98-04-11 Sorehead – Lifecycle – D.S.A. – Striker – Kalashnikov – Ignominy – Powers Of Discipline – Inside

The V.V. notes mentioned that ‘Lorre’ (Laurent Peene) & ‘Sientje’ (Nico Sinnaeve) were on bar-duties that day. The bands were mostly, if not all, locals. It probably wasn’t an announced gig (because there’s no other traces) but more like a get-together…

‘Lifecycle’ (‘new-school’ HC – H8000 but not with that typical sound, Ieper/Kortijk region) was one of the ‘house-bands’ of the V.V. in that periode (97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-08-17, may ’98-05-10). The line-up: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie soon went on to sing for ‘Spirit Of Youth’), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others). In a letter from May ’98, Sofie mentions that their bassist Jurgen Degryse had quit the band. His last show was in that month. He was replaced by Maarten Kinet (who later played for ‘AmenRa’)… Later the band had a few more changes…

‘Sorehead’ (from Ieper) played the V.V. a bunch of times (see: 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-05-10). They did a 5-track demo in 1997. Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene did vocals; the others were Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Jan Lazeure (guitar). ‘Lorre’ died in 2003.

‘D.S.A.’ (Ieper area) – old-school NY Hardcore – was the band of Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Davy Verhoye (R.I.P.)/Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (Vandenberghe?; guitar)… Have a look at 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25, 97-12-26, 98-08-16 for their other V.V. shows

‘Striker’ (H8000 metalcore) was a band that Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene joined but he didn’t sing here fro them yet… The rest of the line-up: ‘Gerre’ Gerald Goedhart (guitar; later guitarist of ‘Core of Anger’), ‘Tomme’ Tom Bordeaux (guitar), PJ Vandamme (bass; later guitarist of ‘Retaliate’ & ‘Outcast’) & David ‘Terre’ Termote (drums). They released a demo entitled High Hopes For Nothing in 1999. Check also 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16.

‘Ignominy’ was a vegan straight-edge band; their guitarist Ward Dufraimont went on to play for ‘Firestone’. The others in the band were Ward Cecat (bass), Wouter Debonnet (drums; also ‘Rhymes Of Destruction’), ‘Jakke’ Jacob Vanluchene (guitar) & David Derammelaere (vocals). They recorded a demo (A Cry For Justice) early ’98.

‘Kalashnikov’ (metalcore from Diksmuide, so also H8000) would be back at the V.V. on 99-11-27 & 2000-09-16. The band was Thijs Plovie (guitar), Dave Willaert (bass), Tom Verheecke (vocals) & Bart Gouwy (drums).

‘Powers Of Discipline’ had the bassist of ‘Minotaur’ and ‘Archaï’ in their ranks.

‘Inside’ was an emo band linked with people from the first line-up of ‘Minotaur’

Brob

I can remember vaguely that we did this gig with the bands but nothing more…really.

Gerald Goedhart

I recall we did a ‘Merauder’ cover: the vocalist at the time sang the lyrics of the verse and chorus the other way round and people came up to me after the show saying that the new song resembled ‘Merauder’ a lot. (smile) It was the day we stole ‘Sorehead’s singer.  Before him we tried out some local guys: the first one was in ‘Evangelist’ [Frederik ‘Zwartn’ Deswarte], the second one couldn’t keep rhythm and became our roadie [Vincent Degryse]. ‘Lorre’ joined by the end of ’98: we played the old set a few times with him and then restarted with new tracks. He was one the demo.

PJ Vandamme

We always said ‘D.S.A.’ was short for ‘Download Society Agression’ but in fact it was more like ‘Dikke Stront Affaire’ [“a huge load of crap”] from the very beginning. ‘Sien’ and myself started ‘Edgecrusher’ to take a totally different direction (thrash-metal). ‘Retaliate was supposed to be a side-project; ‘Edgecrusher’ came earlier.

Freddy Vanhee

I only remember I liked ‘Striker’.

