98-08-14 One X More – One Fine Day – Driven – Building – Contrition – Stack – Timebomb – Liar – Culture

Introduction => 98-08-14&15&16 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

Laurent Chopard (from Besançon, France) wrote in his zine Co-existence (that he did with his mate Olivier Bresson): >>We arrived around 18 hours. As usual, I will only give my opinion on the bands that I saw (more or less for a longer time). Know that there were about 25 of them. ‘Driven’ was playing at the time we got there. They’re Dutch and play a new-school HC, unpretentious but not too bad. Then it was up to ‘Stack’ to go loose. A very good powerviolencore gig; spoiled however (as well as the evening) by an individual, fan of windmilling and shouting homophobic slogans. Some people objected and there was a brief confrontation later on. It’s entirely legitimate, in our opinion, to prevent these types of people from spreading their hateful messages in this scene, and it’s even rather surprising to see that very few people in the end reacted to this kind of aggression. The atmosphere was tense from that moment on. The Italians of ‘Timebomb’ unleasehed their devils. I saw them two years ago. There had been some changes in the band; it was less black-metal and very disappointing musically. ‘Liar’ then took over. We see them every year and it seemed a little better than the other times but without convincing me; the nice surprise was that the singer took a stand against homophobia and violent dancing during their set. However, the homophobic individual from Brussels had to get noticed again, on scene. It’s sad to see that this type of people refuses dialogue, has no arguments and hides behind violence. The festival was taking a rather bad turn because of this kind of tension. ‘Culture’ started in difficult conditions (because there were also problems with the material). What could have been a great concert turned into an average one. The band had to stop playing several times. This is where we learned that there was a lot of agitation outside. Guess who was involved? The individual from Brussels in question and his friends who had been at a nearby pub. It’s truly pitiful for a community that claims to be alternative and “better” than society in general. Let’s no longer talk about unity.<<

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‘One X More’ (from Wortel) were Jan Matthé (bass), Tim ‘Petrel’ Van de Plas(-Peeters) (vocals; did Cosy zine), Sis Matthé (guitar) and Krist Torfs (drums). They appeared on a couple of compilations with their “fast, blasting old-school HC with a positive message”. Around the time of this fest Robert Voogt released their debut 7” on his label label Commitment recs. Their 2^nd (They Say That You Sold Out) came out in 1999. Needless to say they were a SxE band. The Matthé brothers were also active on the zine-front: Jan & Sis did X Realm X and Pol did Willow Tree.

‘One Fine Day’ (described as a “post-hardcore” band) were Adriano ‘Baulo’ Fontaneto, 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 1998 the Vladimir Illich Ulianov’s Failure 7” (with Matteo Masciaga instead of Andrea) came out on Cycle recs (Stefano’s label) & Tough Guy Anthems CD on Impression recs. They did a demo earlier on.

‘One Fine Day’ (pic by Federico Albertini)

‘Driven’ from Amsterdam were: Bas Sondervan (bass), Nickel van Duijvenboden (drums), Joris Oonk (guitar), Rogier Stevens (guitar) & Vincent Hausman (vocals). Their music was described as “political hardcore metal” (quote by GoodLife). They did a demo in 1996or97 and Ed released the Cowardice Consumer Of The West EP on GoodLife recs in1999.

‘Driven’ (photographed by David Pujol)

‘Building’, a “youth-crew style” SxE HC from Antwerp, were: Olivier ‘Paco’ Packolet (vocals; later ‘True Colors’), Jelle De Cremer (guitar), (P)Andy Van Den Wijngaert (bass; later Werner Boes) & Bruno (drums; replacing Joris). 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.

‘Building’ (pic Martijn Wouters)

‘Contrition’ (a “metallic hate-edge” band from Schleiz/Jena, ex East-Germany) released the following: in ’96 a self-titled mCD on Time For Revolt recs (Rico Majchrzak), a demo recorded live 97-07-30 in Jena, a 3-way split ‎-7” on Threesome recs (’97) and the Transitory CD (’98). They were: Eddy Langner (guitar), Lars Ostermann (vocals), Andreas Ferge (bass), Alex(ander) Fischer (guitar) & Ulli Walther (drums). Some of them went on as ‘Fall Of Serenity’.

‘Stack’, the powerviolence band from Ludwigshafen, had been at the V.V already (95-04-28). They recorded for the Mondonervaktion 7” in September ‘96 (their former bassist Corey released it on Equality recs in ‘97) with Bernd Bohrmann on vocals, Chris(tophe) Klimmer & Marcel ‘Croissant’ Hanneman playing guitars, Ralf Bock on drums and Michael Bergweiler on bass. This resulted in “deranged pissed-off blasts of total mayhem that threaten to split the ear”… The same sessions served for the Selbstfindungsgruppe 6” (Coalition recs), the split-7” with ‘Carol’ (on Holger Ohst’s label Summersault) and the two songs for the A Tradition Of 7″ compilation (on the US label Fall recs). In January 1998 they entered the studio again to record the songs for the split-7” with ‘Narsaak’ (released by Per Koro). After a 3 weeks tour in the summer of 1998 Marcel left the band and they became a four-piece for a few months before they split up for the first time in November 1998 (due to personal difficulties). In June 1999 they reformed with a new bass-player called Steffen Hinkel (the guitarist of ‘Fear Is The Path To The Dark Side’), Ralf on drums, Chris on guitar and Bernd on vocals. In March 2000 Chris decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. Steffen took over the guitar and Michael returned to bass again. In 20001 The Konkret Lichtgeschwindigkeit 10” – fast blasting manic HC – came out on Bernd’s label Scorched Earth Policy and Ralf’s label Flowerviolence recs. This was recorded with Chris doing the guitar-tracks.

