96-08-18 Spineless – Resist The Pain – Stampin’ Ground – Vanilla – Approach To Concrete – Bruma – Separation – Swing Kids – With Love

Introduction => 96-08-16&17&18 Hardcore, The Next Generation

Since I (Brob) was rather disgusted with and had commented on the increasing commercialism, violent/sexist/homophobic attitudes, I spent most of the time I was there (for my literature-distribution) talking to fellow “PC emo-morons who stop everyone from having a good time” (as mentioned in the Hate 8000 Zine) in the courtyard and therefore hardly saw any of the bands, I reprint a review I found on the internet:

>>Last day already; it’s a pity so many people had to leave early, especially since it was the best of the 3 days! ‘Spineless’, just as their name suggests, played uneventful heavy metal. I can’t remember ‘Resist The Pain’ but I think it was just the same… ‘Stampin’ Ground (UK, ex ‘Neckbrace’) played good tight mosh-core. ‘Vanilla’ (France): I’ll never get into them, play boo-hoo style emo, but I think it got heavier than before. ‘Approach To Concrete’ were a good surprise, I thought they were on Lost&Found but I was wrong; they played very fast thrash-core with a couple moshy breaks, and they said many interesting things, I liked it a lot. ‘Bruma’ (Italy) were quite different from the other bands, they play ultra poppy punk with a female singer, I guess I kinda enjoyed it but it’s not the kind of music I’ld listen to all time long. ‘Separation’ were the best band of the fest (together with ‘Saidiwas’). They kicked ass! Just the right band to leave with a positive feeling. And positive was the word here: total old-school punk-ish HC; ‘7 Seconds’ and ‘Minor Threat’ covers, pogo-dance and stagedives all along hooray! I was disappointed by ‘Swing Kids’: I iked their 7” but they were way too emo here. OK, the drummer is good, but I got annoyed rapidly. And then ‘With Love’ (Italy) were added to the bill to close up the fest. Extremely powerful emo. Guess what: I enjoyed it, cool people, cool audience, cool music. Great! Just the kind of music I needed to hear before leaving all my friends… Conclusion: Basically none of the 30 bands that played said anything between songs, apart from “We have CDs for sale, they’re only 20$, it’s so damn cheap, you’ld have to pay 22$ if you’ld buy it from stores” or “We have DIY shirts for sale, we thought about a design and brought it ourselves to a multinational design-company who re-designed it, then we took the film and sent it to the printer ourselves and we chose the colour ourselves and when we got the shirts we sold half the copies ourselves (the other half going to bigger distribution, but we have to make sacrifices, ya know?) and we only charge 18$ each (plus taxes); man we’re so DIY, hardcore rules!”. The audience…well it’s either they kill each other during death-metal outfits or they stand still and apathetic during emo ones, there’s no middle ground. The only unity I could see was in the clothes style: they were ALL wearing baggy pants and chained wallets, how cool. The crowd was as dirty as ever. It’s so funny to see all those kids preaching out about respect for nature and our environment, and then when they leave the place it’s like there’s been a storm or something, it’s just filled with litter. But here again who cares? They’re not the ones who’re cleaning up… And tell me about greed and the consumist mentality of this society! Somenone brought some T-shirts next to my distribution-stall and the kids were literally walking over my zines in order to get the Victory shirt of their dreams. Ever saw kids slam-dance in front of a distro to get a bootleg 7”? We were not that far… Distributors? Well seems like no one had problems selling CDs for 16$ and EPs for 4$, but hey it’s a tough world and we all need to survive you know? Gotta save some money to keep the label going, and who’s gonna buy those baggy pants? Our parents are already paying for private schools and Marshall amplifiers, ya know?…. Anyway. Don’t wanna sound too negative here, I enjoyed the fest ’cause I met so many wonderful people, and Ieper is a very pleasant town too…<<

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on this fest. They were Kristof Mondy (bass; Yoda zine; later ‘AmenRa’), Colin H. Van Eeckhout (vocals; later ‘AmenRa’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Koen Sandra (guitar; replaced by Mathieu Vandekerckhove in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). They played brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans ‘Liar’ Verbeke of Sober Mind recs would release the Painfields 7” (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998).

Local band ‘Resist The Pain’ had played the V.V. a few months before this (96-05-12). The band didn’t lat very long because the members joined/started other bands. The bassist Steve Noyelle became the guitarist of ‘Lifecycle’, guitarist Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen was also in ‘Spineless’ & ‘Congress’ (etc.), singer Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie appeared in later ‘Spirit Of Youth’ and drummer Jan Volckaert was also in ‘Lifecycle’.