Wouter Debonnet

I remembered little of that show but a fellow band-member gave me some info. The bands were all just starting out; it was a matinee type of thing in the afternoon (so hardly any people whowed up – the same day there was a mega-cool show in Wevelgem with ‘Sektor’, ‘Vitality’, ‘Arkangel’, etc.), organised by ‘Schmitters’ [Stijn Desmyter], in the Vort’n Vis pub. We played with our original line-up: Wouter, Jacob, Ward, David & myself.

Ward Cecat

I set up a few gigs at the Vort’n Vis, often on request of the bands themselves… Most of them were Belgian. My principle was that we have some ‘home-grown’ gems that earn a stage and I wanted something other than ‘Madball’ clones with a fucked-up attitude. I booked bands that I could trust, knew and had seen live. I also always tried to mix styles to avoid monotonous shows.

Stijn Desmyter

‘Powers Of Discipline’ was Alexander Ronsse on guitar and some guy named Filiep or Philippe on drums. Helmert Decavele was also our bassist (‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’). He replaced someone else, can ‘t remember his name. I might have rehearsed with ‘P.O.D.’ once. Long time ago…

Jeroen Algoet, ‘Minotaur’ & ‘Archaï’ drummer

Maarten Byttebier was the drummer for ‘Inside’. He was one of the vocalists of ‘Minotaur’ in the beginning…

Bram Algoet, guitarist of ‘Minotaur’, (occasionally) ‘Archaï’ & ‘The Curse’

‘Powers Of Discipline’ was me (bassist of ‘Archaï’ & ‘Minotaur’) as a singer, Alexander Ronsse on guitar, Jelle Vandepitte (bass) & Dimitri Dias (drums).

‘Inside’ was Maarten Byttebier (singer of ‘Minotaur’ in its early days), his brother Thomas Byttebier on bass, Dimitri Declerq and Bart Wattez on guitar. Natascha Jaumain & Amber Omez were singing.

Bram Algoet wasn’t part of ‘Archaï’ [he was an occasional stand-in: see 99-11-27]; that was Brecht Algoet (guitar), Jeroen Algoet (drums), Liesbeth Meyfroid (vocals), Helmert Decavele (bass) & Dimitri Declerq guitar.

Helmert Decavele

additions wellcome!…

97-12-26 Oi Polloi – Accion Mutante – Link – Holefiller – G.D.B. – D.S.A. – Sorehead

Another gig organised by Michael Maes… With practical help of Inge Cappoen, Jan Claus & Lieve Goemaere.

Besides vocalist and frontman Deek Allan, I believe the band here consisted of bassist Calum Mckenzie (he left to the U.S. in ‘99) and drummer ‘The Love Doctor’ Ade Crawford (ex ‘Satanic Malfunctions’) – see guestbook. Guitarist Ricky ‘Zodiac’ Olsen first appeared on the T.H.C. 7” (Campary recs 1999; with ‘Love Doctor’ – drums, Calum – bass, Deek – vocals, ‘Zodiac’ – guitar), having replaced Matt ‘Keith Chugwin’ Finch in 1997. In 1996 ‘Oi Polloi’ let a French label release their earliest recordings (from ’84) on the Punx’n’Skins EP. They did a lot of touring, which brought them back to the V.V. on 98-04-18 & 98-09-19. And in 1999 a few records – such as the Fuaim Catha LP on Skuld releases (with bassist ‘R. Sole’, drummer Murray Briggs and guitarist ‘Red’ – Brian Tipa ?) & Let the Boots Do the Talking EP (with bassist ‘R. Sole’ drummer ‘Bulbheid’ & guitarist Matt Finch) – came out… Neil Robinson also released the tape It’s Not The Monkey That Need’s It’s Head Examined (Tribal War) to support ‘Oi Polloi’s travels with the Primate Freedom Tour (Summer of ‘99).

