More on this concert: 93-06-13 Bloodline – Transcend – Schizma – Spirit Of Youth – Wheel Of Progress
Here’s a series of photographs taken and donated by Jean-Paul Frijns:
(also present: Bart Van Mulders, Chris Van Dornick, Peter Hoeren, Michael Müller, Nick Royles, Dirk ‘Scum’, Stef Goos, Wim Vandekerckhove, etc.)
SPIRIT OF YOUTH
WHEEL OF PROGRESS
Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival
‘Thumbs Down’ (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. If I’m correct the band consisted of Roeland De Keulenaer (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).
Barricada #2: “I was baffled by ‘Thumbs Down’ because I thought they resembled ‘Battery’. There was also a black person in the band, reminding of ‘Battery’s Ken Olden (even the guitar was the same). An even bigger surprise was when they played that great old-school ‘Bold’ cover.”
‘Thumbs Down’ (photo by Sergi E. Costa)
‘ODK Crew’ played old-school HC influenced by ‘Judge’, ‘Rise Above’, etc. They were from Oostduinkerke (Belgian coast-town). That year Hans (of Sober Mind recs) released a 7” entitled Old School vs New School. These guys were members of ‘Vitality’ (guitarist Bob Van Lierde & bassist Marc Paccou) and ‘Congress’ (drummer Ilja De Ceuleneire); singer was Micha(ël) ‘Mika’ Sallaerts. They reformed halfway the noughties with ‘Lil’ Wayne’ (Chris Weyne; ex roadie of ‘Vitality) on vocals…
Barricada #2: “Boring old fast metal in the vein of ‘One Life Crew’.”
‘Metroschifter’ – from Louisville, Kentucky – did a first tour of Europe (22 days) with the band ‘Omaha’ (from Toledo, Ohio; with Dirk Hemsath of Doghouse recs) Dec ’96 – Jan ‘97. Drummer Chris(topher) Reinstatler (a.k.a. ‘The Hört’; ex ‘Transcend’) had joined the band because Mario Rubalcaba left. Mark Ritcher filled in on bass as Pat(rick) McClimans (ex ‘Endpoint’) was unable to go on the trip. But it was Brendan Bogosian who played bass on ‘Metroschifter’s August 1997 Euro tour. In June ’97 they recorded the Metroschifter 4 LP – “loud, distorted, mathematical rock”; post-HC – (released on Doghouse recs) and then came over to Europe again. The line-up here was Scott Ritcher (guitar/vocals; Slamdek recs; writer and graphic designer – kcomposite.com), Pat and Chris. Dec ’98 they came to Europe for the 3rd time; and a 4th time Dec ’99 (with Curtis Mead on bass).
Scott Ritcher (photo by Sergi E Costa)
Here’s a few words by Scott (from the zine Love, Sweat & Tears) on this:
Barricada #2: “They cleaned our dark ears and cooled the air in the hall.”
‘Intensity’, from Malmö/Lund (Sweden) played “fast, intense old-school HC à la Minor Threat”: Jonas Nilsson (guitar; later Mathias Blixtberg & Andy Dahlström, both also ‘Satanic Surfers’; works for Bad Taste), Rodrigo Alfaro (vocals; also ‘Satanic Surfers’; founder of the Putrid Filth Conspiracy label), Kristoffer Lind (bass) and Simon Ricci (drums; later Tommas Svendsen). At that time they had 2 albums our on Bad Taste recs (where Jonas & Rordrigo helped out – Bought And Sold (1996) & Wash Off The Lies (1998), and a 7” – Battered Soul – on Rodrigo’s label Putrid Filth Conspiracy. The band came back to the V.V. on 99-06-27 (because Bruno Genet recs had re-released their Bought And Sold album as a 10”)
‘Intensity’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)
Barricada #2: “Old school with vocals reminiscent of ‘Ignite’ but the music sounds more punk.”
‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area; heart of the H8000 area) had played in there new line-up (their “second phase”, more new-school metal-HC) at the V.V. already (97-06-27). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source, recorded in May) was replaced by Sim Meersseman (of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’) here, guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (a.k.a. ‘Tweet’, also Strike One zine) and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). They would do 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).
‘Spirit Of Youth’ (pic courtesy of Sergi E. Costa)
‘S.O.Y.’s ‘Marvel’ (+ ‘Lifecycle’s Sofie) (pic kindly donated by Jan Beckers)
Barricada #2: “A mix of metal and old-school. Their new album on SoberMind sounds quite good.”
‘Serene’ (from Gävle, Sweden) – Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (drums), Petter Karlsson (bass), Fredrik Nygren (guitar), Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; later ‘Leiah’) and Anders Nähslund (vocals) – had been at the V.V. earler that year (97-03-30). ‘They did a split-7” with ‘Separation’ on Genet recs that year. Their LP Inward Flowering was released on the same label in ’98. “Melody-driven hardcore and screamo punk.”
Barricada #2: “The surprise of the evening. After some small technical problems, they got started… So we could fly off. A brutal emo band lead by a teenage singer who made considerable effort. Only a shame that the band didn’t talk that much.”
‘Serene’ photographs ([1] courtesy of Olle Johansson, [2] Laurent Chopard)
The band with silliest nick-names: ‘Lenny LadyLover’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums; also in ‘Liar’), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. ‘Mousti’ or ‘Tripple Nipple’; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. ‘KungFu Mike’ or ‘Morbid Mike’; vocals). Since they were from from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village close to Ieper, they’d played the Vort’n Vis sevral times already (96-05-12, 96-08-17, 96-09-22). 1997 was the year Hans SoberMind released their 12”/CD Human Spots of Rust.
Barricada #2: “One of the spiritual fathers of the H8000 crew. [Oh irony!] Ultra-fast brutal metal with some aggressive dancing [see video], so we preferred staying outside where we felt safer (but it wasn’t that terrible).”
‘Blindfold’ did NOT play their last ever gig here at the ‘97 V.V. Fest. (see intro) Their set was recorded an released as Live At The Vort’n Vis on SoberMind recs. Mich Decruyenaere (ex ‘Fungus’, later ‘Hitch’) had started as 2nd guitarist; he’d already played on the band’s 1996 German tour. Most in the band were V.V. ‘shitworkers’ and practically the ‘house-band’ so they played their umpteenth set…
Wim ‘Blindfold’ (pic by JanCoert Toerse)
‘Blindfold’ (photo-shoot by Sergi E. Costa)
Barricada #2: “When hell passed away, we quickly returned inside since ‘Blindfold’, pioneers [???] of the hardcore in Belgium, started to play. The atmosphere was excellent: they played their most famous songs; music on the border of melodic HC and metal. Their performance was [NOT just yet] the last of the band’s six-year existence.”
