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’

96-09-22 Strain – Ananda – Systral – Elision – Sektor – Vitality – Family Of Dog

Intro: 96-09-20&21&22 8^th Leed festival

‘Strain’ had been at the V.V. before (95-04-09). These Canadians (from Vancouver) played “metallic mosh-core in the vein of ‘Snapcase’ & ‘Chokehold’ with staccato rhythms”: Eric ‘Flexyourhead’ Thorkelsson (bass; ex ‘Fratricide’; does the Flex Your Head radio-show), Jody Taylor (vocals), Chris Rayes (drums; replaced Len Greenblat), John Franco (guitar; replaced Greg Dinardo) and Sean Lande (guitar; seanlande.com). They had put out some 7”s (self-titled on Overkill recs ’94, Cataract & Driven on HeartFirst ’94, Remorse on Pushead’s Bacteria Sour recs ‘95) and later recorded for several more releases on the label ran by Flo(rian) Helmchen (my mate from Berlin; ex ‘Squandered Message’ bassist): HeartFirst recs. In ’96 New Age recs released their CD Here And Now (recorded in January).

‘Strain’

Some live photos of ‘Strain’ & ‘Elision’ here: 96-09-22 Strain – Elision (photos)

‘Ananda’ came from Parisian suburbia. They’d been at he V.V. before (95-07-02) and earlier that year (February) they’d recorded a demo. Recordings of their show with ‘Policy Of 3’ and ‘Avail’ (95-05-30 in Poitiers, France) were used for a split-tape with ‘Symptom Of Isaac’. The band consisted of Chrystèle Grall & Jean-Yves André (vocals), Thomas Guillanton (guitar; ex ‘Fingerprint’, ‘Jasemine’) & Sylvain Klein (guitar), Jérôme ‘Mizou’ Bessout (drums; ex ‘Fingerprint’, ‘Jasemine’) and Jérôme ‘Gunthar’ Lacombe (bass). (Günthar studio was Jérôme’s the home recording-studio in the 90s.) Their 10” Masqué had been recorded that summer and was released by Olivier Lépine on his label La Libre Expression. Later Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (ex ‘Undone’) replaced Sylvain and Michaël Clergeot joined December ’97 (did vocals in stead of Jean-Yves; after the 10” and the Habeas Corpus LP); the sound changed “from screamo to heavy gloomy hardcore sludge”. They would come back to the V.V. on 99-08-21.

‘Elision’, from Würzburg (Germany), were: Christian ‘Mosh’ Ebert (vocals), Franky G (guitar; R.I.P.), Tobias/Toby (bass), Schmitze (drums, ‘Mosh’ drummed on the 7”) & Marco Reuss (guitar). They did a self-titled 7” in 1994 and an LP (Thoughts) in ‘96 on Steffen Rose’s label Navigator productions. He also relesed a double live 7” of the band with ‘Yuppicide’ (who they toured with), ‘Strain’ & ‘Radical Development’ in ‘95. Their music at that time could be described as NY-style, fast new-school hardcore. Navigator HQ organised their tour…

‘Sektor’, a H8000 veg(etari)an straight-edge metalcore band, did 2 7”s on Hans Verbeke’s Sober Mind recs: Ultimate Threat (1995) and a split with Vitality (1996); later there was also a 12”/CD (Human Spots of Rust, ’97). ‘Lenny’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert Guillemont (drums; also in ‘Liar’), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (guitar), Vadim Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (vocals). The band already played the V.V. pub (96-05-12) and the fest that (96-08-17) that year; and would come back a few times…

‘Vitality’ had also made an appearance on the fest a month before (96-08-16). This “tough-guy edge-metal” outfit, from Oostduinkerke (ODK; Belgian coast), consisted of ‘Chief’ Steve De Clercq (vocals), ‘Noptje De Mens’ Bob Van Lierde (guitar) & ‘Alien King’ Chris Paccou (guitar; nowadays sound-engineer for ‘Carcass’), Olivier ‘Ollie’ Dobbels (drums; also nick-named ‘Simon’ or ‘Original Gangster’) and ‘Switch’ Marc Paccou (bass). In their early days they did one show with Frederic ‘Fre’ Flameygh on drums (ex ‘Burning Fight’, DJ Flameboy see 92-02-22) and also Ilja (‘Congress) played a short while for them… They supposedly recorded a demo that year; and Hans ‘Liar’ released 2 7”s for them on his label Sober Mind: a split with ‘Sektor’ an one entitled Bloodline. They would also play the 1997 fest…