‘Accion Mutante’ – from Stuttgart – play aggressive HC/crust-punk (references to ‘Discharge’, ‘Doom’, ‘E.N.T.’). In 1995 they released their 1^st 7” (called Fear) on Skuld releases. The line-up on that was Capde (guitar), Jochen (bass), Frosch & Alexander Rossi (vocals), Dominik (drums, replaced Schmier) and Timo (guitar). In 1998 they did another 7” (Y No Hai Remedio) on the same label: ‘Migge’ (Mike/Michael Schwarz) did the drums and Karsten had replaced Frosch by then. A planned split-7“ with ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ didn´t happen. The band still exist (accion-mutante.com)…

‘Link’ had played their first V.V. gig earlier that year (97-09-12). This local band was (at that time) V.V. ‘shitworker’ Michael Maes (guitar) & his partner Inge Cappoen (vocals) – both had been in ‘Carcer Molochi’ – and the French-men Greg ‘Briko’ on bass and a ‘Juju’ Julien De Jonckheere on drums. They played crust-core-punk and hadn’t really released anything yet…

Around this time ‘Holefiller’ (see 97-02-28) recorded a demo (with the help of Michael Maes, in his attic). These mates (from the Ghent squat-scene) played slow, dark, doom-metal mixed with industrial parts. Sometimes they performed as a combo producing industrial noise, then they’ld call themselves ‘Hellfiller’. The core of the band was Karel Busschop (bass), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’) & ‘Leffe’ (guitar; ex ‘Chronic Disease’, ‘Private Jesus Detector’). Their mate Billy did the electronics for ‘Hellfiller’.

Local band ‘Sorehead’ had also performed at the Vort’n Vis before (97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-10-25) were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar), Pieter Derycke (drums) and Jan Lazeure (guitar). Some said their music was metal-influenced, others disagreed. They did a couple more shows at the V.V. after this…

‘D.S.A.’ (see 97-06-27 & 97-10-25) was another local band that played old-school NY Hardcore. The band consited of Nico Synnaeve (drums), Frederik Vanhee (bass), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (PJ; guitar)…

‘G.D.B.’ (or ‘Chargée G.D.B.’) was a punk-rock band from the Maloka (distro) / Les Tanneries (venue) scene (Dijon, France). They had a few tracks on the Autonomy Not Submission compilation-LP (a benefit for Maloka, on Pariah Rules recs). They also did a few tapes… A later gig planned on 98-06-05 got cancelled…. Band-members were ‘NoFun Leouf’ (guitar), ‘Colas’ (vocals/beatbox; and guitar when ‘NoFun’ left) & ‘Kaos Youki’ (bass).

Brob

Ricky had taken over guitar-duties for ‘Oi Polloi’ by December 97…

Matt Finch

I think this was during a short tour with ‘Oi Polloi’ and ‘Boycot’ perhaps? [Brob: That was the days after: 97-12-27 in Leuven & 97-12-28 in Opwijk] I remember the kitchen, the stage and the sleeping-place under the roof ( with some holes) haha…

‘Accion Mutante’

My best memory was playing with ‘Accion Mutante’ and ‘Oi Polloi’ at the Vort’n Vis in Ieper.

‘Kaos Youki’ (gdb.kaosyouki.net/english.html)

‘G.D.B.’ was ‘Nofun’ on guitar and vocals, me on bass and a drum-machine. It wasn’t a serious band, it was kind of a joke. We both played in the band ‘20 Minutes de Chaos’ from Dijon and at that time our female singer went to England for a few months. So we did ‘G.D.B.’ as a side-project. We existed only for a few months. If I remember correctly, Michael from ‘Link’ organised this gig. The previous day we played in Liège, so we arrived rather tired. We left the day after to Paris even more tired. I think it was the best gig we did with ‘G.D.B.’, mostly because a lot of friends from Lille showed up. I also met new people at this gig that are still very good friends nowadays. So the atmosphere was fun. I remember ‘Oi Polloi’ did a good gig but I mostly remember enjoying ‘Accion Mutante’s concert. I don’t recall that much of the other bands. Afterwards, I spent time chatting with some people from ‘Accion Mutante’ at the bar; also with friends from Lille and some people playing for ‘Link’ that are really good friends now. I almost didn’t sleep that night.

