Intro: 96-09-20&21&22 8th Leed festival
‘Carcer Molochi’ played on Saturday early in the afternoon with Gork (who had been playing here with ‘Coche Bomba’ the year before: 95-09-16) and myself doing vocals, Michael [Maes] drumming, Yannick [from France] on bass and Erwin [Degryse; still] on guitar.
Inge Cappoen, ‘Carcer Molochi’ vocalist
The band of V.V. ‘shitworker Michael Maes, ‘Carcer Molochi’, had played here quite a few times before. Their line-up had changed here: bassist Danny Suffys, drummer David Stubbe & vocalist Johan Sys had left, Michael switched instrument and some new people joined as Inge pointed out… A few months later (early 97) partners Mike & Inge would start ‘Link’ with Greg on bass and Juju on drums…
‘Witchknot’ (from Bradford) had played here already (93-09-18). Jane Graham (bass & vocals) was replaced by bassist Kess. ‘Foundsters’ Sarah MacHenry (drums; was in ‘Curse of Eve’ in the 80s), Lianne Hall (guitar & vocals) had turned the band into a 6-piece with the addition of Sally Stone (vocals), Marion (violin), Gaynor Haggerty (cello). They were described as “Punky ladies knitting songs with a load of instruments”. They put on punk and riot grrrl gigs and Witchfests at the 1 in 12. Sned put out their EP (Suck; Tilt! #8: >>The music these women produce is not based on the traditional rock’n’roll structures. The untypical use of instruments and the upbeat colliding rhythms make it sound really bright and refreshing. Songs about empowerment and protest. A true kick in the nuts of capitalism and patriarchy.<<) and LP (Squawk; Tilt! #9: >>Complex, rhythmic, yet danceable earthbeat-punk reminiscent of ‘Recusant’, ‘Dawson’… The dashing beats keep putting you on the wrong foot but these women are still able to drag me along in their whirligig. The violin and cello also give it a folky feel. […]<<) on his label Flat Earth recs during the years. Some people labeled their music (experimental jazzy) post-punk and mentioned influences such as ‘The Slits’, ‘X-Ray Spex’, ‘The Ex’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, etc. etc. Later Kes and Sarah formed ‘Baba Yaga’… Well into the new century Sarah’s in Wales, playing in ‘Mwstard’ with her partner Alec Mac…
‘Witchknot’ (from Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak #3)
‘Witchknot’ (photographed by Sascha May)
‘Quarantine’ (from Glasgow) were Brian Curran (guitar & vocals; ex ‘Disaffect’; later ‘Debris’), Tracey Fallon (bass & vocals) and Jamie Usher (drums; ex ‘Disturbed’, ‘Headstart’ & ‘Sedition’). If I’m well informed they did a tape – entitled Doin’ It Wrong – in ’95. Their LP Automatic Negative Thoughts was recorded in April ‘96 and released by Nabate. My reviwe in Tilt! #9 goes: >>Brutally refreshing music that provides people with the adequate energy to meet the demands and resist the pressure of life. Great melodic crusty HC with brilliant hooks and catchy riffs. ‘Strawman’ and ‘Jawbreaker’ jump to my mind. […] Wonderful!<< (The 7” Junction was registered July 1997.)
‘P.A.I.N.’ (Propaganda And Information Network) – with some people who were also in ‘AOS3’ and ‘Radical Dance Faction’- brought ska-punk with reggae/dub influences supporting anarcho-style rantings. They were compared to ‘Inner Terrestrials. The band was from London: John Horabin (vocals & keyboard; was here before with ‘AOS3’), Phil ‘Pain’ Beckett (guitar & vocals), Ozzy ‘Captain Ozbert’ Wilkins (bass & vocals) and ‘Dan the Man Bdlang’, Danny Sylvester (drums & vocals). In 1996 they put out the album Oh My God! We’re Doing It! on the Bristol label Inna State recs.
‘Bad Influence’ had also been playing at the V.V. many times… This was the period after the Afterbirth 10” was released (marketed as “the Belgian answer to ‘Amebix’ and ‘Zygote’), so this might’ve been with ‘Eggy’ Egbert Verheyen playing guitar…? And Tim ‘Cow’ Shapland on bass?
‘Kirous’ from Joutseno (Finland) were Jonne Kauko (drums; ex ‘Selfish’), Ossi Vepsäläinen (guitar), Toni Eiskonen (bass; editor of Downsided zine), Antti Valius (vocals; here replaced by ‘Sharpeville’s vocalist, later by Teemu Bergman). In 94 they’d put our a 7” the Parisian label Minstrel recs.
‘State Of Filth’ from Preston (Lancashire) played “fast, heavy crust-core with dual vocals”. A DIY/political band; in a later stage fronted by Wayne Southworth (vocals, ex ‘Sore Throat’, ex ‘Doom; also in ‘Blood Sucking Freaks’ with Bri & Stick of ‘Doom’; R.I.P. 2005). They did a demo (Forced Into Silence ; 20 tracks; “mostly sludgy punk/crust at 1000mph”) in 1996. Nick Loaring (‘Ebola’ vocalist) put out a split-7” with ‘Slain’ on his label Enslaved in 1998. 28 of their songs appeared on a split-CD in the noughties… On the 7”: Kev (guitar), James (bass), Adrian ‘Ade’ & Rob(bie) (vocals), and Stu(art) Knowles (drums; later ‘The Day Man Lost’). They also appeared on the The Boredom And The Bullshit 7” compilation (‘96, Refusenik) and on the 7” More Noise By Nice Boys (‘97, Czech compilation).
