98-03-14 Born From Pain – Surface – Anticipation – Legion – Conspiracy

We (and probably the other bands too) were contacted by a German guy to play at the V.V. No-one local seemed to be involved. I think there were only about 5 paying visiters (the rest were band-members). I don’t think we played there with ‘Breathstealer’ [as Tim Debrabandere suggested]. This is the flyer of that ‘Legion’ show in the pub.

Mike Coens, ‘Legion’ guitarist

In 1997 ‘Born From Pain’ (Limburg, The Netherlands) recorded a demo with Rob Franssen (bass), Wouter Alers (drums), Servé Olieslagers (guitar) & Ché Snelting (vocals). Same line-up did the recordings for their Immortality EP in July ‘98. The next time they were on was 2000-08-19.

‘Surface’, from the Ruhrpott-area, played metal-core. The band was Frank Knöfler (drums), Sven Pust (bass), Thorsten Kleine-Hegermann (guitar), Boris Pracht (guitar; later in ‘Caliban’) and Sammy Eftekhari (vocals). They did 2 albums on Mad Mob recs: To Millenium…And Beyond (’97) & Shadows Cast By The Light Of The World (’99). They played the fest on 99-08-20.

‘Anticipation’ (Germany) had a CD out (entitled Rude) on the German metal-label MDD (run by Markus Rösner).

‘Legion’ (Jabbeke/Knokke/Brugge, Belgium) were Maarten Berkers (bass), Mike Coens (guitar), Wim Jacobs (vocals; later ‘Blood Redemption’, ‘Crimson Falls’) & Frederic ‘Fre’ (DJ Flameboy) Flameygh (drums; ex ‘Burn Fight’, also briefly in ‘Vitality’). The band played typical H8000 style metalcore (“more deathmetal than hardcore”, references to ‘Deformity’). They did a (self-titled) demo (98) and released a mCD (Embedded In Darkness) on the British label Days Of Fury in 1999. The latter was with Dieter ‘Minx’ Meyns (later ‘Flatcat’) playing second guitar, and ‘Wulf’ (Kristof Dewulf) of ‘Deformity’ doing back-up vocals.

‘Legion’ (source unknown)

No idea about the Belgian ‘Conspiracy’…

‘Breathstealer’ was Davy De Schrooder (guitar; Distract zine; later vocals for ‘Disengage’ & ‘Maudlin’), Tim Debrabandere (guitar; later ‘Severance’), Maarten Berkers (bass; later ‘Disengage’), Mike Coens (drums) & Ken(ny) Jones (vocals; R.I.P.). They had a demo out in ’98.

Brob

I thought ‘Breathstealer’ and ‘Legion’ played together at the Vort’n Vis (the pub, not the festival) in 1998.

Tim Debrabandere, ‘Breathstealer’

additions wellcome!…

99-08-20 Hundred Years Of Forgetting – JR Ewing – Once Never Again – Surface – Hebriana – [Tumult] – Heaven Shall Burn – Discount – Sad Origin – As Friends Rust – Mainstrike – Hot Water Music

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

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

(1&2) This year we went to the famous Vort’n Vis festival again. Our car was filled to the brim. After a long drive we arrived in the ever charming town of Ypres, where we had to find the new place where the festival was (the old one had become too cramped). This new place happened to be in the yard of an old school. The joys of the outdoors!

(1) I was disappointed to have arrived too late to see ‘Hebriana’ that first day… We had to wait until a local thrash band (read: H8000) stopped playing to see the first interesting band: ‘Discount’ that I only knew by name until then. Poppy punk rock with female vocals. Nice surprise! Their gig was pleasant and many made a diary-entree because of the singer. ‘As Friends Rust’, who accompanied ‘Discount’ on this tour, gave a good concert musically (tinged with emo and metal), that brought the audience together. On the other hand, I was rather disappointed by the performance of the ‘old-school heroes’ in ‘Mainstrike’, compared to the concert they gave two years ago. Normally this was their last concert. The band of the day was undoubtedly ‘Hot Water Music’: they offered the audience an excellent energetic emo-rock concert. A lot of people were there for them and they even managed to convince the youth-crew 88 (like Olivier; who even bought their CD); congratulations guys!