‘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 ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06 & 93-09-19) and ‘Churn’ (95-08-20); later ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Their earlier sets here (96-05-12 & 96-08-17) were with Raf Gielen playing 2nd guitar. The recordings for the LP on GoodLife recs (File 01) were done in October ’96 without Raf. The band was touring with the Americans of ‘Culture’ so there was a split out (on GoodLife recs) with tracks from ‘Kindred’s recording-session of March that year. (see ad below)
‘Kindred’: (1) Eric & Walter (pic courtesy of Jan Beckers), (2) Maarten (source unknown)
Barricada #2: “There were more people on stage than just the band: Belgian fans stood everywhere in-between the band-members. I couldn’t breathe so I went to out to gains some strength for ‘Liar’.”
‘Liar’ (UxJx – bass, Josh – guitar, Bert- drums & Hans – vocals) had recorded the Invictus album in Feb/March at Midas studios. There was also the split-EP with ‘Family Of Dog’ (a freebie with H8Z fanzine #5)…
Barricada #2: “Contrary to last year – when ‘Liar’ seemed to be very intolerant towards people – their performance had changed a lot and there was a new ‘Liar’ in front of us. Even the singer (‘Blindfold’s guitarist) seemed very sympathetic to me. An excellent clear sound and new songs gave the concert dynamics. The hymn Blade was sung along by perhaps all Belgians. I was so excited, the dancing was not so brutal and the band was visible from the back of the hall.”
‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. The line-up changed a number of times over the years. Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker wrote me he was the guitarist of ‘Culture’ when they were on tour with ‘Kindred’ in 1997. The CD entitled Heteronome (“chugga chugga HC”) and the Oath 7” that GoodLife recs marketed in ’97 was recorded with Steve (also ‘Morning Again’), Jason Dooley (drums), Gordon Tarpley (bass; also in ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar) and Damien Moyal (vocals; also ‘Shai Halud’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘As Friends Rust’) – the guys who were on this tour.
Damien ‘Culture’ (pics by JanCoert Toerse & Laurent Chopard)
commodification…
Barricada #2: “They started with songs from Born Of You [1995 album on Conquer The World recs], followed by tracks from the split with ‘Kindred’. Towards the end, it got too hot on the stage: dozens of people packed together on a few square meters. They also played new things from the last mCD [Heteronome; which GoodLife released right before the fest] and when the microphone broke (it was astonishing that it lasted so long), they played the last song on this tour (They ended their summer-tour with ‘Kindred’ here in Ieper.): the older song Deforestation – the whole crowd sang and the vocalist could do nothing else than climb the iron girders that supported the roof, and watch the hell below him. Highlight of this Saturday night.”
Brob
I remember playing the Vort’n Vis in 1997 with ‘Culture’ on tour with ‘Kindred’.
Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker, ‘Culture’ guitarist
I didn’t do the first euro tours… I started the band but left shortly after we recorded the ‘Kindred’ split but currently I’m in ‘Culture’ again… Jason Dooley was on the 97/98 tours.
Joshua Williams, ‘Culture’
I played the Vort’n Vis twice with ‘Culture’ in both 1997 and 1998, and it was everything a hardcore punk show should be: sweaty, intense, crowded. I remember the stage being over-run with people singing along, and there was barely room to play. The height of the stage was perfect, the setting was perfect, the era was thriving. I’ll never forget those shows.
Damien Moyal
I remember I had to work and regretted I couldn’t stay. I do recall being very impressed by ‘Abhinanda’ [the day before]. It might be the day when ‘Vinnie’ said someone lost their clock and he’d found it: it was one of those giant clocks hanging on the wall… Vincent wore his giant nerdy specs. At the end of our set, I sang this song… Together In The Sand…? By ‘NoFX’…? No sure if it was then? We did so many gigs. And of course I a lot of had fun… Ah, and I assume there were loads of people sleeping at our house. My mom sometimes couldn’t open the door because our living-room was full of people.
Fred Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’
Our show here is partly on the H8000 DVD. The venue was packed and loads of people were diving and singing along. The best time we ever played there. The video shows everyone from the scene standing around us really, all colleague’s bands. It’s shot from the rear of the stage, in the direction of the crowd…
Dominiek Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’
97-08-16 was the first time we met the overly tattooed guys from ‘Endstand’. Great guys! We also hung out with the ‘Serene’ guys. I think we played another gig with them two days later at some small club. Awesome band! I think we were well taken care of at the festival but I don’t remember any details. I do recall that there was a disturbing number of pro-violence vegans everywhere. Guys with tank-tops, lots of muscles and a really bad attitude. And lots of Milk Is Murder shirts. It would surprise me greatly if any of them is still vegan today. They were just bullies looking for a fight, people who could just as easily have been nazi-skins or gay-bashers if they had grown up in a different environment. During our gig there was an extremely violent mosh-pit, where lots of people who had travelled a long way to see us couldn’t get near the stage. It was, of course, the well-muscled guys with shaved heads and tank-tops that were violent. I’m all for a little craziness in the pit but these guys were just nasty. Like entering the pit with a fly kick, hard. Idiots. Rodrigo, our singer, told them to calm down, or we would leave the stage. Anyway, macho assholes aside, the place was cool and I had a good time.
Simon Ricci, ‘Intensity’
That show is etched in my memory as the most intense show ever. The response and the commitment grabbed me by the throat. I still know that I looked at Vadim who was going berserk. Our sets weren’t ever quite long but I always gave myself completely. That time it was as if I could keep going, purely on adrenalin. I will never forget this! Thanks to the Vort’n Vis and everyone that was there that day.
Jeroen Therry, ‘Sektor’
That ‘Triple Nipple’ thing in the guestbook doesn’t ring a bell but it could be about me…
Piet Cardoen, ‘Sektor’
I remember the HC fest quite well; it was still in the ‘barn’. There’s a live LP from our show there. The shack was packed to the top of the roof, 35 degrees, people piled together and on top of these more people :-) Good times. I recall being mega-psyched about the fact that ‘Metroschifter’ was playing; I was already a big fan of that band.
Mich Decruyenaere, ‘Blindfold’
It was really super-hot that day, my lower lip was slightly lacerated because someone from the audience accidentally jumped against my mic. It was really wild in front and on stage. After the show I immediately got of the stage ‘cause I felt like passing out. Dead tired! It was also the lasts show of the ‘Culture’/’Kindred’ tour.
Eric Sefton, ‘Kindred’ vocalist
August ’97 was the only time I went out with ‘Metroschifter’; 5 weeks: Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and England (but the dates in England got cancelled so we just hung out). The bassist at the time (I don’t recall who it was; Pat maybe?) had a family-emergency and could not go on that tour. I was friends with Chris (‘The Hört’) and he asked me a few weeks before they were leaving if I would like to jump on bass! I had to learn a bunch of songs real quick, and rush to get a passport!
