2000-08-20 As Friends Rust – [Walls Of Jericho] – Stigmata – Length Of Time – Reveal – Standing Tall – One Fine Day – Children Of Fall – Purification – [Chispa] – Inane – Course Of Action – Oil – Bobby Peru – Severance

Introduction => 2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest

Laurent Chopard & Olivier Bresson (from Besançon, France) wrote in their zine Co-existence:

3rd day: some interesting bands in the afternoon such as ‘Bobby Peru’ (hard rock’n’roll emo) or ‘Oil’ (original HC). For Laurent, ‘Children Of Fall’ gave the best concert of the festival, despite the vocal problems of the singer and especially the penultimate concert worthy of attention. ‘Stigmata’ gave occasion to a good bit of fun for most of us French, entering into some ‘caterpillars of death’ in the pit. We were waiting for ‘As Friends Rust’ but their gig was brief, since the police decided to put an end to the festival. A little disgusted but not too sad because there’s enough opportunities to see this band (that roams the old continent for quite some time).

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‘Severance’ (Brugge/Knokke-Heist) did a “blend of the post-hardcore thing with some indie rock”; they’ve been compared with ‘As Friends Rust’ & ‘Hot Water Music’. The band was started in 1998 by Bert Degraeve (guitar), Jochen Verledens (vocals), Koen Barbier (bass) en Pieter Deroo (drums). Tim Debrabandere became the 2^nd guitarist in 1999 and Ivo Debrabandere replaced Pieter on drums in 2000. Their first release was a split-CD with ‘DeathBeforeDisco’ on Eye Spy recs (2001). A couple of years later Genet recs would release their CD Let’s Talk About Us…

‘Bobby Peru’ – “Rock on emo-power!” –  (emocore from southern Germany) played a “frantic, chaotic style of hardcore; heavily influenced by the ‘Swing Kids’ and other San Diego bands of the time”. They – ‘Bobby Belmondo’ (bass), ‘Badass Peru’ (drums), ‘Bobby Fett Peru’ (guitar), ‘Cpt. Loco Peru’ (guitar) & ‘Byron J. Peru’ (vocals) – released 2 7”s: Liberate Tute Me Ex Inferis (Two Friends recs 1999) and The X-File Conspiracy (Strange Fruit 2001).

‘Chispa’ (from Hamburg) were people who’d played in ‘Loxiran’: Dennis Becker (guitar; he had been at the V.V. with ‘Lebensreform’ in ‘97), Norman Kolodziej (guitar), Oliver Koch (bass), Thomas Tröger (drums) & Ulf Stolley (vocals). “San Diego all over it!”… Markus Haas (Per Koro) released their 7” Obstinator (’99) and there was a split-CD with ‘Enfold’ on Bloodlink recs. They were announced but didn’t actually play.

‘Inane’ (from Bottrop, Ruhrpott area, Germany) – “Mörser with grunts” – playd brutal metal/death-core with frantic drums/guitars and hellish vocals. Their album Zeitraffer was released on Sascha Franzen’s label Alveran recs in 2000. Markus Haas (Per Koro) did their second – Kill ‘Em & Grill ‘Em – in 2001. There was also a 7” on Autumn Leave Network… The band consisted of ‘Ollie’ Oliver Hapke (bass), Oliver Hemker (guitar), Jörg Fenhoff (guitar), Michael Heidenreich/Christian S (drums) & Heiko Nickel (vocals). No idea who Wes was (see guestbook).

‘Course Of Action’ (from the French-speaking part of Belgium: Wavre/Louvain-La-Neuve) played “technical/melodic metal-core with the emotion and intensity of bands like ‘Converge’ or ‘Morning Again’…”: ‘JP’ Jean-Pascal Bolle (drums), David Scurr (bass), Tiago Lemaitre (guitar), Phyl Bautzer (vocals) & ‘Max’ Maxim Polya-Vitry (guitar/vocals). They put out a self-released tape (entitled Ocean Of Despair) in ’98). Then there was the CD No Redeeming The Sunlit Path Of Bliss ‎(Hellbound Corporation, ’99) and GoodLife recs released the Carving Our Way By Tearing Our Faith ‎CD (2001). They came for the fest in 2001.

