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!…

93-06-13 Spirit Of Youth & Wheel Of Progress (extra photos)

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

94-01-08 Blindfold & Shortsight (extra photos)

More on this concert: 94-01-08 Growing Concern – Congress – Blindfold – Shortsight

Here’s a series of photographs taken and donated by Jean-Paul Frijns:

(also present: Chantal Collard, Jan ‘UJ’ Vandekerckhove, Joeri Hoste, Vik Bulik, Jeroen Lauwers, Dominiek Denolf, Bart Van Mulders, Peter Hoeren, Chris Van Dornick, Rob Franssen, Illona Stephan, Nick Royles, Nico Peeters, An Caers, Stef Goos, etc.)

BLINDFOLD

SHORTSIGHT

2000-08-20 As Friends Rust – [Walls Of Jericho] – Stigmata – Length Of Time – Reveal – Standing Tall – One Fine Day – Children Of Fall – Purification – [Chispa] – Inane – Course Of Action – Oil – Bobby Peru – Severance

Introduction => 2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest

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

3rd day: some interesting bands in the afternoon such as ‘Bobby Peru’ (hard rock’n’roll emo) or ‘Oil’ (original HC). For Laurent, ‘Children Of Fall’ gave the best concert of the festival, despite the vocal problems of the singer and especially the penultimate concert worthy of attention. ‘Stigmata’ gave occasion to a good bit of fun for most of us French, entering into some ‘caterpillars of death’ in the pit. We were waiting for ‘As Friends Rust’ but their gig was brief, since the police decided to put an end to the festival. A little disgusted but not too sad because there’s enough opportunities to see this band (that roams the old continent for quite some time).

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‘Severance’ (Brugge/Knokke-Heist) did a “blend of the post-hardcore thing with some indie rock”; they’ve been compared with ‘As Friends Rust’ & ‘Hot Water Music’. The band was started in 1998 by Bert Degraeve (guitar), Jochen Verledens (vocals), Koen Barbier (bass) en Pieter Deroo (drums). Tim Debrabandere became the 2^nd guitarist in 1999 and Ivo Debrabandere replaced Pieter on drums in 2000. Their first release was a split-CD with ‘DeathBeforeDisco’ on Eye Spy recs (2001). A couple of years later Genet recs would release their CD Let’s Talk About Us…

‘Bobby Peru’ – “Rock on emo-power!” –  (emocore from southern Germany) played a “frantic, chaotic style of hardcore; heavily influenced by the ‘Swing Kids’ and other San Diego bands of the time”. They – ‘Bobby Belmondo’ (bass), ‘Badass Peru’ (drums), ‘Bobby Fett Peru’ (guitar), ‘Cpt. Loco Peru’ (guitar) & ‘Byron J. Peru’ (vocals) – released 2 7”s: Liberate Tute Me Ex Inferis (Two Friends recs 1999) and The X-File Conspiracy (Strange Fruit 2001).

‘Chispa’ (from Hamburg) were people who’d played in ‘Loxiran’: Dennis Becker (guitar; he had been at the V.V. with ‘Lebensreform’ in ‘97), Norman Kolodziej (guitar), Oliver Koch (bass), Thomas Tröger (drums) & Ulf Stolley (vocals). “San Diego all over it!”… Markus Haas (Per Koro) released their 7” Obstinator (’99) and there was a split-CD with ‘Enfold’ on Bloodlink recs. They were announced but didn’t actually play.

‘Inane’ (from Bottrop, Ruhrpott area, Germany) – “Mörser with grunts” – playd brutal metal/death-core with frantic drums/guitars and hellish vocals. Their album Zeitraffer was released on Sascha Franzen’s label Alveran recs in 2000. Markus Haas (Per Koro) did their second – Kill ‘Em & Grill ‘Em – in 2001. There was also a 7” on Autumn Leave Network… The band consisted of ‘Ollie’ Oliver Hapke (bass), Oliver Hemker (guitar), Jörg Fenhoff (guitar), Michael Heidenreich/Christian S (drums) & Heiko Nickel (vocals). No idea who Wes was (see guestbook).

‘Course Of Action’ (from the French-speaking part of Belgium: Wavre/Louvain-La-Neuve) played “technical/melodic metal-core with the emotion and intensity of bands like ‘Converge’ or ‘Morning Again’…”: ‘JP’ Jean-Pascal Bolle (drums), David Scurr (bass), Tiago Lemaitre (guitar), Phyl Bautzer (vocals) & ‘Max’ Maxim Polya-Vitry (guitar/vocals). They put out a self-released tape (entitled Ocean Of Despair) in ’98). Then there was the CD No Redeeming The Sunlit Path Of Bliss ‎(Hellbound Corporation, ’99) and GoodLife recs released the Carving Our Way By Tearing Our Faith ‎CD (2001). They came for the fest in 2001.

The album Definition Delta by ‘Oil’ (from A’dam & R’dam) was recorded July 2000, with guitarists Jasper Uhl & Robin van der Kaa, bassist Peter Heemskerk, drummer Marcel Wiebenga (also ‘Das Oath’) and singer Nicholas van den Doel. It came out on Jeroen Vrijhoef & Marcel Palijama’s label Coalition recs. They were a hardcore band; in Bruno’s marketing-lingo: “Like ‘Rocking From The Crypt’ going old-school.”.

‘Purification’ – “vegan straight-edge mosh metal terror” – played already on the fest in 1997 (97-08-15)… This Roman vegan sXe metal-core band, I believe, consisted at that time of Maurizio Ricci (vocals), Paolo ‘Uccello’ Castagna (bass), Fabio ‘Kappa’ Cappabianca (drums), Emiliano De Santis (guitar) and Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar; also ‘Comrades’). They did a split-CD with ‘Unborn’ in 2002. Watch their set…

‘Children Of Fall’ (“emotional metal-core”; from Malmö) did several records; one of which was on Genet recs (2000): Riding A Broken Vehicle. A later album was also released on tape by Marko Rusjan (Choose Life label). The band was: Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (guitar; ex ‘Serene), Anders Näslund (vocals; ‘Serene’), Emil Björkander (bass; see below) & Linus Rösell (drums). Olle got replaced for this show (see comment below).

‘One Fine Day’, a “post-hardcore” band, had already played at the ’98 fest already. In 2000 they released a split-7” with ‘Dead Inside’ The band consisted of Adriano ‘Baulo’ Fontaneto (guitar), Alessio Fornasiero (bass), Andrea ‘ics’ Ferraris (guitar; also ‘Burning Defeat’, ‘Permanent Scar’, etc.), Luca ‘Mouth’ Fontaneto (vocals; editor of the zine Outlet) and Stefano Bosso (drums). In 2002 they would release a CD on Bruno’s Genet recs: “Mixing heavy ‘Botch’-esque sounds with more rocking ‘Swing Kids’-alike madness.”. Their set here was video-taped: 1^st part & 2^nd part.