The British ‘Stampin’ Ground’ was a HC/thrash-metal band (‘Slayer’-style riffs). They said they were influenced by bands like ‘Earth Crisis’, ‘Snapcase’ & ‘Inside Out’. They formed after ‘Decadence Within’ split up with 3 ex-members – Antony ‘Mobs’ Mowbray (guitar; ‘D.W.’s drummer), Richard ‘Rid’ White (drums; ‘D.W.’s singer) and Ian ‘Slug’ Glasper (bass) – teaming up with guitarist Scott Atkins and vocalist Paul Catten (ex ‘Medulla Nocte’). ‘Rid’ played on the first demo (Feb. ‘95). From the second demo on it was with Adrian ‘Ade’ Stokes (drums). Heath Crosby (vocals; later replaced by Adam of ‘Blood Oath’) sang after the 2 demos: Dawn Of Night 7” on Days Of Fury, Starved 7” on Too Damn Hype recs (from NY) and remastered these for a mini-CD on We Bite recs.

‘Stampin’ Ground’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)

‘Stampin’ Ground’ – Ian ‘Slug’ Glasper (courtesy of Heath Crosby)

‘Stampin’ Ground’, courtesy of Jakub Dušek

‘Vanilla’ had already played here a few times. The emo band from Paris put out their 7” (I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space) on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer in 1995 (after an initial demo). On that record Jean Lebrun played bass and brothers Yann & Yves Maisonneuve (both ex ‘Ivich’), guitar and drums. Alain Vidal (also in ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘El Vidal Sonido’) joined them later. Bruno VdV released an untitled LP of them on Genet recs so they were invited back for this.

‘Vanilla’ (pictured by Sergi E. Costa)

‘Approach To Concrete’ (from Köln) consisted of Jörg Schickel (vocals), Jochen Almeida (drums), Thommy (guitar; he replaced Pablo who just played on the 7”) and Seppl (bass). Christian Valk (vocals; later ‘Six Reasons To Kill’) did 2^nd guitars for a very short time during their tour with ‘Battery’. Not sure if he was in the line-up at the Vort’n Vis. They played fast, aggressive HC (and were not really a ‘full’ sXe band). There was a demo and in 1995 they did 2 releases on the Berliner label Mad Mob recs (I think ran by ‘Mad’ Marc, who did Mad Booking with his partner Ute Füsgen): the Drown 7” & the …Failures? CD.

‘Bruma’ was an emo-pop (some say “college rock”) band from Rome with Andrea Marra (‘Comrades’ bassist, nowadays singer of ‘Anti You’), ‘Orco’ Cristiano Fini (‘Comrades’/’Concrete’ guitarist), Valerio Borgianelli (drums) and a female singer (Eva Falomi). There was also a second guiatrist (‘Concrete’s singer Tommaso Garavini ?). They did a self-titled CD on Green recs (ran by Giulio Repetto; same label as ‘With Love’ & ‘Burning Defeat’; nowadays a record- and skate/clothing-store in Padova).

‘Bruma’ (photo by Patrick Federli) – front stage: Andrea Ferraris (‘Burning Defeat’ guitarist), Adriano Pratissoli (‘By All Means’ drummer), ‘Spino’ (bassist of ‘Mourn’), Giovanni Donadini (‘With Love’ bassist ), etc.

‘Separation’ was a Swedish straight-edge hardcore-punk band (from Umeå) with Axel Stattin (bass), Jonas Lyxzén (drums; ex ‘Abinanda’, later ‘Demon System 13’) and Lars Johan Strömberg (guitar/vocals). José Saxlund (‘Abhinanda’) did the vocals from 1994 to 1996; he wasn’t in the band anymore here – he only sang on the 5th Song CD (recorded Dec ’95 and released on his label Desperate Fight recs). The band came back tot the V.V. the next year (97-03-30)…

‘Separation’ (source ?)

John Brady (bass), Justin Pearson (vocals), José Palafox (drums) and Eric Allen (guitar) were the ‘Swing Kids’ (named after resisting youngsters in nazi Germany). They were from San Diego and played emotional HC. The latter 3 had been in ‘Struggle’. Eric Allen was also in the SxE band ‘Unbroken’; he took his own life in 1998. Justin was running the Three One G (31G) label, that released most of their material (a split-7” with ‘Spanakorzo’ in ’95); though their first 7” appeared on Kidney Room recs (’94). Justin’s new power-violence band ‘The Locust’ came over the next year (97-03-30). Roel Brals made a video available from the ‘Swing Kids’ show here. There’s mention of their gig here in Justin’s (first) book: “We had to play this fest in Belgium with tons of really bad bands…” and there’s also a ‘Swing Kids’ tour-report in the Swedish zine Handbook For The Revolutionaries (see additional post on ‘Swing Kids’).