The album Definition Delta by ‘Oil’ (from A’dam & R’dam) was recorded July 2000, with guitarists Jasper Uhl & Robin van der Kaa, bassist Peter Heemskerk, drummer Marcel Wiebenga (also ‘Das Oath’) and singer Nicholas van den Doel. It came out on Jeroen Vrijhoef & Marcel Palijama’s label Coalition recs. They were a hardcore band; in Bruno’s marketing-lingo: “Like ‘Rocking From The Crypt’ going old-school.”.

‘Purification’ – “vegan straight-edge mosh metal terror” – played already on the fest in 1997 (97-08-15)… This Roman vegan sXe metal-core band, I believe, consisted at that time of Maurizio Ricci (vocals), Paolo ‘Uccello’ Castagna (bass), Fabio ‘Kappa’ Cappabianca (drums), Emiliano De Santis (guitar) and Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar; also ‘Comrades’). They did a split-CD with ‘Unborn’ in 2002. Watch their set…

‘Children Of Fall’ (“emotional metal-core”; from Malmö) did several records; one of which was on Genet recs (2000): Riding A Broken Vehicle. A later album was also released on tape by Marko Rusjan (Choose Life label). The band was: Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (guitar; ex ‘Serene), Anders Näslund (vocals; ‘Serene’), Emil Björkander (bass; see below) & Linus Rösell (drums). Olle got replaced for this show (see comment below).

‘One Fine Day’, a “post-hardcore” band, had already played at the ’98 fest already. In 2000 they released a split-7” with ‘Dead Inside’ The band consisted of Adriano ‘Baulo’ Fontaneto (guitar), Alessio Fornasiero (bass), Andrea ‘ics’ Ferraris (guitar; also ‘Burning Defeat’, ‘Permanent Scar’, etc.), Luca ‘Mouth’ Fontaneto (vocals; editor of the zine Outlet) and Stefano Bosso (drums). In 2002 they would release a CD on Bruno’s Genet recs: “Mixing heavy ‘Botch’-esque sounds with more rocking ‘Swing Kids’-alike madness.”. Their set here was video-taped: 1^st part & 2^nd part.

‘One Fine Day’ (pic courtesy of the band)

‘Standing Tall’ (Gainesville, Florida) – ‘Starkweather’ meets ‘Converge’! – had 2 releases on Genet recs: the album Swallow The Gods (released right in time for their European tour 2000) and the EP To Suffer Discomfort For Compassion (’99). The band consisted of Larry Watts (guitar/vocals), Tony DePaolo (bass/vocals), Louie Gonzales (drums; he replaced Andy Seltzer); don’t know if guitarist Ruben Lopez was in the band at this timepoint. The guestbook was signed by Lew (Larry), Luis, Tony & Dani (read below). Their music was described as “wicked, discordant and messy HC” and also as “destructo-core influenced by ‘Starkweather’, ‘Botch’, ‘Coalesce’…”.

‘Reveal’s second appearance (first one: 99-08-21). “Driving hardcore/noise whirlwind, new LP/CD out now!”. They’d left GoodLife and switched to Genet recs for the To Explore The Invention, To Create CD (2000). Maarten van Oers (drums), Mischa van Rodijnen (guitar), Geert van Hoesel (vocals) & Dave van Beek (bass), from the south of The Netherlands.