‘Stack’ ([1] by ?; [2 & 3] courtesy of Roel Brals)

‘Timebomb’, from Rome, were a communist, vegan and straight-edge band playing metallic HC. They played at the V.V. on 95-08-20 & 96-08-17 aswell. The band consisted of Marco Ciccone (guitar), Daniele Marini (guitar), Simone Marini (bass; Kill For Love zine), Cristiano Suriano (drums) & Giorgio Fois (vocals; replaced by Emiliano). After releases on Paolo Petralia’s SOA recs they did The Full Wrath Of The Slave on Genet recs in in 1998.

‘Liar’ had been playing the V.V. August fests since 1995. The Invictus album was recorded in Spring ’97 with U.J., Josh, Hans and drummer Bert Guillemont. Don’t know if additional guitarist Lennart Bossu played here already (he was on Deathrow Earth that got out in ’99).

‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. If I’m well informed the band conisted of singer Damien Moyal (also ‘Morning Again’ & ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar), Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker (guitar), Jason Dooley (drums) and Gordon Tarpely (bass). They had been over here the year before (97-08-16) to promote the split with ‘Kindred’ and the Oath 7” (both on Good Life recs). The latter was – in the spirit of ‘free enterprise’ – extended to the Hetronome CD. Good’ole chugga chugga HC for the H8000 kids.

Brob

I joined ‘Liar in ‘99 so I didn’t play here.

Lennart Bossu

I remember ‘Culture’ and of course ‘Seein’Red’. I left the band to start ‘Prone’ later that year… [Powerviolence trio with Christophe Klimmer (guitar) and Ralf Bock (drums), all ex ‘Stack’]

Michael Bergweiler, ‘Stack’ bassist

I remember that we played second or third, and that we just got back from our first touring-adventure in Spain (together with ‘Between The lines’). Fantastic and fun times!

Tim ‘Petrel’ Van de Plas(-Peeters), ‘One X More’ vocalist

We played our last show on our European tour with ‘Building’ here.

Jan Matthé, One X More

We got there after a trip of more than 20 hours (problem with IDs, gas and various shit)… It has been a great esperience and we hope someone enjoyed our gig; we thank everyone who was there standing in front of us, waiting for us to play even if we were late…

‘One Fine Day’

In a first version of ‘One Fine Day’ we were called ‘XconsciousnessX’ (with Matteo Masciaga).

The V.V. Fest was like our home away from home. Bruno treated us well…

Let me tell you this: looking in retrospective, let alone few humans and few ideas that stuck in life, HC has been a bunch of white guys preaching to the converted; a toxic heterosexual environment where girls where treated like human hangers. The whole emo sucks. I find it equal to the black-hating and the whole way women are treated nowadays. I find the entire hardcore-movement to be a very conservative and old-thinking component of people that are mostly white and male. What’s so interesting? Also a bit jaded and naïve. As of today… I’m the only PUNK I know, including all the people I met during my punk years. I still live up to it.

Luca Fontaneto

I think we played twice at the V.V. I recall spending the night on the camping. And that the mosh-pit was extremely aggressive. I have a recording of the concert in ’98 … It was one of the better shows we played despite the preaching of our frontman Vincent, who was rather preoccupied with expressing his beliefs. There are still people confused if we were a completely vegan straight-edge band. Looking back a rather childish matter. ‘Driven’ was mainly about the music, we were musicians and for the hardcore scene dependent of the ideological passion of our frontman, who maintained all contacts.

I have a lot of memories about ‘Driven’ but nothing specific. The musicianship stayed, the political shifts, the adolescent militancy disappears for a big part. I’m not in touch with the other bandmembers anymore (Vincent is the singer of ‘Howl’ (US); Rogier is a lawyer, Joris is a composer, Bas is a journalist, philospher, musician; Max Porcelijn [the first bassist] is a director (won a Gouden Kalf [prize at the Dutch Film Festival]) and I’m a graphic artist, teacher, writer & classical tenor); we share too little to meet up.

The person in the pic singing along with Vincent is Antje Klaster (who’s running a model-agency, I believe)…

It was awesome to be in the band ‘Driven’. We toured 3 times (twice across Europe, all the way to Spain, Slovenia & Hungary; once across the UK with shows in Leeds, Londen & Manchester). People can watch a movie with footage.

Nickel van Duijvenboden, drummer of ‘Driven’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

 

95-08-20 Churn – By All Means – Liar – Fungus – Timebomb – End In Sight – Chokehold

Intro: 95-08-18&19&20 Hardcore Festival

The ‘Chokehold’ guys were coming from the train-station with their guitars and bass in hand. Their European tour [with ‘Feeding The Fire’] was a mess (some of the last gigs of their tour got cancelled) and they got robbed if I remember correctly. I felt sorry for them for having such a bad experience over here. They mention it in an interview.

Carsten Pötter, Frankfurt

‘Steadfast’, a band playing “powerful new-school sXe hardcore” from the Osnabrück/Munster region (in Germany), were announced at some timepoint but didn’t play. Their guitarist Stefan Uhe and their bassist Volker Pohlschmidt (R.I.P.) did visit.