‘One Fine Day’ (pic courtesy of the band)

‘Standing Tall’ (Gainesville, Florida) – ‘Starkweather’ meets ‘Converge’! – had 2 releases on Genet recs: the album Swallow The Gods (released right in time for their European tour 2000) and the EP To Suffer Discomfort For Compassion (’99). The band consisted of Larry Watts (guitar/vocals), Tony DePaolo (bass/vocals), Louie Gonzales (drums; he replaced Andy Seltzer); don’t know if guitarist Ruben Lopez was in the band at this timepoint. The guestbook was signed by Lew (Larry), Luis, Tony & Dani (read below). Their music was described as “wicked, discordant and messy HC” and also as “destructo-core influenced by ‘Starkweather’, ‘Botch’, ‘Coalesce’…”.

‘Reveal’s second appearance (first one: 99-08-21). “Driving hardcore/noise whirlwind, new LP/CD out now!”. They’d left GoodLife and switched to Genet recs for the To Explore The Invention, To Create CD (2000). Maarten van Oers (drums), Mischa van Rodijnen (guitar), Geert van Hoesel (vocals) & Dave van Beek (bass), from the south of The Netherlands.

‘Length Of Time’ was a metal-core band from Brussels with Michel Kirby (guitar; ex ‘Mental Disturbance’, ex’ Deviate’), Yves ‘Ross Demon’ Van Geel (vocals), Christian Zegers (drums) & Vince(nt) Meseeuw (bass). They did 2 albums and an EP for GoodLife recs between 1998 & 2000. Someone wrote about them: “Our lives were full of agony until we heard this magic band.”…

Michel Kirby (source unknown)

‘Stigmata’ was a hardcore band from Albany, New York; with Bob Riley (vocals), Buddy Armstrong (bass), Jason Bittner (drums; later ‘Overkill’ etc.), Jason/Jay Sunkes (guitar) and Mike Maney (guitar). In 1999 Victory recs had released their album Do Unto Others…

‘Stigmata’ (source unknown)

‘Walls Of Jericho’ – announced as “Ex ‘Earthmover’, brutal mosh metal with harsh female vocals” – was a metalcore band from Detroit. At the time of this fest they had a demo out, a 7” (A Day And A Thousand Years) and an album (The Bound Feed The Gagged, on Trustkill recs). At that time: Candace Puopolo/Kucsulain (vocals), Aaron Ruby (bass), Wes Keely (drums; ex ‘Earthmover’), Kevin Kroeger or Chris(topher) Rawson (guitar) & Mike Hasty (guitar; ex ‘Earthmover’). ‘W.O.J.’ didn’t actually make it here. ‘Earthmover’ played an earlier fest on 98-08-15…

Damien Moyal sporting a ‘Liar’ T-shirt (source unknown)

‘As Friends Rust’ had been here the year before aswell: “Melodic, fastforward hardcore harmonies! A pleasure to have them back!”. Another band from Gainesville, Florida! Damien Moyal (vocals: ex ‘Culture’/‘Shai Hulud’/‘Morning Again’) was the main man. After a major line-up change the double-7” God Hour (GoodLife recs 1999) and the 8” As Friends Rust (Doghouse recs 1999) were released. The line-up at that time was James Glayat (guitar), Joseph ‘Joe’ Simmons (guitar; also ‘Culture’, ‘Morning Again’), Kaleb Stewart (bass) & Tim Kirkpatrick (drums).

Brob

I have very good memories regarding Ieperfest and the Vort’n Vis. I was indeed the guitarist – later bassist – of ‘Oil’. As it happens I missed the concert on Ieperfest in 2000 because I was ill. Nobody replaced me, I was such a limited guitarist that they could do with the one giutar.

Robin van der Kaa, ‘Oil’

Wasn’t the ‘As Friends Rust’ concert interrupted by the cops because of complainys about the ‘noise’?

Nikos Houzet, drummer ‘Eliottt Ness’

I have memories of Damien ‘A.F.R.’ singing through the kick-drum microphone when they played. The vocal microphone ended up getting smashed with all the people climbing the scene. Fantastic show and great guys!

I think Joakim did stand in guitar for Olle at the ‘Children Of Fall’. Not 100% sure though. He got a nasty infection on his leg after doing a huge tattoo while we were on tour. I think he had to cancel Ieper because of that and go home?

Gunnar Forsman, ‘Leiah’ drummer

Yes, it’s true that I had a medical condition that sent me straight back to Sweden and into hospital. It was actually a really bad tattoo infection But I don’t think the band cancelled any shows, the guys from ‘Leiah’ filled in for me when I went home…

Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson, ‘Children Of Fall’ guitarist

If Olle didn’t play that year and the band borrowed stuff of the ‘Leiah’ members, I’m totally sure I wasn’t in the band then already. I must have joined during the fall of that year, after the band had played that fest. Petter Karlsson probably played the bass instead of me.

Emil Björkander

Ieper was an absolute blast. It was built up in my mind from all the stories I heard from our friends in ‘Culture’ / ‘Morning Again’ / ‘As Friends Rust’ and when we got there it certainly did not disappoint. New/old friends, bands from all over the world and a great atmosphere both at the fest and in the city made Ieperfest a fantastic experience. One of my favorite things about the fest was the fact that there were so many bands from different parts of the world and how welcome everyone was made to feel. Our Belgium shows were some of my favorite of the tour due to the fantastic crowds that came out. Our Ieperfest crowd was among one of my favourite of my career due to the fact that they were so patient with us. We had no idea what we were doing as we had never played on a stage that big before. Add to that technical difficulties, rain and a non-English speaking crowd, and you get a potential recipe for disaster. We got the exact opposite and it was awesome. Our Ieperfest set also doubled as our CD release show for our second offering from Genet recs. If not for Bruno having faith in a bunch of kids from Florida, we never would have been there. That European tour was one of the best experiences of my life and kicking the whole thing off at Ieper was incredible.

The Swallow The Gods line-up was Larry, Louie and myself. Ruben and Andy had moved on at that point. The European tour was with Dani on vocals, a guy from Spain who came to Gainesville in early 2000. He hung out with us until his visa ran out and he had to go home. He played a few shows with us in the States but he went back to Spain a few months before the tour. We met up with him in Gent at the start of the tour and we played as a 4 piece.

Tony DePaolo, bassist of ‘Standing Tall’

‘Children Of Fall’ belonged to the Swedish emo-hardcore scene but played bone-hard live… One lump of passion. They became real friends and I drew the cover of their CD. ‘As Friends Rust’ was…a party on stage; poppy up-tempo hardcore with one of the best frontmen of that era (Damien Moyal). Awesome… Good time!