‘Length Of Time’ was a metal-core band from Brussels with Michel Kirby (guitar; ex ‘Mental Disturbance’, ex’ Deviate’), Yves ‘Ross Demon’ Van Geel (vocals), Christian Zegers (drums) & Vince(nt) Meseeuw (bass). They did 2 albums and an EP for GoodLife recs between 1998 & 2000. Someone wrote about them: “Our lives were full of agony until we heard this magic band.”…

Michel Kirby (source unknown)

‘Stigmata’ was a hardcore band from Albany, New York; with Bob Riley (vocals), Buddy Armstrong (bass), Jason Bittner (drums; later ‘Overkill’ etc.), Jason/Jay Sunkes (guitar) and Mike Maney (guitar). In 1999 Victory recs had released their album Do Unto Others…

‘Stigmata’ (source unknown)

‘Walls Of Jericho’ – announced as “Ex ‘Earthmover’, brutal mosh metal with harsh female vocals” – was a metalcore band from Detroit. At the time of this fest they had a demo out, a 7” (A Day And A Thousand Years) and an album (The Bound Feed The Gagged, on Trustkill recs). At that time: Candace Puopolo/Kucsulain (vocals), Aaron Ruby (bass), Wes Keely (drums; ex ‘Earthmover’), Kevin Kroeger or Chris(topher) Rawson (guitar) & Mike Hasty (guitar; ex ‘Earthmover’). ‘W.O.J.’ didn’t actually make it here. ‘Earthmover’ played an earlier fest on 98-08-15…

Damien Moyal sporting a ‘Liar’ T-shirt (source unknown)

‘As Friends Rust’ had been here the year before aswell: “Melodic, fastforward hardcore harmonies! A pleasure to have them back!”. Another band from Gainesville, Florida! Damien Moyal (vocals: ex ‘Culture’/‘Shai Hulud’/‘Morning Again’) was the main man. After a major line-up change the double-7” God Hour (GoodLife recs 1999) and the 8” As Friends Rust (Doghouse recs 1999) were released. The line-up at that time was James Glayat (guitar), Joseph ‘Joe’ Simmons (guitar; also ‘Culture’, ‘Morning Again’), Kaleb Stewart (bass) & Tim Kirkpatrick (drums).

Brob

I have very good memories regarding Ieperfest and the Vort’n Vis. I was indeed the guitarist – later bassist – of ‘Oil’. As it happens I missed the concert on Ieperfest in 2000 because I was ill. Nobody replaced me, I was such a limited guitarist that they could do with the one giutar.

Robin van der Kaa, ‘Oil’

Wasn’t the ‘As Friends Rust’ concert interrupted by the cops because of complainys about the ‘noise’?

Nikos Houzet, drummer ‘Eliottt Ness’

I have memories of Damien ‘A.F.R.’ singing through the kick-drum microphone when they played. The vocal microphone ended up getting smashed with all the people climbing the scene. Fantastic show and great guys!

I think Joakim did stand in guitar for Olle at the ‘Children Of Fall’. Not 100% sure though. He got a nasty infection on his leg after doing a huge tattoo while we were on tour. I think he had to cancel Ieper because of that and go home?

Gunnar Forsman, ‘Leiah’ drummer

Yes, it’s true that I had a medical condition that sent me straight back to Sweden and into hospital. It was actually a really bad tattoo infection But I don’t think the band cancelled any shows, the guys from ‘Leiah’ filled in for me when I went home…

Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson, ‘Children Of Fall’ guitarist

If Olle didn’t play that year and the band borrowed stuff of the ‘Leiah’ members, I’m totally sure I wasn’t in the band then already. I must have joined during the fall of that year, after the band had played that fest. Petter Karlsson probably played the bass instead of me.