‘Churn’ was an emo-core band (Leuven/Limburg) with Raf Gelenne (vocals), Peter Peumans (bass), Raf Gielen (guitar), Jan Beckers (guitar) & Maarten Beckers (drums). The latter 3 went on with ‘Kindred’.

‘Churn’ (courtesy of Peter Peumans)

‘By All Means’ (from Mantua/Modena), was a straight-edge HC band with vocalist Massimo ‘Melo’ Meloni, guitarists Andrea ‘Gallo’ Gallinini & Mario ‘Ringo’ Luppi (he founded the label Insociale recs and was also in various other bands), Adriano Pratissoli (drums) and Matteo Verri (bass; replacing Stefano Bertelli). The members swapped also intsruments in bands such as ‘Society Of Jesus’ and ‘Immortal Majority’… In 1992 they did a tape, a self-titled 7” on Inaudito Dischi and a split-7” with ‘Equality’ on Green recs. In 1993 there was the Blind Side LP (also Green recs) and in the 1998 Fino A Qui… Tutto Bene! LP.

‘Liar’ (Roeselare/Ieper area) rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (93-06-13). This was their 1^st appearance at one of the V.V. fests (the had already played some regular concerts late ’94, early ‘95). They would become of the most ardent H8000 promoters. During these early days the band consisted of Hans Verbeke (vocals; also ‘Blindfold’s guitarist), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass; also ‘Congress’) and Raf (drums). They played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore with non-compromising, hard-hitting lyrics). Raf (Raphael) left the band in ‘96 to do other things in life, he turned into a professional snowboarder and played in a punk band called ‘Red Lobster’, together with some ‘Spirit Of Youth’ members. From then on Bert Guillemont (ex ‘Sektor’) would play the drums. The recordings (still with Raf) of their debut Falls Of Torment (released on GoodLife recs in ’96 and announced as “a mix of ‘Unbroken’ & ‘Morbid Angel’…”) happened after some 10 rehearsals and a few shows.

‘Fungus’ (from the Kortrijk area) were Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; later in ‘Blindfold’ & ‘Hitch’), Olivier Wychuyse (drums; later in ‘Hitch’), Carl Lachat (bass) & Tim Nottebaert (vocals – might not have been in the band anymore at that time…). They probably ended up here because Hans (‘Liar’) was a fan… Not really a band fitting in; they played “noisy rock”…

‘Timebomb’ (from Rome) was a communist, vegan and straight-edge band playing metallic HC: Cristiano Suriano (drums; later ‘Opposite Force’), Daniele Marini (guitar), Giorgio Fois (vocals; later replaced by Emiliano), Marco Ciccone (guitar; his first show with the band here; later also ‘Opposite Force’) and Simone Marini (bass; Kill for Love zine). In 1993 they did a demo and a 7” (Fury) released by SOA recs. Paolo Petralia also did their Hymns For A Decaying Empire CD (‘96) and in 1998 The Full Wrath Of The Slave got out on Genet recs (last recordings with Giorgio). They became regulars at the V.V.: they also played the 96, 97 & 98 fests…

‘End In Sight’ (“edge-metal” from Gislaved) were Toni Niskanen (bass), Janne Hanhela (guitar/vocals), Marko K. (drums), Matthias P. (guitar) and Mikke Niskanen (vocals; he was only on the 1^st 7”). Marko Raboldt (Emotion X recs) released that Deep Wound 7” (recorded in Feb). The second (Obiter Dictum; released in ’96 was in another line-up with Andreas ‘Lasse’ Lassus on drums, Daniel on guitar).

‘End In Sight’ (photographed by Steve Lammertyn)

‘Chokehold’ was a vegan straight-edge ‘chugga chugga’ hardcore band from Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). The band was – I believe – Jon ‘Randy Sharronto’ Sharron (bass; also in ‘Union Of Uranus’), Chris(topher) Logan (vocals), Jeff Beckman (guitar), Matt Beckman (drums) and Matt S. (guitar). They had been touring in Germany with ‘Feeding The Fire’ (organised by Mad Mob from Berlin) but that didn’t go too well. 1995 ws the year their Content With Dying LP got out on Scott Beibin’s Bloodlink recs. He’d also done the Instilled 7” (the year before). The band split up in ’96. Here’s the band playing live at the Vort’n Vis. Their last show was in March 1996 at the New Bedford Fest.

Brob

‘Chokehold’ (pics 1+2: Patrick Federli, 3: unkown)

As far as I can remember it was a reasonably good gig for us. I further recall the Italians especially. It was here that we got in contact with the guys of ‘Burning Defeat’. When they toured later, they ended up sleeping on my floor. Great guys! Everyone was there for the Swedish but I’ve never been an X-crew person so they didn’t do much to me. ‘Churn’ started after Jan Beckers and I had a conversation about our mutual musical interest in ‘Rorschach’. He invited me over to his house where I got to know Maarten and Peter. A bit later Raf joined. Bart (Poer zine) [Verelst; of ‘Hopeman Path’, ‘State Of Grace’, ‘Sheen’] also rehearsed with us a certain time… We quit after a gig in Germany (musical theatrical differences).

Raf Gelenne, ‘Churn’ singer

‘Chokehold’ got their by train. That was because they played this fest and we didn’t.