Kristof Mondy

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

2000-08-19 Grade – Good Clean Fun – Leiah – Sad Origin – Firestone – Evanesce – Knut – Born From Pain – Point Of No Return – Negate – Dawncore – Circle – Posession – 5 Day GetAway

Introduction => 2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest

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

After a a few hours of sleep, we took the distro to the site early enough so that they would let us in this time. A nice first band (‘5 Day Get Away’) opened the day. We decided we could better enjoy it because a series of retarted metal bands was lined up. It wasn’t until ‘Point Of No Return’ (from Brazil) that our ears opened up again. Not al that original but with quite some sincerity. ‘Knut’ delivered an impressive show of chaotic technicality. Hard to get into though (except for Phil ‘Burn Out’). The hardrock of ‘Firestone’ could have been fun if it hadn’t been so rickety. ‘Leiah’ unleashed the elements, including Laurent, without much surprise, remembering last year. The rain continued to poor when ‘Good Clean Fun’ took the stage. A nice concert that could’ve been even better if the weather had been good. To finish up this 2nd day, there was ‘Grade’: good concert despite the weak singing in the melodic parts and a ‘did-you-get-to-see-me’ attitude. Since the day ended early, we found ourselves in J.P.’s (Jean Paul of ‘Nothing To Prove’) van, listening to the latest gossip of Gael and laughing.

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‘5 Day GetAway’ was ‘Blindfold’ directly after they’d split up, without Hans Verbeke and Mich Decruyenaere: Wim Vandekerckhove (guitar), Jan Maelfait (bass), ‘Chatn’ Sacha Baelen (drums), with the addition of Vincent Maes (vocals; ex ‘Instinct’). Discriptions of their music went from “melodic/rockin’ HardCore” to “emo with a punky old school touch”. There was a (6-track) self-titled CD released in 2001 that was distributed through Genet recs and they had a song on the The Crossroad Project compilation-CD.

‘Posession’ (from Aviles, Asturias, Spain) put their album Anoxia (and some of their other releases) out on my mate ‘Uge’s labels Don’t Belong and Throne recs. Their music (“stoner rock/death-metal”) was compared with ‘His Hero Is Gone’, Systral’ & ‘Dystopia’. The people in the band were Pablo Muñoz (guitar), Titi Muñoz (guitar/vocals), Xuxo ‘Suso’ Gallego (bass/vocals) & Richard (drums; later Ivan Rubio).

‘Circle’ (from Landen, Belgium) consisted of Dries Olemans (vocals; later Hypertension recs), Arne Robijns (drums), Danny Kempeneers (bass), Dimitri Degreef (guitar) and Kristof Uittebroek (guitar; later ‘Customs’). They did an album for Funtime recs: Radiostation Infiltration (2000) & one for Reflection recs: Vaudeville (2003); their EP The Day Elvis Shook His Ass came out on Genet recs (2001) There was also the Phonography / Leaving The Parade EP (Reflections recs 2003) and a 4-way split CD with ‘Reply’, ‘PN’ & ‘Exit 19’ (Funtime recs).

‘Dawncore’ (Budapest, Hungary) – “new school mosh à la ‘Morning Again’” – were Ács Máté (bass; he replaced the 1^st bassist Attila Bozo), Tibor ‘Tibi’ Szalkai (guitar), Ferencz Zsolt (drums), Németh ‘Szabi’ Szabolcs (guitar) and Soos Balázs (vocals). Around that time they were preparing for an album that was released on Marco Walzels’ label Join The Team Player recs: Entertainment For The Rest. Before they had released, besides other material, the EP Obedience Is A Slower Form Of Death on Trottel recs.

‘Dawncore’ (pictures: 1, 2 & 3 courtesy of Ferencz Zsolt; 4 by Pat Federli)

‘Negate’, a metalcore band from the Charleroi area, released a demo in ‘97 with Arnaud Detry (guitar/vocals), Saïd Derouiche (bass/vocals; later just vocals & Greg on bass) & Stef (drums). That year there was also a split with ‘Negative Verdict’ (France) and they recorded for a mCD entitled Between Anger And Pain. Some more releases followed and their final release was a CD – Enemy – for GoodLife in 2003 (with bassist Justin Veronesi, drummer Niko Collaer & guitarist François-Xavier Marciat). The guestbook here was signed by Arnaud, Greg (Gregory Avau), Niko & Moulain…

‘Point Of No Return’ (São Paulo, Brazil) was vegan, straight-edge metal-core band with 3 singers: Alexandre Fanucchi (a.k.a. ‘Kalota’), Frederico Freitas (fredericofreitas.org) & Marcos Suarez. Their music was described as “a mix of ‘Earth Crisis’ metal-mosh with death-metal elements”; they had political lyrics in Portugese focused on the Third World struggles and on the animal liberation fight. The musicians were: Tarcisio (De Arantes) Leite (guitar; also ‘Personal Choice’), Paulo Júnior (‘Juninho’, Paulo Sergio Sangiorgio Júnior; guitar), Jefferson Queiróz (a.k.a. ‘Tigrilo’, bass) – here: Pedro Carvalho – and Luciano Juliatto (a.k.a. ‘Lobinho’, drums). They had a self-titled EP out on Catalyst recs and had recorded for the Centelha LP a few months before this fest. There was an interview with Tarcisio (conducted at this fest) in Co-existence zine.

‘Point Of No Return’ (pics courtesy of the band)

‘Born From Pain’ – “brutal mosh” – (from Dutch Limburg) recorded for the album Reclaiming The Crown in May 2000 with Rob Franssen (ex ‘Wheel Of Progress’, ‘Feeding The Fire’, ‘Backdraft’) on bass, Wouter Alers (bass on ‘F.T.F’s last CD) on drums, Stefan van Neerven on guitar and Ché Snelting singing. Nowadays Rob Fransen sings…

‘Knut’ was described as a “sludge/mathcore” band but also as a “noisy rock outfit” from Geneva, Switzerland. I believe they were friends of Joris De Buysser (who ran Conspiracy recs). In April ’99 Didier Severin (vocals), Jeremy Tavernier (bass), Philippe Hess (guitar) & Roderic Mounir (drums) were in the studio for their 7” Ordeal (on Fabien Thévenot’s Molaire Industries) and in November did some live recordings for a split-10” with ‘Ananda’ & ‘Botch’.

‘Withdrawn’ (where Chris(topher) Meadows of Clear Perception zine used to be singing – he was also the drummer of ‘Unborn’) with Martin Von Bargen and Ian Leck of ‘Voorhees’ had line-up problems and re-formed as ‘Evanesce’ – “vicious vegan XXX metalcore” from Liverpool. In 2000 the band’s CD Sower Of Sedition – recorded with ‘Onion’ Martin Von Bargen (guitar; ‘Solstice’), ‘Mortiis’ David ‘Dave’ Fergusson (drums), Jay/Jason Hearne (vocals), Colin Robertson (bass; replaced Phil Smith) and Danny McDermott (guitar) – came out. The music was described as “black/death-metal influenced metalcore”. Watch (part of) their set on video!

‘Firestone’ (from Kortrijk, Belgium) had played the Vort’n Vis a few times already: 96-08-16, 97-06-27, 98-08-16 & 2000-07-16. The line-up here was Iris Walgraeve (vocals), Lennart Bossu (guitar), Diederik Claes (drums), Mathieu Storms (drums) & Ward Dufraimont (guitar). They presented their debut-album Aim For A New Tomorrow.