(2) We weren’t hardly out of the car when metal chords of the worst kind reached our ears. A shiver ran through my body. Would I once again have to endure a treatment of metal during this Belgian weekend? Fortunately we were just at the end of ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ (phew!) The rest of the day (in my opinion) more accessible groups were scheduled. I was pleasantly surprised to discover ‘As Friends Rust’ and ‘Discount’ that I didn’t know yet musically. On the other hand the performance of the grandpas of ‘Mainstrike’ disappointed me a lot. It was super flabby. The last band of this first day was ‘Hot Water Music’ and something that didn’t really had to happen, did happen. It was a revelation. I’m still in love with it. Emo rock’n’roll at its best.

(1&2) After this busy first day we had to find the famous camping-site (where no one pays) and especially find ourselves a place, something rather difficult at past 1 a.m. Most seemed to believe that everyone had a soundproof tent. After this very ‘white night’, restless people had decided to skate at 7 a.m., destroying all chances to close our eyes…

————————-

‘Tumult’ – “Ruhrpott powerviolence” – were announced but apparently didn’t play. It was a fast-core band from Bonn/Köln with Christian Czerwinski (vocals), Marco Andree (guitar), Dirk Weißenfels (guitar) and others. They did a few 7”s: The Heroic Bloodshed (Defiance recs ’97), a split with ‘Gomorrha’ (on Anomie recs & Marco Andree’s Bastardized recs ’98) & a split with ‘Yacøpsæ’ (Spiral Objective 2000); and a self-titled LP on Per Koro (2000). For some reason they didn’t show up…

‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’ – “Rocking slomo emo HC.”. A Belgian SxE band. Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes, the singer of ‘Instinct’ was in this band… So was Bjorn Dossche (One Step Down zine). The band had a demo out. Both guys were later in later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’.

‘JR Ewing’ – “Noisy & pissed off, feat. ‘Amulet’ member – split set with ‘O.N.A.’.”. Norwegian HC band with (at that time) Andreas Tylden (vocals; ex ‘Lash Out’, also ‘Amulet’), Erlend Mokkelbost (guitar), Martin Molden (guitar), Jonas Thire (drums) and Nils Petter Strand (bass). At that time they had 3 7”s (also compiled by Scorched Earth Policy) out on Dance Of Days Recording Coalition: a split with ‘Break (97), Integritas.Consonantia.Claritas. (98) and another split with the Belgian ‘S.Y.C.’ (99). Together with his gig they did 5 (!) other shows in Belgium (Kontich, Leuven, 2 in Antwerp & Tongeren).

‘Once…Never Again’ – “New school, CD presentation – split set with JR!”. A “heart-core band” (as their label dubbed them) from the Antwerp area. Originally a straigt-edge band but that changed… They did a CD entitled Others Came Along And Killed My Dreams (on Funtime recs, ‘99) which was referred to as resembling ‘Morning Again’. Members: Bram De Laet (guitar), Hans De Groef (guitar), Kristof Van Den Broeck (drums), Stijn Op De Beeck (bass) & Stijn Davignon (vocals).

‘Surface’ – “Metallic new school mosh!!”. Another “Ruhrpott metal-core band.” (with 5 sXe-ers): Frank Knöfler (drums), Sven Pust (bass), Thorsten Kleine-Hegermann (guitar), Boris Pracht (guitar) and Sammy Eftekhari (vocals). They did 2 albums on Mad Mob recs: To Millenium…And Beyond (’97) & Shadows Cast By The Light Of The World (’99); toured with ‘Snapcase’ in ’98.