Brendan Bogosian
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
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 1st demo) or Maarten Verschaeve (2nd 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!…
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 1st demo) and Maarten (2nd 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!…
‘Wheel Of Progress’ consisted of Rob Franssen (also ‘Feeding The Fire’), Hans Verbeke (drums), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar) & ‘Uniform’ Jan (U.J.) Vandekerckhove (who was, together with Joost, also in ‘Dreft’ at that time). Hans said somewhere it was the heaviest band in H8000 crew, a brutal mix of death-metal (Josh himself described it as “Slayer meets Ministry”) and the classic H8000 sound (whatever that might be, …‘edge-metal’?). They didn’t last long (did a 7”, It’s Alive…, on a Canadian label) and would move on to become ‘Liar’…
‘Spirit Of Youth’s performance here wasn’t their first, far from it and it wouldn’t be their last either; no need to introduce them: Jan, ‘Dompi’, Fred & Hans (who played bass here) were regulars. In 1993 ‘S.O.Y.’ recorded Engine/Darkroom that Hans (Verbeke; Sober Mind recs) put out as cassette only.
I mentioned ‘Transcend’ already in relation to the gig that ‘Majority Of One’ did at the V.V. (91-05-03): Dirk Hemsath, founder of Doghouse recs, was the vocalist for ‘M.O.O.’ and played bass/guitar in ‘Transcend’. Also in the band were drummer Doug Walker (later Chris Reinstatler who was also in ‘Metroschifter’), Chad Scouten (guitar), Andy Leitner (bass) & Jody Moss (vocals). They were from Toledo (Ohio) and played “powerful posi HC”. They had 3 7”s out (2 on Doghouse – Product Of Greed and a split with ‘Majority Of One’). The album Room 101 was recorded in February ’93 with Ali Moazed (guitarist of ‘M.O.O.’) on bass, Doug Walker on drums and Dirk on guitar.
‘Bloodline’, a HC band (“raging moshcore” it said on the V.V. newsletter) from St. Paul/Minneapolis (Minnesota), also had vinyl out on Doghouse recs. In the beginning the band-members were guitarist Erik Funk (he replaced Bruce Fisher, who was on the 1st 7”), bassist Chris Lampman (but Erik Fink – ex ‘Gorilla Biscuits’, ‘Uppercut’ – played bass on the tour), vocalist Bill Boulger, guitarist Joe Gerber and drummer Chris Sonterre. They played “chugga-chugga hardcore” and released a 7” entitled The Waiting Game (on Takeover recs, 1991), the Can’t Rest On The Time LP (Nemesis recs, 1992) and a CD called One Thousand Screams (Doghouse recs, 1993). The line-up on the latter was: Chris (bass), Bill (vocals), Erik (guitar), now with Michael ‘Mike’ Paradise on drums & Dustin Perry (ex ‘Libido Boyz’) on guitar. Some of them went on to play for ‘Threadbare’, ‘Snapcase’, ‘Dillinger 4’, etc. So on this tour Bill was the singer, Erik Fink bassist, Dustin Perry & Erik Funk guitarists and Mike was the drummer. A few of the guys were active in the Minneapolis ARA movement (Anti-Racist Action)…
‘Schizma’ (from Bydgoszcz, between Poznan & Gdansk) played old-school HC/punk. At that time they were: Lukasz ‘Luki/Welna/WooKee’ Niedzwiecki (bass & vocals), Jarosław (Jarek) ‘Monter’ Matewski (drums), Mirek ‘Bobas’ Pierzynowski (guitar & vocals) & Salem (vocals). Marcin ‘Eden’ Kornak (R.I.P.; editor of the magazine Never Again and coordinator of campaigns against racism, intolerance & xenophobia, like Music Against Racism) wrote the lyrics (anarchist, anti-fascist, ecologist issues) at that time. His brother, Krzysztof ‘Model’ Kornak, was the band’s manager. 2nd guitarist Maciej Waclaw joined a few months after this tour I think. By the time of this gig QQRYQ prods (Zbigniew Matera from Warsaw) had released a live-tape (Toruń 91-01-19). They put out the Ostatnia Odslona LP by themselves in ’92. Michal Halabura of Nikt Nic Nie Wie (Nobody Knows Nothing) did the Energia LP (’92) and a split-CD with ‘SKTC’ (‘93). Later on the music evolved towards NY style HC (they did covers of ‘Agnostic Front’ & ‘Cro-Mags’ e.g.). The band still exists but there’s a totally different line-up.
Brob
>> Building on relationships tentatively started the previous year, Rob from ‘Feeding The Fire’ and Saskia from ‘Shortsight’ came over to stay with us in Leeds to experience a dour Yorkshire early summer in a damp terraced house in Leeds 6! We dutifully took them to experience an even more dour day in Bradford at the ‘Ironside’ household! The first shoots of an emerging new hardcore-community were further coaxed along with Ian [Simpson of Subjugation recs], Nick [Royles], myself and some others travelling to Belgium to see ‘Bloodline’ and ‘Transcend’ play the Vort’n Vis. Both bands were pretty terrible but I have fond memories of the camaraderie between us all from the UK, the in-jokes and our revelling in our general lack of sophistication compared to our mainland counterparts! <<
(From Helene Keller’s blog: subjugationrecords.wordpress.com)
I just remember it being an exciting place to play due to it being known via zines and bands like ‘Rise Above’ & ‘Nations On Fire’ who had good distro in the US. As for the show, I don’t remember playing as much as taking it all in. We had Erik Fink (ex ‘Side By Side’, etc.) on bass and I was playing guitar. I have general touring memories – visiting Poland and Italy for the first time, but mostly it was a pretty long grueling tour.
Dustin Perry, ‘Bloodline’ guitarist
I actually kept a journal on that tour…
Michael ‘Mike’ Paradise, ‘Bloodline’ drummer
I was in ‘Bloodline’ on that tour, yes. Unfortunately I don’t have much recollection of that particular show, just a few hazy images. Mostly because…myself and a few of our friends who were traveling with us spent the night before in Amsterdam, doing things we maybe shouldn’t have been doing. At about 5 a.m. we realized our car had been broken into, window smashed, some things stolen. We hadn’t slept and I don’t think I slept on the way to the show, since we drove there with a broken window. I was pretty much a zombie that day. So really other than knowing that we did play there, that’s all I can remember.