‘Firestone’ (photos: courtesy of Iris Walgraeve)

‘Sad Origin’ (from Dendermonde) played at the 1998 fest and presented their LP during the 1999 fest: A Double Edged Sword In A Triangle Of Emotions (‘adesiatoe’) was released by Genet recs. They had done a demo in ’96 and a ‎mini-album entitled Window Of Sarcasm on Inner Belt recs (‘98). The band (from Dendermonde) consisted of Robin (bass), Wim Aerts (drums), Wes(ley) Steels (guitar) and Hans ‘Link’ Teirlinck (vocals). Peter XKombatX did backing vocals on the Genet CD. Some people reviewed it as “metal with an early ‘Morbid Angel’ sound” or “metalcore with NYHC influences” or (On Display #3) “bad death-metal” (not to use the generic term “Tuff-Guy HC”). Alain Herszaft put out the split-CD with ‘Misura’ on Released Power Productions in August 2000. Some of the members went on as ‘Die My Demon’. No idea if they actually played here (they’re not in the guestbook)…

‘Leiah’ (Gävle, Sweden) had played at the V.V. pub on 99-10-31 and the ‘Ieperfest’ the year before (99-08-22)…Their music was indie-rock/emo-punk: Ann-sofie Lundin (bass), Gunnar Forsman (drums), David Lehnberg (vocals/guitar; he’d also performed here with ‘Ariel Kill Him’ the day before) and Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; ex ‘Serene’). In 1999 they did 3 releases for Genet recs and this year Bruno released the LP Tigra Songs.

‘Leiah’ (photos courtesy of the band)

‘Good Clean Fun’ – “old school Hahahardcore” – was a vegan straight-edge positive hardcore punk band from Washington D.C. As influences they mentioned ‘Gorilla Biscuits’, ‘7 Seconds’, ‘Minor Threat’ and ‘Youth Of Today’. In 2000 they had the album, entitled On The Streets Saving The Scene From The Forces Of Evil, out on the Dutch label Reflections recs (Johan Prenger from Tilburg). On these recordings: Mike ‘Phyte’ Mowery (bass), Andrew William Black (drums), John Delve (guitar) and Issa Diao (vocals). Probably they toured with another line-up: in the guestbook there’s a drawing of Casey a.k.a. Chuck Water Music [NÓT Chuck Ragan of ‘Hot Water Music’], Issa, ‘Phyte’, ‘Scooter’ & a drummer…

‘Good Clean Fun’ (pics: source unknown)

‘Grade’ (photographed by Pat Federli)

‘Grade’ (from Burlington, Ontario, Canada) “blended metallic hardcore with emo” and were inspired by ‘Integrity’ and ‘Chokehold’. Bruno’s marketing lingo: “top speed emo hardcore with a really driving edge”. In 1999 they had signed to Victory recs and their videos were played on MTV. Members at that time, I believe, were Matt Jones (bass), Chris Danner (drums), Shawn Magill (guitar), Greg Taylor (guitar/vocals) and Kyle Bishop (vocals).

Brob

It was me singing, Scott Affront (guitar) & Casey Watson (guitar; no relation to ‘Hot Water Music’), Mike ‘Phyte’ (bass) & Geoff (drums).

Issa Diao, ‘Good Clean Fun’

I believe I only performed once with ‘Firestone’ in Ieper (the band had a number of singers before), on Ieperfest. I can’t remember a great deal about it. I was studying for re-exams and just popped over for our gig, driving along with our bassist Didier (who had to work until a certain time) – singing along with to ‘Hammerfall’ CD to warm us up.

A bit after performing at Ieperfest we were addressed by Bruno (Genet recs). Larry [Watts] of ‘Standing Tall’ wanted to do a project with Lennart and myself, after he’d seen us play. We rehearsed twice with Larry and Louis [Louie/Luis Gonzales ?] in the back of the Pyrrhus shop and then we went into the studio. Lennart played bass and I was singing together with Larry. The project was named ‘Bracelet’ but nothing happened with that. Larry continued it on his own but the songs we recorded were never released because Genet didn’t want that.

Larry & myself did go see American Psycho, together with Bjorn Dossche…

Iris Walgrave, ‘Firestone’ singer

I remember that we played the V.V. these twice but nothing more. I played in ‘Circle’ from ‘98 to 2004. We did this one and played also on 2001-08-18 with ‘Leiah’, ‘Liar’, ‘The Locust’, ‘Facedown’, etc. In 2001 we also did a gig in the pub (Oct 19^th) with ‘Severance’. Later we played the Animal Truth Benefit with ‘Liar’, ‘Absone’, ‘Firestone’, ‘Severance’, ‘Empathy’ & ‘Bloodshed’; and the Ieper HC Fest on 2002-08-18.

Danny Kempeneers, ‘Circle’

This was a weird day for us: in the morning we’d burried a friend (car-accident) and we didn’t expect much from our gig but the response was super and that performance plus the contacts we got there helped us expand our horizon and get out of our local scene to play with a lot of different bands.

Dries Olemans, ‘Circle’ vocalist

I would like to thank those organising the fest in 2000. The Vort’n Vis was legendary for us in Brazil and it was a great honour to play there. I remember we had a blast. It was such a great time! I have the sense that at the time the fest was beginning to stray away from its DIY roots towards a more commercial mode of operation but I think it still retained some of its old ethos.

Our bass-player had to return to Brazil before the end of the tour and our friend Pedro played bass in Ieper. We also had other friends from Brazil who were following us, so many of the non-stage 2000 European tour pictures on our page have them mixed up with the band.

Frederico Freitas; ‘P.O.N.R.’

From 1999 on, when ‘ADESIATOE’ was recorded, Robin took over the bass.

Peter De Bondt, ‘Sad Origin’s first bassist

If I remember well, we were just on tour with the band. I really liked the location, we liked the party. Food was delicious. After our show we stayed at the festival the next day… I can say it was an honor to play there.

Ferencz Zsolt, ‘Dawncore’ drummer

‘Leiah’ were not that DIY even if we did most stuff like any other punk-band. We played squats, smaller venues, printed shirts, owned a shitty van, eat beans and vegan stews and got wasted. We were all young punks and the party had just begun and we partied alot. I joined ‘Leiah’ in 2000 playing the Tigra Songs LP tour. I played there 2 times: 2000 & 2001. I remember all the vinyl and vegan food. And I’ve never in my life seen so many ‘Liar’ T-shirts at one place. The moshpit thing was brutal, not my kind of thing though. Most bands played really strict metal-core/ old-school and I guess our more Swedish mid-western emo-thing was a welcomed pause from all the heavy stuff. I was really psyched up playing in 2000 since I knew from the response of the first show that ‘Leiah’ (at the time the EP with ‘Hebriana’) got a nice welcoming.

Nowadays, David and Ann-sofie are doing music far from the punk-scene and they do it successfully. I don’t think they care that much about punk-music these days. Anders and Joakim had some band together years ago that was in the vein of ‘Strike Anywhere’ (melodic and fast). I moved up north after 10 years in Stockholm and I’m still keeping my D-beat band ‘Terror Attak’ from ‘99 alive…

Gunnar Forsman, ‘Leiah’ drummer

‘Knut’ played off-beat hardcore that sounded very tight live.