‘Hebriana’ – “Rapid, distorted Merksplas emo-core.”. They’d just played the V.V. (99-06-27) supporting ‘Shai Hulud’. Stijn Colson (guitar), Sven Hoskens (bass/vocals; later ‘Confuse The Cat’), Peter Bols (drums) & Vaast Colson (guitar/vocals) came from a little town in the North of Belgium and were described as an emo/post-HC band with references to ‘Reiziger’. They did a split-7” with ‘Leiah’ (from Sweden) ‎on Genet recs in1999. A review mentioned their music is “herky-jerky post-hardcore with vocals that are pretty shouty, kind of Dischord-y”…

‘Heaven Shall Burn’ – “Blistering H8000 style metalcore.”. A “melodic death-metal/ metal-core” band from Thüringen (Germany). They’d released some demos, an EP (In Battle…There Is No Law) in ’98 and a split-LP (with ‘Fall of Serenity’) in ’99. At that time they were Eric Bischoff (bass), Maik Weichert (guitar), Marcus Bischoff (vocals), Matthias Voigt (drums) and Patrick Schleitzer (guitar).

‘Discount’ – “Poppy punkrock/HC, female vocals. Shake it up!”. In the band (from Florida) were: Alison Nicole Mosshart (vocals; nowadays ‘rockstar’), James Parker/Todd Rockhill (bass), Justin Focco/Bill Nesper (drums) & Ryan Seagrist (guitar). Comparisons with the melocic HC band ‘Tilt’ were made. To mention just a few of their relases: a split-7”with ‘As Friends Rust’ (GoodLife recs 1999), split-LP with ‘J Church’ (on Rugger Bugger Discs 2000)… In 1999 their album Crash Diagnostic was released (recordings with Alison, Todd, Bill & Ryan).

‘Sad Origin’ – “DMD brutal stomping HC – LP/CD presentation.”. Their album A Double Edged Sword In A Triangle of Emotions was released by Genet recs. They did a demo in ’96 and a ‎mini-album entitled Window Of Sarcasm on Inner Belt recs (‘98). The band (from Dendermonde) consisted of Robin ‘Robby’ (bass; replaced Peter De Bondt who played on 98-08-15), Wim Aerts (drums), Wesley 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”. Alain Herszaft put out the split-CD with ‘Misura’ on Released Power Productions in 2000. Some of the members went on as ‘Die My Demon’.

‘Sad Origin’ (source unknown)

‘As Friends Rust’ – “Damien & co back in Europe!”. American punk/hardcore band founded in 1996 in Gainesville, Florida; with Damien Moyal (vocals: ex ‘Culture’/‘Shai Hulud’/‘Morning Again’). In early 1996 Jeronimo Gomez (bass), Henry Olmino (guitar) and Matt Crum (drums) were jamming and recruited Damien. After recording six songs and making a three-track demo, the band soon disbanded and was not picked up until 1998 when Damien revived it with new members, mostly from the breaking up band ‘Culture’. The new line-up recorded a single new song, and used four from the demo, to come out with the debut The Fists of Time (GoodLife recs). A year later, with a slightly different line-up, the split with ‘Discount’ came out and they quickly went on tour. Another line-up change and the new EPs God Hour and As Friends Rust were released on GoodLife recs. Damien posted a video of ‘As Friends Rust’ playing Encante at this festival here. They came back the next year…

‘Mainstrike’ – “Youthcrew masters.”. They played the V.V. before They did their last gig 99-10-30 at their hometown’s Goudvishal (where Pytrik Schafraad interviewed them for It’s Raining Truths #4) so this was probably their last Belgian show… On the www there’s a video of ‘Big’, Jonas, Jeroen, Johnny & Pepijn performing their song Break The Cycle… In May 1998 they’d recorded the album No Passing Phase. And in January & April 1999 four songs meant to be for two split-7”s (with ‘Ensign’ and with ‘True Blue’); but the band later decided to put all the songs on one record. The self-titled 7” came out in 2000 (a year later after they had already had broken up). Former V.V. gigs: 95-04-09, 95-08-19, 95-10-20 & 97-08-17.

‘Mainstrike’ (photographed by Marco Pasini)

‘Hot Water Music’ (pics courtesy of Stijn Vliegen)

‘Hot Water Music’ – “Leading Florida emo hardcore.”. Melodic punk/hardcore band. Releasing material on No Idea recs and more recently Epitaph recs. The band still exists (hotwatermusic.com). Members of the band are Charles Allen ‘Chuck’ Ragan (guitar), Christopher James ‘Chris’ Wollard (guitar), Jason William Black (bass) and George Rebelo (drums).