There seems to have been a confusing mix-up. I am Erik FUNK. Before ‘Bloodline’, I was in a band called ‘Billingsgate’ and after ‘Bloodline’ I started ‘Dillinger Four’ which is still a band. Just before ‘Bloodline’ was heading to Europe for that tour, we found out we needed a bass-player as Chris Lampman wasn’t going to come. Through a strange series of almost unbelievable chance events, Erik FINK, formerly of ‘Side By Side’ (perhaps ‘Gorilla Biscuits’ for a minute), etc. ended up going to college in Saint-Paul at the same school I was going to. We met, and I invited him to join ‘Bloodline’ to play bass for the tour. Which he did. So on that tour ‘Bloodline’ had both Erik FINK ánd Erik FUNK in the line-up. FINK ended up being a difficult personality and ultimately caused a lot of the stresses that led to the total break-up of the band after that tour. Don’t know where he is now, I don’t think I ever saw him again after the tour.
Erik Funk
I was in ‘Transcend’ at the end of the band’s life, but not when they were in Europe. It was Jody Moss, Dirk Hemsath, Ali Moazed, Doug Walker and one other person whose name I don’t remember. I don’t think Chad Scouten went to Europe but it’s possible. I think it was somebody named Steve who lived in or near Ann Arbor Michigan.
Andy Leitner
‘Transcend’ & ‘Bloodline’ brought a new style of American groove-core at that time; I could describe it as emanating from the ‘Biohazard’ style but they were part of the positive hardcore scene in the States. I was looking forward to see them, being a big fan. They had an influence on the direction that ‘Spirit Of Youth’ took later on. Until this day ‘Bloodline’ is still a band that doesn’t sound outdated, they were quite progressive musically. Their best work is on One Thousand Screams… The line-up of ‘S.O.Y.’ then was without Hans; Fré played the drums instead of Hans; and we had a skate-buddy (Ignace) of ours on bass. Later Hans returned on bass… I can’t remember anything about ‘Schizma’. I was a fan of ‘Wheel Of Progress’, with Hans on drums and Joost on guitar. We played a few shows with them around that time (I have recollections of a trip to Germany, a show with ‘Zero Tolerance’).
Dominiek Denolf
I played bass on the Engine/Darkroom tape and during the ‘S.O.Y.’/’N.O.F.’ 1993 winter-tour. I believe Ignace came in ‘95 somewhere… In the mean time I was also in ‘Wheel Of progress’ and ‘Blindfold’.
Hans Verbeke
excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
‘Blindfold’ was supposed to play their “last show ever” but they still did shows, even toured during the summer, in ’98, their drummer Chatn informs. According to Hans their last gig was at ‘t Molentje in Kuurne. They recorded their live-LP (with 2 new songs only to be heard there) at the V.V.
Brob
We released our CD [Redeem The Monsters] at this fest but we didn’t actually play… Our singer Mark arrived with the first 500 copies, straight from the prsssing-plant and they were practically all gone in a day (sold to people attending and on consignment to various distros. We had to order a second pressing immediately. Crazy!
Sven Leys, ‘Rain’s guitarist
I ended up there with some SxE friends from Vienna (Daniel Eberharter of Eloquence zine), from Vienna (Austria), that were going to the fest. I was also friends with ‘By The Grace Of God’ (ex-members of the Louisville band ‘Endpoint’ [BTGOG had been touring earlier. They were already back in the states by August.]) who I think played the fest. They were on tour in Europe and I dragged along as van-duty, slacker, bad jokester for some shows. I toured with them on and off throughout the tour. We had a blast at Ieper and met great people. It was a nice meet-up of us all. I slept in the ‘loft’-area on an old couch. I had a giant necklace with a cock-ring on it. Good times! The venue was pretty unique in what I’ve seen around the world. It was impressive seeing the show set-up and so successful, especially with so many bands. The diversity in the punk-styles was evident and it was great to be apart of. There were New York style harcore, crust-punk and metal bands; and kids all hanging out.
Kevin Zelko; Wellfair? zine (also helped putting out ‘The Get Up Kids’ record)
Kevin Zelko & friends (Daniel Eberharter and Henrik from Stockholm)
I was at the Vort’n Vis with ‘Acheborn’… I have very good memories of sleeping in the park nearby in the festival. It was only us and another two people the first time The next year it was pretty full in there. The groundkeeper was actually so friendly that he almost didn’t let us go. A bit like in the movie Misery ;-) (Where a nurse takes care of an author that had a car-accident, in her house; and at the beginning she is all caring but then becomes this psycho who doesn’t let him leave her house, etc. We thought maybe he is all nice and then he won’t let us leave anymore…)
Here’s a few random memories:
There were 2 guys sleeping in the middle of the main square close to the venue because it was super-packed with people occupying every inch on the floor. We were walking past the main square when they were waking up and they were surrounded by market-stalls and people shopping. I guess they were too polite to wake them up to tell them that there is a market going on in their new bedroom….
There was this guy selling rare test-pressings of ‘Infest’, etc. for big bucks and American bands were spending a lot of money on it. I was sleeping at this guy’s house once on tour and he had hundreds of sleeves left and was making a test-pressing every once in a while. Power-violence hardcore capitalism…
And once I hitchhiked half way and was picked up by two guys from Munich at a highway-stop along the way but didn’t have a seat to get back. I didn’t really find anyone and at the last night there were four guys with a tiny car from Frankfurt that didn’t have any space as it was loaded with records that they were selling… Either way they squeezed me in and we all had records literally up to our nose driving for 6 hours or so. I think that was in the top 10 of the worst car-drives I ever had. but I guess that was the price to pay for going to the Vort’n Vis.
Christian Mix-Linzer (Outlet recs)
I was here aswell: I drove ‘Acheborn’. That was my first time at the V.V.
Marc Hartmann (Scorched Earth Policy, ‘Man vs Humanity’ drummer)
The persons (Jan & Jakub ‘Kuba’ Dušek of the sXe band ‘Balaclava’) that wrote a report in the Czech zine Barricada #2 mentioned that they got a discount on the admission-fee (a ticket for all three days costed 40 DM [20 Euro] – which was too much for them). The first day “of the three-day marathon” started about half past three. They spent the first (hot) night on the sand near the shore, and in the morning went skipping in the sea. They came back to the city and after lunch got ready for “the next round”. After day 2 they they left the hall “soaking in sweat and with torn earrings”, looking for a place to sleep in town. But there was hardly a place to lie down? “It’s not easy at all in this part of Belgium: there’s either cow-pastures and corn-fields surrounded by wire, or villages everywhere; but no forests where one can lay down one’s head.” After straying around for a long time, they found that single one place in the whole state and “slept the sleep of the righteous”. The last day started early right after lunch to get everything finished by nine o’clock… “Compared to the year before, there were fewer bands that took our breath. We probably also knew what was coming and the Belgian bands weren’t that big of a risk. But where else can you see so many wonderful bands and people together, find things you don’t know about, and especially to meet new friends and learn about European scenes. Beautiful memories…”
(full posts with photos of some bands playing are planned…)
[‘Natural Order’ & ‘Timebomb’ were not listed on the poster but they signed the guestbook. They didn’t play… Some bands got switched around… ‘Lifecycle’ was added to the bill last-minute.]
