99-08-22 Instinct – Point Of Few – True Blue – Jane – Sunrise – Reaching Forward – Leiah – Vitality – John Holmes – Facedown – The Get Up Kids

Introduction => 99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

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

(1) The third day also had its share of boring bands. Regarding metal: only ‘Jane’ was a little out of the lot. I was curious to see what ‘John Holmes’ looked like and I didn’t get hooked (because of the voice?). On the other hand, I waited impatiently for ‘Leiah’ (with an ex-‘Serene’ band-member, the others having formed ‘Children Of Fall’) and my waiting was rewarded. I was told that there were 2 girls in the band but I actually think that the people who told me this aren’t acquainted with the glam-look, because indeed, it was indeed a singer (who could have played in ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’). During the concert, the drummer even told the audience that the y didn’t attend a ‘Marilyn Manson’ concert, despite appearances. The sad melodies of the band really fascinated me and I found the bassist (who made fun of the virile attitude of the band before) original. The curtain-call was done with just one guitar as the singer had the bad idea to throw away his (ah! rock’n’roll…) Otherwise, I saw a little bit of ‘Facedown’ (who play every year!) and it was pretty good even though the ‘Earth Crisis’ cover wasn’t mandatory. The long-awaited band that closed this edition was none other than the ‘Get Up Kids’ and I think this was the perfect band to finish in style. Everyone was dancing and singing along to the lyrics of the band. An excellent concert!!!

(2) The last day, two old-school bands opened the ball, unfortunately I didn’t get to see them, too busy finding food other than french-fries (I know it’s the country but three days in a row at noon and at night gets disgusting!). When I came back ‘True Blue’ was playing; it wasn’t bad at all, a little bit like early ‘Cro-Mags’, and the rest of the programme wasn’t very uplifting, except for ‘Leiah’ who bewitched Laurent. To believe that he fell in love with the androgynous singer (Ah! glam-rock when you get to us!). The organisers had the great idea to end the festival with the ‘Get Up Kids’, which literally set things on fire. I found it quite pleasant, even if at times the ‘college band radio side’ was a bit annoying (these Americans: all rock stars, ah ah!).

————————–

‘Instinct’ – “Tielt old school youth-crew mosh.”. These guys were indeed from my hometown (and Deinze). A “positive old-school” band. They’d played the V.V. a bunch of times before (97-03-01, 97-06-27, 97-07-12 & 97-08-15). Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar, Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ who played the first day of this fest, later played bass in ‘Rise And Fall’ & ‘The Deal’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment, that was released that year (the release-party was 98-04-18).

‘Point Of Few’ – “Wicked fast-forward HC/power violence.”. A band from Hoogeveen (The Netherlands) playing “political fast-core”. Some dubbed them “the new ‘Man Lifting Banner’”, others made comparisons with ‘Seein’Red’ & ‘Insult’. By that time they had done a self-titled 7” on Jeffrey Kroesen’s label Discontent recs (’98) and the EP There Is Not Much Left (Coalition recs, ’99). The band consisted of Marco ‘Creshi’ Klopstra (vocals), Jop Hoekstra (bass), Martheun ‘Bolle’ or ‘Bizkid’ Poolman (guitar) and Rik Penninga (drums).

‘Point Of Few’ (fanpage-pic)

‘True Blue’ – “Cromagnon HC, ex-‘Spawn’, rocks as hell!”. Patrick Kitzel (vocals; sang in ‘Spawn after Chris left, Repel zine), Flo(rian) Kehbel (bass), René Natzel (drums; ex ‘Feeding The Fire’, ‘Spawn’), Daniel Bebber (guitar) and Frank Olma (guitar). They had a tape out entitled Friday May 13th (‘98) and the 7” The Ice (Crucial Response recs ‘99).

‘Jane’ – “Ruhrpott metalcore, moshes hard!!”. A chaotic metal-HC band from Duisburg with Matthias Drost (guitar), Mike Masurczak (guitar), Marc Hess (drums), Thomas Kuhn (bass) and Markus Hohn (vocals). They had released a split-CD with ‘Shaft’ (Chorus of Doom) on Sascha Franzen’s label Alveran recs in ‘98 and their CD A Doorway To Elsewhere (same label, ‘99).

‘Sunrise’ – “Stripped vegan XXX metal mosh.”. A Polish (melodic) metal-core band from Ostrowiec. On their first demo the line-up was Daniel Kryj (guitar), Maciej Mazur (drums), Marcin Podsiadły (bass) and Patryk Bugajski (vocals). Adam (Tomasz) ‘Vegun’ Stepien did “ghost sounds”. At the time of this fest they had 3 releases under their belt: Fire Walk With Me (tape ’97), Generation Of Sleepwalkers (album ’98) & Child Of Eternity (mini-album ’99 SoberMind). The people in the band in 1999 were Daniel, Marcin, Patryk & drummer Piotr Grabinski.

