down here]

‘Brycey’, ‘Sedition’ bassist

‘Brycey’ (pic donated by Billy Steele)

This gig turned into a big dance-party afterwards; the ‘Sedition’ lot liked a bit of techno to be sure.

Sned, ‘One By One’ drummer

Another great gig, loads of good people about + proper good party afterwards. Think it was Bricey’s birthday, there are probably pictures of us dancing badly which are best kept in darkened rooms [Brob: already posted ;-); see link above…]. All the bands were good. ‘Spitboy’ were great. ‘One By One’s last gig at the V.V. [Brob: last one for ‘1×1’ was 94-08-06; see above] but a good one to go out on. This was one of the rare times we weren’t rushing off to catch a ferry so was great to hang out + catch up with folk. Thanks to everyone who turned up + helped out; and to Brob for reminding me of some great times.

Alec Mac, ‘One By One’ bassplayer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Adrienne ?

additions wellcome!…

92-03-08 Born Against – One By One – Nations On Fire – Pertotal

The ‘N.O.F.’ lp got out with some delay (due to the accident Jaak had) in March 1992. There wasn’t a real ‘presentation’ as was intended at first (91-09-01). We went on a 10 day tour with ‘Born Against’. Ute [X-Mist] was driving and our leader Bruno VDV was the aid.

Jeroen Lauwers; ‘N.O.F.’ bassplayer

‘Born Against’ – on their ‘92 Euro tour – were vocalist Sam McPheeters (Dear Jesus zine, Vermiform recs, etc.), guitarist Adam Nathanson (zinester & ex ‘Life’s Blood’), bassist Bret Blue (nót Javier) and drummer Jo(h)n Hiltz. After the Euro tour Tonie Joy (ex ‘Moss Icon’) and Brooks Headly (‘Universal Order of Armageddon’) joined on bass and drums, respectively; the band moved from New York to Richmond. They broke up in the summer of 1993. I’d started a correspondence with Sam when I discovered and distributed his zine (Dear Jesus; and later records from his label Vermiform). I admire(d) his intelligent, provocative, thought-provoking, articulate, eloquent writing… Adam I’d gotten to know when Freddy Alva (I think) sent me a tape with music of Adam’s band ‘Life’s Blood’. It was real nice to be able to talk with them in person for a while. And they even came back a few weeks later (92-04-18)…

‘One By One’ members Sned, Micky; Alec had been here before (91-08-18). Karin joined the band in early 1992 but it wasn’t her first visit at the Vort’n Vis (in- or outside a band) ‘cause she’d visited (here e.g.: 90-08-25) already when she was still living in Brugge…

In 1993 ‘N.O.F.’ toured with Jamie Owen (from the UK band ‘Jailcell Recipes’) on drums but here Jaak was still in the band; David doing the vocals, Jeroen on bass and Ward playing guitar.

Brob

‘Born Against’ photos kindly donated by Jeroen L. (taken by Roger ‘F.T.F.’)

I have been the driver for ‘Nations On Fire’ on the tour with ‘Born Against’. I still have some memory of that: the somehow bizarre and uncomfortable feeling staying at the house of Edward’s parents: Getting excellent food in a sort of conservative and authoritarian family-atmosphere…

Tina? [see excerpts] We used to be friends with a girl named Tina from Tübingen [Brob: I think she was booking shows at Epplehaus there…]. She got into booking tours and driving bands when ‘Toxic Reasons’ got stranded for a few days on their first European tour and needed some help. Armin met them in Freiburg and told them to contact her, and then they stayed for a few days off on the tour at the squat where she was living. That’s when Tina and her friend got into this band-touring thing; I guess…?

Peter [Carstens, from Flensburg] was the driver of ‘Born Against’ and many other bands [tours organised by Steffen Rose – Navigator productions] during those days, since he owned a huge van. Nowadays he’s the drummer for the massively popular and mainstream-accepted punk-band ‘Turbostaat’.