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’ singer

I remember that we finished our set with Firestorm (‘Earth Crisis’ cover) and a guy in the pit broke his collar-bone or something. It was pretty intense!

Toni Niskanen, ‘End In Sight’

I also played in ‘Society Of Jesus’ (guitar) and was the singer of ‘The Immoral Majority’, bassist in ‘Mourn’ & ‘Celestials’, etc. etc. ‘Melo’ played bass in ‘Society Of Jesus’ & ‘No Somos Nada’. Adriano [Pratissoli] also drummed for ‘Society Of Jesus’, ‘Mourn’, ‘Celestials’, etc. ‘Ringo’ was also the singer of ‘Society Of Jesus’ and the guitarist of ‘The Immoral Majority’. Matteo played guitar in ‘Society Of Jesus’ & ‘No Somos Nada’ and bass in ‘The Immoral Majority’.

At that time we all did the fanzine The Legendary Blumergaster (raised from the ashes of my own Monkey Face) together. Nowadays I have a tattoo-shop in Berlin [Out Of Step Tattoo Parlour].

I remember the fest was great, good organisation; there were cool people, record-stalls and distros, decent food. ‘Concrete’ practiced outside the venue acoustically…really really funny. People of ‘Comrades’, ‘Concrete’, ‘Burning Defeat’ were all together on the road from Italy to Belgium. Great tour! We were there the whole weekend; it was awesome. I remember ‘Kosjer D’ as one of the best bands. And ‘Chockehold’!!!

‘Gallo’, ‘By All Means’

I wasn’t there…

‘Ringo’ Luppi

The ‘Kiss’ face I had during the ‘Congress’ show, the day before, didn’t shock people. With ‘Liar’ we did succeed to shock the crowd…

U.J.

U.J.’s arms were all cut up. I had rubbed his blood all over my face. My mother who was standing on the side of the stage, saw everything. Good old ‘Liar’ days. Top. Bounded by blood…

Hans Verbeke

I remember it being the best show we played. And the hell we went through to get there…

Chris Logan, ‘Chokehold’ singer

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

“Con Ogni Mezzo” = By All Means

additions wellcome!…

96-08-17 Voices At The Front – Kindred – Sektor – Saidiwas – Regression – Timebomb – Burning Defeat – Congress – Racial Abuse – Despair

Introduction => 96-08-16&17&18 Hardcore, The Next Generation

Since I (Brob) was rather disgusted with and had commented on the increasing commercialism, violent/sexist/homophobic attitudes, I spent most of the time I was there (for my literature-distribution) talking to fellow “PC emo-morons who stop everyone from having a good time” (as mentioned in the Hate 8000 Zine) in the courtyard and therefore hardly saw any of the bands, I reprint a review I found on the internet:

>>The next day started with ‘Voices At The Front’. I didn’t really check them out but what I heard was heavy metal. ‘Kindred’ had a good sound and played OK heavy metal (à la 8000 crew). ‘Sektor’, another local band, played extreme death-metal, the audience was so stupid I left after 2 songs. ‘Saidiwas’ was probably the best band on the festival. Dog knows I dislike emo but they were damn good. (I’ld probably hate them on a record). Very young kids from Sweden playing American style poppy emo with lots of things to say between songs. No more tough guys here and the crowd was just wondeful, pogoing and slamdancing wildely. They were all so cute. Wonderful. Back to heavy metal with ‘Regression’ and their OK but boring brand of New York influenced music. ‘Timebomb’ were powerful but not as good as last year. They have great lyrics but it seems like they thought it was unnecassary to explain any of them on stage. ‘Burning Defeat’ were good too, very melodic and emotional, but the crowd took a long time to get into it and started dancing only on the 2 last songs. ‘Congress’: I liked the music as always, brutal death-metal, it was the kingdom of the bare-to-the-waist (tough) guys (singing along to choruses they didn’t even know what they were about). ‘Racial Abuse (Austria) were funny. I kind of enjoyed the music: modern HC, a drummer who’s only 12 years old is quite impressive. A lot of people were wondering how a band on Lost&Found ended up playing the V.V., and it was funny to see the Austrian crew making fun of them too! Last on were ‘Despair’. I totally loved their ultra powerful metallic HC, excellent sound-quality, but the audience ruined it all and I left in a bad mood…<<

The “H8000 Press” (‘Ringmaster’ Nicholas Malfeyt) highlights that Vik (‘VATF’ vocalist) spent more time in the crowd than on stage, ‘Kindred’ (‘Unbroken’-style SxE heroes) played a nice set, ‘Sektor’ started a fairly modest pit… “While I was outside, I heard the Swedish band ‘Saidiwas’ was playing with a naked – as in ‘no clothes’ – drummer. It was time for the emo-faggot brigade to spread their message of peace, love and animal sex. A friend told me the singer was talking about the day before and mentioned the ‘fucking windmill crew’… Imagine a feminine guy with eye-shadow (!!) saying that… Since these wimps obviously had a thing against violent dancing, we had the bright idea to start a bloody windmill-pit… All the emos were crying their hearts out up-front… When the ‘Saidiwas’ set was over, the drummer – still butt-naked – got from behind his kit and stood there shaking his john in front of the audience. Next thing you know, the singer was giving him a French kiss. [Brob: A case of macho insecurity, Ringmaster?] ‘Regression’ did a very brutal set; too bad their 2^nd guitarist was there. ‘Timebomb’ rocked the stage. When ‘Congress’ played, the place exploded once again… I could hear bones breakin’, everything went almost as violent as the night before. A fantastic show with singalongs and pile-ups… ‘Despair’ got on stage way past midnight. They rocked… Before their final song the singer summoned everybody to do the ‘pizzamaker’…”<<

It wasn’t the first time at the Vort’n Vis for ‘Voices At The Front’ (96-05-12). Vik Bulik (vocals), Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede [R.I.P.] (guitar), Vincent Theeten (guitar), Sim ‘Simtje’ Meersseman (bass) and Gaëtan Golvet (drums) were locals (from Poperinge).