‘Swing Kids’ – photos by Albert Cheong (1) & Patrick Federli (2+3)

Joris Willekens wrote in his zine Forkboy that ‘With Love’ played unannounced as the last band of the last day but “conquered” anyway, leaving the drum-kit and the stage “deconstructed”. They had a demo out (with another line-up), a split(live)-tape with ‘Concrete’ and a split-7” with ‘Mindless Collision’. “They fit anger and rage in a suit of emotional and tempestuous chaos.”. The band (hailing from the Triviso area) was: Paolo Riscica (guitar), Giovanni Donadini (bass), Nico Vascellari (vocals), Edo(ardo) Rossi (guitar) and Simone Gerardo (drums).

‘With Love’, courtesy of Jakub Dušek

Peter Arthur Claesens, one of the “The Pit’s aficionados performing @ Vort’n Vis”, mentioned that he “once did a solo-act where I danced to the music of Bartok’s first concerto for piano, if I remember well… It was on a kind of international festival on a Sunday-afternoon; I believe it was a Straight-Edge concert.” There’s indeed a guestbook-entry of him on 96-08-18…

Brob

I might be wrong but I’m quite certain this was the first show ‘With Love’ played outside of Italy. We left Italy in a caravan my parents borrowed us (which we returned without a window – smashed it with my hand from the outside to scare one of the others that was sitting inside); somehow trying to convince ourselves that we were going on a European tour. As far as I remember the only show confirmed was in Cesena on the last day of the tour and then there was a show to be confirmed in Switzerland the day before. Basically we left hoping that we were going to convince Bruno to let us play the fest since our demo had gotten some good reviews. When we arrived at Vort’n Vis we were shocked. We’d never seen so many people at a HC show before. Boys and girls coming from all over Europe, tons of records and zines. It truly was an inspiring and motivating experience for us. I don’t remember much of the shows ‘cause we were mostly excited, spending time outside talking to people rather than attending shows. We tried to support all the Italian bands playing that year (I remember that ‘Burning Defeat’ delivered a very intense gig and so did ‘Timebomb’) and I have vivid memories of ‘SaidIWas’: their set was intense and they played a cover of ‘Born Against’ which was a favorite band of mine. Their drummer (that later became their singer) played naked. Bruno told us we could play if there was time left after the last band so we were finally announced by Justin of ‘Swing Kids’ (who were also memorable). We were so excited and so nervous to play that I think the shows exploded with energy and emotions. Stage and drum-kit were both broken. We tried our best to introduce some of the songs in our broken English. To these days this was one of the most memorable shows and experiences of ‘With Love’. After the show we left to continue our tour: ten days off before the show in Switzerland and the one in Cesena [Italy]. While going through my archives I’ve found images of ‘With Love’ doing this show at the Vort’n Vis…

Nico Vascellari

At that time ‘With Love’ had been playing for a year or so, and we had only a demo out and maybe the split 7” with ‘Mindless Collision’. I tried to organise some sort of ‘European tour’ using the contacts that Giulio from Green recs gave me. Obviously there was no internet and I tried to arrange some shows by mail and by telephone. We just wanted to have a holiday and tried to play somewhere. We ended up at the Vort’n Vis and immediately asked Bruno if we could play. (‘Ics’ from ‘Burning Defeat’ helped introduced us and Bruno let us play as the last band after ‘Swing Kids’.) I was surprised because I thought that people would have left after the ‘Swing Kids’ but I remember the place was still packed. It was one of our best shows ever, even if nobody (except the Italians) knew us. I still remember it after more than 20 years. Needless to say that all the other shows we should’ve played on that ‘tour’ got cancelled. We played other 2 shows with Adriano [Pratissoli] (‘By All Means’, ‘Society Of Jesus’, ‘Mourn’, etc.) on drums because our drummer left after this show here to go back home. I don’t remember a lot of the bands that played… I was probably busy checking distros and talking to people. I do remember ‘SaidIWas’ did a great show (also saw them in Italy). I didn’t even see ‘Swing Kids’ because I had to prepare the instruments for our own show. We came back to the Vort’n Vis in 2000 [2000-08-18&19&20]…

Paolo Riscica

I was there on Sunday. My friends told me you, Brob, left on Saturday…

Albert Cheong, Barcelona

One of the best shows I saw at the V.V.: ‘Swing Kids’

Cathy Bennett

I was there with Daniel Eberharter and Melanie Friedl (Smart Cookies Collective), also Birgit came with us! I can remember that I enjoyed the bands and the ‘Swing Kids’… I thought that ‘Swing Kids’ were playing naked then but it could also have been another band [Brob: It was ‘Saidiwas’.] at that festival…. Memories fade…