crowdshots by Sergi E. Costa
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
visiters from the Czech republic; some of them wrote a review in Barricada #2
‘Roman vegan sXe legion’
militant… or hardline…?
all sorts of visiters…
additions wellcome!…
‘Supertouch’, a hardcore band from New York, was more or less considered “a legend” by some of the SxE kids here (although they stated “we’re not a SxE band”); probably because when they started (1985) Mike ‘Judge’ Ferraro (connected with ‘Youth Of Today’) played drums in the band… There was even a documentary made about them in the beginning of the 90s. In the band on this tour: Jon Biviano (guitar), Richard Edsell (drums; replacing Andy Guida), Mark Randall (bass; replacing Joe Graziano) & Mark Ryan (vocals). They released the 7” What Did We Learn on Combined Effort recs (NY hardcore label) in 1989 an LP entitled The Earth Is Flat, on Revelation recs in 1990 (“Heavy, brooding music with a lot of emotion.”). ‘Supertouch’ played with ‘Farside’ (also on Revelation recs) at the 1 in 12 in Bradford (92-12-19) but they didn’t tour together, they sort of linked up in the UK. ‘Supertouch’ crossed the Channel that night to end their tour on the continent… ‘Farside’ also played in Leeds on 92-12-29.
‘Subway Arts’ 1st gig here… Not their last: 93-02-06, 93-07-04, 93-08-01, 94-04-02, … The Luxemburgers released a split 12” (All Life is Equal) together with their mates of ‘No More’ in 1991. They were: Claude ‘Bourano’ Bour (drums; Mike played on the split-lp but left also soon after), Steve ‘Diff’ Differding (guitar), Fränz Laureys (bass), Sabrina D’Aurelio (vocals; David on the split-lp) and Xavier (guitar).
‘Spirit Of Youth’ had played plenty of times before this one: 91-06-08, 91-09-01, 91-12-21, 92–08-09 & 92-09-05. Their line-up here was the one of the Abyss 7” (Crucial Response recs) – recorded at Cats studio in Brugge, October 1992 – with Jan (Maelfait) back on vocals (after a short stint by Ed ‘N.O.F.’), little Fred (Frederik Denolf) hitting the drums, Ignace De Meyer on bass and ‘Dompie’ (Dominiek Denolf) playing guitar. Their performance here was taped (see cover) and there’s also some video-footage on the H8000 DVD.
‘Spirit Of Youth’, Jan crowdsurfing (supported by Peter Hoeren and others)
Brob
I didn’t tour with ‘Supertouch’ (nor ‘Farside’)…
Jordan Cooper, Revelation recs
I wasn’t in the band in 1992. I’m on the 7” from ‘88 and The Earth Is Flat. We broke up in ‘91. I came back in July 2010. I don’t know who was in the band when I was not.
Andrew Guida, ‘Supertouch’ drummer
Our European tour of October-December 1992 was arranged by Steffen Rose at Navigator Booking. ‘Supertouch’ played in Ieper a day after playing a show in Bradford, England. We were really pressed for time so we did the Bradford gig, loaded up the van immediately after and started driving to Dover to catch a ferry. Our driver from Berlin (Tobias) was very good and got us to the ferry in great time. The boat took us from Dover to Calais, France and instantly got back on the road to Belgium. We reached the gig a little late but with enough time to set up and play a full set but unfortunately we missed the two bands before us. The staff were very nice. They fed us after the show and supplied us with drinks and a case of beer. Everyone we hung out with that night was very cool. It was a good after-gig party. I vaguely remember the room we played in but I do remember the stage was fully carpeted. I found that interesting. The club let us stay the night. We all slept on the carpeted stage, with our backline still set up. I also remember the beer the venue gave us (Duvel). So whenever I have a Duvel, I think of Ieper. It was our only show in Belgium on that tour in 1992.
Jon Biviano, ‘Supertouch’ guitarist
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
interviews: Kristof Mondy, Vincent Tetaert / camera: Bert Degraeve
put on-line by Vincent Tetaert
(in West-Flemish, no subtitles)
1/ interview with Hans Verbeke (includes ‘Blindfold’ @ Vort’n Vis ’97)
2/ interview with Hans Verbeke (includes ‘Spirit Of Youth’ @ Vort’n Vis ’91 * ‘Spineless’ @ Ieperfest ’99)
3/ interview with Hans Verbeke (includes ‘Liar’ @ Vort’n Vis ’98?)
4/ interview with Joost Noyelle (includes ‘Congress’ & ‘Wheel Of Progress’ @ Joost’s bakery, Langemark ’92-93?)
5/ interview with Joost Noyelle (includes ‘Congress’ @ Dilsen ’95)
6/ interview with Dominiek Denolf (includes ‘Shortsight’ @ Joost’s bakery, Langemark ’92-93? * ‘Spirit Of Youth’ @ Vort’n Vis 92-12-20)
7/ interview with Dominiek Denolf (includes ‘Solid’ @ Beselare ’95? * ‘Spirit Of Youth’ @ Pedro’s garage ’97 * ‘Spirit Of Youth’ @ Vort’n Vis ’97)
8/ interview with Dominiek Denolf (includes ‘Nations On Fire’ @ Bissegem ’98 * ‘Spirit Of Youth’ @ Vort’n Vis ’97)
1st day of the 1st Ieperfest
‘Ironside’ were a vegan sXe metalcore outfit from Bradford. Nick Royles (drums; ex ‘Sore Throat’ & ‘No Way Out’ 90-08-25) was in the band; along with Andrew Wright (guitar; later in ‘Unborn’ & ‘Voorhees’; R.I.P.), Doug(las) Dalziel (bass), Tom Chapman (guitar; later in ‘Kito’, ‘Baby Harp Seal’, etc.) and Richard ‘Rich’ Armitage (vocals; later in ‘Voorhees’). They had just recorded for the Neutered Innocence tape that Nick released on his label, Sure Hand recs, and they were about to put out the Fragments Of The Last Judgement 7” (on Ian Simpson/ Helene Keller’s Subjugation recs; 1993). Rich Armitage (somewhere on the internet) wrote: “We played in Belgium in ‘92 and blew away all the ‘88 straight-edge kids there, which laid the foundation for the H8000 thing. No one was doing slow, chugging metal with deep vocals and no recognizable straight-edge lyrics at the time, except ‘Ironside’.”…
‘Ironside’ photos by Helene Keller (Subjugation recs)
Not really sure but I think ‘Strong Event’ (from Mulheim in the Ruhrpott area) was the band of drummer René Natzel (who was also in ‘Inner Circle’ and ‘Feeding The Fire’ – see 92-10-10 – and did Common Goal zine) before he started ‘Spawn’…
I think this was the 1st time ‘Shortsight’ performed with Saskia singing. Can ‘t recall if guitarist Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers was in the band then; the rest was David ‘Mong’ Dumont (guitar), Björn Lescouhier (drums) & Kurt Deprez (bass). There was an incident with smokers when they played… (Dutch-speaking people can read about it on the excerpt from Edward’s zine Dorst #1, below)
Saskia ‘Shortsight’ (on the cover of Dorst #1)
‘Shortsight’ (photo by Christophe Mora)
‘Blindfold’ had just come back from a tour with ‘Onward’ (see 92-08-09)… Their Sober Mind Meditation 7” was recorded right after this fest and was to be released on Warehouse recs (that Edward Verhaeghe did together with Jeroen Lauwers). The band had a steady line-up with Jan Maelfait on bass (meaning he had to perform twice that day)…
‘Blindfold’, photos by Jean-Paul Frijns
With ‘Spirit Of Youth’ playing aswell, there was a total of 4 (more or less) local SxE bands… The month after this, they recorded the 7” The Abyss (released by Crucial Response recs). The line-up (see also 92-08-09) that day was: Jan Maelfait (vocals), Dominiek Denolf (guitar), Frederik Denolf (drums) and Ignace Demeyer (bass).