‘Reaching Forward’ – “Old-school youth-crew, straight-forward HC.”. From the south of The Netherlands (Den Bosch). ‘JZ’ Johnny van de Koolwijk (vocals; ex ‘Mainstrike’; replaced 1^st singer Cay), ‘Mila’ Emiel Laurant (guitar), Arthur ‘Tuur’ Bek (guitar), Harm Haverman (bass) and ‘Bakkie’ Pieter Hendriks (drums; later Ries Doms). They released their first demo, Bite The Hand That Feeds in 1997 (without Tuur). They did the recordings (according to Arthur with ‘JZ’, not Cay) for the Pride Is Everlasting 7” (Commitment recs, ‘98). Their LP For The Cause came out on Reflections recs (‘99).

‘Leiah’ – “Gävle powerclass emo – 7″/mCD presentation.”. The music of ‘Leiah’ (Sweden) was decribed as indie-rock/emo-punk (“clone of the ‘The Get Up Kids’…”) by some, others called it pop-music. The band consisted of Annsofie Lundin (bass), Anders Gustavsson (drums; in 2000 Gunnar Forsman), David Lehnberg (vocals/guitar) and Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; ex ‘Serene’ – who’d played at the V.V. a couple of times). In 1999 they had 3 releases on Genet recs: a split-7” with (the Belgian) ‘Hebriana’, a 7” & CD entitled Mood Shifting Tones. I few months later they played in the V.V. pub: 99-10-31.

‘Leiah’ (photo: Laurent Chopard)

‘Vitality’ – “H8000 coastal mosh. Terrifying!!”. See earlier shows at the V.V.: 96-08-19, 96-09-22, 97-08-17).

‘John Holmes’ – “Old farts playing ‘Reversal Of Man’/‘Botch’/‘Deadguy’ style.”. The guys in this Britisch band (based in Leeds) were Brian Puplet (vocals; ex ‘Catharsis’, ‘Embittered’, ‘Manfat’, …), Dale Tomlinson (guitar; ex ‘Catharsis’, ‘Manfat’, …), Alastair Gordon (bass; ‘Force Fed’, ‘Geriatric Unit’, ‘Hard To Swallow’) & ‘Sned’ (drums; too many bands to mention). Earlier that year they had recorded for the El Louso Suavo LP (that came out on ‘Sned’ & Alec Mac’s label Flat Earth). The same year there was also a split-7” with ‘Canvas’.

‘Facedown’ – “Leading Belgian metal new school mosh.”. sXe band from the Antwerp region that played quite a few shows at the V.V. (96-08-16, 97-08-15, 97-10-12, 98-08-15)…

‘The Get Up Kids’ – “Nice & gentle emo indie-rock.” – was an emo-pop band from Kansas City (Missouri). A correspondent of mine, ‘Huey Proudhon’ Kevin Zelko (who visited the Vort’n Vis in August ‘97), released their 1^st 7” in 1996. This was followed by a shitload of records on commercial labels such as Doghouse recs, Sub Pop, Epitaph, etc. in 1999 their LP Something To Write Home About came out. It was recorded a few months before this fest with James Dewees (keyboards/vocals), Jim/James Suptic (guitar), Matthew Pryor (vocals/guitar), Robert Pope (bass) & Ryan Pope (drums).

‘The Get Up Kids’ (pic by Laurent Chopard)

Brob

I played the second guitar and then the bass but not in 1999 (or I don’t remember it).

Adam (Tomasz) Stepien, ‘Sunrise’