Emil Björkander

Ieper was an absolute blast. It was built up in my mind from all the stories I heard from our friends in ‘Culture’ / ‘Morning Again’ / ‘As Friends Rust’ and when we got there it certainly did not disappoint. New/old friends, bands from all over the world and a great atmosphere both at the fest and in the city made Ieperfest a fantastic experience. One of my favorite things about the fest was the fact that there were so many bands from different parts of the world and how welcome everyone was made to feel. Our Belgium shows were some of my favorite of the tour due to the fantastic crowds that came out. Our Ieperfest crowd was among one of my favourite of my career due to the fact that they were so patient with us. We had no idea what we were doing as we had never played on a stage that big before. Add to that technical difficulties, rain and a non-English speaking crowd, and you get a potential recipe for disaster. We got the exact opposite and it was awesome. Our Ieperfest set also doubled as our CD release show for our second offering from Genet recs. If not for Bruno having faith in a bunch of kids from Florida, we never would have been there. That European tour was one of the best experiences of my life and kicking the whole thing off at Ieper was incredible.

The Swallow The Gods line-up was Larry, Louie and myself. Ruben and Andy had moved on at that point. The European tour was with Dani on vocals, a guy from Spain who came to Gainesville in early 2000. He hung out with us until his visa ran out and he had to go home. He played a few shows with us in the States but he went back to Spain a few months before the tour. We met up with him in Gent at the start of the tour and we played as a 4 piece.

Tony DePaolo, bassist of ‘Standing Tall’

‘Children Of Fall’ belonged to the Swedish emo-hardcore scene but played bone-hard live… One lump of passion. They became real friends and I drew the cover of their CD. ‘As Friends Rust’ was…a party on stage; poppy up-tempo hardcore with one of the best frontmen of that era (Damien Moyal). Awesome… Good time!

Kristof Mondy

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-08-15 Abhinanda – Veil – Facedown – Spineless – Reiziger – Endstand – Clouded – Purification – Instinct

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

The Czech zine Barricada #2 mentions ‘Starmarket’ switched places with ‘Endstand’…

‘Instinct’ was a – “positive old-school” (Steve Noyelle’s words) – band with people from my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar, Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They’d played the V.V. before (probably a few times that year: 97-03-01, 97-06-27 & 97-07-12)… They did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment (release-party 98-04-18).

On the internet (the German Outspoken forum – outspoken.de) one could read “In 1997 Purification made it to the most important European hardcore festival of those days, the Vort’n Vis fest in Ieper (Belgium).”.

‘Purification’ was a Roman vegan sXe metal-core band and they were inspired by (hardline and pro-life bands) ‘Vegan Reich’ & ‘Earth Crisis’, and influenced by American Straight-Edge. The members were: ‘Puritan’ Maurizio ‘Er Vegano’ Ricci (vocals on the demo and here aswell) – later Matteo ‘Cumenda’ Ferrari (‘P Bird’ or ‘Caustic Bird’, switched from bass – which he played here – to vocals), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar; later together with Emiliano ‘Er Frusinate’ De Santis), Fabio ‘Kappa’ Cappabianca (drums; Demian Campora informed me he wasn’t in the band at that time). They did a demo in 1996 entitled Arkangel. The Vessel Of Wrath 7” was released on Maurizio Ricci’s label Surrounded recs (xCatalystx recs in the US) in 1998. They also had a track on the Animal Truth compilation that SoberMind recs did. Hans also released their 1996-2000 compilation-CD in 2001.

Barricada #2: “I was really curious about ‘Purification’ because their demo is really good. But I was surprised when the new songs turned out even better than those on the tape. A sympathetic band that talked a lot about veganism and ecology. They also played an ‘Earth Crisis’ cover, The Order That Shall (from the compilation Stones To Mark A Fire). Their performance may have taken a wrong turn with the infernal dancing of the Italian fans, but otherwise I was content.”

‘Purification’; courtesy of Adam Malik

‘Clouded’ was a “new-school” metal-core band from Antwerp (Kontich) with Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serge ‘Serch’ Carriere (drums) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar; he replaced Kurt). They started rehearsing November ’96 and did their first show March ’97. The 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in ‘98. They played a show at the V.V. pub (98-05-10) and also did the ’98 & ’99 fests.