‘Voices At The Front’ (pic taken by Steve Lammertyn)

‘Kindred’, the SxE outfit from Limburg (metallic style of HC, often compared with ‘Unbroken’) were here before too (96-05-12). The guys in the band were Jan Beckers (guitar) and Maarten Beckers (drums) – Jan had been in ‘Acoustic Grinder’ (read: 93-02-27), ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06, 93-09-19); later, ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Another pre-‘Kindred’-band was ‘Churn’ (95-08-20) feat. Jan, Maarten, Raf Gielen, Peter (ex ‘Acoustic Grinder’) and Raf ‘Thrasher’ Gelenne… I believe Raf Gielen still played 2^nd guitar here. The recordings for the LP on GoodLife recs (File 01) were done in October ’96 without Raf. They would be playing again 97-08… A split with ‘Culture’ got out in ’97.

‘Kindred’ (photograped by Sarah Van de Mosselaer)

‘Sektor’ had played their 1^st show at the V.V. a few months before (96-05-12). This vegetarian straight-edge metal-core band (from Beselare, near Ieper) was: ‘Lenny’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert Guillemont (drums), Piet Cardoen (guitar), Vadim Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (vocals). They had done 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).

‘Sektor’ (photos 1-2-3 by Valerie Afschrift, 4 by Roel Brals)

‘Saidiwas’ was an “anarchist vegan straight-edge” band from Umeå in Sweden. “They got alot of attention because of their political lyrics and also because their drummer used to play naked.” In 1996 their first self-titled mCD was released By José Saxlund on his label Desperate Fight recs. “They made a big impression on the Belgian kids by refusing to play for a violent crowd.”, one can read on the www… I believe Anders Johansson played bass, Erik Åsell-Johansson hit the drums & sang, Philip Sundberg guitar, Peter Hellqvist guitar, and Michael/Mikael Berg was the vocalist. Sara Almgren (guitar; ex ‘Doughnuts’) also played for them later… “After that, they kicked their singer out, because (according to the rumours) he dropped sXe/veganism. Their former drummer switched to vocals, which left the band without a drummer for the recording of their debut full-length.” (All Punk Cons; released April ‘97, also on Desperate Fight recs. This was described as “art-punk” or “post-hardcore-new-wave-influenced-alternative-rock-with-occasional-emotional-ranting/yelling-but-oh-so-many-keyboard-and-piano-parts-core”.) I think Ludwig Dahlberg became their drummer later…

‘Saidiwas’, photographed by Patrick Federli (1), Sergi E. Costa (2), Philippe Tuffet (3) & Jean-Paul Frijns (4)

‘Regression’ (from Menen/Roeselare) played H8000 style, crunchy metallic (vegan) straight-edge HC: “Perhaps the most heaviest of all the ‘edge-metal’ bands: uncompromising death-metal mixed with straight-edge hardcore spirit.” Hans Verbeke wrote about them that they “created their own style of technical hardcore/metal with ‘Carcass’ and ‘Machinehead’ influences”; other people compared them with ‘Earth Crisis’. They were Bjorn Lescouhier (drums, ex ‘Shortsight’; replaced Raf -who was in ‘Liar’ too- around July 95), Kristof Taveirne (bass; nowadays in ‘Spoil Engine’), Niek Jacobsen (vocals) and ‘Stuutje’ David Decoutere (guitar). It was their second V.V. show (after 95-03-25) They had recorded a demo in ’95, then did the x-Heartless-x CD on GoodLife recs (‘96) and a split-CD with ‘Breach’ from Sweden ‎followed (also GoodLife recs, ‘97). Early ‘96 they had taken ‘Lookmulle’ (Davy Vanlokeren of ‘Deformity’) as second guitarist but he didn’t play here… I read that later he was replaced by Laurent (who used to sing for ‘Deformity’).

‘Regression’ (shot by Sergi E Costa)

‘Timebomb’s second appearance at the V.V. (95-08) They were a Roman communist, vegan sXe band band playing metallic HC. The guys in the band: Cristiano Suriano (drums; later ‘Opposite Force’), Daniele Marini (guitar), Giorgio Fois (vocals; later replaced by Emiliano; also drummer of ‘Comrades’), Marco Ciccone (guitar; later also ‘Opposite Force’) and Simone Marini (bass; Kill For Love zine). In 1993 they did a demo and a 7” (Fury) released by SOA recs. Paolo Petralia also did their Hymns For A Decaying Empire CD (released January ‘96) and in 1998 The Full Wrath Of The Slave got out on Genet recs (last recordings with Giorgio). They also came back for the fest the next year…

‘Timebomb’ (photo by Sergi E. Costa)

‘Burning Defeat’, an emo-core band from Alessandria (Italy), had also played the V.V. already the year before (95-08-18). They were: Diego Cestino (vocals; also ‘Permanent Scar’), Alessandro ‘Alex’ Azzali (bass), Andrea ‘ics’ Ferraris (guitar; also ‘Permanent Scar’) and Umberto Fabbri (drums). ‘They had 2 realease on Green recs: Singlin’ Out The Aims 7” (‘94) & Seldom LP (‘96).