Brob

The first revived line-up of ‘As Friends Rust’ – the one that recorded Home Is Where the Heart Aches (1998) was me, Tim Kirkpatrick (drums), Joe Simmons (guitar), Kaleb Stewart (bass) & Gordon Tarpley (guitar). The ‘Discount’ split line-up (1998): me, Tim, Joe, Kaleb & Peter Bartsocas (guitar). The God Hour line-up (1999): me, Tim (drums), Joe, Kaleb and new guitarist James Glayat (guitar).

It was the first year in that outdoor space. Great energy. I think that was sort of a peak year for us in Europe…

Damien Moyal

Actually I do have some pics and stuff of that festival. Stories too, cause we slept in our cars most of the time.

Sammy Heininger, ‘Surface’ vocalist

I know I have some pics from when we played that Vort’n Vis fest in ‘99. Just need time to find them…

Jonas Thire, ‘JR Ewing’ drummer

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

Peter De Bondt, ‘Sad Origin’s first bassist

Bruno (Genet recs) asked us to do a split-set with ‘JR Ewing’… Can’t remember which band we had to replace. [Probably ‘Turmoil’ from Germany] Our band only lasted about one and a half year.

Stijn Davignon, ‘Once Never Again’ vocalist

One of our band-members had to work a bit longer than expected that day so we weren’t sure if we could make it in time. We asked the organiser (the Genet recs guy) what would happen if we’ld arrive later than planned in the time-schedule. He replied “If you’re to late, you won’t play. You hàve to be there in time otherwise you won’t play.”. I remember him being quite inflexible, not giving us the chance playing later, so we quickly decided to stay at home. We were really looking foward to play Ieper but that guy didn’t give us any leeway. Imagine us in a hurry arriving like 20 min late and that guy’s like “Tough luck, you’re too late.”. To avoid this awkard situation a.k.a. trouble we decided not to show up at the fest. That’s it.

Christian Czerwinski, ‘Tumult’ vocalist

I’m not 100% sure about our line-up because we had a change that year but it must’ve been me and Tommy on guitars, ‘Sabbel’ [Christian] doing vocals, Jens on drums and bassist Marco. That’s at least the line-up we recorded our LP with that year.

Dirk Weißenfels, ‘Tumult’ guitarist

I recall that we were all super nervous. It was our first ‘big’ concert (I was only 16) and everything was pretty overwhelming. Because of the tense nerves we played our set twice as fast. Actually one of our worst gigs ever. But we were, and still are, proud for being able to play the Vort’n Vis fest. And we could see the rest of the bands for free. A gift of the gods for a 16-year old with a flat wallet…

Hans De Groef, ‘Once…Never Again’ guitarist

We only played the festival in 1999 (and 2002), I believe. At least when I was in the band. Unfortunately I can’t say that much because we went there in an overnight drive, played in the afternoon and left in the early evening. We were supposed to play another festival in East-Germany the next day, early afternoon. I only remember that it was a rather bad show for us, but a good way to introduce ourselves to a wider audience. I wish we could have stayed longer and watch the other bands…

Matthias Voigt, ‘Heaven Shall Burn’ drummer

additions wellcome!…

99-08-20&21&22 Ieper HC festival

(ieperfest.com)

‘Mörser’ (from Bremen, Germany) played unannounced (as did probably some more bands; e.g. the local ‘Lifecycle’)…

‘Lifecycle’ (pics courtesy of Frederik Severijns)

This August fest was the 1^st time outside the Vort’n Vis premises (start of a new era ?) so I guess that’s why it’s sometimes referred to as Ieperfest. I had already parted with the event a few years before (because of the commercialism, violence, homophobia, sexism, etc. – see 96-08). Below are a few impressions of people who attended…