For couple of years I had heard stories about the mythical ‘mekka’ of European hardcore, THE Ieper Fest. Some of my friends had been going there since 1994, I believe and I finally made it with around 20 Polish hardcore kids in 1997. The local hardcore kids such as the mighty xStvx [Steve Lammertyn], the ‘Lifecyle’ kids and others hung out with us everyday while Jan [Claus], Stephen [Quintens] and the rest of V.V. crew were super hospitable to us and let us stay upstairs. We came back the following years and each time we spent a couple of weeks in Ieper, working doors at the fest, which was also pretty helpful. We met so many people from all over the world – from the Czech Republic (friends who later turned to be the masterminds behind the mighty Fluff Fest), Italy, Holland, Brazil and what not. With some of them I’m still in touch to this day. We traded stuff of the bands we were in, brought things home for distribution. We spent time in the pool or snacking the Aldi gingerbread with chocolate-cream (the Ieper diet). I’ll never forget the few dozens hardcore kids dancing to ‘Technotronic’ like nobody’s watching in the bar downstairs. Great times. Good gigs, too. My fave one was ‘Blindfold’ one that was supposed to be their final show [97-08-16]. ‘Liar’, ‘Purification’, ‘Culture’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Building’ – massive crowd-responses and stage-invasions. My band ‘Sunrise’ made it to Ieper in 1999 when the fest was held outdoors for the first time. It was still great, although I prefered the indoor one much more for its vibe. Our band at that time was Daniel Kryj on guitar, Marcel/ Marcin Podsiadly on bass, Peter/Piotr Grabinski on drums, and myself on vocals. We weren’t that tight, to put it nicely, haha. It might have been our second or third gig that year with hardly any rehearsals, so go figure. I remember myself being nervous as fuck, standing in front of a foreign crowd for the first time in my life. Good that I made it in one piece. We closed the gig with ‘Raid’s Blood Green. Bummer was that I skipped ‘The Get Up Kids’ gig that year, as I wasn’t into them. Bruno was so nice he invited us again in 2002, I remember it grew bigger and that was great edition. Last time I went to Ieper was 2003 and the highlight was Ken O’Keefe [anti-war and human rights activist] ’s speech. Lifechanging. Anyway, Ieper trips were always fun and I looked forward to them all year long. It has never been about Xmas or New Year, it was about Ieper Fest, that was the cycle I lived by. Blessed to be part of it in this way or another. “These days are gone but they’re not forgot [sic; ‘Judge’ quote]”.

Arkadiusz ‘Arek’ Lerch, Marcin Andrzej Czajka (‘Czaja’), Marcin Kucharski were people that played in the band later on…

Patryk Bugajski, ‘Sunrise’ singer

I only remember Alpro soy-desserts and some good vegan biscuits. And the public showers. And lots of nice and friendly people…

Daniel Kryj, ‘Sunrise’ guitarist

‘Hard To Swallow’ or ‘John Holmes’ never played at the V.V. [pub] We were meant to in ‘96 but van-trouble forced us back to the U.K. ‘John Holmes’ played the Ieper festival in ’99…

Alastair Gordon

I remember Ieper. We had a good time as far as I can remember… I liked all the tents and shit; pretty cool. It’s pretty funny to read that review there about ‘True Blue’. Kids always talked shit about us back then… And now they would never admit that… That wasn’t news to us at all though… A lotta jealous people and shit-talkers out there who didn’t understand this band… All I know is that I’m still playing after all these years… (‘EgoDestroys’ from Syracuse, NY) Hardcore is my life and I won’t slow down…

Daniel Bebber, ‘True Blue’ guitarist

I don’t remember much. It’s 20 years ago. ‘True Blue’ had an OK response. I don’t think there were that many people there when we played. I do have lots of fond memories of the original Vort’n Vis. Lots of great shows around 93/94. Also remember a great ‘Mainstrike’ show. That one was already in the bigger place in the back.

Patrick Kitzel, ‘True Blue’ singer

If I’m not mistaken, that was our last ‘Instinct’ show. Some internal troubles, friendships fading out… What I still know: we’d asked Bruno if we could play and he’d it was “OK, providing you don’t quit after that”. And we went like “No, no…” while we knew damned well that we were gonna stop. Empty Promises (One of our ‘Instinct’songs by the way).

Pedro Tallieu

I joined ‘Reaching Forward’ in 2001… But I did attend this fest in 99.

Ries Doms

I’m not very good at remembering specific stuff. Of course I recall playing there though. It was pure magic. I was a late teenager and guess I had a million feelings flying around all at once. I remember all the people up on stage. And how empowering that felt. I’m happy to read that I made fun of some macho guys. That makes me proud of my self. It was very special being in such a male-dominated culture playing and touring with ‘Leiah’. But the years on tour with ‘Leiah’ were also so magical and I’m so happy for all the wonderful meetings with different inspiring people. Our fans where always really cute and friendly. I learned so much during those years and it really formed me to be the one I am today. As an artist I have so much to be glad for that I have been on stage (wich was my absolute favorite part of ‘Leiah’) so much during my teens. I’m really interested in digging in this – seeing pictures and have been asking G (Anders Gustavsson) about the documentary that was made about ‘Leiah’ – but he’s not fast with replying. Being a part of ‘Leiah’ is absolutley a big part of my life and a big part of my artistery with ‘Min Stora Sorg’.