Manuel Harand

I was at the “Ieperfest” in ‘96 (and also in’97). I remember ‘96 very well indeed because it was such a special time, a great line-up and much fun for me and my travelling-party from Vienna. we were loads of people, all sleeping inside the Vort’n Vis too. I have quite a few photos: they’re all on film of course and but haven’t scanned them all yet, it’s a task to do all of that…

Daniel Eberharter

During ‘Swing Kids’s set Joeri Hoste was standing upfront, next to Jürgen Desmet. I can’t remember where I was standing. I saw back them again in Hamburg in 2011. With another guitarist, the original one died. José was one of themost fantastic drummers in HC/punk-land; the only one that can play the ‘swing’ rhythm. Justin remembered this painful concert in Ieper, they split right after. The guys are embarrassed for their behaviour then: they had a raw.

Peter Puype

‘Stampin’ Ground’ was basically inspired into life when we had a night off during the 1994 ‘Decadence Within’ Polish tour and we took a trip across to Leipzig to see ‘Snapcase’, ‘Earth Crisis’ and ‘Refused’… What a show! We knew we wanted to do something much more heavy and intense than ‘D.W.’ that very night!

Ian Glasper

Vique Martin stepped in and really helped save what was, for a variety of reasons, a poorly planned tour for us… And along the way, she snapped quite a few photos. I made some friends there who I am still in contact with today and although it was probably the best show we played of the entire trip, the thing that stands out the most for me is meeting those friends…and there are a couple of others with whom I wish I had not lost contact.

John Brady, ‘Swing Kids’ bassist

My friends Andrea Marra [bass] and Cristiano ‘Orco’ Fini [guitar] (also ‘Concrete’) played for ‘Bruma’… They sucked if you ask me. Eva Falomi was the singer and as far as I can remember there was another girl playing probably second guitar, not so sure about it. I think ‘Concrete’ played probably the same year ‘Comrades’ did [1995]. I do remember Bruno wanted an Italian invasion there for a couple of years…

Paolo Petralia, SOA recs (Rome)

‘Bruma’ was Eva on vocals, Cristiano (‘Concrete’, ‘Comrades’) on guitar, Andrea (‘Comrades’, ‘Anti You’) on bass, Valerio on drums and Olga on second guitar. My band ‘This Side Up’ and ‘Bruma’ toured together in 1996… This here was probably their only appearance outside Italy (in addition to the tour). I think the band disbanded very shortly after our European tour…

Dario Adamic, Zips & Chains zine

Going to the festival (I was the only driver) we totally broke the engine of our car 1.000 km away from Rome, so it seemd like the festival was over for us. But then…

Valerio Borgianelli, drummer of ‘Bruma’

Miss going to the Vort’n Vis fests, sleeping outside by the canal, fun times!

Axel Stattin, ‘Separation’ bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-03-01 Seein’Red – Honey Honey – Outrage – Instinct – Resist The Pain – Confrontation

intro: 97-02-28&03-01 VV Doe-Wat dagen

My ‘brothers in arms’ of ‘Seein’Red’ were at it again! That year saw the release of the split-10” with their fellow countrymen ‘Catweazle’ and the split-7” with ‘Öpstand’ (from France).

‘Honey Honey’s second appearance (after 95-07-23) at the Vort’n Vis. These ‘Easterners’ played great melodic HC, which I really liked (see presentation in Tilt! #8 (’95) and set up a gig in Gent, 98-03-15). Wendi Geuens was the singer, later joined by Pat Broux (don’t think she performed here), Gert ‘Gonzo’ Hermans played guitar, Edwin Gielen was the drummer and Sven Cuypers the original bassist (‘Reiziger’s Pascal Hens replaced him on their UK tour during the summer of ’97; later Bart Elen joined.). The latter was on their 7” (released by Dennis’ Tyfus & Phil Merckx (99-05). After the turn of the century Gert & Sven were in ‘Playmobil Assassins’ together…

‘Outrage’ had performed at the V.V. a couple of times the year before (96-03-24 & 96-08-16) and would be back later (98-09-19). It was the band of Nico Peeters (bass) – who ran Day One distribution with (at that time) his partner An Caers, and was in the Newland collective (zine and gigs in the Herentals area). The others were Sigi Loots (drums), Steven Van Goubergen (guitar) and Ringo Van Dingenen (vocals). Their music was powerful emo-metal. Later that year they recorded their 7” To Terrorize Ear And Mind (“a DIY product distributed by a network of friends”). ‘Outrage’ also did a presentation for Tilt! #8…

First of a bunch of shows at the V.V. for ‘Instinct’ (also 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-08-15 & 99-08-22), a band from my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). “Positive old-school” HC or “youth-crew mosh” as the were described. Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar (both were also playing in the new school metal band ‘Eulogy’ with Tom of ‘Family Of Dog’), Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he 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 had a promo-tape and did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment (released in 1998).