‘Spirit Of Youth’ – Frederik & Ignace
‘No More’ had already played here (92-05-24). They were from Luxembourg (the country, not the Belgian province). A political HC band consisting of Claude ‘Pattex’ Werer (guitar), Fränz Laureys (bass), Steve ‘Diff’ Differding (vocals) & Mike ‘Schof’ (93) (drums). See also 93-03-28.
‘Feeding The Fire’: Not the first time, nor the last time they were here: 91-12-21, 92-04-18, 92-10-10, 93-05-22, 94-08-21 & 96-05-12. Emphasizing the strong connection between some people… Léon Kleikers (guitarist of ‘No Sense’) stood in on drums here. He also did that for the ‘F.T.F.’/’Man Lifting Banner’ tour…
Brob
‘Strong Event’ were: Frank Fürtjes (vocals), Corinna Pliska (guitar), Uwe Käufer (guitar), René Natzel (drums) and myself (bass). ‘InnerXCircle’ (later ‘Spawn’) started as an project of this band.
Holger Andt
That day I met most of the Bradford guys, like Nick [Royles] and Tom [Chapman], etc. for the first time. ‘Ironside’ were hard as fuck. Their singer looked like a psycho. Turned out to be a real nice guy. They made quite an impression. Heyday of the first generation H8000 scene.
Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’ singer
I visited again [92-07-25 & 92-08-09] for the Ieperfest. (Wasn’t that the very first time that fest took place…?) At least for the Saturday: I had school on Monday and couldn’t stay for the Sunday. The feeling on the first day of school after that summer was incredible. I actually just started in fall 1992 with my English lessons and picked up so fast, but not because of the teacher or the lessons but because of what I’d learned reading in lyrics and fanzines, and writing letters. Brob and me kept a somewhat regular correspondence since then until the summer of 1995. We met again for the fest in the summer of 1996, but the atmosphere at the fest was different and I was aswell; that was my last visit to the V.V. I visited the place (which was a pub) in early spring 2008 and early summer 2009 during field-trips with students of the University of Essen & the University of Siegen, respectively. I never saw the new V.V.
Jörg Jacoby, visitor from Saarbrücken
A couple of quick facts… ‘Ironside’ were never explicitly “vegan straight-edge” and certainly not metalcore. ‘Ironside’ was a straight-edge band. I really enjoyed that trip to Ieper, as I knew I was gonna be living in Lille in France in the near future. I was really keen on the whole Euro music scene and so for me it was great to meet people from ‘Nations On Fire’, ‘Spirit Of Youth’, ‘Feeding The Fire’, Jean-Paul [Frijns] from Value of Strength zine, some of the Lille people, etc. The scene was so much bigger than in the UK it seemed although in the UK the straight-edge scene was much smaller and less insular. We had a great time, going to the swimming-pool, watching a lot of bands that weekend…
In 1992 I lived in Lille, France for one year as part of my studies. I spent a lot of time travelling to Belgium, staying with the ‘Spirit Of Youth’ guys, hanging out with Ed, Bruno, Jeroen, UJ, Hans, etc. Also some of the Lille/ Roubaix/ Mouscron guys like Pierre ‘Six Feet Over’, etc.
As I commented [see link on top] I am sure there were plenty of people there whose intentions were misguided – whether it was just to make as much money, or young kids who were full on straight-edge vegan one weekend and turned back to a conservative lifestyle the next, and obviously didn’t look beyond the surface of what was going on…
Tom Chapman, ‘Ironside’ guitarist
>> With my twenty-first birthday looming in September 1992, I was where I always had been: restless and skint, devoid of potential fellow voyagers and lacking the guts and information to go it alone. But then there was Belgium – how hard could it be to travel there, to go to the first hardcore festival in Ieper? Was I just going to give in to my mates who didn’t want to go to it, or in fact go anywhere beyond their crap summer-jobs. So Belgium wasn’t Bolivia but it was a start, and it was a music festival and how cool would it be that I had been while other guys hung about the UK that summer? So I bit the bullet and got in touch with a guy called Jase [‘Step One’ Fox] from Manchester who was going too and together we headed over to Belgium. He had sorted staying with friends in Ieper so I managed to blag myself on to that ticket and got to stay with some lovely people in Belgium who were part of the beating heart of the hardcore scene there.
It is difficult to convey now how boundary-breaking it felt to travel abroad on my own – well at least emotionally on my own, not knowing my travelling companion very well. It all seems a bit silly now what with books and internet resources so readily available, but at the time I didn’t know that things like the Lonely Planet guides existed, which would tell how you how to get to a place and find somewhere cheap to stay. As far as I was concerned you had to buy a ticket for somewhere and hope for the best that you could figure it all out when you got there in your best pigeon version of the local language. All that to me – and to others where I came from – seemed a bit scary in the early nineties. I guess some of us just weren’t destined to be the world’s greatest (budget) explorers! At the time of my little jaunt to Belgium, it was quite a talking-point for the neighbours back home that I had just swanned off to the ‘continent’ on my own when most of us didn’t go much further than Bournemouth or if we did, it was just a touch of Spain on a package!