Jean-Christophe of Maloka was our driver…

About Vort’n Vis in general: I started hearing about it in the very early 90s from a friend who was going there regularly. It was sounding a bit like a myth to me: all these bands that I was really into who played there, the DIY scene, etc. Unfortunately when I started to go there a few years later, there were already these ‘arguments’ between crusties and straight-edgers. Which 20 years later sounds rather childish on both sides to me…

In fact ‘Colas’ was supposed to sing for us in the beginning but in the end never got to it. His only participation in the band has been to help us write some lyrics. So the band has always been just ‘Nofun’ and me.

‘Kaos Youki’

One of our lesser shows… It was very cool that we could play – we were very grateful to Michael for giving us the chance – but if I remember well the crusties were not that fond of us…

Frederik Vanhee, ‘D.S.A.’ bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

98-05-10 Thumbs Down – Sorehead – Lifecycle – Clouded – Rain – Symbiont – Mindfist

‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ was a project of Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes with a few people from Deinze. They only did a few shows. [Brob: They are in the guestbook but not really sure if they played. ‘Pit’ was the singer of ‘Instinct’. ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ also played at the 1999 Ieperfest and their music was described as “rocking slomo emo HC”…]

Pedro Tallieu, ‘Instinct’

According to the V.V. notes this gig was again arranged by ‘xSchmitterSx’ (Stijn Desmyter from Oostnieuwkerke)…

‘Thumbs Down’ had played already on 97-08-17 (The Next Generation festival). They were from Antwerp and played “youth crew hardcore”. I believe in the band at that time were Roeland (bass; later replaced by Andries Beckers of ‘Diablo Blvd’), Ken (drums; since ’99 Benjamin Buschgens – later ‘The Setup’), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar; later ‘The Setup’) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were also signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99). They also performed at the ’98 & ’99 fests….

‘Clouded’, a metal-core band from Antwerp (Kontich), were: Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serge ‘Serch’ Carriere (drums) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar; replaced Kurt). Their 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in 1998. They also played at the ’97, ’98 & ’99 fests…

‘Rain’ (from Antwerpen/Edegem) played post-rock, emo metalcore, with sluggish guitar-riffs and manic vocals: Mark Kram (vocals), Joris Van Haute (bass), Sven Leys (guitar) & Jeroen Taeymans (drums). They had self-released their album Redeem The Monsters ‎(1997) under the name Redeem The Monsters And Kill The Beast recs…

Locals ‘Lifecycle’ had been on the V.V. stage a bunch of times before and it wouldn’t be their last. In a letter from May ’98, Sofie (‘Lifecycle’s vocalist) mentions that their bassist Jurgen Degryse had quit the band. His last show was May ’98. He was replaced by Maarten Kinet (who later played for ‘AmenRa’)… When he left Peter Leuwers joined… And later there was Céline Delqueux and then Jelle Dobbelaere…

‘Sorehead’ (from Ieper) had already played the V.V. several times. They were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Jan Lazeure (guitar; he’s not in the guestbook and might’ve quit for half a year [According to Dries he’s always been in the band…]) and Pieter Desmyter (guitar). Steve Noyelle describes their music as resembling ‘Sektor’. The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive.

‘Symbiont’ and ‘Mindfist’ were Belgian bands but I’ve got no recollections of them…

Brob

I’ve also played at the V.V. with ‘Before Machine’ (with Serge ‘Serch’ Carriere of ‘Clouded’ / ‘The Setup’ / ‘Bear’)… The excerpt in the guestbook was done by our singer Mark. Our CD was released on the 1997 Ieperfest. [Brob: It was still called HardCore – The Next Generation festival; no trace of ‘Rain playing there…]

‘Mindfist’ was with singer Kevin Heynen, who’s in ‘Shirley’s Locker’ nowadays…

Sven Leys, ‘Rain’ guitarist

I joined ‘Thumbs Down’ in ‘99! I replaced Roeland De Keulenaer.