‘Endstand’ was a HC/punk band from Riihimäki consisting of Jani Kivijärvi (drums), Janne Tamminen (vocals), Joel (Asseri) Sipilä (bass) and Mika Kaukonen (guitar). They’d done a demo-tape (Fear Of Future) in ’96. A split-7” with the Swedish band ‘Outlast’ came out on Grey Days recs / Bridge Of Compassion (‘97). The same year as their Tolerance 7” (on Arto Savolainen’s label Rising Justice recs). The next years there was the Freedom mCD (’98, on Impression recs, the later Lifeforce recs) and a split mCD with ‘Aurinkokerho’ (Halla Julkaisut ‘99). Learn more about the band’s history from the documentary Fire Inside that is on the www.

Barricada #2: “I went to relax in the car when ‘Starmarket’ was supposed to play. About half an hour later I went to the hall and I was horrified: instead of the Swedes, ‘Endstand’s show was in full swing. I only saw the last 6 songs but these were full of energy, which was evidenced by the people piling up on stage. The guys in the band said it was their best concert ever.”

‘Endstand’; (1)&(2) from Hobson’s Choice #4 zine, (3) by JanCoert Toerse

‘Reiziger’ evolved from ‘Kosjer D’; their music was described as “post hardcore” and “emo-core”. I think they were an ‘indie’ band on the edge of the DIY scene… The band consisted of Sven Gielen (drums), Pascal Hens (guitar), Kristien Hendrix (bass) & Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals). At this time I think they were about to release their 1^st (12”) EP Don’t Bind My Hands (Genet recs)… They’d just done an intimate show at the V.V. pub (97-06-14) and would return for the ’98 fest.

Barricada #2: “Things calmed down a bit with ‘Reizger’. Pleasantly affectionate emo!”

‘Reiziger’; pics courtesy of the band

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on the fest in August ’96. 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 ex ‘The Jedi’ in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). Their music was brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of SoberMind recs released the Painfields 7”/mCD (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998).

Barricada #2: “After peace had filled our hearts, a more violent band came along. A very compact mix of HC and metal, in the vein of ‘Morning Again’. Their new MCD is very brutal.”

Not the first time for ‘Facedown’ (‘new-school’, metal-influenced, vegan SE-HC band from Kontich, near Antwerp) either… Thomas Baeken (bass), Youri Baeken (drums), Daniel Mies (vocals), Niko Poortmans (guitar) and Geert Ceuppens (guitar) saw the Ferket brothers (Evil Twin recs) release their 7” Friendship Is Everything (recorded at Studio 195 in July 1996) but Bruno re-released it – with some additional tracks – on Genet recs this year… … The same for the split-7” with ‘Earthmover‎’ (on Moo Cow recs). “Powerful, brutal, moshing emo-core”…

Barricada #2: “Evening fell when ‘Facedown’ came up. They surprised us last year but now it was really worth checking them out. The whole hall rumbled when they played songs from their EP and also new ones that should appear on the new album. As a bonus, they added ‘Earth Crisis’ Firestorm – that was screamed along by all.”

‘Facedown’; by JanCoert Toerse

The 3^rd appearance (after 94-08-20 & 95-08-19) of the Swedish SxE band ‘Abhinanda’. In ‘96 they had released their self-titled CD. As Mel Hughes put it: “hardcore passion…metallic riffs speaking to you in poetic tones; fuelled by the power of ‘Verbal Assault’, ‘Shelter’ and ‘Inside Out’…”. It was recorded with José Saxlund (vocals), Pär Hansson (guitar; replacing Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass) & Daniel Berglund (drums; replacing Jonas Lyxzén). When they recorded in spring of ’98 for the album The Rumble, Niklas Rudolfsson played guitar instead of Adam. Niklas also played at this gig. Their set was recorded on video.