Brob

>> The leading European hardcore festival, the Vort’n Vis Fest in Ieper had to move to a bigger location. The festival was no longer in the ‘big’ barn behind the Vort’n Vis venue but was now held on a school playground. It was open-air and I thought that was odd as hell. A hardcore show in open air. I think this was the beginning of the end of the, once cool, festival. A lot of poseurs had shown up already and in the years to come things would get worse. These days the festival is fucking stupid and most of the bands playing suck. In 1999 only a few cool bands would play. Things I still remember from the ‘99 Vort’n Vis Hardcore Festival is ‘H-Street’ playing and getting a massive response to covering ‘Token Entry’s The Edge (a song that was one of my favorites that summer), being handed Like An Arrow issue #1 by Erik Tilburg, ‘Bloodpact’ being boring as shit and ‘True Blue’ playing a weird show. […]

I think this was the first time I saw ‘True Blue’ live. I was looking forward to seeing them live, but I was a bit let down that I didn’t see 5 dudes in ‘Cro-Mags’ or ‘Chain’ shirts jumping around like idiots and being as straight-edge as can be. What I saw instead were two longhairs with rings playing guitar, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and a singer with unposi leg tattoos featuring skulls and post-apocalyptic scenes. I was a bit baffled at first but eventually stuck around and started enjoying the show. I think a lot Ieperfest attendees were a little let down by this sight and performance as well, because the playground emptied pretty much after two songs that sunny summer afternoon. it must have been the lack of political statements. This proofs again that ‘True Blue’ was far from a popular band. There were only a few dudes moshing and I might have done the same had I had a clue as how to mosh (to ‘True Blue’), but the only true moshers doing their thing were Mark Stroeken, Pieter SDC and Erik ‘Arrowman’ Tilburg, all three ‘True Blue’ Army. Mark was dancing like an asshole, like he always did, and probably still does, Tilburg brought his signature ultra-classic T. mosh and Pieter SDC was doing something between clumsy and cool. Other than that BXL Crew jerk Bayram was bashing some innocent bystander’s head in on the tunes of ‘God Of Wrath’ (PK mid-breakdown quote “Relax buddy” addressing some Bayram pit/pit-side beef, can still be heard from time to time during ‘Rise And Fall’ shows when some pit-shit hits the pit-fan) and I think Diamond Dave was just standing in the middle of the pit being hard. Other than that there was a big horseshoe in front of the stage. ‘True Blue’, the band that gets jocked so much and would get a huge pit-response these days, brought the greatest mosh-parts of Ieperfest 1999 and no one cared. Besides the ones I just mentioned. I remember seeing my (then soon to be) homeboy Bjorn Dossche (who was in mosh-tirement from 1997 till 2000) chilling on stage next to Jan ‘Blindfold’ behind some amps and thinking “If these dudes are checking out this band they must be cool.”. […] <<

Comment by anonymous: >> The Vort’n Vis Festival in 1999 took indeed place in a somewhat odd location, and it was the last time I visited the festival. I don’t remember all the bands. ‘Mainstrike’ were at their peak. ‘Ensign’ – whom everybody seems to have forgotten – played a crazy show with a huge circle-pit. ‘Bloodpact’ were originally not scheduled to play; I liked their set a lot at the time, they played a ‘Man Lifting Banner’ cover and I bought their split LP with ‘Varsity’. Not too sure, if I still like ‘Bloodpact’. Haven’t listened to them in many years. ‘As Friends Rust, ‘Get Up Kids’, ‘Mörser’, ‘Spirit 84’, ‘Liar’, ‘Arkangel’, ‘Reaching Forward’ and many other bands were playing; but most of those bands didn’t leave much of an impression. ‘H-Street’ were indeed playing as well: they played this curious mix of rock’n’roll and youth-crew. They were nice guys…not sure what they are up to nowadays.