Ute, X-Mist recs

I thought Tina was Adam’s girlfriend. I remember that ‘Born Against’ took of with a male driver that got replaced halfway by 1 or 2 female ‘roadies’…

I didn’t really like this show as it was too crowded and, as Sling states [below], the atmosphere was a little tense but from both sides. The Liège and Brugge ‘crust’ crew was as negative about the (socalled) SxE crew as they were about them, negative vibes came from both, a bunch of posers on both sides of the fence. I don’t remember ‘One By One’ playing as we came in late from a long drive from Bremen the day before. I liked this band, Sned was always a nice person and I get on well with Karin who I started talking to by accident when she was studying in Kortrijk shortly before.

Still the best ‘N.O.F.’ line-up in retrospect but already with crackles in the foundation. Ed and me couldn’t decide about doing the band fulltime or taking a job; Jaak was too busy doing his health-food store to be 100% in the band and David always gave this feeling of ‘N.O.F.’ being his second choice band to ‘Scraps’. It also didn’t help him moving to Germany shortly after and rarely coming over to rehearse or work on new stuff. When Burn Again came out a year later, with a long tour ahead the atmosphere really wasn’t that good.

Jeroen Lauwers; ‘N.O.F.’ bassplayer

‘N.O.F.’ ready to leave on tour (1993!). L=>R: Edward V. a.k.a. ‘Judge No One’, stand-in drummer Jamie, roadie Whitey, Goofy’s mom, David D., Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers. (pic by driver Willy)

I never visited the Vort’n Vis. I had already left ‘Born Against’ by that time so it was Bret Blue who was the bassist after me.

Javier Villegas, ex ‘Born Against’ bassist

I had returned from New-Zealand the day before, arrived in London and ‘One By One’ picked me up from a junction on the motorway and drove me to Ieper! Sling played drums, at least for some of the set…

Sned, ‘One By One’ drummer

This gig resulted in my exit from the HC scene. I recall pushing over the drum-kit because so many straight-edge kids were very negative about the non-sXe. bands… Bunch of posers… [Brob: according to Leffe, this happened during ‘Pertotal’s set, who played here aswell… – see comment.]

Sling

This gig with ‘Born Against’ was part of a mini-tour of Belgium to celebrate Sned’s return from New-Zealand: we picked him up somewhere in London and then drove down to Dover… We had to wait a couple of hours for the ferry in the cold rain on the sea-front for our early crossing. Can’t remember the exact course of events but Karin and I stopped at her parents in Oostkamp and Alec stopped with Spatje at his mums… Not sure where Sned went. We had a couple of practices in the back-room of the Tivoli [pub in Brugge] where ‘P.J.D.’ & ‘Chronic Disease’ rehearsed. Sned hadn’t drummed for over 6 months and I think Sling offered to help lighten the load by helping out. It soon became clear that he knew the songs better than we did!!! We played definitely played 2 gigs with Sling and Sned drumming parts of the set each… As well as the Vort’n Vis there was another at La Zone… [7 mar ’92 (‘La Zone’): One By One (UK), Private Jesus Detector (Bel), Pertotal (Bel)] Karin and I also think there might have been a 3^rd gig at the Democrazy in Gent with ‘Nation of Ulysses’… [Jeroen L.: ‘Nation Of Ulysses’ played the same day at Democrazy.] Karin is pretty certain that she wasn’t in the band at the time but she had certainly joined by the time we played with ‘Rorschach’ at the 1 in 12 in June 1992…

Micky McGuinness, ‘One By One’ guitarist

The Vort’n Vis was the perfect size to pack in a show; the walls and windows were sweating with condensation. The vibe was definitely good and D.I.Y. The moisture resulted in some electrical problems with the guitar-amp. I was excited to play with ‘One by One’ because they had a former member of ‘Ripcord’ or ‘Heresy’ (?). [Generic] ‘Nations on Fire’ made us feel right at home since it was their home-turf and we were doing the tour with them. Edward created these funny ‘Born Against’/’Nations on Fire’ all-access passes that said “sponsored by Stussy and Budweiser”. Bruno put us up in his little place in the beautiful city of Liège. [Bruno had a room in Gent at that time I think; definitely not Liège.] He had a pet mouse that he allowed to run free around the apartment, and it kept waking us up.