Andries Beckers

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-07-12 Lifecycle – Spirit Of Youth – Family Of Dog – Sincerity – Sorehead – Instinct – Fanta’s Farm – D.S.A. – Cult-T

Most of these (local) bands had played a month earlier on ‘Spineless’ CD release (97-06-27). Steve Lammertyn and ‘Lifecycle’s Steve Noyelle & Sofie Vantomme organised this one here (see flyer). According to the V.V. notes ‘xSchmitterSx’ (Stijn Desmyter from Oostnieuwkerke) was also involved. Michael Maes & Inge Cappoen attented the bar…

‘Family Of Dog’ were not local (from Deinze) and had already performed at the V.V. on 96-09-22. They played “metal” (Steve Noyelle’s words). The band was: Bert Walgraeve (bass), Stijn Everaert (drums), Peter Staelens & Wim De Taeye (guitar) and Tom Claus (vocals; also sang for ‘Congress’ on their Angry With The Sun CD). They released a promo-tape in ’96, did a split-7” with ‘Liar’ in ’97 (Genet recs) and a self-titled CD (Midas prods, ’98).

‘Sincerity’ was another band (metal-influenced HC) from Deinze. Members: ‘Sjaab’ Frederic Chaboteau (vocals), Maarten Kinet (bass; later ‘Lifecycle’ & ‘AmenRa’), Bram Walgraeve (guitar; brother of ‘Family of Dog’s Bert Walgraeve), Fré(derick) De Vogelaere (drums) & Thomas Hauttekeete (guitar; also ‘Instinct’). Bram & Fré were later in ‘King Creole’… The band played another show a few months later (97-10-12) but they split up somewhere in ‘98…

‘Spirit Of Youth’ had done a show at the V.V. in their new line-up (more new-school metal-HC) already. Guitarist Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf, drummer Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf and bassist Kris Casier (who had been in ‘Solid’ with the bros), recruited Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (also Strike One zine) on second guitar and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’) on vocals. ‘Dompie’ had tried to reform ‘S.O.Y.’ with originals Hans Verbeke & Jan Maelfait in ’96 but that didn’t work out.

Vincent Theeten (photo courtsey of Karel Deweerdt)

D.S.A.’ were playing old-school NY Hardcore. Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Pieter-Jan ‘PJ’ Vandenberghe (guitar) and the singer was Davy Verhoye (on the 1^st demo) or Maarten Verschaeve (2^nd demo). They did a few more shows at the V.V. (97-10-25, 97-12-26 & 98-04-11)…

‘Fanta’s Farm’ was with Korneel Barbry (bass), Sim Meerseman (guitar; ex ‘Voices At The Front’), Stijn Dequidt (drums) & Jeroen Beyens (vocals). Steve Noyelle labeled them as “melodic pop/rock”. They played again on 97-09-19.

‘Sorehead’, another local (Ieper) band, had also been at the V.V. already (96-12-30 plus the one mentioned above) and would be here again 97-10-25. They were: Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Pieter Derycke (drums). According to Steve N. their music resembled that of ‘Sektor’. The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive. Jan Lazeure (guitar) might’ve quit for half a year… But according to Dries he’s always been in the band…

‘Instinct’ already did V.V. shows on 97-03-01 & the one mentioned in the intro, and they would be back for 15/16/17 aug ’97: Hardcore – the Next Generation festival. Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete (also ‘Sincerity’) 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.

‘Lifecycle’, a ‘new-school’ HC band from the Ieper/Kortijk region (H8000 but not with that typical sound), had done their first gig at the V.V. a bit before this (97-06-27, the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD) and may more would follow. I believe at that time the band consisted of Sofie Vantomme (vocals), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others).

No idea who/what ‘Cult-T’ was…

Brob

I have vague recollections of ‘Sjaab’ writing something in the V.V. guestbook but don’t know if it was this day… We also played there with ‘Catharsis’, ‘Gehenna’, ‘Natural Order’ and some more bands. It’s been a while… We also used to visit the Vort’n Vis quite often. I also rehearsed there with ‘Lifecycle’ when ‘Sincerity’ disbanded. I certainly like to reminisce that show with ‘Sincerity’, a band that I was proud of.

Maarten Kinet, ‘Sincerity’ bassist

I believe that our singer Tom tooted along on a dilapidated clarion during a song and that our bassist put on a blond wig for the occasion… The usual ‘F.O.D.’ silliness.