Some live photos of ‘Sektor’ & ‘Vitality’ here: 96-09-22 Sektor – Vitality (photos)

A year before this (95-09-16) ‘Systral’ played in Ieper for the first time. This band (from Bremen) played brutal crust-grind/death-metal with a screamo edge (2 vocalists). The members were Björn Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Carol’/‘Mörser’), Denny Schmidt (vocals; also ‘Mörser’), Dirk Kusche (bass; also ‘Rusty James’; started the Chrome Saint Magnus label with ‘Acme’s drummer Gregor Iwanoff in ‘98), Sönke ‘Sonne’ Gabriel (drums; bassist of ‘Acme’) and Andy Lohmüller (guitar). In 1995 Per Koro did 2 releases (Fever…The Maximum Carnage 10” & Maximum Entertainment 7”) for them. In 1998 a split-7” with ‘Acheborn’ and the Black Smoker CD would follow…

‘Family Of Dog’ were from Deinze (Belgium). Their music often labeled as “death-core” metal. The people in 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).

Brob

Things grew very fast at the V.V.; I played there with ‘Rusty James’ a couple of years before and had the impression that it became a fair for labels and distros…

Dirk Kusche

Good memories. Our recollections of the Vort’nVis is that we played as one of the first bands there and somehow we managed to break the stage. It was destroyed before all the other bands got to play… I still have the Vort’nVis T-shirt! We were on tour with ‘Strain’. Don’t remember much about the other bands.

‘Mosh’, ‘Elision’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

 

96-09-20&21&22 8th Leed festival

Accounts of the actual festival-days can be accessed by clicking on the links below… My descent into hell had commenced a bit before this, I don‘t think I attended this fest (or not all of it); so not really sure about the playing-order…:

96-09-20: D.D.I. (Ita), Boycot (Nl), Eversor (Ita)

96-09-21: P.A.I.N. (UK), Witchknot (UK), Quarantine (UK), Bad Influence (Bel), State Of Filth (UK), Kirous (Fin), Carcer Molochi (Bel)

– Clutch Assembly (Bel) was invited to set of a techno night/party

96-09-22: Strain (Can), Ananda (Fra), Systral (Ger), Elision (Ger), Sektor (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Family Of Dog (Bel)

‘Portobello Bones’ (from France) were announced at some timepoint but I think they didn’t come… There was a photo of the Berliner band ‘Y’ playing in the V.V. barn in Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak or was that from a gig earlier that year…?

Some pics courtesy of Dario Quatrini (‘D.D.I.’) – taken by the members of the band:

distro-stalls in the pub (first evening) – Joeri Hoste, Jeroen Lauwers, etc.

AZ distro from Pavia (with the charming Irith Davidzon on the left)

The ‘D.D.I.’ gang cooking dinner in the yard, DIY-style (L => R: Mila – Luca – Gio)

‘D.D.I.’s Gallo taking a break in front of the famous corner-shop…

95-04-09 Strain – Mainstrike – Rancor – Congress

‘Strain’ – Remorse 7″

This gig was organised by Hans Verbeke…

‘Strain’ was a band from Vancouver (Canada) that played “metallic mosh-core in the vein of ‘Snapcase’ & ‘Chokehold’, with staccato rhythms”: Eric ‘Flexyourhead’ Thorkelsson (bass; ex ‘Fratricide’; does the Flex Your Head radio-show), Jody Taylor (vocals), Len Greenblat (drums), Greg Dinardo (guitar) and Sean Lande (guitar; seanlande.com). They had put out some 7”s (self-titled on Overkill recs ’94, Cataract & Driven on HeartFirst ’94, Remorse on Pushead’s Bacteria Sour recs ‘95) and later recorded for several more releases on the label ran by Flo(rian) Helmchen (my mate from Berlin, ex ‘Squandered Message’ bassist): HeartFirst recs. The latter was on the road with them and present here. On this tour Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Mantle stood in on drums, and I believe Jennings ‘Jinx’ Stringer stood in on guitar. The band came back on 96-09-22…