‘Burning Defeat’, pics by Patrick Federli (1) & Sergi E. Costa (2)

In 1996 GoodLife recs released ‘Congress’s LP The Other Cheek. 4 songs come from the 1993 demo (with Roy Cappan on vocals).

‘Congress’ (photos by Sergi E. Costa)

‘Racial Abuse’, an “edge-metal” band (which was compared to ‘Strife’, ‘Unbroken’ and ‘Side By Side’) from Olbendorf, Austria. They were: bassist Sancho Holper, drummer Pascal Holper, guitarist Jürgen Pallisch (he replaced Rainer Paul) and vocalist Aaron Tauss. In 1996 they did a demo (Influence) and 2 CDs (on Lost And Found recs: No Need‎ & Climb). Their CD What Mirrors Conceal ‎was released by GoodLife recs in 1997.

‘Racial Abuse’ – pics by Sergi E. Costa (1) & Sarah Van de Mosselaer (2-3-4)

‘Despair’ (Buffalo, NY) consisted of Brian Fligger (bass), Jesse(y) Muscato (drums; replaced Phil Popielski), Joe Garlipp (guitar), Matt Dente (guitar) and Scott Vogel (vocals). They played metallic mosch-core. There was a demo and a mini-CD (One Thousand Cries) out. That year (‘96) the CD Pattern Life was released on Josh Gabrelle’s Trustkill recs and the CD As We Bleed was recorded right before this tour (I think) with Brian, Jesse, Joe, Matt & Scott.

‘Despair’ (source ?)

Brob

I was at the “Ieperfest” in ‘96 (and also in’97). I remember ‘96 very well indeed because it was such a special time, a great line-up and much fun for me and my travelling-party from Vienna. we were loads of people, all sleeping inside the Vort’n Vis too. I have quite a few photos: they’re all on film of course and but haven’t scanned them all yet, it’s a task to do all of that…

Daniel Eberharter, Eloquence zine (Vienna, Austria)

I have a zine with a ‘Saidiwas’ interview with a funny anecdote about windmillers spoiling their set…

Tijs Schelstraete

It was nice to see all these other Roman people (Paolo, Vegano, Venezuela, Simone, Daniele, Costanza, Cristiano, …) there.

Dario Adamic (in his zine Zips & Chains #10)

I wasn’t a part of ‘Saidiwas’ at that time. I played on the first EP and then they kicked me out! Erik Åsell was the drummer/singer… I’ve seen that their show at the “Ieperfest” was discussed on forums lately here in Sweden. But I don’t know… Mostly people who weren’t there, with their own theories. I remember it as a good show with some nude/male kissing controversy. Not that they (‘Saidiwas’) weren’t going to play because of a violent crowd, as the theories that are going around…

Axel Stattin, ‘Separation’ bassist

I was the drummer on the first 7” of ‘Despair’. I left the band before that tour.

Phil Popielski

I guess I was at this gig… The singer of ‘Timebomb’ was also the drummer for my band ‘Comrades’. He became a sort of nazi… To me he is a nazi. He always denied being one but effectively plays with the same band for the last 12 years and they’re all nazis playing only in their circle.

Paolo Patralia

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-08-18&19&20 Hardcore Festival

Local (Menen/Roeselare) straight-edge hardcore band ‘Regression’ was announced but didn’t play. Perhaps because they just switched drummers? (Bjorn Lescouhier, ex ‘Shortsight’ replaced Raf – who played in ‘Liar’.)

‘Steadfast’, a band playing “powerful new-school sXe hardcore” from the Osnabrück/Munster region, didn’t play either. Their guitarist Stefan Uhe and bassist Volker Pohlschmidt (R.I.P.) did visit.

‘Chokehold’ wasn’t announced but they showed up anyway; read the story below. Also ‘Solid’, ‘Concrete’ and ‘End In Sight’ were added to the bill…

18 aug ’95: The Jedi (Bel), Solid (Bel), Burning Defeat (Ita)

19 aug ’95: Veil (Ger), Concrete (Ita), Doughnuts (Swe), Rancor (Nl), Mainstrike (Nl), Blindfold (Bel), Comrades (Ita), Kosjer D (Bel), Congress (Bel), Abhinanda (Swe)

20 aug ’95: Churn (Bel), By All Means (Ita), Liar (Bel), Fungus (Bel), Timebomb (Ita), End In Sight (Swe), Chokehold (Can)

If I remember correctly Christophe Mora (‘Undone’, Stonehenge recs) was there. Henk Smit (Kangaroo recs) was selling records. Patrick Federli took photos… Yann Boislève from Rennes wrote a review about this fest in his SxE newsletter #13.

Brob

Mathias Hartmann and I attended together. The V.V. was too full, the weather nice, so we slept a few hundred metres away on some nice grass in front of a church, I think. People strolling by the next morning were not amused about us. ;-)

This summer-festival in the bigger ‘hall’ in the back of the V.V. I remember ‘Kosjer D’ and ‘Chokehold’ from Canada played there. The ‘Chokehold’ guys were coming from the train-station with their guitars and bass in hand. Their European tour [with ‘Feeding The Fire’] was a mess (some of the last gigs of their tour got cancelled) and they got robbed if I remember correctly. I felt sorry for them for having such a bad experience over here. They mention it in an interview.