Barricada #2: “The Swedes appeared with a new guitarist and drummer. During the first riffs everything seemed calm but as soon as the singer started, a wave of people rose and made their way to the stage, striking the microphone. The musicians disappeared in the piles of people, sometimes the guitarist and the singer peeked over the heads of the crowd. They played songs from the last album but also old hits such as Senseless or Needle. All rocking and thrashing. The classic Let’s March! dragged some 100 people along. The best show of this Friday – as could be expected.”

‘Abhinanda’; (1) courtesy of Adam Malik, (2) by JanCoert Toerse

Two years after their first performance ‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) returned. Jens Lauterbach (bass), Flo(rian) Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann played metallic hardcore. In 1996 Ferry Krop (of ‘Crisis Of Society’) had released the 7” Time Will Tell (Threesome recs label) after he did their first self-titled one. The same year their LP The Burden Of Life was released (Frontline).

Barricada #2: “They arrived last minute. People were screaming along to their best songs, such as Everyday or Time Will Tell. But it seemed to me that ‘Veil’ gave a bit extra that evening.”

Brob

It sure was quite an experience to play this festival in Ieper and I have good memories about it.

Joel (Asseri) Sipilä; ‘Endstand’ bassist

We did play at the V.V. in ‘97 (when ‘Abhinanda’ played there as well)… Actually we arrived so late that they were forced to play before us, so we ended up being the headliners of that night… I remember that so well since we got out of the car (had an accident during the day which was a reason for the delay) after an 8 hour drive… When we finally arrived, we stretched out and and got right on stage. Holy moly! I’m pretty sure the first crowd-shot on the intro-page was during ‘Veil’s set.

Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’s vocalist

What I always remembered is the good atmosphere, the warm welcome by the audience. Not obvious at that time , ‘cause ‘Reiziger’ was not a typical hardcore-band.

Sven Gielen, ‘Reiziger’

Our record Our Kodo was just out then… I remember we were the ‘the odd one out’… Geert started our performance with “Hello, we’re ‘Reiziger’ and we’re gonna play half an hour of pop-music for you.”. It was a legendary gig, incredible ambience, very hot on stage, warm reactions afterward aswell. One can hear on the compilation that Bruno released, that Geert’s voice was broken…

Pascal Hens, ‘Reiziger’

I don’t remember that much gigs we played with ‘Clouded’. But the ones I will never forget are the shows at the Lintfabriek in Kontich (our second home) and at the Vort’n Vis festivals. I think we played there the last two times before the festival moved outside, to a much bigger location. We still played in the barn (no other way to call it), with sweat dripping of every wall, people diving from the ceiling-beams,… Chaos, but in a very contagious way. It was amazing to see how much people actually fit in that barn :-) … I remember being knocked out after our show – too many people, too much sweat, too little oxygen – but also kind of high on adrenaline at the same time. The Fest always had the most receptive and the most enthusiastic ‘crowd’. People were singing along with songs we played for the very first time. Songs that had no lyrics yet (I just shouted something). When ‘Kindred’ and ‘Culture’ played (my favorite bands back then), the barn just exploded.

I don’t know what it’s like nowadays, but back then all the bands (also the American ones) stayed at the same camping-site. We all hung out in the city and we played soccer together. I made friends in Ieper that I’m still in touch with 20 years later. Sweet memories.

Jeroen Verelst, ‘Clouded’ singer

What I particularly remember of that show is that we, being a young band, got a lot of support from the audience. Our song Positive Kids was enregistred that day and used for the H8000 sampler.