‘Strain’ (pics by Joeri Hoste)

‘Mainstrike’, a SxE band from Arnhem/Nijmegen did their first gig at the V.V. that day. They were Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar; together with Marcel Palijama he also ran the label Coalition recs), Jasper Meijerink (bass; later replaced by Johnny van de Koolwijk), Jonas Moberg (guitar), Roland ‘Big’ ‘Lord Bigma’ Roller (vocals, also guitarist ‘Man Lifting Banner’) and Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums, later also in ‘One Day Closer’). They had a demo out, called Youth Crew ’95. After the summer they did a 7”, Times Still Here, released on Peter Hoeren’s Crucial Response recs. They came back a bunch of times: 95-08, 95-10-20, 97-08 & 99-08…

‘Mainstrike’ (photo by Joeri Hoste)

‘Rancor’, an ‘edge’-metal band from Dutch Limburg were Michel ‘Mike’ Senden (guitar; also ‘Bloodsport’), Fabrice Zander (bass), ‘R2D2’ (drum-computer) and Pascal Crombach (vocals). Later it was intended that Armand ‘Persecution’ would take over the bass so Fabrice could play guitar… They recorded a CD entitled Distinguish, released in ’97 by Lifeforce recs (Leipzig). Mike & Fabrice had the idea to do a label, One Solution recs…

‘Rancor’ (photo by Joeri Hoste)

 

At the time of this gig ‘Congress’ (who’d played here already a bunch of times, e.g. 93-04-25, 93-05-22, 94-01-08, etc.) consisted of Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), ‘Uniform’ ‘UxJx’ Jan Vandekerckhove (bass), ‘Pitbull’ Pierre Vanrumbeke (vocals), Ilja ‘Chill Jay’ De Ceuleneire (drums). Their additional guitarist Michael ‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon (also in ‘Deformity’) played here too. GoodLife’s marketing-strategy (“H8000 vegan edge-metal”) was taking form. After the ‘release’ of the Euridium 7” (at first on Warehouse recs – the precursor to GoodLife – GL started officially on Jan 1^st ‘96; a limited edition was handed out at their gig in The Pits, 94-12-23) and the band working on the Blackened Persistance (should actually be ‘Persistence’) album, Ed had “things going for him”…

Brob

‘Rancor’ and ‘Congress’ played here too. I wasn’t at the festival [95-08] so the pics are from this gig. ‘Rancor’ played with balaclavas that day. And it was also the first day the ‘Congress’ LP was available. [Brob: Blackened Persistance LP/CD was actually officially released on the “release-show” on Nov. 26^th 1995 with ‘Nations Of Fire’ in Izegem.]

Jeffrey Kroesen

‘Rancor’….the band I started with Michel (ex ‘F.T.F.’ & ‘Point Of No Return’ guitarist)! I played and we asked Pascal as vocalist. Michel and I were programming sounds/beats but eventually Michel did it on his own. Even before the 1^st show Fabrice got in the picture, in the beginning as second bassist (if it was my call) but the other 2 didn’t like the idea (too heavy?). But Pascal already had it in his head: Fabrice would definitely be in the band; as he had promised him. That became a bit of a problem. I then chose myself, stupidly enough, to leave the band to save everything. Fabrice became bassist and from the first show on they were a trio, without me. Still regret this, because it was also my ‘baby’ and Fabrice turned out a big asshole! I’ll save you the details… So, no, I never was on any stage with ‘Rancor’ (unfortunately). I did help ‘em set up on stage at the V.V. and when they played the Ieper-fest, in the barn at the back [95-08].

The music I’ve been making (solo) since 1995/1997 is not an extension of what ‘Rancor’ did, or what I wanted to do. It’s dark ambient/drones/soundscapes. ‘Monotonos’, check my website: monotonos.org (quiet room, good speakers/headphones recommended!), enjoy.