Carsten Pötter, Frankfurt

If my memory serves me right, this was my first Ieper HardCore Fest. I turned 18 just a few months earlier, I had a very broad musical taste ranging from simple hardrock to the most extreme black/death metal, but it was just a year or so that I really started to appreciate the HC-scene and started to attend a lot more HC shows than metal. Because of the music and especially the very metallic sound of the H8000 bands, but also because the HC-scene was – in my eyes and at the time – a much more interesting scene with a lot more open-minded people (that was of course, pure bullshit, but it was a nice smoke-screen that got me fooled for a while :-) …). You soon learn that assholes are everywhere but so are nice people really… You just need to know who to avoid, that’s all. :-)

Anyway, I remember this fest as the most underground thing I had ever seen or been to… I just took a backpack with some basic ‘go-away’-stuff and just headed to Ieper… There was not really a camping back in those days. I remember people sleeping in the bar, the barn, on the upper floors. I remember those funny Hare-Krishna kids that seemed to attend every show in the whole Benelux (bands like ‘Abhinanda’ and other Umea-area bands were kinda the big thing then… So a lot of people became Krishna all of a sudden – LOL).

All the bands I have seen then performed legendary sets… I was just blasted away by the atmosphere … The barn was as full as it could get and then some more, people were flying all over the place, the pictures I have of that HC fest are still some of my favourite ones. It was pure madness!!! HC the way it should be! Massive mosh-pits, pile-ups, sing-alongs, circle-pits, you name it… From morning till evening, all day long. If I were to attend now, I probably would see 1 band and need 2 other sets to catch my breath… Yeah, we were young and unstoppable then :-).

I remember also ‘taking a shower’ on the Ieper market, in the fountains with a lot of people… It was a ‘group-shower’ (at least 30 people, strength in numbers huh?) in the morning. With all the soap we used, the market was quickly transformed into a big foamy place. :-) Lotsa fun, but not appreciated by the police… Ah well…what’s new???

Also, we met some nice gothic kids and had a very cool evening in their bar ‘Den Donkeren Helft’ [The Dark Half]… After an afternoon of HC-metal, nothing better than some wave/EBM/gothic to relax a little. :-). Since that day, I always go to that bar when I go to Ieper (I think it’s gone now…).

I have very fond memories of ‘Liar’, ‘Congress’, ‘Veil’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Mainstrike’, ‘Abhinanda’ and ‘End In Sight’. You can see me going nuts on the back of the H8000 The Way It Is – European SxE HC compilation-CD (GoodLife recs)… I’m in the picture with ‘Mainstrike’ playing in the barn at that fest. [Brob: There was also a pic ont the ‘Mainstrike’ 7”?] A lot of bands that played that summer in Ieper are on the CD.

After that weekend I got home with sooooo many adresses and phone-numbers, I didn’t know where to start… I made a lot of friends, had wonderfull conversations,… good times in general! From then on until 2005 I attended every single HC fest… but none were so memorable than my first one… And for me, the Vort’n Vis became an icon of underground DIY music.

Greg ‘DragonBreath’ (90s zine; Bruxel)

I’ve only been to Vort’n Vis once, back in the summer of 1995. I went there for, what we called then, the Vort’n Vis festival. I remember a lot of Italian bands were playing, so it felt like I knew half of the people at the fest. [Brob: Dario is Croatian but lived in Rome at that time…] It was almost 20 years ago, so my memory is a bit fading, but I believe ‘Concrete’, ‘Timebomb’, ‘Comrades’, ‘Burning Defeat’ and ‘By All Means’, all from Italy (the first three from Rome), played at the festival and it was bands whose members I knew very well. I remember spending most of the time with ‘Sardo’ from ‘Tear Me Down’ [Massimo ‘Il Sardo’ Leonardi, vocalist], and I recall the sleeping-place was upstairs and there were dozens of bodies and arms+legs everywhere – it was almost impossible to find a free spot to lie down.

Everything was very DIY and there were several small distros, as well as bigger ones ran by Edward of GoodLife and Burkhard [Jünger] of GreenHell [label, record-store & mailorder in Münster, Germany]. I remember meeting one of the Boislève brothers [Yann & Pierre] for the first time at the festival, and that kid [Aaron Vyvial?] that used to make a really nice fanzine and later moved back to the US with ‘Hazel’ of ‘Rise Above’. ‘Mainstrike’ played one of their first shows and the crowd went pretty wild. I’ld see them later both in Italy and the USA. ‘Kosjer D’ were solid. I liked their first 7” a lot. I wasn’t impressed by ‘Doughnuts’ and I think I missed ‘Abhinanda’. I checked both ‘Liar’ and ‘Congress’, but that wasn’t really my cup of tea. I remember the ‘Congress’ bass-player was nice to us, but musically it’s nothing I would listen to at home…

Dario Adamic, Zips & Chains zine

I was there with Christophe (Mora). Brob, you were screaming against the business during the ‘Abhinanda’ show. I found your attitude so cool; I totally agreed with you!