Kristof Mondy

I remember that I already felt completely alienated from that scene…

Sacha Baelen

This was since 20 years ago, a time where flemish kids enjoyed meeting walloons like us. I remember arriving by car and seeing a lot of people coming from the railway-station to find the place. I also recall the amazing vegan food…

I also met Ovidie (the french porn-star) at the fest and we had a real cool discussion about what she was doing there.

Arnaud Detry, ‘Negate’ guitarist

I quit ‘Negate’ in 1998…

Saïd Derouiche

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

2000-08-18 Ensign – Voorhees – Reiziger – Serene – Cast In Fire – Building – January Star – Cataract – Lvmen – With Love – Ariel Kill Him – AmenRa

Introduction => 2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest

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

Arriving at the entrance it seemed like we heared a well-interpreted cover of ‘Serene’; in fact, to Laurent’s great despair, it was the last piece of a surprise reunon of the band. And to add to our frustration we also missed ‘Ariel Kill Him’ and ‘With Love’. Things started off in a bad way. In addition we were denied access to the distro-space. The bouncer in service at the entrance claimed there was a lack of space, even though we had only two miserable boxes. Once the distro was set up, we could finally enjoy the sweet metal melodies.

It wasn’t until ‘Reiziger’ we found a little consolation. But Olivier found that a little too long. Fortunately for him the English legend ‘Voorhees’ took the stage. For Olivier it was the best concert of the festival, Laurent got tired of it after 5 or 6 songs, and the mangled ‘D.R.I.’ cover didn’t make things better. ‘Ensign’ concluded the evening in a déjà-vu kind of way (not to sound mean).

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‘AmenRa’s performance here – “Mix of hard and soft mid-tempo doomy core; all star formation!” – was their first time in Ieper… That was with (ex ‘Spineless’ guys) Kristof Mondy on bass, Mathieu Vandekerckhove playing guitar & Colin Van Eeckhout singing; plus Bjorn Lebon on drums & Jan Maelfait (ex ‘Spirit Of Youth’, ‘Blindfold’) on extra bass.

‘Ariel Kill Him’ (from Gävle, Sweden) – “David ‘Leiah’ solo with guests! Acoustic emo-pop” – was indeed the band of David Lehnberg (guitar/vocals). That year the album She Wears The Stars Like Him (alternative/indie rock, emo) was out. No idea who supported him: Alec Ahlénius (drums)?, Magnus Björk (keyboards)?…

In 1996 ‘With Love’ was added to the bill last minute. (96-08-18) In 2000, the band (from the Triviso area, in Italy) had an album (entitled I Love Cul-De-Sac) out on Green recs that year. It was recorded with Paolo Riscica (guitar), Giovanni Donadini (bass; canedicoda.com), Nico Vascellari (vocals; pinchukartcentre.org), Andrea Giotto (guitar) & Nicolò Fortuni (drums). They were described as “screaming emo rock”.

‘With Love’ (courtesy of Paolo Riscica)

‘Lvmen’ (Prague, Czech Republic) were announced wit the phrase “As pompous as ‘Neurosis’, as bright as ‘Unbroken’!”… The band at that time consisted of Petr ‘Husar’ Proft (vocals/keyboards), ‘Melnick’ Robert Taschner (drums), David Mirda (guitar; R.I.P.), Tomis (guitar), Tschepitz/Čepic (bass; ex ‘Rat Race’). They had several releases on the Czech label Day After recs (ran by Miroslav Pátý) by that time 2 albums (a self-titled one and Raison D’Être).

‘Lvmen’ (source unknown)

‘Cataract’ – “Brilliant brutal metalcore/mosh presenting their new CD” – was a band from Zürich, Switzerland. In 1999 they did a couple of EPs (one of which was on Marco Walzel’s label Join The Team Player recs). In 2000 Carl Severson released the album Golem on his label Ferret recs (with vocalist ‘Mosh’ Chris(tian) Ebert, guitarists Simon Füllemann & Greg(or) Mäder, bassist Michael ‘Michi’ Henggeler and drummer Patrick ‘Ricky Lions’ Dürst). Federico ‘Fedi’ Carminitana probably sang for the band here…

‘Cataract’ (source unknown)

The German band (from the Münster area) ‘January Star’ – “Soft & delicate emo-pop! Like drinking a mineral water on a sunny day…” – had an album out on Genet recs in 2000: Home Without A Heart. Line-up: Andre Beyer (bass/vocals), Lars Röhm, Jan Flick & Henrik Neumann. They were often compared with ‘The Get Up Kids’…

‘January Star’ (source unknown)

‘Building’, a “youth-crew style” SxE HC from Antwerp, had played at the fest before (98-08-14). Supposedly this here was their goodbye show. The line-up probably was: Olivier ‘Paco’ Packolet (vocals; later ‘True Colors’), Jelle De Cremer (guitar), Werner Boes (bass, also ‘Kombat’; replacing (P)Andy Van Den Wijngaert) & original drummer Bruno had left and was replaced by Gert Jacobs (drums; later ‘Dead Stop’). They released material on SoberMind recs: In Time We’ll Grow (1998) & split-7” with ‘Up Front’ (1999). There’s also a live-tape of them playing at the GoodLife 1999 summer-fest. “Old school mosh heroes, nailed to the X!”

‘Cast In Fire’ (originally named ‘Full Assault’) – “Brutal, stomping, slow & heavy Detroit m-o-o-o-s-h”. In 2000 they had a split-7” out with (the Belgian) ‘Kombat’, and Genet recs released their Apology ‎album. The people in the band were Jake Dufour (drums), Vincent ‘Vinny’ Dufour (guitar), Nate Stickney (guitar), Ricardo ‘Fire’ Hernandez (bass) and Len(ny) Adams (vocals; ex ‘Earthmover’).

‘Cast In Fire’ ([1] & [2] photographed by Roel Brals; [3]?)

‘Out For Blood’ – “BXL style moshcore, back on the map!” –  was a hatecore band with Alain Herszaft on vocals (he ran Released Power Productions label and was the singer of ‘Mental Disturbance’ in the 80s). Apparently they didn’t make it over. There was a surprise show by ‘Serene’ (see 97-08-16). Read the remark below…

‘Reiziger’, announced here as “top quality European emo HC”, had played a few fests before this one: 97-08-15, 98-08-16.

‘Voorhees’ (“Power-violence legend, around since ages!”) hadn’t been ablo to make to the Vort’n Vis 1994. In 1999 they had their album entiled 13 released on Richard Corbridge’s label Armed With Anger recs. It was recorded with a totally different line-up than in ’94: only vocalist Ian Leck remained. The others on that were Andrew Wright (bass; ex ‘Ironside, ‘Unborn’), Dave(y) Allen (drums) and guitarists James Atkinson & Rich(ard) Armitage (ex ‘Ironside’). It was followed by a split-12” with ‘Out Cold’ in 2000 (on Ian Glasper’s Blackfish recs). The split-7” with ‘Kill Your Idols’ was recorded in August with Steve Stewart on bass (who’s mentioned in the guestbook). It was released by Dave Mandel on his label Indecision recs.