The last of 3 shows ‘Resist The Pain’ did at the V.V. (also 96-05-12 & 96-08-18). Soon after bassist Steve Noyelle & drummer Jan Volckaert started to play guitar in ‘Lifecycle’, and guitarist Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen would go on with ‘Spineless’. Their vocalist Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie later sang for ‘Spirit Of Youth’.

‘Confrontation’: Wasn’t that the band with my hometown-fellow Albano Lo Bue (vocals)? They were labeled ‘death-core’… Kurt Vanbrabant was their lead-guitarist (ex ‘Trail Of Sorrow’), Davy Bouvry played the drums and guy nick-named ‘Never Nuchter’ (“never sober”) did the bass…

Brob

I don’t know if ‘Confrontation’ actually played…?

Pedro Fioen, ‘Resist The Pain’ guitarist

Pat Broux was the second vocalist and Edwin’s girlfriend. Bart Elen played bass at a later stage (after Sven had quit). After I stopped (in 2000, I believe), Gert, Pat & Edwin went on under another name. Jimmy Even was the second vocalist and Sven did the bass again.

Wendi Geuens, ‘Honey Honey’ vocalist

I did 3 tours (in France, Germany and the UK) with ‘Honey’ Honey’ as replacing bassist… But never played with them in Belgium! Wendi was my girlfriend at that time so I hung out with them quite a bit…

Pascal Hens

We had to perform that day but honestly: I don’t have a lot of recollections from that day. Stage-stress haha… Playing at the Vort’n was quite something, right ;-)

Albano Lo Bue

Brob – who reminded us strongly of Jopie’s (guitarist van ‘Jesus Cröst’) dad – was eager to hear ‘Seein’Red’ play. Unfortunately he obliged himself to stay outside with his distro. We’ll never forget his face, peering through the tinu window during ‘Seein’Red’s show. Something that was discussed many a times afterwards… [Brob: By doing so I wanted to give expression to my conviction that distros should all be treated alike and that it was unfair that I had to pay entrance because I wasn’t part of the association anymore.] There was another great image on Sunday: the exodus of the punks vs. the entry of the ‘new’ audience. A bigger contrast is hardly imaginable. The ‘Seein’Red’ show was fantastic (sorry Brob!), and was marked by another funny occurrence. The guys’ talks between the songs were identical to tose we heard at a previous gig. And therefore also the shouted reactions (“Feyenoord!”)…

Bowie de Weijer, ‘Bullshit Propaganda’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-02-28&03-01 VV Doe-Wat dagen

Organised by Wouter Biesemans (from Merchtem; he had put up gigs in his hometown already) who did an internschip at the Vort’n Vis during his studies social welfare.

Info by/on:

A.E.G. (anarchist economical community) was a collective of projects (connected to the Anarchist Centre in Ghent) such as the mobile kitchen Kokkerellen, the garden-group and the people’s kicthen, all working in a DIY/direct democratic manner. (Later also action-groups such as the Autonome Vluchtelingen Steungroep – autonomous refugee support-group.)

Actie Dierenbescherming – animal-protection action

Ghent squatters & Anarchist Black Cross (international network of autonomous groups supporting revolutionary prisoners)

De Nar (anarchist monthly publication)

Blokbuster (anti-racist/anti-fascist organisation)

H.L.B. (association for gay, lesbian & bisexual people) were invited but the Federatie Werkgroepen Homifilie (federation working-groups homosexuality) did a presentation

Tegenstroom (counter-current), distributors of socio-libertarian literature (later also info-, culture- & info-shop)

Zonne-Arc (non-profit organisation working around solar energy)

Esperanto

More on the bands playing on seperate days:

28 feb ’97: Subway Arts (Lux), Bullshit Propaganda (Nl), Counter-Attack (Bel), Katastrophobia (Bel), Holefiller (Bel), Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques (Bel), Cornucopia (Bel)

[Beginning of 1996 Manu had left ‘Unhinged’ because singing made her throat worse and worse. She was replaced by Nat(halie) Linotte (vocals)… They were asked to play here but couldn’t make it.]

1 mar ’97: Seein’Red (Nl), Honey Honey (Bel), Outrage (Bel), Confrontation (Bel), Instinct (Bel), Resist The Pain (Bel)

visiters – Voice Your Opinion :-)

96-04-05 Carcer Molochi – Resist The Pain – Control

‘Control’ rehearsing before their actual performance…

That’s ‘Sientje’ [Nico Sinnaeve] on drums, Freddy [Frederik Vanhee] on bass (both in ‘D.S.A.’ around that time) and, I believe, ‘Lorre’ [Laurent] Peene (‘Sorehead’; R.I.P.) jamming with Steve Noyelle in the V.V. rehearsal-space… The performance was, in my opinion, a one-off.