Roger ‘NBH, Nothing But Human’

So ‘Rancor’ is Roger ‘NBH’s baby? That’s interesting…didn’t know that. He and Michel made this song, which eventually got the name Victim 206, but that was even before ‘Rancor’ became a band. (Name and lyrics of that song are by Henry ‘The Serial Killer’ Körver). Roger never showed up for practice, so I guess it’s safe to say he’s never been a member of the band. He was part of the crew though and he made a very nice layout for our tape and indeed, he helped us in Ieper roady-style. But that’s it. It’s something he seems to regret and now he likes to bitch about it. Talking shit about Fabrice. Get over it and grow up, you’re making a fool of yourself.

‘Rancor’ was an experiment. We know it wasn’t all that great, it was experimental and fun, looking back I can say we where ahead of our time. But it was all over before we could give ourself a chance to grow and make our sound more complete. Still, it was fun playing with all these great bands like ‘Congress’, ‘Integrity’, ‘Mainstrike’, ‘Ringworm’ and many more.

By the way: Armand ‘’Persecution’ never played bass, it was something we talked about, but never happened. One Solution recs was just a name but didn’t exist.

Vort’n vis was a great venue, there was nothing like it. It was the heart of the Straight Edge hardcore scene and it was always great being there!

Pascal Crombach, ‘Rancor’ vocalist

Len Greenblat had some sort of break down; that’s what I heard anyway…

Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Mantle, ‘Strain’ drummer on this tour

I was on that tour in ‘95 (guitar) but I wasn’t on the tour in ‘96. (Four your interest: due to some member-issues, ‘Strain’ was almost not going to do the tour in ‘95 but glad they did. Fun times!!!) Sorry, I don’t remember the club or show exactly, but I do remember Ypres… First time for me in Belgium, first time I had some Belgium fries… Yum. I believe there was an air-balloon festival of some sort at the time? Also remember visiting the war-monuments, but it seems like a long time ago. Just by looking at the show-lists, ‘Strain’ played with ‘Congress’… I remember them being pretty damn heavy, probably heavier than any band we played with on that tour. I believe they were still pretty unknown at the time, I think I may still have a 7”?…

Jennings ‘Jinx’ Stringer, ‘Strain’ stand-in guitarist

I was 19 and it was my first big tour. A lot of it was a blur. I remember the ‘Congress’ guys but my memory is so bad. I actually recall playing that show and something about the stage. I don’t even remember most of the shows whatsoever. It was a 7 week tour with shows almost every night.

Sean Lande, ‘Strain’ guitarist

My memory is fuzzy. I remember a strange stage and lots of windows in the venue. Ed took us for some frites and laughed at us when we were surprised that Belgians put more than ketchup on their fries. We also walked around looking at some war-memorials. As for the show: ‘Congress’ blew me away, they were amazing! Met some very cool people there.

Jody Taylor, ‘Strain’ vocalist

I was indeed on tour with ‘Strain’ and at this gig. I do not have a lot of recollections of it; mainly that I met Ed [GoodLife] and Bruno [Genet]. And that I thought what a bunch of clowns this whole H8000 thing was. I also remember ‘Mainstrike’ taking SxE very seriously with their white hooded sweaters, esp. the singer. The gig was pretty OK but I don’t really have much interesting and positive to write about it.

Flo(rian) Helmchen

I have fine memories about the Vort’n Vis. I came over regularly with Jean-Paul of Value Of Strength zine, long before the ‘Rancor’ period. That were always great weekends that I will never forget. ‘Rancor’ played there twice. This first time was enormously embarrassing because the P.A. wasn’t prepared for a drum-computer. Our 2^nd performance [95-08], on a sweaty afternoon, was more succesful.

Pascal Crombach, ‘Rancor’ vocalist

photos courtesy of Jeffrey Kroesen:

‘Strain’

‘Rancor’

(in the back: Roger ‘NBH’)

(on the right: Joeri Hoste (black tie), Ed GoodLife, Aaron Vyvial, Yannick Daems)

crowd (with some ‘Sektor’ members) during the ‘Congress’ set

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Diana B. (‘Mainstrike’ driver): “… I loved it here! The bands were great, the atmosphere good, and it’s always nice to meet up with friends and acquaintances, and meet new people …”

additions wellcome!…