Peter Staelens, ‘F.O.D.’ guitarist

I’m almost certain that we [Fanta’s Farm] didn’t play…

Korneel Barbry

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-10-25 D.S.A. – Sorehead – Eclipse

The V.V. newsletter from August ’97 announced a Halloween party (to be organised by Peter V.). This here is a gig from around the same time. Shitworkers that night were Steph Quintens & Inge Cappoen.

The guys playing for ‘D.S.A.’ – an old-school NY Hardcore from the Poperinge/Kortrijk/Roeselare triangle – were Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later in ‘Retaliate’), Frederik ‘Freddy Nostra’ Vanhee (bass; later in ‘Retaliate’), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals on their 2^nd demo, replacing Davy Verhoye) and Pieter-Jan Vandenberghe (PJ; guitar). One of the demos was a live recording from a gig in Poperinge (97-11-09), the other at the Vort’n Vis. They had already played the V.V. on 96-12-30, 97-06-27 & 97-07-12, and would play a few times more…

‘Sorehead’ (Ieper) were Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Derycke (drums), Jan Lazeure (guitar; he might’ve quit for half a year [According to Dries he’s always been in the band…]) and Pieter Desmyter (guitar). Steve Noyelle describes their music as resembling ‘Sektor’. The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive. They also had been at the V.V. on 96-12-30, 97-06-27, and would do more shows later on…

‘Eclipse’ (Ieper) was (gothic) doom-metal playing atmospheric, melodic stuff. The members were Mathieu Gadeyne (vocals), Joke Debruyne (vocals), Koen Vanthournout (guitar; nowadays ‘Clockworkman’) Christophe ‘Foekie’ Delplace (bass; V.V. ‘shitworker’; nowadays in ‘Waxflower’), Wouter Keirse (keyboards; also ‘Warcarft’) & Jaan Couvreur (drums; nowadays ‘Clockworkman’). They self-released a demoCD (1999) entitled Extracts From The Book Of Lost One. I believe Wouter & Mathieu started a melodic electro trance project, entitled ‘Deep Blue’ later on…

‘Eclipse’ promo-pic

Brob

This was ‘Eclipse’s very first gig ever. It was kind of a Halloween night if I remember well. Some chrysanthemum was indeed in order :-). A part from that I recall that black-light and candle-light were the only light-sources in the pub that night. And there was a whole lot of smoke because of a tilted smoke-machine. That’s probably the reason why there aren’t any images of that concert (and the fact that cell-phones were only just for phone-calls then, not for making pictures). We compensated that by taking band-photos at the Ypres’ cathedral… Some time later we did indeed play together with Crusader’ & ‘Sengir’. I believe we only played the Vort’n Vis twice.

During my active period (started in ’96) at the Vort’n Vis, I was actually just taking care of ‘logistics’ (bar & P.A. afregelen) and after 2001 it got a bit more intensive with the Ieperfest (but I was never involved with programmering).

Christophe ‘Foekie’ Delplace

The Vort’n Vis played a central rol for ‘Eclipse’. We were all from the Ieper area and there weren’t so many places where we could play our gothic metal. Both ‘Foekie’ and myself did bar-duties at the V.V. and helped out during fests. Our first rehearsal (Jaan, ‘Foekie’ & me) was in of the rehearsal-spaces located above the pub. Our first gig ever was also in the pub. [This was one here was the first; see guestbook…] I believe it was just us? [Nope.] I think it was around All Saints Day [November 1^st]: our buddies from the Ieper scouts had ‘decorated’ the stage with chrysanthemum. A weird form of humor… :-) We performed at the pub 2 or 3 times in total. I believe once was with ‘Crusader’ & ‘Sengir’?

Koen Vanthournout, ‘Eclipse’ guitarist

It was a special experience, already because of the rather special nature of the pub… I believe we even put our demo up for sale there: at the counter, next to the soy-milk. Indeed: good times! Besides that gig with ‘Crusader’ and another band band (I’m not so sure it was ‘Sengir’: we played with them in Gent), there was another gig with just us.