Annsofie Lundin, ‘Leiah’ bassist

I recall ‘JZ’ having a total black-out when we played a ‘Minor Treath’ cover. That’s it. I believe ‘Mila’ has a video of that show…

Arthur Bek, ‘Reaching Forward’ guitarist

I’ve been in Vort’n Vis only once for the festival, the year ‘John Holmes’ played.

Silvain Fayard, Tranzophobia zine (Saint-Etienne, France)

additions wellcome!…

 

99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

(ieperfest.com)

‘Mörser’ (from Bremen, Germany) played unannounced (as did probably some more bands; e.g. the local ‘Lifecycle’)…

‘Lifecycle’ (pics courtesy of Frederik Severijns)

This August fest was the 1^st time outside the Vort’n Vis premises (start of a new era ?) so I guess that’s why it’s sometimes referred to as Ieperfest. I had already parted with the event a few years before (because of the commercialism, violence, homophobia, sexism, etc. – see 96-08). Below are a few impressions of people who attended…

Brob

>> The leading European hardcore festival, the Vort’n Vis Fest in Ieper had to move to a bigger location. The festival was no longer in the ‘big’ barn behind the Vort’n Vis venue but was now held on a school playground. It was open-air and I thought that was odd as hell. A hardcore show in open air. I think this was the beginning of the end of the, once cool, festival. A lot of poseurs had shown up already and in the years to come things would get worse. These days the festival is fucking stupid and most of the bands playing suck. In 1999 only a few cool bands would play. Things I still remember from the ‘99 Vort’n Vis Hardcore Festival is ‘H-Street’ playing and getting a massive response to covering ‘Token Entry’s The Edge (a song that was one of my favorites that summer), being handed Like An Arrow issue #1 by Erik Tilburg, ‘Bloodpact’ being boring as shit and ‘True Blue’ playing a weird show. […]

I think this was the first time I saw ‘True Blue’ live. I was looking forward to seeing them live, but I was a bit let down that I didn’t see 5 dudes in ‘Cro-Mags’ or ‘Chain’ shirts jumping around like idiots and being as straight-edge as can be. What I saw instead were two longhairs with rings playing guitar, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and a singer with unposi leg tattoos featuring skulls and post-apocalyptic scenes. I was a bit baffled at first but eventually stuck around and started enjoying the show. I think a lot Ieperfest attendees were a little let down by this sight and performance as well, because the playground emptied pretty much after two songs that sunny summer afternoon. it must have been the lack of political statements. This proofs again that ‘True Blue’ was far from a popular band. There were only a few dudes moshing and I might have done the same had I had a clue as how to mosh (to ‘True Blue’), but the only true moshers doing their thing were Mark Stroeken, Pieter SDC and Erik ‘Arrowman’ Tilburg, all three ‘True Blue’ Army. Mark was dancing like an asshole, like he always did, and probably still does, Tilburg brought his signature ultra-classic T. mosh and Pieter SDC was doing something between clumsy and cool. Other than that BXL Crew jerk Bayram was bashing some innocent bystander’s head in on the tunes of ‘God Of Wrath’ (PK mid-breakdown quote “Relax buddy” addressing some Bayram pit/pit-side beef, can still be heard from time to time during ‘Rise And Fall’ shows when some pit-shit hits the pit-fan) and I think Diamond Dave was just standing in the middle of the pit being hard. Other than that there was a big horseshoe in front of the stage. ‘True Blue’, the band that gets jocked so much and would get a huge pit-response these days, brought the greatest mosh-parts of Ieperfest 1999 and no one cared. Besides the ones I just mentioned. I remember seeing my (then soon to be) homeboy Bjorn Dossche (who was in mosh-tirement from 1997 till 2000) chilling on stage next to Jan ‘Blindfold’ behind some amps and thinking “If these dudes are checking out this band they must be cool.”. […] <<

Comment by anonymous: >> The Vort’n Vis Festival in 1999 took indeed place in a somewhat odd location, and it was the last time I visited the festival. I don’t remember all the bands. ‘Mainstrike’ were at their peak. ‘Ensign’ – whom everybody seems to have forgotten – played a crazy show with a huge circle-pit. ‘Bloodpact’ were originally not scheduled to play; I liked their set a lot at the time, they played a ‘Man Lifting Banner’ cover and I bought their split LP with ‘Varsity’. Not too sure, if I still like ‘Bloodpact’. Haven’t listened to them in many years. ‘As Friends Rust, ‘Get Up Kids’, ‘Mörser’, ‘Spirit 84’, ‘Liar’, ‘Arkangel’, ‘Reaching Forward’ and many other bands were playing; but most of those bands didn’t leave much of an impression. ‘H-Street’ were indeed playing as well: they played this curious mix of rock’n’roll and youth-crew. They were nice guys…not sure what they are up to nowadays.