‘Ensign’ with ‘Fedi Edge’ of ‘Cataract’ (pic taken by by Patrrick Federli)

In the announcements for this fest, Bruno poses the question “Remember last year’s circle-pit with 1000 kids?!” referring to the show they played the year before (99-08-21)… ‘Ensign’ was a hardcore/punk band from New Jersey. I read somewhere that guitarist Ryan Donoghue had left the band before that tour. Read Nate’s remark below though… Nate ‘Edge’ (Nathan Gluck) switched from bass to guitar and Chris Oliver became the new bassist on the tour. Tim(othy) Shaw was the vocalist. In June 2000, the band recorded for the For What It’s Worth EP with drummer John ‘Vince Vegas’ O’Neill.

Brob

I totally had forgotten about his… How I experienced it?… Ieperfest was always THE show/experience of the year. Back then it was still the biggest underground HC festival I think, so everyone was looking forward to it. Internet was not that prominent but people were eager to meet up with international friends. I remember being impressed by ‘Knut’, ‘Children of Fall’ and ‘As Friends Rust’ [the next days]. The first 2 became real friends: I played with some of the guys of ‘Knut’s new band; I did the drawing for the cover of the ‘Children Of Fall’ CD… ‘Knut’ played that off-beat hardcore (Hydra Head recs) that sounded super-tight live. ‘C.O.F.’ was in the Swedish emo-core vein, live one big lump of passion. And ‘As Friends Rust’… a party on stage, poppy up-tempo hardcore with one of the best frontmen of that era (Damien Moyal). Sweet… Good times!

Kristof Mondy, ‘AmenRa’ bassist

Our first show ever, I believe. Not many people know this or took note of it but in the beginning (just a few shows) we had 2 bassplayers. The second was Jan Maelfait.

Colin H Van Eeckhout, ‘AmenRa’ vocalist

First time ‘AmenRa’ was indeed Colin, Mathieu, Bjorn, Kristof Mondy (with cowboy-hat, if I remember correctly) & Jan.

Lennart Bossu, later ‘AmenRa’ guitarist

One of my clearest memories was watching ‘Serene’ doing their one-off reunion gig here. Not the complete original line-up. Olle [Johansson], the drummer of ‘Serene’, got a nasty infection on his leg after doing a huge tattoo while we were on tour. I think he had to cancel Ieper because of that and go home?

Gunnar Forsman, ‘Leiah’ drummer

I didn’t play in ‘Reiziger’ anymore there…

Arne Van Petegem

Pretty sure that was the line-up with Ryan Murphy on drums (ex ‘Undertow’) and ‘Mackenzie’ [Ryan Donoghue] (the younger kid that played/recorded with ‘Ensign’ on Cast The First Stone and did most of the touring with us) on guitar, plus me & Tim obviously. I know ‘Circle’ played, love that band. Most likely it was either Mad agency [Ute Füsgen, Berlin] or Avocado booking [Marco Walzel, München] that booked our tours, I just don’t remember off the top of my head. I believe in 2000 I was playing guitar at Ieperfest and our friend Chris was filling in on bass.

Nathan/Nate ‘Edge’ Gluck a.k.a. Nathan ‘Voorhees’

This was our last show on a ‘real’ European (3 weeks), before leaving for a tour of 10 days in Japan… I remember that that show started really well, good and powerful sound…but there was a technical problem after the first song (no more electricity?) and when the problem was solved the sound was awful! Good memories anyway…

Paolo Riscica, ‘With Love’ guitarist

After our appearance in 1996 [96-08-18] I think we weren’t able to play the festival again untill 2000. Our second album (I Love Cul De Sac) had been very well received and we left that summer for what has been the longest and best tour for With Love: an entire month around Europe and Japan. We were still excited by the vivid memories of the concert in ‘96 at the Vort’n Vis: that was absolutely one of those tings we were mostly looking forward to. We actually wanted to play there so badly that we accepted Bruno’s invitation even knowing that the day before we were playing in Barcelona (1.400 km away) and that we would have to play in the early afternoon as one of the first bands. That meant we would have had to start driving immediately after the show in order to catch our flight to Tokyo in Venice 2 days later (another 1.300 km). We arrived and basically had to get on stage immediately. The show started and it was incredible. There was so much energy in the air. At least for the first song. Than the electricity failed and it took what seemed like an hour (it was probably just 5 minutes) to be fixed. It happened again during the 3^rd or 4^th song of our set. That was surely one of the most frustrating and horrible shows we’ve ever played. Then we took of for a 16 hours drive. I’m not even sure why I miss touring sometimes…

Nico Vascellari, ‘With Love’ vocalist

Swiss guys living it up (shot by Patrick Federli)

Pat Federli came with us if I’m not mistaken…

‘Ricky Lions’, ‘Cataract’ drummer

I just remember trying to hold ‘Ensign’s drumkit together from the frontside: the stage was so crowded and everything was almost falling apart during their last song…

‘Fedi Edge’, ‘Cataract’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

96-09-22 Sektor – Vitality (photos)

More on this concert: 96-09-22 Strain – Ananda – Systral – Elision – Sektor – Vitality – Family Of Dog

photo-shoot by Sarah Van de Mosselaer

‘Sektor’: ‘Lenny’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert Guillemont (drums), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (guitar), Vadim Vandekerckhove (guitar) & ‘Jerre’ Jeroen Therry (vocals)

‘Vitality’: ‘Chief’ Steve De Clercq (vocals), ‘Noptje De Mens’ Bob Van Lierde (guitar) & ‘Alien King’ Chris Paccou (guitar), Olivier ‘Ollie’ Dobbels (drums) & ‘Switch’ Marc Paccou (bass)

[bottom pic: St-Niklaas crew with Nicolas Malfeyt)]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Point Of Few’ (fanpage-pic)

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

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

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

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

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

‘Leiah’ (photo: Laurent Chopard)

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

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

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

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

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

Brob

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

Adam (Tomasz) Stepien, ‘Sunrise’

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

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

Patryk Bugajski, ‘Sunrise’ singer

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

Daniel Kryj, ‘Sunrise’ guitarist

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

Alastair Gordon

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

Daniel Bebber, ‘True Blue’ guitarist

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

Patrick Kitzel, ‘True Blue’ singer

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

Pedro Tallieu

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

Ries Doms

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

Annsofie Lundin, ‘Leiah’ bassist

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

Arthur Bek, ‘Reaching Forward’ guitarist

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

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

additions wellcome!…

 

96-09-22 Strain – Elision (photos)

More on this concert: 96-09-22 Strain – Ananda – Systral – Elision – Sektor – Vitality – Family Of Dog

photo-shoot by Sarah Van de Mosselaer

Eric Thorkelsson, ‘Strain’ bassist

Chris Rayes, ‘Strain’ drummer

Jody Taylor, ‘Strain’ singer

John Franco, ‘Strain’ guitarist

Sean Lande, ‘Strain’ guitarist

‘Strain’ [Jean-François Fleury video-taping]