Jaan Couvreur, drummer of ‘Eclipse’

Davy Verhoye died unexpectedly early 2016…

Frederik Vanhee, ‘D.S.A.’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

97-06-27 Spineless – Spirit Of Youth – Lifecycle – Firestone – Sorehead – D.S.A. – Warcraft – Instinct – [Voices At The Front]

The poster indicates this was the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD. ‘Fifi’ had a hand in setting this up. There’s no mentioning of ‘Voices At The Front’ in the V.V. notes, but ‘Instinct’ is mentioned. Did they replace them?

Some of the bands also played here: 96-12-30 SxE @ 100 hours

‘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). They played brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96), Hans Verbeke of SoberMind recs released the Painfields 7”/CD (presented here). The album A Talk Between Me And The Stars album would follow the next year (Presentation at the V.V., 98-04-26). They also performed on the Fest in August that year.

‘Lifecycle’, a ‘new-school’ HC band from the Ieper/Kortijk region (H8000 but not with that typical sound), had done their first gig the previous month. Here the line-up was: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie soon went on to sing for ‘Spirit Of Youth’), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others). They did a demo (There Is Hope Again!; recorded by Michael Maes) and a mini-album (CD) Forever… Until… on Sober Mind recs. When Sofie gave up SxE but still wanted to continue ‘Lifecycle’, Steve decided to quit the band… Because of that, the band split-up, they couldn’t continue without him… He formed ‘Eliot Ness’ (together with Saskia Verbeke). Vincent Tetaert, who used to play drums with the band for a while went on to join ‘AmenRa’ (as guitarist)…

‘Lifecycle’ (Jurgen Degryse – Steve Noyelle – Jan Volckaert)

Not realy sure if ‘Voices At The Front’ actually played… But they’d been here before (96-05-12 & 96-08-17). You can find some history there. ‘V.A.T.F’ was a local straight-edge band (Poperinge) with Gaëtan Golvet (drums), Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (guitar; also Strike One fanzine) Sim ‘Simtje’ Meersseman (bass) and Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (guitar; R.I.P. Vincent’s cousin). A H8000 band that didn’t follow the trend. Metal-influenced but self-willed (thanks to vocalist Vik) HC; they did some ‘Inside Out’ covers. They had a demo (’96) but didn’t release any vinyl… Some of them were part of the New Skate Generation posse (which included Kobe Desramaults, chef of Michelin-starred restaurant In De Wulf). A while after Vik had moved to Gent he started the Smart Art Movement collective, that organised all kind of activities/parties/gigs. Later he started to squat and got even more politically active…

‘V.A.T.F’ was probably replaced by ‘Instinct’, a band my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). They were mentioned in the V.V. notes. ‘Instinct’ had played here before (97-03-01) and would play a couple of times more that summer (97-07-12 & 97-08-15). A “positive old-school” (Steve Noyelle’s words) band. 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. Later they released a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment. There’s also mentioning of a live-demo at the Vort’n Vis…

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area) played in there new line-up (more new-school metal-HC). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source – replaced by Sim Meersseman of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’), guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (also Strike One zine) and Vincent Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). The start of their “second phase”… During which they did 3 LPs: Source on Sober Mind recs (1998), a split with ‘One King Down’ ‎on GoodLife recs (1998) & Colors That Bleed on GoodLife recs (1998).

promo-pic (GoodLife): Vincent Merveillie / Frederik Denolf / Sim Meersseman / Dominiek Denolf / Vincent Theeten

‘Firestone’ (Kortrijk) had already performed at Hardcore, The Next Generation (96-08-16). They were a H8000-metal band. Their later singer Iris explains the early history below. In August 1996 they had recorded for their Dark Fantasies demo.

Steve Noyelle informs me: >>‘Sorehead’ was a band from Ieper with Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Pieter Derycke (drums); their music resembled that of ‘Sektor’. [The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive.] ‘D.S.A.’ – old-school NY Hardcore – was the band of Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (PJ; guitar)…<< (see 96-12-30 & …) I believe the vocalist of ‘D.S.A.’ (who were from the Ieper area) was Davy Verhoye (on the 1^st demo) and Maarten (2^nd demo); guitarist was Pieter-Jan Vandenberghe.

Frederik Vanhee (pic courtesy of Karel Deweerdt)

‘Warcraft’ (from Ieper) was with Wouter Keirse. Read what he has to say below… The same guys of what was the band ‘Defence’, that played on 96-12-30…?