The crowd was full of U.S. straight-edge fashion. It made me wonder that day, and throughout the whole European tour, “Doesn’t anybody remember ‘B.G.K.’, ‘N.V. Le Anderen’, ‘Lärm’, ‘Pandemonium’, ‘Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers’, ‘Porno Patrol’, ‘Upright Citizens’, ‘Raw Power’, ‘Wretched’, ‘Scraps’, ‘Negazione’, etc., etc.?”.

Adam Nathanson; ‘Born Against’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

94-08-06 One By One – [Sedition] – Juggling Jugulars – Doom – Fauna – Hiatus – [Extinction Of Mankind]

The poster announced this one as ‘Kilts ‘n Sweatin’ Feet in Slippers’… The first being the ‘trademark’ of Celtic punx ‘Sedition’, the second referring to Sned who used to wear comfy slippers behind his drum-kit. This was, I guess, the 5^th gig of ‘One By one’ here. (First time was 91-08-18…) They were almost like family, with uncle Sned bringing ‘prezzies’ all the time and Karin providing the Flemish connection… They were supposed to tour with ‘Sedition’ but that didn’t happen as Sned explains…

This was also ‘Doom’s 2^nd passage (1^st: 93-02-27). This time with ‘Scoot’ on bass.

The ‘Hiatus’ guys were practically always present. What can I say? An amazing set again. Don’t just believe me: look at the video…

‘E.O.M.’ original line-up consisted of Ste Dux (vocals), Mass Centi (guitar), Fozzy (bass), Dave Foz (drums). Their split ep with ‘Doom’ was released in 1994, so was the Weakness ep. They toured Europe together with ‘Doom’ here but didn’t manage to play a set…

‘Fauna’ was a young Finnish band playing melodic pop-punk with female vocals. On tour with ‘J.J.’ and (according to Peku) “very nice people with thoughts”. Peku asked me to help ‘em find some gigs (see letter)…

‘Juggling Jugulars’ (originally from Tampere, Finland), who play uptempo, melodic hardcore-punk, were already friends since I got in touch with them (and did a tour) in the early 90s. To me this is thé line-up (although I know they still play nowadays, and with due respect to the ‘new’ members): Pettri ‘Peku’ Mikkilä (guitar & vocals), ‘Jantsa’ Jani Kärkkäinen [R.I.P.] (bass & vocals), Marko Nurmi (drums), Tero Luoma (guitar).

Totaal Marginaal (Sint-Niklaas) consisted of Tim Audenaert (vocals), Wouter (guitar), Mieke (bass), Pim (drums). Can’t remember them…

Brob

It was July/August 1994 when we made a small tour with my band ‘Juggling Jugulars’ and another Finnish band named ‘Fauna’ (they played only few years and split up pretty soon afterwards). We had only 8 gigs in different countries but we managed to spend something like 2-3 weeks on the road, so it was not organized at all. Lots of sightseeing for young boys and girls. No stress :-).

‘Fauna’ have disappeared pretty much from the DIY-scene… Their line-up was: Maarit (vocals), Juhani (bass), Jukka (guitar) & Henkka (drums). The only member still active in punk-scene seems to be Henkka, who was later the drummer for ‘Endstand’ and nowadays plays in ‘Cigarette Crossfire’.

We had done our first tour with ‘Juggling Jugulars’ in Europe in 1991 and I had been in correspondence with Brob Tilt! since then, so he helped us again to get 3 gigs in Belgium; we played in Oudegem at JH Move (August 5^th 1994), in Ieper at the Vort’n Vis (August 6^th 1994) and in Eernegem at the B52 (August 7^th 1994). [see Brob’s Tours]

The most memorable gig was definitely in Ieper, simply because the Vort’n Vis that day had a pretty international atmosphere; punks from all over Europe had arrived there to enjoy this festival. For example I met Filip [Majchrzakowski] of the label Trujaça Fala (from Poland) there for the first time and this meeting meant a lot to us afterwards; he released many of our next records in Poland and arranged lots of gigs/tours for us, etc.