Alex Dierickx, ‘Instinct’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest

From the www… >>The Vort’n Vis Festival is one of the biggest underground fests in Europe and can be found in Ieper. It exists a long time already, I think from the eighties. It used to be in the club called Vort’n Vis but since two years it has become an open-air festival at the music-school. The fest offers us a lot of styles of hardcore like old school, NYHC, emo, more metal stuff; and combines big names with lesser known names. The big names this year were Ensign, Good Clean Fun, Stigmata, Grade and As Friends Rust. Convinced, Walls Of Jericho, Out For Blood and Shai Hulud were bands listed on the bill but who couldn’t show up in the end, pity… The weather on this year’s fest really sucked, lotsa rain… But that couldn’t stop the fun. The atmosphere on the fest was good but not as good as last years. There were no fights or something but some people seemed to enjoy fucking things up at the camping. A lot of people showed up. They told me almost 1.500 people on Friday, about 1.700 on Saturday and the same for Sunday. Also a lot of people decided to stay on the camping.<< (author unknown)

Programme (full posts with photos of some bands can be accessed by clicking…):

Friday 18 August: Ensign (USA), Voorhees (UK), Reiziger (Bel), Out For Blood (Bel), Serene (Swe), Cast In Fire (USA), Building (Bel), January Star (Ger), Cataract (Swi), Lvmen (Cze), With Love (Ita), With Love (Ita), Ariel Kill Him (Swe), AmenRa (Bel)

Saturday 19 August: Grade (Can), Good Clean Fun (USA), Leiah (Swe) Sad Origin (Bel), Firestone (Bel), Withdrawn/Evanesce (UK), Knut (Swi), Born From Pain (Nl), Point Of No Return (Bra), Negate (Bel), Dawncore (Hun), Circle (Bel), Posession (Spa), 5 Day GetAway (Bel)

Sunday 20 August: As Friends Rust (USA), Walls Of Jericho (USA), Stigmata (USA), Length Of Time (Bel), Reveal (Nl), Standing Tall (USA), One Fine Day (Ita), Children Of Fall (Swe), Purification (Ita), Chispa (Ger), Inane (Ger), Course Of Action (Bel), Oil (Nl), Bobby Peru (Ger), Severance (Bel)

At least one critical visiter… “What are we all doing ???” ;-)

Some shots of the crowd & distro-stalls (source unknown):

An Caers & Nico Peeters (Day One distribution)

The ‘shit-workers’ in the shadow:

97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

‘Blindfold’ was supposed to play their “last show ever” but they still did shows, even toured during the summer, in ’98, their drummer Chatn informs. According to Hans their last gig was at ‘t Molentje in Kuurne. They recorded their live-LP (with 2 new songs only to be heard there) at the V.V.

Brob

We released our CD [Redeem The Monsters] at this fest but we didn’t actually play… Our singer Mark arrived with the first 500 copies, straight from the prsssing-plant and they were practically all gone in a day (sold to people attending and on consignment to various distros. We had to order a second pressing immediately. Crazy!

Sven Leys, ‘Rain’s guitarist

I ended up there with some SxE friends from Vienna (Daniel Eberharter of Eloquence zine), from Vienna (Austria), that were going to the fest. I was also friends with ‘By The Grace Of God’ (ex-members of the Louisville band ‘Endpoint’ [BTGOG had been touring earlier. They were already back in the states by August.]) who I think played the fest. They were on tour in Europe and I dragged along as van-duty, slacker, bad jokester for some shows. I toured with them on and off throughout the tour. We had a blast at Ieper and met great people. It was a nice meet-up of us all. I slept in the ‘loft’-area on an old couch. I had a giant necklace with a cock-ring on it. Good times! The venue was pretty unique in what I’ve seen around the world. It was impressive seeing the show set-up and so successful, especially with so many bands. The diversity in the punk-styles was evident and it was great to be apart of. There were New York style harcore, crust-punk and metal bands; and kids all hanging out.