If I remember correctly, ‘True Blue’ were not scheduled. They played in the early afternoon and virtually less than a dozen people were moshing; there was a big empty space in front of the stage. I was also surprised to see a long-haired metal guy on stage. I kinda liked their set, but – as you rightly said – it would have been a killer show if it would have taken place a few years later. At the time, very few people cared. When the 7” came out, I felt that it was a bit of a letdown; I have rarely listened to it. There was a peculiar aura surrounding that tape that could not be replicated. […] <<

lionsandcheetahs2011.blogspot (2011-05-14), by Bart De Duytsche (Crucial X Culture zine)

I made the trip to Ieper from Switzerland mostly to meet friends from around Europe and to possibly enjoy some music from the few good bands booked that year. The festival of the Vort’n Vis was like a punk Mecca, it really had a certain mythical appeal to it, although in reality the punk factor wasn’t shining terribly bright, with all these atrocious moshcore bands wearing Nike and Lacoste sweaters. I remember Christophe from Stonehenge/ ‘Fingerprint’ even boycotting that year’s edition and selling his records on the floor right outside the main entrance. The whole thing was very clean, very safe and overall not very exciting. Well, ‘Mörser’ from Bremen did play a surprise gig if I’m correct; that was fun. But I never came back.

Vincent de Roguin, Genève

I remember there were massive circle-pits during ‘Ensign’ :-)

Michael Kopijn, Groningen

Personally I think this was the last cool Ieper festival. Small bands still had the change to play there. Nowadays it sucks totally. I’ve been there two or three times after that but the old comradery is gone. It’s just a mere festival. ‘True Blue’ was really great, I bet people were shocked. They were ahead of their time. ‘Mainstrike’ rocked the show, I think they just came back from their American tour and it was their second to last show before they split up.

Peter Hoeren, Crucial Response recs

review in the Swiss Evil zine (#2); courtesy of Vincent de Roguin

Photos courtesy of Vincent de Roguin:

Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Royers (‘Rubbish Heap’ guitarist), Joris De Buysser (Conspiracy recs) & Tom Verstraete

Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (‘Mainstrike’ guitarist, Coalition recs)

Markus Haas (Per Koro)

Marc Hartmann (Scorched Earth Policy, ‘Man vs Humanity’ drummer)

Fabien Thévenot (Molaire Industries, ‘Iscariote’ vocalist)

‘Sabeth’; L=>R: Sebastian Busch (friend), Felix Böhlken (guitar/vocals), Thomas Hahn (guitar)

attentive audience (L: Pedro Tallieu, ‘Instinct’ bassist)

Portugese crust vegan edge Rafael Brazuna, cooking macrobiotic in the old Vort’n Vis’ yard

The V.V. fest was outdoors for the first time and I couldn’t care less about most of the bands that played – a  shitload of sXe bands; just remember enjoying ‘Mörser’ & ‘John Holmes’. Still it was a nice trip with friends (Guilherme Charters, Afonso [Afonso Cortez Pinto; Freedom distro] and Hugo ‘Mosgo’ – the singer of ‘Simbiose’). The four of us drove from Lisbon to London by car to stay with some friends. We passed through Belgium for the fest and before that we stayed a couple of days at Jaak [ex ‘Nations On Fire drummer] ‘s house, which was fucking cool since he lived just above his health-food store, vegan paradise!

Rafael Brazuna

additions wellcome!…

(full posts with photos of some bands playing are planned…)

99-08-20: Hundred Years Of Forgetting (Bel), JR Ewing (Nor), Once Never Again (Bel), Surface (Ger) Hebriana (Bel), Tumult (Ger), Heaven Shall Burn (Ger), Discount (USA), Sad Origin (Bel), As Friends Rust (USA), Mainstrike (Nl), Hot Water Music (USA)

99-08-21: Ochtenddauw (Bel), H-Street (Öst), Stroke Of Grace (Bel), Redemption (Ita), Ananda (Fra), Sabeth (Ger), Product (Ita), Mörser (Ger), Reveal (Nl), Spineless (Bel), Bloodpact (USA), Thumbs Down (Bel), Pray Silent (Swi), Ensign (USA)

99-08-22: Instinct (Bel), Point Of Few (Nl), True Blue (Ger), Jane (Ger), Sunrise (Pol), Reaching Forward (Nl), Leiah (Swe), Vitality (Bel), John Holmes (UK), Facedown (Bel), The Get Up Kids (USA)