Playing a gig with bands like ‘One By One’ (one of my biggest favourites at that time) or ‘Doom’ etc., was a great experience for such unknown bands that we were. It was also inspiring to see a DIY venue that was really not a regular bar or something but a punks’ own venue. We got fed and all, so we really felt welcome and we enjoyed ourselves there. Brob was extremely friendly and helpful as always. I learned a lot about the European DIY punk-scene from our correspondence and those few meetings. I can’t remember if ‘Sedition’ really played there or not but I think I would remember if they would have played. [Sned explains below…] Maybe they had cancelled for some reason?

Of course things have changed a lot since 1994; some venues stayed and some disappeared – for various reasons. DIY-scene is a network of friends, not managers or agencies – I hope it remains that way for many years to come; for me it is only true form of HC/punk – at least that’s how I understand it.

Petteri ‘Peku’ Mikkilä, ‘Juggling Jugulars’ guitarist

‘Juggling Jugulars’ & ‘Fauna’, and friends (picture kindly donated by Peku)

‘Scoot’ [bassplayer; see pic] was in ‘Doom’ in ‘94… And Tom was on vocals ‘93-’95, right…

I was there… [off course! ;-)] This was ‘One By One’s last gig! (We might have played in Newcastle the night after, but that was it.) ‘Sedition’ didn’t play; they didn’t play the whole tour. We just had to go round the gigs facing people’s disappointment at their non-appearance! They had split up. Can’t remember much more I’m afraid…

Sned, ‘One By One’ drummer

Micky & Karin, ‘One By One’ (photographed by Peku)

I have a video of a gig of ‘Doom’ with the ‘Hiatus’ guys [see pics; actually Wills of ‘Hiatus’ & Stef DL] singing… It was the tour with ‘E.O.M.’. We had played in Bremen the night before and Ste of ‘E.O.M.’ had to go to hospital to get stitches & Tom [Croft; ‘Doom’ vocalist] was travelling in their van. They got held up so Tom was late & 3 different people got up and sang ‘Doom’ songs.

Stick, ‘Doom’ drummer

‘Doom’: Bri & Scoot, with Willy (‘Hiatus’) and Stef DL (‘Corpus Christi’); pics by Wim DL

There had been a riot in Bremen the night before, Tom was in the van with ‘E.O.M.’, Ste [Dux] cut his ankle pretty bad & they waited in a hospital for hours, missing the gig so it was ‘Doom’ karaoke… ‘E.O.M.’ didn’t play & arrived very late…

Scoot, ‘Doom’ bassist

‘Doom’ – Vort’n Vis, Ieper (06/08/1994) with special guest vocalists [Willy ‘Hiatus’, Steve ‘Neuthrone’, Stef ‘Corpus Christi’, etc.] & ‘Hiatus’ – Vort’n Vis, Ieper (06/08/1994) [with a variety of scenesters – Lord Moloch, Ben ‘Hiatus’, Wim DL, Johan ‘Carcer Molochi’, Michael Maes, Karin ‘1×1’, etc. – in the crowd]

Colin Forster [Thanks for putting these on-line!]

I remember that Ales Pechman, a tall promoter from the Czech Republic, sang some song(s) with ‘Doom’ too…). There was also an incident with Filip from Trujaça Fala, when the organisers believed he was dancing too violently. But you guys were running the place to the best of your abilities. At that time everything was new for us, how the scene was working, … but I got a lot of experiences and inspiration out of it to do things in a similar way over here.

Martin Valásek, Malarie recs

This one was in the bigger venue in the back. There were many friends from everywhere! ‘Hiatus’ played as a 4-piece [Brob: Willy, Azill, Jonas & Ben] because Phil decided to stay at home. ‘Unhinged’ wasn’t on the bill but since Tom (of the ‘headlining’ ‘Doom’) didn’t turn up, we played a few songs as a 3-piece (Manu wasn’t there). Then Sned told me that I was the first on the list to sing with ‘Doom’. So I did. That was a great honour as I was a big crust fan at that time. Still like it but I’m more open to other styles nowadays…there’s good and bad things in every kind of music.

Willy ‘Hiatus’

Some extra pics of ‘Doom’ with Willy ‘Hiatus’ (kindly donated by Willy):

Some photos of ‘Hiatus’ & ‘Unhinged’ here: 94-08-06 Hiatus – Unhinged (photos)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Sned & Scoot celebrating the 1 in 12 (Bradford) – Vort’n Vis (Ieper) connection…

Some greetings from Suomi.