 

‘Elision’

99-08-21 Ochtenddauw – H-Street – Stroke Of Grace – Redemption – Ananda – Sabeth – Product – Mörser – Reveal – Spineless – Bloodpact – Thumbs Down – Pray Silent – Ensign

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

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

(1) Overall, the second day announced to be more metal/old-school HC and it needs to be said, the least enticing. I’ll remember however some likeable stuff such as ‘Reveal’ and their wild cover of ‘Inside Out’s No Spiritual Surrender, ‘Lifecycle’ [???] and their SxE hard-rock, ‘Bloodpact’ for the very militant side, ‘Ananda’ and their chaotic metal or ‘Mörser’ for the impressing aspect (3 singers, bassists) more than for the music. Big disappointment was ‘Sabeth’ who seem to want to be early ‘Helmet’ without getting anywhere much because of an incredibly monotonous voice. As for ‘Ensign’: they quickly tired me despite the giant mosh-pit in the audience during a song.

(2) On Saturday the festival started with a band of local heroes, with little importance, that allowed me to finish my night. I arrived on the site for ‘H Street’, who made a good impression. I took advantage of the next bands to replace Laurent at the distro (Sell or die!) and make a tour of the record-fair. This day only the performances of ‘Bloodpact’ (We can be old-school and committed, right Guy?) and ‘Ensign’ (boys-band on tour) challenged me.

(1&2) Determined to take advantage of this night, we took some precautions (earplugs,…) but unfortunately the Belgian summer-nights don’t resemble nights of Ibiza, so we found ourselves victims of a chill we rarely experience in the East. Laurent managed to sleep an hour, Olivier none. Once out of the tent, surprise, the Belgian army paraded outside of the camping-site, determined to recruit two or three depressed vegan warriors who were looking for a new home since hardline stopped. In addition the soldiers organized their own festival in the camping-site. What a contrast to the troops heading for the Vort’n Vis.

————————–

‘Ochtenddauw’ – “H8000 twisted power Metal.”. A local band (from Ieper; they rehearsed at the V.V.) with Wouter Keirse (guitar; keyboards in ‘Eclipse’, guitarist of ‘Warcraft’), Vince(nt) Tetaert (guitar; drummer of ‘Lifecycle; also in ‘Alignment’), Peter Leuwers (bass; also in ‘Lifecycle’), Ward Spruytte (drums; also guitar in ‘Solid’) & Steve Lammertyn (vocals). They had a demo out that year.

‘H-Street’ – “Snotty old school, start piling up now!”. SxE band from Vienna, Austria with Dan(iel) ‘El Toro’ Braaf (guitar), Thomas ‘Tom’ Krutzler (vocals), Mario Schöbinger (bass), Rob(ert) (drums) and Georg Ondrak (guitar). They did a demo (’98) and a self-titled 7” (’99). They got a massive response for covering ‘Token Entry’s The Edge here…

‘H-Street’ (photo by Marco Pasini)

‘Stroke Of Grace’ – “Limburg softcore! Great riffing!!”. Band from Belgian Limburg playing “pretty original and diverse metallic emo-core” with references to ‘Refused’ or ‘Abhinanda’: Stijn Vliegen (vocals), Jurgen Werelds (guitar), Steven Duchateau (guitar), Manu Fredericks (bass) and Luc Nicolaers (drums). Their CD The Body, The Soul, The Spirit was released in ‘98 (Flying World recs). They were also on some compilations.

‘Stroke Of Grace’ (photos courtesy of Stijn Vliegen)

‘Redemption’ – “Vegan metal mosh – split mCD presentation.”. From the “Roma Straight Edge Legion”. A band that was compared to ‘Catharsis’. They did a self-titled 7” & a mini-DC (Until The Next Day) on Surrounded recs (Maurizio Ricci’s label) in ’97 & ‘98, and a split-mCD with ‘Timebomb’ out on War.ds (’99). ‘Gipsy Rufina’ (Emiliano) was the “founder and everlasting member of the band”. The members were Liv Cosentini (guitar), Pierpaolo Perilli (vocals), Simone Achille (guitar), Dario (drums) & Emiliano Liberali (bass).

‘Ananda’ – “Terrifying metallic HC, sort of ‘Acme’ meets ‘Carcass’.” had already played at the V.V. on 95-07-02 & 96-09-22. They switched vocalists in 1998 which “marked a drastic change in their sound from screamo to heavy gloomy hardcore sludge”: Michaël joined in December ’97. Their Profane LP (2000) co-released by Snuff recs (Didier Severin & Roderic Mounir of the band ‘Knut’, Genève) and Molaire Industries (label run by Fabien Thévenot of ‘Iscariote’). Members were Jérôme ‘Gunthar’ Lacombe (bass), Jérôme Mizou (drums), Michaël Clergeot (‘Mikachu’; vocals) and guitarists Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (ex ‘Undone’) & Thomas ‘Tom’ Guillanton (ex ‘Fingerprint’/’Jasmine’).

‘Ananda’ (courtesy of Vincent de Roguin)

‘Sabeth’ – “Turbo stuff, like ‘Helmet’ meets ‘Botch’?”. Band from Böblingen, South Germany with Carsten Pflugbeil (bass), Felix Böhlken (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Dawnbreed’), Thomas Hahn (guitar; nowadays Thomas Harsem, producer) and Steffen Falcke (drums). Marten Thielges was only on their debut. They did their first (self-titled) 7” themselves (’96). Their next releases were on Marco Walzel’s Join The Team Player recs: the Zwei 7” (’98) and the Cobrajet LP (’99).

‘Product – “Rapid old school by really dedicated people.”. Italian poison-free (vegan SxE) band from the Milano area. Stefano Bertelli (guitar; was in ‘By All Means’ – but not when they played the V.V. in 95-08-20), Stefano Milani (bass), Chris(tian) Paracchini (drums), Dan(iele) Casti (vocals) & (Pier)Paolo Bruschi (guitar). Green recs put out their Dedication 7” (‘98) & Not An Answer 7” (’99). A 7” (Watch Your Step) came out on Genet recs (’99), together with New Type Crew (a mCD version of the 7” containing bonus-tracks previously released on their 1^st 7”).

‘Product’ (courtesy of the band’s fanpage)

‘Mörser’ from Bremen were not announced; apparently they replaced ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, who had split up. They played diabolic ultra-fast death/grind with 3-4 singers, 2 bassists, guitarist & drummer. At that time (I think): André Wendelken (drums; also ‘Carol’, etc.), Sven ‘Svenion’ Nienaber (guitar; also ‘Minion’, etc.), Matthias ‘Matze’ Trenne (bass; also ‘Carol’, etc.), Sven Seelkopf (bass; also ‘Metöke’, ‘Systral’), Björn Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Carol’ & ‘Systral’, etc.), Denny Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Systral’), Daniel ‘Grabi’ Grabowski (vocals; also bass in ‘Assay’, ‘Rusty James’) & Ulf ? (vocals). At that time they had an LP (Two Hours To Doom, ’97) out, and a split-7” with ‘The Swarm’ (’98) on Markus Haas’ Per Koro.