The Ieperfest was fab. The sun shone, there were loads of new people, bands, distros from right across Europe and of course many records to absorb and vegan food to devour – spaghetti I recall. There we go again, I can remember what I ate nineteen years ago but I’ll struggle to remember which bands played. ‘Shortsight’, ‘Feeding the Fire’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Ironside’, ‘Spirit Of Youth’, that’s the best I can do! I don’t know if it was in part a consequence of the sun shining, compared to a dour and sour Yorkshire, and there being lots of people from around Europe having lots of super friendly conversations, but the whole event and the community gathered there seemed to simply ooze positivity.
Maybe it was just because it was all new to me but things seemed definitely different to back in the UK. For one thing – and this really stood out for me – there was a mini manifesto on the gig-flyer [perhaps this: Fast music doesn’t mean violent dancing] about violence and violent dancing not being tolerated, and this was something that the guys there really held fast on. I had never been to a gig like this where was so much good natured dancing going on, where everyone felt safe and looked out for with zero posturing. A couple of hundred people were crammed into the café, watching the bands and there was lots of fun stage-diving going on and people hoisting others into the air to surf the crowd. Secondly, the pleasure and openness with which people met each other for the first time, and the thirst for conversation, information-sharing and political discourse. It felt like everyone was bursting with ideas and political perspectives they wanted to share. I met some really brilliant people there, from which I took much inspiration home with me. Also just as exciting was the recurring references by the bands to the tediousness of sexism in life but also closer to home in the scene. But best of all was seeing some of the coolest girls rock out in the bands, and even better was to come in that I would eventually have the privilege of releasing some of their work on the next Subjugation record.
But back to 1992. It was a bit scary being there on my own, a kind of strange British waif and stray amongst large groups of friends who rubbed along with an easy and gentle bonhomie. I am not very good at being the kind of creature who finds it easy to impose themselves upon someone and their circle of friends. I really didn’t know Jase, who I travelled over with, very well and was keen not to be a social burden to him. At this time I didn’t really know the guys from ‘Ironside’ and they always looked a bit scary to me so I was way too shy to barge my way into their gang and they didn’t exactly rush my way either to save me from being the lonesome British girl there! So I just had to get on with it, trying to look nonchalantly cool and OK about being totally on my own, reading zines and killing loads of time between bands while being completely out of my social depth!!
Zines being sold at gigs…to me that was one of the best things ever and probably not for the reasons you think. They saved my social dignity on many occasions! In the early days there weren’t too many girls at gigs and I think most of us felt pretty awkward being a minority – an alien being on the landscape, often finding ourselves behaving like wall-flowers on the periphery of the gathering – even if this was contrary to our ‘normal’ personalities. We often failed to reach out to each other while an easy bonhomie flourished between the boys, powered it seemed to me by talk of record-collecting and being in bands! The boys didn’t seem to want to engage with us very much at gigs. On a lot of occasions the most I could get out of them was a “Hello, how are you…”, without much enthusiasm for any further follow-up and inclusion! My favourite scenario was when I used to go up to a group of guys who weren’t complete strangers to me and say the usual “Hello, how’s it going?…” hoping to join in and hang out and they would all go quiet and look awkward… I can laugh about it now but at the time it was terrible. It was like always being the new kid at school that people are polite to but you can’t be arsed to try with and let into your gang! It meant that there was often a lot of time to be killed on your own and so you needed strategies to help you stop you looking like a total pariah. This is where zines came in and saved me! So three cheers for zine-writers – the unsung heroes and heroines of the socially excluded at gigs!! On several occasions over the years I have tried to fathom why I wasn’t allowed to hang out with the same ease as those guys who were new to our local scene or visiting. The answers generally fell into two categories. Firstly I was someone’s girlfriend and that made people feel weird about approaching and including me. The second category is that they were frightened of me. This was nicely summed up some years ago by one member of ‘Bob Tilton’, confessing that he only had the guts to speak to me freely when he was drunk. There is a possible third category – that is I am tedious, but my friends promise me that I am not and just maybe they are right, as they have at least stuck with me for a decade or two.
Once again, back to 1992….so I probably did a lot of zine-reading at the Ieper festival but I could couldn’t hide away forever. I now ran a record-label and responsibilities to face up to, like shifting the 500 ‘Strength Alone’ records sat in Ian’s house in Darlington and more immediately the ones I had with me. I had to be brave and bold, and try and trade or sell them to the distros at the festival. I dread to think what they thought of this timid little thing trying to thrust my meagre offering on them. I also remember sitting there on my own with my little box of records, next to the big distros trying to sell them… Ah bless me. I totally thought the guys from ‘Ironside’ must be so laughing at me. I felt very small but nothing ventured nothing gained…for me the fight back against the under-valued and minority-status of women in hardcore-punk had to begin with trying to sell 50 ‘Strength Alone’ 7”s! And you know what…I did it, I got rid of them and came back with contacts for the major distributors in Europe. If first base is pressing a record, then second base is working with European distributors and I was on my way.
The Ieper festival was an opportunity to see ‘Shortsight’ and ‘Feeding the Fire’ play, both of which had female members in the band – Saskia, the vocalist in ‘Shortsight’ and Ilona, the bass-player [guitar actually] in ‘Feeding the Fire’. They seemed like warrior-queens, leaders of a tribe that were out numbered twenty to one, shouting “bring it fucking on”. I was in awe, not only of them but the friends they had that had the where with all to help them take their place centre stage. Being in Ieper was also an opportunity to meet Hazel, who was way ahead of the rest of us in breaking the mould, having played bass in the Belgian straight-edge band ‘Nations On Fire’. I also met up with a really cool woman over from Canada called Mel [Melanie Gauthier, from Toronto] who wrote a straight-edge fanzine [Seen Not Heard]. It was pretty exciting to be, for the first time, around other women who were trying to make their presence felt in the straight-edge/hardcore scene and start to share experiences and find common cause. It is very liberating to come to the realisation that what you considered to be personal deficiencies are in fact systemic: you are not totally crap, the environment you are in skews your chances significantly in favour of being perceived as crap! The rush of oxygen to the brain when you finally work this out is quite something. It doesn’t make walking up to a group of guys to try and trade records any less daunting but at least you haven’t beat your self up too much before you try!!
With Jase I was staying at Hans’ house, who was the guitarist in ‘Blindfold’ and ran P.M.A. recs. For those of you that like your band-member facts, he eventually went on to be in ‘Liar’. Also staying over at the house was the ‘Feeding the Fire’ crew (Rob the singer went on to be in ‘Born From Pain’). I remember hanging out with them after the night ‘Ironside’ had played the festival, laughing at the impressions we were all doing of Arm’s, (the singer of ‘Ironside’), slightly scary stage-persona.