“We’re totally marginal [‘Totaal Marginaal’] from Sint-Niklaas and it was awesome here.”

anonymous

unknown

additions wellcome!…

91-08-18 Oi Polloi – Upside – One By One

I remember very little about this I must say, it was either the 1^st or last gig of the tour (I suspect it was the last. I don’t recall ‘Upside’ and I know ‘Ten Tennants’ had Jasper from ‘Culture Shock’ in their ranks. It was our 1^st tour; we were a 3-piece then: Micky, Alec and me, before Karin joined (that was in early 1992). We toured together with ‘Oi Polloi’ in rusty old van and car… The driver was Fazzy, our 4^th member. We wanted to go on tour and it was a lot easier to get gigs with ‘Oi Polloi’ as part of it! We had the van and car, they had the name! We’d known each other for some years before this already and so it just made sense.

Sned, ‘One By One’ drummer

In an interview for my zine Tilt! [Political Asylum (interview Tilt! #5)], Ramsey of ‘Political Asylum’ had caused some commotion about ‘Oi Polloi’ having a “fascist” drummer. Vocalist Deek Allan, as I remember, wasn’t very happy with that. I think it was the first time we met after this ‘incident’ and I have a gut-feeling there was some tension… I reckon this was their first gig in a long row of many to come, at the V.V. As you can read in drummer Dan’s guestbook-entry below: it was “canny darned groovy like” to them ;-). The photo below (courtesy of Sned) shows ‘One By One’, and ‘Oi Polloi’ a bit after the In Defence Of Our Earth LP (out on Words Of Warning, recorded January ‘90 – with drummer Dan ‘Dreaming Rhythm’, vocalist Deek, guitarist Chris and bassist – ex ‘The Apostles’ – ‘Muz’ Grant Douglas Munro) was done, and around the time they recorded the live side of Total AnarchOi compilation (released in ’92). On the Omnicide 7” (released in ‘91), bass and some vocals were done by Morag Cruickshank ‘Buzzmarks’ from the Aberdeen grindcore band ‘Grunge’. In autum ’93 they recorded for the Guilty 7” (released by Ruptured Ambitions) with Murray Briggs on drums, Calum Mackenzie on bass (as ‘Bobby Shaftoe’; his first recording) and Bobby ‘Gilly’ Gilchrist on guitar. The latter told me he never played in Belgium though – but he did do the Total AnarchOi Tour Europe in ’92  (amongst others)…

Chris (‘Oi Polloi’ guitarist) – Alec – ‘Fazzy’ (driver) – Deek – Karen (driver and ‘Sned’s partner – Phil (‘Oi Polloi’ bassist) – Dan – ‘Sned’ (I guess Micky took the photo)

‘Ten Tennants’ were a project/band from the Bluurg scene (Bath). It’s blurry to me (can’t recall seeing them) but weren’t they Andy (ex-‘Subhumans’) doing vocals/guitar & Jasper Patterson (ex-‘Culture Shock’ & ‘Citizen Fish’; bass)…??? I read somewhere did they both did some beat-boxing aswell…

After ‘Generic’, ‘Pleasant Valley Children’, ‘Sore Throat’; ‘One By One’ was the new band with Sned (drums & vocals) at that time. Besides him, there was Micky McGuinness (ex-‘Generic’; guitar & vocals) and Alec Mac (bass). A couple of months before this tour they recorded for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 (18 June 1991 and broadcasted 3 August 1991). This was released (together with their 2^nd demo) on a tape (done by Armel Presselin). They too had a great time here but just as ‘Oi Polloi’ they were asking for “responsible dancing, no macho shit”; something that was indeed getting a problem from time to time.

‘Upside’ (not to be confused with ‘Upset Noise’!) had played for Smurfpunx before (88-08-13)… They were a political band coming from the area around Modena and played a powerful mix of HC and metal: Mauro Tincani (vocals), Vanny Anceschi (guitar), Andrea ‘Tritone’ Tincani (bass) and Gamba (drums)… TVOR On Vinyl had released their fantastic LP Tristi Orizzonti in 1990. Later (’93) they did a CD entitled Labirinti Della Menzogna (Labyrinths Of Lies) with 2^nd guitarist Gionata and there was also a live-tape of (one of) their last concert(s) at Tien’a’Ment (93-09-11).