‘State Of Filth’ (pics courtesy of Kevin Whitlock)
‘Clutch Assembly’ was a duo into techno and techno-house: Hendrik Willemyns & Thomas Laureyssens. In ’97 they released some material on Nova Zembla, a Belgian label (based in Zwijndrecht) with a respected name in the techno-scene…
Brob
‘Clutch Assembly’ is the band ‘Arsenal’ nowadays… Hendrik was a friend of mine from uni…
Peter Vanthuyne (V.V. shitworker)
We always enjoyed playing the Vort’n Vis. Somewhere I have photos from one of our last (maybe the last…?) European gigs when we played there with ‘Quarantine’. Me and Alec [‘Health Hazard’, ‘Suffer’, …] live in the middle of nowhere now, but we do a band with a friend of ours [‘Mwstard’], maybe an oldies band on the way…
Sarah MacHenry, ‘Witchknot’ drummer
‘Quarantine’ played at the Vort’n Vis Leed fest in ‘96 along with ‘Witchknot’ (who were our touring-mates on that trip). First time I’d played in the big barn and not the bar. Really good gig I remember, apart from Tracey got her sleeping-bag stolen, that good times were had by all… We only stayed one day as we we were in Germany the day before and after. Think that was the only time ‘Quarantine’ played the V.V. We did quite a bit in a short period of time (95-98). LP, EP, demo, 4 Euro-tours with some pretty cool bands (‘Kort Prosess’, ‘Counterblast’, ‘Scatha’, ‘Witchknot’, ‘Battle of Disarm’, ‘Active Minds’ and plenty more). ‘I.B.’ and Adam [see guestbook] did come along with us as travelling companions on this trip.
Brian Curran, ‘Quarantine’
We went on our first short euro-tour with ‘Kirous’ in 1996. First we took a ferry from Helsinki to Travemünde (Germany), and since we were young and didn’t have a car we rented one from Germany, the cheapest one available off cource. Something ended up going wrong with the rental company and they replaced our cheap car with a high-end Mercedes which was kind of silly and confusing. Our vocalist Antti was not able to tour, so we decided to double or nothing and ‘borrowed’ the two vocalist of ‘Sharpeville’. With this line-up we played around 5-6 gigs in Germany, some of them with ‘State Of Filth’ and I believe one with ‘Witchknot’ in Düsseldorf, and then the one at Leed festival. I vaguely remember that gig. There was a city festival at the same time and I remember going there to see some Japanese taiko drumming. I had a blast in Belgium and remember the taste of Jupiler quite easily to this day.
The guitar-player Ossi passed away in 1999 and that’s when ‘Kirous’ ended. Jonne and me formed a new band ‘Yhdeksäs Surmanluoti’ but we never did a record with that band.
Toni Eiskonen, ‘Kirous’ bassist
Angus McPhee, of ‘Glue’, drove ‘Quarantine’ around that tour!!!
Angus Quinn, ‘Sedition’
Your archival skills continue to impress me. It’s really nice to see the entries in the guestbook. ‘I.B.’ and Adam did travel with us and also a third friend Carolyn (not in bands). ‘I.B.’ and I were in a relationship at that time. Adam was Brian’s flatmate. We took Andy [Irvine] (‘Scatha’s) distro with us and Adam & Carolyn helped with that as well amongst other things. ‘I.B.’ played in Scatha – band that ‘Quarantine’ toured and played a great deal with due to mutual friendships and past musical connections – as well.
Tracey Fallon, ‘Quarantine’
I played guitar in ‘S.O.F.’ and bass in ‘The Day Man Lost’ (amongst others). Great to read up the reviews and remember so great times with great people. Even recognise my crappy handwriting in the guestbook ha! I We played the Vort’n Vis as a part of small tour (Chris of Aversion zine did a tour-guide that mentions we did a gig or two with ‘Quarantine’ on that tour. – see below). Loved the gig and people at the venue looked after us so well; real cool crowd. I played guitar. Prior to this I was in ‘Virus Insurrection’ (bass), ‘Hecatomb’ (guitar) and after ‘S.O.F.’ in ‘Belligerent’ and ‘Mass Of Bastards’ (both guitar and both with Stu Knowles) and ‘The Day Man Lost’ (bass). The others were Ade Goddard and Rob (God) Butcher to the best of my knowledge. Jimmy Rodgers played bass in ‘S.O.F.’ and was also in ‘Belligerent’ with me and Stu.
Kevin Whitlock
from Aversion #5
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
‘I.B.’ (‘Disaffect’), Angus (‘Glue’), Adam Johnston (‘Headstart’) were there as well…
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 