97-03-15 Gwyllions – Lunatic Society – Little White Feet

All Belgian bands here…

‘Gwyllions’ (a melodic skate-punk band – in the vein of ‘NoFX’, ‘Lagwagon’, ‘Pennywise’ – from the Lintfabriek scene in Kontich) were Dimi(tri) Vinck (vocals/guitar; ‘Jakke’ sang when they started out as a 5-piece), Kris Willems (bass), Redg(y) Peeters (drums) & Tom(my) Willemijns (guitar). GreenLeaf recs (a subsidiary of GoodLife recs) released two albums of them: Facedown… ‎(’96) & Idiosyncracy ‎(’97).

‘Lunatic Society’ (from Merchtem) started out as an old-school English punk-rock (“beer-punk”) band. They had a demo out and appeared on the compilation On The Streets (We Bite recs ’97). The music evolved into ska-punk (even adding a horn-section). The line-up back then was Erik De Smedt (drums), Mich(ael) De Neve (vocals; later Hans Bogaerts), Herman Bastelé (guitar) and Wim De Neve (bass; later replaced by Ludwig De Wolf). They split up but reformed and did a few albums in the new century.

‘Little White Feet’ was a local outfit (Wervik) that started out as a cover-band. Melodic pop & rock. They mention in the guestbook it was their second show here. No idea when the first one was…

‘Primal Urge’ were also mentioned in the Vort’n Vis notes…

Don’t think there was a big attendance: there were 3 other gigs elsewhere that day (‘State Of Fear’, etc. in Liège; ‘Veil’, etc. in Sint-Niklaas & ‘Deformity’, etc. in Tielt)…

Brob

I recall that I’ve been admitted that night (40°C fever) [see guestbook].

Dimi Vinck, ‘Gwyllions’

I was in ‘Lunatic Society’ (as 2^nd guitarist) from around ‘96 (did a gig with them in Herzele 96-06-29, supporting ‘G.B.H.’ & ‘UK Subs’) and I read in the biography (‘cause I don’t know anymore myself) that in ‘98 a few members quit… The first line-up was Mich(ael) doing vocals, his brother Wim on bass, Herman playing guitar and Erik De Smedt drumming. The demo was still with Mich & Wim De Neve (also ‘Counter-Attack’). I’ve been at the Vort’n Vis but I can’t recall that gig anymore…

Ben Notaert

‘Lunatic Society’ was indeed my first band (I was about 14/15 then). I can’t remember the gig at the Vort’n Vis. Probably I didn’t play for them anymore at that timepoint…

Wim De Neve

1997…is 20 years ago and a lot of beers later, and this makes it impossible to remember and to add extras about this night. I was certainly the drummer and still am after 25 years. This gig was also one of Michaël’s last gigs and Ludwig (bass) had already joined. Nowadays ‘Lunatic Society’ is working on new material with Herman (guitar), Ludwig (bass), Hanske (singer), Sam (2^nd guitar) and we hope to record our 5^th album soon. One thing I do know is that we had an awesome time in Ieper and I’m very pleased to hear that the V.V. is still kicking ass.

‘Smekke’ Erik De Smedt; ‘Lunatic Society’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘Primal Urge’?

additions wellcome!…