Steve Lammertyn

I know that my first band was together with Steve Noyelle & Nico but the name escapes me… Frankly, I can ‘t remember… On the photo of the rehearsal I think that’s ‘Murph’ [Vincent Merveillie, ‘Resist The Pain’ vocalist] sticking out above the rest and Jan Volckaert [‘Resist The Pain’ drummer] on the left.

Frederik Vanhee

Yep, that was our first band, with Steve Noyelle: ‘Control’. We only played this one time. Pierre ‘Congress’ was there too and sang a few songs…

Nico Sinnaeve

Actually this wasn’t an official concert; just a cozy get-together in the rehearsal-room – no particular occasion. Piling too many people in a small shack and go nuts …

Pedro Fioen

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a ‘concert’ díd take place… pics by Steve Lammertyn:

‘Carcer Molochi’: Inge Cappoen (vocals), Michael Maes (drums), Erwin Degryse (guitar); Johan Sys, Danny Suffys & David Stubbe might’ve just left the band around that time…

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‘Resist The Pain’: Steve Noyelle (bass), Jan Volckaert (drums), Vincent Merveillie (vocals), Pedro Fioen (guitar)

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‘Control’

 

96-05-12 Voices At The Front – Resist The Pain (photos)

More on this concert: 96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Shaft – Resist The Pain – Sektor – Voices At The Front

Photos courtesy of Letske M. (these are the ones mentioned in the original post by Steve Lammertyn)

Vik B., ‘Voices At The Front’

Vincent Theeten & Vik B. (‘Voices At The Front’)

Gaëtan Golvet (‘Voices At The Front’)

Sim Meersseman & Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (‘Voices At The Front’)

Vincent Theeten (‘Voices At The Front’)

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Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie (‘Resist The Pain’)

Pedro Fioen, behind ‘Murph’ (‘Resist The Pain’)

Steve Noyelle (‘Resist The Pain’)

Jan Volckaert (‘Resist The Pain’)

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the crowd (with Hans Verbeke, Joost Noyelle, one of the Ferket bros, etc.) – great mural by Joeri Stubbe

Virginie Logie

96-08-16&17&18 Hardcore, The Next Generation

pre-posters

Right before this fest Stephane Boens (74-04-17 * 96-08-06) a.k.a. The Famous Vegan (a friend of some collaborators at the V.V.) passed away…

photo: Roel Brals

This trend that had silently been creeping in during previous years (commercialism, violent/sexist/homophobic attitudes) got even more established here. Earlier in ’96, I had been isolated, denigrated and vilified because of my criticisms (by the H8000 buisnessmen and their disciples). For many I wasn’t wellcome but I tried to be one of the few who offered radical/political literature, and went over to explain to those who wanted to listen and support my few remaing friends. This here below shows there were also still a few people trying to get (part of the) message across…

someone from The NL in Yann Boislève’s SxE Bulletin #20

It was the last time I attended… I refused to pay entrance and hardly saw any of the bands. I believe this was the programme (but some might have been added):

96-08-16: Firestone (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Outrage (Bel), Victims Of Society (Bel), Down For The Count (Spa), Liar (Bel), Spawn (Ger), Unborn (UK)

96-08-17: Voices At The Front (Bel), Kindred (Bel), Sektor (Bel), Saidiwas (Swe), Regression (Bel), Timebomb (Ita), Burning Defeat (Ita), Congress (Bel), Racial Abuse (Öst), Despair (USA)

96-08-18: Spineless (Bel), Resist The Pain (Bel), Stampin’ Ground (UK), Vanilla (Fra), Approach To Concrete (Ger), Bruma (Ita), Separation (Swe), Swing Kids (USA), With Love (Ita)

the marketplace… :-(

courtesy of Karel Deweerdt (Wim ‘Blindfold’ & UJ ‘Liar’ on the left)

photo by Joeri Hoste (central: Eric Allen, Marco Walzel, Justin Pearson)

the international crowd… :-)

even the local girl-scouts visited…

…and a little British kitten named Vique… (photo courtesy of Joeri Hoste)

photos by Sergi E. Costa (unless where otherwise mentioned)

There were people from all over but there was especially an Italian invasion… Quite a few bands from there played and some people who were in Italian bands that didn’t play also came over. One of them was Federico Oddone (ex ‘Maze’), the guitarist of ‘Sottopressione’ (from Milano). In that band he played together with ‘Diste’ Andrea Di Stefano (bass), ‘Kuku’ (drums; replaced Mauro Dossi ex ‘Crash Box’) and Mayo Maggiore (vocals). The band released a 7” through Mele Marce recs and 3 albums on Rudy Medea’s Vacation House recs. Federico wrote this entry in the guestbook:

Veganism was a big issue too… Animal Truth zine (by Cindy Frey & An Lehaen) a reference…

additions wellcome!…

96-12-30 SxE @ 100 hours

Somewhere in the second half of the ‘90s, the Vort’n Vis also started organising something called ‘De 100 uren van de Vort’n Vis’. The days before New Year, the pub remained open for 100 hours non-stop. It became a yearly event. Various activities are organised to give the local crowd an opportunity to socialize and give them an alternative during the Winter holidays. Gigs too of course. Most of the time there weren’t many bands touring, so the bands playing were often local (starting). As was the case here…

‘Resist The Pain’ did their first ever show on 96-05-12 with Steve Noyelle on bass (guitar in ‘Lifecycle’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar, ‘Spineless’, ‘Congress’, etc.), Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie (vocals; later ‘S.O.Y.’) & Jan Volckaert (drums). According to what’s written in the guestbook Michael (Maes: V.V. shitworker and nowadays in ‘Link’) was the drummer on this occasion.

‘Ex Machina’ – Kurt (drums), Thomas (bass), Joris (guitar), Wouter (guitar); no idea who they were…

‘Sorehead’ (Ieper) were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Jan Lazeure (guitar) and Pieter Desmyter (guitar). Steve Noyelle describes their music as resembling ‘Sektor’.

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) had performed August of that year on the Fest (also on 97-06-27) but I wonder if they actually played on this day?

‘Defence’ apparently were Jeroen, Wim and Virgil. Probably the same guys of the band ‘Warcraft’ (from Ieper) that played on 97-06-12…

Valère & Sofie, 2 “straight-edge girls” also wrote something in the guestbook. I thought that was Sofie Vantomme (singer of ‘Lifecycle’ – but these didn’t play: their 1^st show was a few months later), however Steve Noyelle tells me it wasn’t. They were 2 girls from Rollegem…

Brob

I believe the SxE girls were Sofie Vercaempst (from Moeskroen, near Rollegem; who died in a car-crash in 2004) and Valerie from Rollegem.

Bruno Callens, ‘Turn The Tide’ bassist

Yeah, I did indeed play drums for ‘Resist The Pain’… I also started a band with Edward and the bassist of ‘N.O.F.’ at a certain time: I played drums and no other than Vik sang… The band was called ‘The Jedi’! Never did a show then… [‘The Jedi’ did at least one show: Letske sang…]

Michael Maes

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Shaft – Resist The Pain – Sektor – Voices At The Front

That must have been one of the last ‘F.T.F.’ shows ever. ‘Born From Pain’ started a year after that and I know there was almost a year in between.

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’

‘F.T.F.’s trail through the V.V. history is quite impressive: 91-12-21, 92-04-18, 92-09-05, 92-10-10, 93-05-22, 94-08-21 (and perhaps other visits…); illustrating the tight relation between some V.V.-collaborators and the Ducth Limburg HC-scene… A bit before this, they recorded for the Crusade EP on the German label March Through recs. Wouter Alers did the bass on that one (replacing Roger; he played drums for ‘Born From Pain’). The rest of the crew was the usual: René Natzel (drums), Har(ald) & Illona (guitars) and Rob (vocals)…

‘Resist The Pain’ (announced on the flyer as a “local turbo XXX” (on some flyers the XXX was crossed out) – see below) did their first ever show here (though there are pics from 96-04-05, a birthday party). They were Steve Noyelle (bass; later ‘Lifecycle’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar, later ‘Spineless’, ‘Congress’, etc.), Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie (vocals; later ‘S.O.Y.’) & Jan Volckaert (drums).

‘Sektor’ (from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village near Ieper) was a H8000 vegetarian straight-edge metal-core band. They did 2 7”s on Hans Verbeke’s Sober Mind recs: Ultimate Threat (1995) and a split with ‘Vitality’ (1996); later there was also a 12”/CD (Human Spots of Rust, ’97). The line-up was ‘Lenny LadyLover’ (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. Mousti; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. KungFu Mike; vocals).