If I remember correctly, ‘True Blue’ were not scheduled. They played in the early afternoon and virtually less than a dozen people were moshing; there was a big empty space in front of the stage. I was also surprised to see a long-haired metal guy on stage. I kinda liked their set, but – as you rightly said – it would have been a killer show if it would have taken place a few years later. At the time, very few people cared. When the 7” came out, I felt that it was a bit of a letdown; I have rarely listened to it. There was a peculiar aura surrounding that tape that could not be replicated. […] <<

lionsandcheetahs2011.blogspot (2011-05-14), by Bart De Duytsche (Crucial X Culture zine)

I made the trip to Ieper from Switzerland mostly to meet friends from around Europe and to possibly enjoy some music from the few good bands booked that year. The festival of the Vort’n Vis was like a punk Mecca, it really had a certain mythical appeal to it, although in reality the punk factor wasn’t shining terribly bright, with all these atrocious moshcore bands wearing Nike and Lacoste sweaters. I remember Christophe from Stonehenge/ ‘Fingerprint’ even boycotting that year’s edition and selling his records on the floor right outside the main entrance. The whole thing was very clean, very safe and overall not very exciting. Well, ‘Mörser’ from Bremen did play a surprise gig if I’m correct; that was fun. But I never came back.

Vincent de Roguin, Genève

I remember there were massive circle-pits during ‘Ensign’ :-)

Michael Kopijn, Groningen

Personally I think this was the last cool Ieper festival. Small bands still had the change to play there. Nowadays it sucks totally. I’ve been there two or three times after that but the old comradery is gone. It’s just a mere festival. ‘True Blue’ was really great, I bet people were shocked. They were ahead of their time. ‘Mainstrike’ rocked the show, I think they just came back from their American tour and it was their second to last show before they split up.

Peter Hoeren, Crucial Response recs

review in the Swiss Evil zine (#2); courtesy of Vincent de Roguin

Photos courtesy of Vincent de Roguin:

Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Royers (‘Rubbish Heap’ guitarist), Joris De Buysser (Conspiracy recs) & Tom Verstraete

Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (‘Mainstrike’ guitarist, Coalition recs)

Markus Haas (Per Koro)

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

Fabien Thévenot (Molaire Industries, ‘Iscariote’ vocalist)

‘Sabeth’; L=>R: Sebastian Busch (friend), Felix Böhlken (guitar/vocals), Thomas Hahn (guitar)

attentive audience (L: Pedro Tallieu, ‘Instinct’ bassist)

Portugese crust vegan edge Rafael Brazuna, cooking macrobiotic in the old Vort’n Vis’ yard

The V.V. fest was outdoors for the first time and I couldn’t care less about most of the bands that played – a  shitload of sXe bands; just remember enjoying ‘Mörser’ & ‘John Holmes’. Still it was a nice trip with friends (Guilherme Charters, Afonso [Afonso Cortez Pinto; Freedom distro] and Hugo ‘Mosgo’ – the singer of ‘Simbiose’). The four of us drove from Lisbon to London by car to stay with some friends. We passed through Belgium for the fest and before that we stayed a couple of days at Jaak [ex ‘Nations On Fire drummer] ‘s house, which was fucking cool since he lived just above his health-food store, vegan paradise!

Rafael Brazuna

additions wellcome!…

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

99-08-20: Hundred Years Of Forgetting (Bel), JR Ewing (Nor), Once Never Again (Bel), Surface (Ger) Hebriana (Bel), Tumult (Ger), Heaven Shall Burn (Ger), Discount (USA), Sad Origin (Bel), As Friends Rust (USA), Mainstrike (Nl), Hot Water Music (USA)

99-08-21: Ochtenddauw (Bel), H-Street (Öst), Stroke Of Grace (Bel), Redemption (Ita), Ananda (Fra), Sabeth (Ger), Product (Ita), Mörser (Ger), Reveal (Nl), Spineless (Bel), Bloodpact (USA), Thumbs Down (Bel), Pray Silent (Swi), Ensign (USA)

99-08-22: Instinct (Bel), Point Of Few (Nl), True Blue (Ger), Jane (Ger), Sunrise (Pol), Reaching Forward (Nl), Leiah (Swe), Vitality (Bel), John Holmes (UK), Facedown (Bel), The Get Up Kids (USA)