‘Mörser’: (1) Sven Seelkopf [taken from Bords Perdu fanzine] – (2) Sven Nienaber [courtesy of Sven]

‘Reveal’ – “Emo-metal, ‘Unbroken’ meets ‘Converge’?”. Another GoodLife – Genet recs band: Dissection Of Thought EP (GL 97), Through The Eye Of Perfection Evolution Dies Slowly CD (GL 98) & To Explore The Invention To Create CD (Genet 2000). Maarten van Oers (drums), Mischa van Rodijnen (guitar), Geert van Hoesel (vocals) & Dave van Beek (bass) were from Dongen (near Breda, NL).

‘Reveal’ (pic by Peter Hendricks) [drumset switched around so one can see the crowd]

‘Spineless’ – “Emo-metal, H8000 rocker-jacks! Last show?”. This band (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 in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). Their music was brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of Sober Mind recs released the Painfields 7” (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998). The band played the V.V. quite a few times. After Spineless ended in 1999, 3 members started a new band called AmenRa, which is still going nowadays.

‘Bloodpact’ (USA) were described as “old-school feat. ‘Earthmover’ & ‘Trephine’ members” or “political pissed-off hardcore”. They were from Ann Arbor/Detroit (Michigan): Andy Dempz (vocals; +/- recs, ex ‘Earthmover’, also in ‘Ruination’), Annie Sullivan (bass), Dustin Schoenhofer [see below] or Adam Arola (drums), John Skinner (guitar). At the time of this tour they had a split-LP (with ‘Varisty’; on +/-) and a 7” (As Good As Dead; on Element recs) out. Later they would release some stuff on Reflection recs and on Genet recs.

‘Thumbs Down’ – “Belgium’s old school HC pride.”. ‘This band (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. They’d played at the Vort’n Vis before (97-08-16, 98-05-10 & 98-08-15): Roeland (De Keulenaer?) (bass; or was he already replaced by Andries Beckers?), Ken or his replacement Benjamin Buschgens? (drums), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99).

‘Pray Silent’ – “Clevo style HC – LP/CD presentation.”. A Swiss (from Sankt-Gallen) vegan straight-edge band (metal-core) signed to Bruno VdV’s Genet recs. They’d played the fest the year before aswell (98-08-15). The band consisted of Andi/y Grob (guitar), Attila Varga (vocals), Etienne Geyer (guitar), Philipp Zimmerman (bass) and Roger Cadalbert (drums). They were compared with H8000 in ads…

‘Ensign’ (courtesy of the band’s fanpage)

‘Ensign’ – “Topclass old school, back after touring with ‘S.O.I.A.’!”. Hardcore punk band from New Jersey. Nathan Gluck (bass; replaced Walter Svekla), Ryan Donoghue (guitar; replaced John Fraunberger), Ryan Murphy (drums; ex ‘Undertow’; replaced Chris(topher) Ross) and Tim(othy) Shaw (vocals). Early on they were signed to Dave Mandel’s label, Indecision recs. They came back the next year (2000-08-18)…

Brob

For us it was the hugest audience we have ever played. It was a pleasure for us to play there. I think it was the biggest HC festival in Europe and everybody was there. I am not involved in the HC-scene anymore but I think about the gig in Ieper very often. I loved it.

Carsten Pflugbeil, ‘Sabeth’ bassist

I was at the ‘Ieperfest’ as a stage-hand ‘for Sabeth’…

Johannes Schreiber, ‘My Hero Died Today’

Thomas Harsem had taken over guitar for me when I moved to ‘Dawnbreed’ (now ‘Monochrome’).

Marten Thielges, ‘Sabeth’

I have a couple of pictures and 2 videos (‘H-Street’ & ‘Mainstrike’) from that Ieperfest.

Danny Braaf, ‘H-Street’ guitarist

That was an amazing gig!!! We came over from Bremen only for that night. I think we’d just come back from our US tour a few days before. So it wasn’t sure we could make it over to this festival. The organiser decided to put us on the running-order as a secret special headliner. We played before ‘True Blue’ I think. [These played the next day.] Even most people of the festival-team didn’t know we were the ‘special guests’. When we got on stage there were already rumours running through the crowd and a lots of people were already standing waiting up-front. And a lot of people surrounded us on stage (as you can see on photo). After the show we met some guy of ‘As Friends Rust’ in the backstage-kitchen. He was totally sad about missing us because he was informed too late were playing (he was on the camping-area). At that time ‘Mörser was: André – drums, Sven – bass, ‘Matze’ – bass; ‘Svenion’ – guitar, Daniel ‘Grabi’ – vox, Björn – vox, Denny – vox.

Ulf had left the band earlier to move to Berlin. Hajo (short for Hans-Joachim) was the guitarplayer of ‘Carol’ and ‘Rusty James’. There were much more bands we all played in but not every band released something.

Sven Nienaber, ‘Mörser’ guitarist

One of the Top 5 shows in 20 years.

Sven Seelkopf, ‘Mörser’ bassist

I believe we opened on Friday??? This was something we’d been looking forward to for a long time. I’d been visiting the fest for several years. That weekend some of my favourite bands were on the bill (‘As Friends Rust’, ‘Hot Water Music’, ‘JR Ewing’, ‘Reveal’, …). Some of them played in Tongeren (Pumpkeskal) aswell. There were quite some people from the beginning of our set; one of the biggest crowds we had. It didn’t go smoothly though: because of nerves and the over-enthousiasm, I myself as singer was the cause that the lead-gitaar was out of tune from the first note on. That wasn’t very helpful to calm us down :-). In the end it mustn’t have been that bad because Bruno [Genet recs] asked us that very day if we could play at the Frontline together with ‘The Get Up Kids’ a few days later. I still have the live recordings of our set somewhere. Apparently all bands were recorded. What also stuck, is the fact that is everything was so well organised. We didn’t have to ask anything: everything was made clear to us from our arrival. Something we didn’t anymore later on. ‘Ieperfest’ was a starting-point for ‘Stroke of Grace’. That was because of the international character of the fest. Because of that we got the opportunity to play a number of shows in Germany.

Stijn Vliegen, ‘Stroke Of Grace’ vocalist

Always loved playing at the V.V.! A personal highlight will always be ‘IeperFest’ [not yet that name] 1999, I think it was. Where we had the hugest circle-pit I’ve ever seen!!!

Nathan Gluck, ‘Ensign’ bassist

Hey, I did play in ‘Ensign’, was one of the original members, but left the band in 1996 or 97 before they toured Europe. Tim and Nate were definitely in the band. Not sure if Chris Ross was still drumming or not at that point. John F had been playing guitar but was probably out. I think I saw them in Seattle in 99 or thereabouts…

Walter Svekla

I did not play with ‘Bloodpact’ in Europe.

Dustin Schoenhofer

additions wellcome!…