‘Voices At The Front’ (from Poperinge) were added to the bill… After ‘Settle For Less’ (with Jurgen Desmet on bass, Tom De Pauw on drums and Jeroen Lauwers & Nathalie D. singing), my mate Vik Bulik (vocals; he played guitar in ‘S.F.L.’) started ‘Voices At The Front’, an SxE band. They’d done a few shows supporting ‘Congress’ (’96-03-03 @ ‘Kompas’ in Sint-Niklaas) and ‘Liar’ (96-04-14 @ ‘Mouterij’ in Deinze) before. So Vik – described as the “ideal straight-edge kid, bleached hair, X -ed up, Youth of Today shirt” was singing. Also in the band: “The coolest drummer from H8000, Gaëtan [Golvet], a coloured guy with incredible skills…”. Vince [Vincent Theeten] on lead-guitar, “new-school influences but with a metal touch; inspirer of the funniest fanzine from that time, Strike One!”. Sim [‘Simtje’ Meersseman] on bass… “Played almost every show in a bright-orange XXX shirt, bleached hair, krishna-beads…” 2^nd guitar: Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (R.I.P.; Vincent’s cousin). (internet-quotes by ‘Murph’ ‘R.T.P.’)

‘Kindred’ was an SxE outfit from Limburg (metallic style of HC, often compared with ‘Unbroken’) with Jan Beckers (guitar) and Maarten Beckers (drums) – Jan was in ‘Acoustic Grinder’ (see: 93-02-27) & both in ex ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06, 93-09-19 & 94-08-19); later ‘Facedown’, ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Raf Gielen still played 2^nd guitar here. They did an LP for GoodLife recs that year (File 01). They would be back for the Ieperfest in summer… A split with ‘Culture’ got out in ’97.

Raf Gielen in One Step Down #3: >>We started from the remains of 2 bands that split up: the one was ‘Churn’ (where I was in together with Jan & Maarten) and the other was ‘Forewarn’. Since we played a few shows with them, we asked their singer Eric. […] The show was kinda cool and we got some reactions of people that supported us.<<

No idea what ‘Shaft’ was about… But ‘Dompie’ got me on track: the members were Miguel De Paula (bass), Adam Borosch (drums), Michael ‘Mike’ Cordas (lead guitar), Arthur Galenziok (guitar) & Dirk Jochums (vocals). There were some flyers where their name was crossed out so perhaps they didn’t even play…?

Brob

‘Shaft’ did a 7” called Taskmaster [Brob: Actually a mini-CD…also a self-titled 7” on Stormstrike and a split-7” on Alveran recs]… We (‘Solid’) played with them in their hometown… They played a brutal H8000 style [“death-metal/metalcore”; the CD was recorded @ Midas studios].

Dominiek ‘Dompie’ Denolf

‘Voices…’ played a cool show, allways had a good response, were cooler than most of the bands that came from the H8000 at that time.

‘Murph’ (somewhere on the internet)

I do remember this as our first or one of our first shows with ‘R.T.P.’. Good line-up… We were incredibly enthusiast to do it because we were rehearsing at the Vort’n Vis and it was a great honour to be able to play there…

Vincent Merveillie

Vincent was vocalist for ‘Spirit Of Youth’ and drummer for ‘Kingpin’ & ‘Man’s Ruin’ later. Myself, I’ve played with ‘Spineless’ afterwards and from ’99 on with ‘Congress’. My last achievements were ‘Trenchfoot’ (cross-over à la ‘D.R.I.’, ‘S.O.D.’). Later Michael Maes joined as our drummer…

This was the first show of ‘Kindred’ in the H8000-area. A year later they were considered as an H8000-band, while they were indeed from Limburg. It was rather unusual then that non-H8000-bands were succesful in our region. It’s funny to see that bands that succeeded in this, were immediately labelled as H8000. The scene was growing exponentially. In order to be omplete I’m obliged to say that a band didn’t stand a chance if they weren’t SxE. I saw a whole bunch of fantastic bands pass by, that hardly anyone cared about, solely because the X on their hands was lacking. As a ‘member of the herd’ I have to plea guilty myself.

‘Feeding The Fire’ stood out because a girl was playing guitar. At the time that was (and still is) a curiosity in hardcore, which was mostly a ‘boys-thing’. The few girls that were present, were mainly there because they were the girlfriend of someone or as ‘trend-queen’… [Brob: ???!!!???; some women would disagree, I’m sure…] I believe that she was playing a BC-Rich ‘metal-model’ guitar – which was (also back then) rather not-done. Anyway, I didn’t like their music too much. Rob, now of ‘Born From Pain’, was singing.

All in all most people attending, came to see the local bands. ‘Voices At The Front’, with Vik, played a home-match and ‘Sektor’ was the new hype. Lyrics were about the meat-industry and drug-abuse; and the songs dedicated to the scene, organisers and … SxE… Very original…

Pedro Fioen

Vincent was replaced by Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers [later ‘Congress’] and Jan by Michael Maes [‘Link’, etc.]…

Steve Noyelle

Unfortunately none of the pictures I took remain: regretably I had to throw them all away, because of water-damage.

Steve Lammertyn

extras:

96-05-12 Voices At The Front – Resist The Pain (photos)

96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Sektor (photos)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…