During a visit (2013) to Dolly (Enzenberger of ‘F.F.F.’) & Gamba (drummer of ‘Upside’) – who got married, Dominik Schetting of ‘F.F.F.’ had a chat with the ‘Upside’ guys in Belgium… ‘Upside’ arrived late because they came all the way from a show in Nürnberg [South of Germany]… “We had to get directly on stage and leave right after the show.” Gamba (drummer) remembers: “We needed the assistance of a friend of Brob because we could not get any fuel with cash because it was too late at night. We needed a local credit-card, which we did not have. It was very stressing to get from Nürnberg, where we played the night before, to Ieper. We drove all night. After the show here, we went right back to Bonn.”; “There was nearly no stage; it was a rather small venue. We only could play 45 minutes, which was disappointing… I was angry because we drove so far just for that show and then could play only so briefly. Still it was a good thing because we go to know new people.”

Brob

Pictures of ‘Upside’ (kindly donated by Eric ‘React’ W.):

I don’t remember much about ‘Upside’. I know that there weren’t a lot of people in the venue. ‘Alians’ (from Poland) took over and they played for more than an hour even though they were tired from the travel and the bassist had a problem with his hand. Excellent music, quite a few encores. Even though the crowd was very big, they continued to play until they were exhausted. [Brob: I think Eric confused 2 gigs. I was helping ‘Alians’ with touring (see: Brob’s tours) and that was in September…] After that there was ‘Oi Polloi’! And strangely enough the placed filled up. I recall being disappointed by the people who didn’t make the effort to come and listen the two first bands: musically they were good. What to say about ‘Oi Polloi’! Superb atmosphere! I think they did all the classics of that era (also one about the Secretary of Interior Affairs or some other minister).

Eric ‘React’ W.

That whole ‘One by One’ / ‘Oi Polloi’ tour was a a brilliant rollercoaster of chaos. The London gig ended in a battle with the cops as the venue was being evicted, Arjen who organised the tour managed to get arrested so we weren’t totally sure where + when we were supposed to be playing. Like Sned it’s all a little hazy but pretty sure this was the last gig of the tour + was great. I’ve never seen a bad ‘Oi Polloi’ gig. Never didn’t enjoy playing the V.V., always a good atmosphere, cool people involved + the kids were generally ace. ‘One By One’ (and ‘Health Hazard’ + ‘Suffer’) always had a ball playing in Belgium, our 2^nd home. Lots of politically engaged people who gave a shit + knew how to have fun.

For me it was brilliant getting to meet loads of people involved in the DIY anarcho world who’d I’d got to know through Flat Earth + lots of new friends were made on that tour. Back then it was easy to feel isolated + it was inspirational to see what collective power there was based around venues/squats/scenes. Similar in spirit to the 1in12 Club in Bradford, a space where people could get together + make things happen. The Vort’n Vis always also felt like a place where a lot of different groups of people / tribes came together, and there was always a lot of energy rather than people just trying to look cool or not giving a shit.

We really appreciated being fed as that was a novelty for us at the time. Thanks to everyone who helped make stuff like this happen. Putting on gigs is a pretty thankless task, as is cleaning up afterwards, doing the stalls / bar / door. So thanks.

Alec Mac, ‘One By One’ bassplayer

That was the last gig of the tour and it was a pretty weird gig for me as I had already fallen in love with Karin [future partner and singer of the band] and now I was having to go home to work and day-to-day reality in the UK… The first 2 gigs on the European side of the tour were in Switzerland so Arjen [van der Meulen; tour-promoter from Groningen] managed to get himself arrested even before we’d played our first gig!!!

Micky McGuinness, ‘One By One’ guitarist

‘One By One’ on their tour in Ripping Thrash #8

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Apparently Andy Föcker (real name) & his bro Stefan visited this one… Another window smashed? ;-)

additions wellcome!…