I was also probably trying to impress them with my world-domination plans for Subjugation, which frankly boiled down to trying to put together an Animal Rights benefit compilation 7”. We had been in touch with various bands over the summer and it was pretty much coming together. Signed up were ‘Feeding the Fire’ from Holland, ‘Shortsight’ from Belgium and ‘Struggle’ from San Diego, who had just released the most amazing 7” on Ebullition recs, and a track on the compilation 12” Give Me Back which was a benefit for Women’s support-groups. To get them on board was totally brilliant. Again for those of you who like band-member facts, ‘Struggle’ included Justin Pearson who went on to be in ‘Swing Kids’ and ‘The Locust’. […]
Feeling buoyed up and a bit giddy by what I achieved at the Ieperfest I made my way back to the UK. ‘Ironside’ were on the same ferry crossing as me. I said “Hello” without sounding too squeaky and secretly hoped that they would kind of indicate that it was cool for me to hang out with them for the four hour crossing, but sadly they didn’t, so I did my best impression of cool independence and sauntered off to get coffee, hiding my disappointment that I wasn’t getting the chance to hang out with the über-cool Nick Royles, the drummer of ‘Ironside’. Ian Leck (the singer of ‘Steadfast’/’Voorhees’) did find me later in the café and joined me for some chit-chat, which was a welcomed charitable act that I have clearly remembered for the last twenty years! The initial tepid relations between myself and Bradford boys was later in part explained by the unearthing of a snake in our midst’s! Someone was peddling tales and creating general mistrust been the Leeds and Bradford posses. In the following months the perpetrator was unmasked and confronted and the outcome of this was to be some cool collaborations between us all on gigs and record releases, general good times and an enduring friendship between Nick and I. It is shame that the petty power-games of this one individual prevented the cool stuff happening all the sooner, but I guess such games are all part of the rich pageant that is human relationships… <<
Helene Keller, Subjugation recs (subjugationrecords.wordpress.com)
the sisterhood (Helene, Hazel & Saskia)
review in Tom De Pauw’s zine HolyHardcore #2
review in Wim Vandekerckhove’s zine Reminder #2
additions wellcome!…
‘Blindfold’ & ‘Onward’ on tour; with Andreas Grüter, Michael Müller, Peter Hoeren, U.J., etc.
Wim (who sang for ‘Blindfold’) wrote a report on their tour with ‘Onward’ (in his zine Reminder #2) of which this here was the last gig:
>>We arrived in time to see ‘Burning Fight’ and ‘Spirit Of Youth’ (which was our goal). There’s a saying ‘You don’t have to convince a home-crowd’ but I don’t think you can say that for this one… A lot of kids I never saw showed up. This show turned out to be the second best on this tour [8 dates] for both ‘Blindfold’ and ‘Onward’. It felt good to be back.
It was the first tour for everybody involved. When I look back at it, there’s only one thing to say: there couldn’t have been a better band to tour with. A million thanks to Peter Hoeren, Michael Müller, Thomas Baldsovik and Andreas Grüter.<<
‘Blindfold’ did a lot of shows at the V.V. (They rehearsed there if I remember correctly.); even before this one… The (international) attention grew and this one here was during their first European tour. They were ready for it! After this they would record their Sober Mind Meditation 7” (@ CATS Studio in Brugge, Sep ’92; their 2nd studio-experience), a year after Deprogrammers Do Not Exist (the first official release on P.M.A., Hans & UJ’s label).
‘Blindfold’ photographed by Jean-Paul Frijns
‘Onward’, a straight-edge hardcore band from Oslo were: Arne (Olav) Haabeth (bass), ‘Bhakta’ Ollie Andersen (drums), Peter Amdam (guitar) and Torgny Amdam (vocals; later in ‘Amulet’). In 1991 they had a demo out and did a 7” for Crucial Response recs (Peter Hoeren would also release the LP In A Different Place the next year.). Later some of them formed ‘Sportswear’… Ollie was into Hare Krshna: did Wim ‘Blindfold’ pick up the interest for that kind of spirituality while touring with them…?
‘Burning Fight’, a SxE band from the Belgian coast, had already played here half a year before (92-02-22)…
After the gigs with Hans Verbeke drumming (91-06-08, 91-09-01, 91-12-21), little Fred started hitting the drums in ‘Spirit Of Youth’; Ignace De Meyer played bass and during a short while Edward Verhaeghe was singing (instead of Jan Maelfait, before he came back by the end of this year). That period they did a demo (released by Edward on Warehouse recs) with that line-up. The songs were later re-released on Love, Truth & Honesty (the name that ‘Spirit Of Youth’ took for a while)’s 7” (entitled The Impossible Dream…) on Jeroen’s Machination recs. Their Abyss 7” (Crucial Response recs) was recorded in October 1992 with Jan back on vocals.
Brob
‘Spirit Of Youth’ (with Ward singing; Jörg Jacoby in the red T-shirt) – photos by Jean-Paul Frijns
My band, ‘Growing Concern’ didn’t play -nor did ‘Open Season’- in August ‘92; but some members of GC and OS were there (Steve & Davide -who later joined GC- of OS and Andrew of GC) since they were travelling with Interrail through Europe. [‘Growing Concern’ came over to play twice later on: 93-01-09 & 94-01-08]
Gianni Pantaloni, ‘Growing Concern’ drummer
>>Some members of ‘Ironside’, ‘N.O.F.’, ‘Growing Concern’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Onward’ and ‘Step One’ + the guy of Enemy’s Voice zine<< (photo courtesy of Jase Fox)
After my 1st gig at the V.V. [92-07-25], I came back to the V.V. twice that summer, I was completely set alight by the straight-edge scene… I visited again for this one and later for the Ieper-fest (Wasn’t that the very first time that fest took place? [1st ‘Ieperfest’?])…
Jörg Jacoby, visitor from Saarbrücken
L.S.C., the Last Struggle Crew was a militant leftist, socialist, politically oriented group straight-edgers from various countries; hence also the name Red Edge. It was more a reaction to various op militant straight-edge groups, mainly in the US, that focussed purely on straight-edge. Straight-edge was of course also very important to us but it was a part of a bigger, politcal setting.
Har, ‘Feeding The Fire’/’No Sense’
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
“Thank you for a pleasant stay. We stayed here for 2 nights and had a great time.” (Catherine Skar & Anne Mette Bergseth, from Norway)
Italian visiters…
Peter Hoeren (Crucial Response recs)
Last Struggle Crew, ‘Gloves Of Destruction’ (see 91-12-21), Jase ‘Step One’, …
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 