Kevin Zelko; Wellfair? zine (also helped putting out ‘The Get Up Kids’ record)

Kevin Zelko & friends (Daniel Eberharter and Henrik from Stockholm)

I was at the Vort’n Vis with ‘Acheborn’… I have very good memories of sleeping in the park nearby in the festival. It was only us and another two people the first time The next year it was pretty full in there. The groundkeeper was actually so friendly that he almost didn’t let us go. A bit like in the movie Misery ;-) (Where a nurse takes care of an author that had a car-accident, in her house; and at the beginning she is all caring but then becomes this psycho who doesn’t let him leave her house, etc. We thought maybe he is all nice and then he won’t let us leave anymore…)

Here’s a few random memories:

There were 2 guys sleeping in the middle of the main square close to the venue because it was super-packed with people occupying every inch on the floor. We were walking past the main square when they were waking up and they were surrounded by market-stalls and people shopping. I guess they were too polite to wake them up to tell them that there is a market going on in their new bedroom….

There was this guy selling rare test-pressings of ‘Infest’, etc. for big bucks and American bands were spending a lot of money on it. I was sleeping at this guy’s house once on tour and he had hundreds of sleeves left and was making a test-pressing every once in a while. Power-violence hardcore capitalism…

And once I hitchhiked half way and was picked up by two guys from Munich at a highway-stop along the way but didn’t have a seat to get back. I didn’t really find anyone and at the last night there were four guys with a tiny car from Frankfurt that didn’t have any space as it was loaded with records that they were selling… Either way they squeezed me in and we all had records literally up to our nose driving for 6 hours or so. I think that was in the top 10 of the worst car-drives I ever had. but I guess that was the price to pay for going to the Vort’n Vis.

Christian Mix-Linzer (Outlet recs)

I was here aswell: I drove ‘Acheborn’. That was my first time at the V.V.

Marc Hartmann (Scorched Earth Policy, ‘Man vs Humanity’ drummer)

The persons (Jan & Jakub ‘Kuba’ Dušek of the sXe band ‘Balaclava’) that wrote a report in the Czech zine Barricada #2 mentioned that they got a discount on the admission-fee (a ticket for all three days costed 40 DM [20 Euro] – which was too much for them). The first day “of the three-day marathon” started about half past three. They spent the first (hot) night on the sand near the shore, and in the morning went skipping in the sea. They came back to the city and after lunch got ready for “the next round”. After day 2 they they left the hall “soaking in sweat and with torn earrings”, looking for a place to sleep in town. But there was hardly a place to lie down? “It’s not easy at all in this part of Belgium: there’s either cow-pastures and corn-fields surrounded by wire, or villages everywhere; but no forests where one can lay down one’s head.” After straying around for a long time, they found that single one place in the whole state and “slept the sleep of the righteous”. The last day started early right after lunch to get everything finished by nine o’clock… “Compared to the year before, there were fewer bands that took our breath. We probably also knew what was coming and the Belgian bands weren’t that big of a risk. But where else can you see so many wonderful bands and people together, find things you don’t know about, and especially to meet new friends and learn about European scenes. Beautiful memories…”

(full posts with photos of some bands playing are planned…)

[‘Natural Order’ & ‘Timebomb’ were not listed on the poster but they signed the guestbook. They didn’t play… Some bands got switched around… ‘Lifecycle’ was added to the bill last-minute.]

97-08-15: Instinct (Bel), Purification (Ita), Clouded (Bel), Endstand (Fin), Reiziger (Bel), Spineless (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Abhinanda (Swe), Veil (Ger)

97-08-16: Thumbs Down (Bel), ODK Crew (Bel), Metroschifter (USA), Intensity (Swe), Spirit Of Youth (Bel), Serene (Swe), Sektor (Bel), Blindfold (Bel), Kindred (Bel), Liar (Bel), Culture (USA)

97-08-17: Lifecycle (Bel), Acheborn (Ger), Starmarket (Swe), Deformity (Bel), Mainstrike (Nl), Rubbish Heap (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Congress (Bel), Morning Again (USA)

crowdshots by Sergi E. Costa

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

visiters from the Czech republic; some of them wrote a review in Barricada #2

‘Roman vegan sXe legion’

militant… or hardline…?

all sorts of visiters…

additions wellcome!…