‘Yuppicide’ a band from NYC (Brooklyn) played catchy HC with slick riffs that stick to your brain. I can still hum the melodies of Envy or the later Greed. Lyrics were clever too. They were: Steve Karp (guitar), Jes(se) Jones (vocals), John ‘Kid’ Lynch (drums; ex ‘S.F.A.’; left the band after recording their 7”, replaced by Pete Guinan) and Joe Keefe (bass). At that time they had a self-titled 7” on Evacuate (’90) under their belt. Their LP Fear Love (Wreck-Age) was also released around 1992. Martin Valasek released a tape on his label (Malarie recs) of their gig in Brno, Czechoslovakia (92-05-09). They toured through Europe for 7 weeks. Right after this tour (July) they recorded (still with Kid on drums) the You’ve Been Warned! 7” – also on Wreck-Age (who re-released the 1st 7”). The band came back the next year (93-11-07)…
‘Yuppicide’, photographed by Eric W. (React distribution)
After a bunch of shows together with other European bands (91-12-21, 91-12-31 & 92-02-22) ‘Blindfold’ got to ‘support’ a U.S. band… All this playing got them ready to go into the studio again for their 7” Sober Mind Meditation 7” in September. (Though they handed out some copies of a promo-tape before that I think).
In the encyclopaedias the lemma for ‘Blindfold’ will always be “They played a blend of hardcore and emo with smart political and personal lyrics, and lived a drug-free lifestyle.”. This is, of course, true but to me they will be the guys that shared the shitwork with me (and others) at the Vort’n Vis (Chat’n, Wim & Hans) at that time. Friends also. I kinda taught Hans to play bass (over an old amp that was ‘forgotten’ in our rehearsal-space) so he could join us in ‘Yuppies’Death’. He was a fan of my first band ‘Repulsives’ and followed us (together with U.J., and Narre (of ‘Dreft’) – the Westland Hardcore crew, as they called them – if I remember correctly). I went to Kortrijk to pick him and his sis Saskia up to drive to gigs, had chats with his mum over coffee, etc. Wim was a smart guy, I distributed his zine-efforts and when he came to study in Gent a bit later, we discussed what he’d learned during his ethics and other courses (not always agreeing), developed a “post-modern” friendship (as he called it in one of his letters of that time)…
‘Suffocare’ (Brugge) played straightforward hardcore-punk. The guys in the band were Alex Monballiu (bass & vocals), Frederik ‘Bibber’ (guitar), Xavier ‘Stesse’ (drums); later replaced by Koen ‘Siesele’ Lammens). They released a 7” by themselves in 1991, called Shock Perfecta.
Brob
Our first 7” was Deprogrammers Do Not Exist. We recorded that [Brob: At Metropool Studio in Hengelo, NL; where ‘N.O.F.’ also recorded.] around ‘91, I think October.
Hans Verbeke
‘Suffocare’
From Reminder zine (done by Wim & Chat’n ‘Blindfold’):
>>‘Blindfold’ and ‘Yuppicide’ hit the stage that Sunday. ‘Blindfold’ had a very nice sound. The audience wasn’t very active (though they knew the words: ‘It’s a suicide – spiritual suicide”). Almost every song was explained; the deal with ego-tripping, jealousy, drugs, meat. ‘Blindfold’ proves hardcore is more than music. ‘Yuppicide’ is a funny HC formation outa NY. The singer was enjoying himself with his water-gun and his funny steps. Musically: they play pretty original, not very fast (not rough) hardcore (not the typical NY-style).<<
‘Yuppicide’ interviewed (in ’93) in Hazel & Nathalie’s zine Superfluous #1 (U.J. shot some nice pics):
>>The show in ’92 was at the beginning of the tour. The only thing we felt weird about that show was that the crowd seemed to be divided between SxE, ‘clean cut’ people and anarchist punks. Our band has an SxE member, a beer-drinking member, a pot-smoker and a vegetarian – these issues do not divide us – we can respect each others opinions. […] The European tour was great; we had an amazing time. We were treated so well and it was great to know that people from totally different cultures were interested in what we were doing.
I’m pleased you could tell I was enjoying myself. [Jesse toying around with a water-gun and other attributes.] I like to put on ‘a show’; it makes the experience of seeing our band live more exciting and interesting. Also: we are having fun – and stage-antics and props bring a sense of humour tot the whole event.<<
The early tours we came to Europe for 5-7 weeks and play almost every night, so that’s 35-45 shows each tour! So they blend in together for me. Steve Karp’s memory is the best in the band (which could have something to do with him being Straight Edge, but who knows?).
Jesse, ‘Yuppicide’ singer
We in the band were pretty sick and I think a few of us played with fevers because we had some kind of flu. I’m pretty sure we also slept on the stage of the club after the gig. I remember the place a little: not so many people there and I don’t remember any of the other bands we played with.
The tour was set up by Steffen Rose, who ran Navigator Productions. I think at this point of the tour, this guy Peter [Carstens; from Flensburg ?] was driving us – he was from northern Germany and had pink dreads. At another part of the tour (2) German women (and their dog) drove us. Bettina was the tall, pale gal with bleach blonde dreads and glasses. The shorter gal with shorter dark hair was Brigitte. They lived in Flensburg. [Brob: Bettina Geile lives in Bremen nowadays.]
Yes, John Lynch was on drums; he’d been to Europe with ‘S.F.A.’ before ‘Yuppicide’ went. Joe and I had never been to Europe [Brob: Jesse originates from London.], so it was a pretty overwhelming experience for us. Joe (the bassist) and I made the decision to bring our heads and power-converters; we carried them in these custom-crates that Joe made (he’s a carpenter). I had my brother’s Gibson Firebrand guitar and a black SG.
Steve Karp, ‘Yuppicide’ guitarist
Haven’t seen or heard ‘Bibber’ in years. Xavier lives in Kortrijk but not in touch…
‘Siesele’, ‘Suffocare’s later drummer
There was a good scene around the Vort’n Vis, I had been there since it opened (on the Kiekemarkt) and jumped at any chance to play there with ‘Suffocare’. Alltough they attracted an audience that wasn’t always very tolerant towards the likes of me, because of my extensive drinking-habits. I was quite fond of ‘Blindfold’. I stil have their music right here at home. I never part with old vinyl or tapes! ‘Yuppicide’ was quite a creative lot, they played their songs like natural. Their show was put together well. From that moment on, I found that the scene started to change, not better, nor worse, just different. We were still serving the old style concrete hardcore-punk, while audiences required actual musical performance. For me it was more about attitude and that message seemed gone at the time. I’m not sobbing about it, I’m still playing: we’re called ‘The Sillycons’ now. Still in touch with ‘Stesse’ (Xavier Charlet), every so often with ‘Bibber’ (Frederik Couleit) and I wish I would see more of ‘Siesele’ (Koen Lammens) our later drummer. I wouldn’t mind seeing the guys from both ‘Blindfold’ and ‘Yuppicide’ again. I hope they’re all well.
Alex Monballiu
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 