Brob

The V.V. was and still is very inspiring to me. We played there 2 or 3 times I think. Once there was a last minute improvised line-up on the top floor (this one here with ‘D.S.A.’ and others). I believe that a band played alternately in the pub and then on the first floor. ‘Warcraft’ was a band with Wouter Keirse (living in France nowadays), which I think performed only once. ‘D.S.A. was with Fré, Sientje & ‘PJ’. ‘Lifecycle’ with Steve, Karel & Jurgen. ‘Voices’ with Vik, ‘Spirit’ with Vincent & Kris. ‘Firestone’ was -I think- with Lennart (who shortly after moved to ‘Janez Detd’ for big money and now plays for ‘AmenRa’. ‘Spineless’ was also with Colin ‘AmenRa’ (I believe ?) and with Pedro Fioen. All very fine shows. I think there were photos taken of everyone at the front-door. ‘Sorehead’ quit when we were all about 18 and not long after our vocalist Laurent Peene died. Sometimes the V.V. organises an in memoriam for him; what I appreciate a lot.

Pieter Desmyter, ‘Sorehead’ guitarist

I wasn’t in ‘Firestone’ at that time. Early on it was Thomas Desimpelaere who sang, then Alexander (who played drums at first), than Pieter-Jan and than me. Mathieu Storms drummed (after Alexander). After him Vincent Tetaert played the drums. In the beginning Matthias Desimpelaere played guitar but in the end Ward Dufraimont replaced him. Diederik Claes and Lennart Bossu were the only constant members I think.

Iris Walgraeve

I joined ‘Firestone’ later, in June ’99. I only played the Fests in 2000 & 2001. In ‘99 & 2000 I helped out in ‘Liar’ quite a number of times (e.g. 99-10-31); from the summer of 2002 until Octobere of 2006 I was a permanent member of ‘Liar’ (with a number of passages at the Fests).

Ward Dufraimont

The Vort’n Vis was ‘a way out’, a place where anyone got a chance and where (20 years ago [and still]) those going against the grain gathered. A bit of a gloomy, shabby place. But great fun. We had a rehearsal-space on the first floor; sharing with Steve Noyelle, Karel Deweerdt, Lieve Goemaere, Vincent Tetaert, etc. ‘Warcraft’ consisted of myself, Kurt Deramoudt [drums], Wim Eggermont [vocals] and Olivier Maes [bass ?]. Or was it indeed Virgil & the Ryckebosch brothers? After that we messed about a bit with Vincent Tetaert and David Lernout: ‘Lizard…’ something…? At no timepoint we were a macth with ‘Lifecycle’ or our other heroes from the Westhoek. We could make a racket, hairless teenagers on stage het, light a spliff, have a beer to many and stay as long as we wanted. I always felt a gentle little guy amongst all those hardcore togh guys. I was at the first hardcore Fests during the straight-edge era. ‘Morning Again’, ‘Liar’,… Jeez, what a fantastic time!

Wouter ‘Wally’ Keirse (“Searching for autonomy in the hills of the Limousin [France]. Permaculture fanatic and plant-grower.”), ‘Warcraft’ guitarist

Not sure if we actually played there. If so, then we came by train. That happened quite frequently. I often had to beg the other bands for a bass-amp. Always annoying and stressful. I do remember that about a month before this ‘Spirit of Youth’ & ‘Lifecycle’ played at my parents’ garage for my birthday: ‘S.O.Y.’ wasn’t announced and did a try-out.

Pedro Tallieu, ‘Instinct’ bassist

There were so many bands that we ended up playing at 1 a.m. Headlining was no laughin’ matter back in the days. ;-) We almost took of in anger but Eward convinced us because there were some people from New-Zealand that had come over especially to see us. ;-)

Dominiek Denolf, ‘Spirit Of Youth’ guitarist

If ‘S.O.Y.’ played there with their new line-up, then I’m certain that ‘V.A.T.F.’ didn’t play…because I’ve never seen play in that configuration!

Vik B., singer of ‘Voices At The Front’

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!…