Fabien Charlot, later vocals for ‘JeanxSEberg’, Bordeaux; personal communication spring ‘96

I only went to the festival on Saturday. I couldn’t stand it very long. Firstly: I felt very lonely; I didn’t feel like communicating. It didn’t feel right…the people that were attending, all that typical sXe fuss. I had the feeling that a lot of these girls and boys were just there to be seen. It seemed like a competition: who has the newest T-shirt, who can dance the hardest, who knows the most lyrics by heart? It all seemed so fake. I don’t want to generalise though: there were also kids that seemed sincere…

Dirk De Vriendt, Introverted Outlet zine; personal communication August ‘95

I was seriously annoyed: everybody’s speaking out against pollution, using big words; but for perhaps half of them it remains just that: words. Have you seen the public road? Simply outrageous! Do people still understand what HC is about? The ‘scene’ has grown enormously but the ideals haven’t evolved. I think it’s sick!

Nico Peeters, ‘Outrage’ bassist/Day One distro; personal communication August ‘95

I thought there were only few really good bands. ‘Kosjer D’, ‘Mainstrike’ & ‘Burning Defeat’ were cool though. I saw a video of the fest and it was cosy. There was a bit of a fight between ‘Rancor’s guitarist and someone. What struck me was that flirting with satanism seems to become popular…Scary, because it equals extreme rightist ideas (egoism, fascism, war, etc.).

Peter Kroes, Ruinerwold (NL); personal communication December ‘95

I’ve been at the Vort’n Vis once in 1995. I was young, my first festival abroad I think…travelling alone by train, by the way. I remember enjoying the concerts of ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Doughnuts’, ‘Congress’ a lot. There were many Italians there! ‘By All Means’ played a crazy show, ‘Timebomb’ were great. I remember buying the ‘Rorschach’ discography CD, great vegan food, soy-milk in stores (I was stoked: in Italy nobody knew what that was). I recall hanging out with several country-mates but also with the guys from ‘Abhinanda’ in some kind of disco. It was fun and I keep great memories of that weekend. I also think some of the Italian bands being pissed off for not being treated like the Swedish bands but I’m not totally sure about that, haha!!!

Borys Catelani, Montorsoli/Sesto Fiorentino (Ita), Agipunk recs

I have the worst memory so details are very sketchy! I had some amazing times at Vort’n Vis… Vique always drove and I spent a lot of time at the festivals (I was there in ’94 as well) helping out with her distro and checking out everyone else’s. In the pre-download/-streaming days it was amazing to be able to get hold of so much great stuff all in one place. My strongest memory from Vort’n Vis was ‘Kosjer D’ playing here… One of my favourite gigs ever. I think it may have been their last show… Anyway, it was so much fun – great band (totally under-rated) and an incredible moving joyous set.

Mark ‘Macca’ Wilkinson, Brighton

I think Ieperfest 1995 was my first time at the V.V. Jenni wasn’t there, I think ’96 was the first time for her.

Robert Matusiak, Refuse recs (at that time Warsaw, nowadays Berlin)

I was there to support ‘Veil’ (who had a 7″ on my label Thressome recs)

Ferry Krop, Sittard (NL)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

organisers Saskia & Hans Verbeke (of course together with a whole bunch of other Vort’n Vis collaborators…)

additions wellcome!…

98-08-14&15&16 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

Paul Van den Berg wrote me (around that time) that ‘Seein’Red’ had discussed the fact whether they would play this fest or not (also with people like Bernd ‘Stack’, ‘Beertje’ & Marcel of Coalition recs, Theun Koelemij and some others) because there had been a lot of communication from various people (and myself) that this fest was not truly D.I.Y. They’d taken a collective decision to confront the audience and not compromise… “By staying away, you’re not gonna change things!”. I might’ve gone there for an afternoon (allthough I have no recollctions, it might’ve been the year before) to try and explain some people but I definitely didn’t pay entrance or saw any of the bands, because I considered this whole thing nothing more than a ‘year-market’/fair(ground) intended as promotion for the record-labels GoodLife and Genet… The latter also relased a CD of the Fest.

Brob

The HC-fest was a mix of fun and some irritation. We travelled down with a whole gang and that was cosy of course. Also met nice people in Ieper; old friends and contacts. A minus was ‘Arkangel’ and the monotonous program. ‘Seein’ Red’ was great. A real party and they also had sensible things to say. Also ‘Eyeball’, ‘Reiziger’, ‘Stack’ and ‘Highscore’ were good.

Jeroen ‘ Beertje’ Vrijhoef, ‘Mainstrike’ guitarist; personal communication Sep ‘98

I was at the Ieper SxE festival this summer and it sucked. I didn’t pay entrance and only managed to get in when ‘Seein’Red’ played. But besides the dumb consumerist kids, I met some nice friends from Germany so being on the train for 15 hours was worth it.

Philipp Smeh (Austria), personal communication Nov ‘98

That was my first Ieper fest ever, great memories! First time to I saw ‘Seein’Red’ and ‘Stack’ as well. Great! I remember there was some fuss during the ‘Stack’ set when a girl was asking the band to say something about some people dancing violently in the back during their set.

Stig Koppen

[Brob: “propaganda-flyer ‘Stack’ frontman Bernd wrote a few years later…]

This was the first time I went to this Fest!

I remember going with Arnaud Benoist (drummer of ‘2138’ & ‘Hippies Of Today’ – now ‘Llamame La Muerte’) and Romain Trocherie (who ran Revolution recs). I have some recollections of the ‘Facedown’ & Reiziger’ shows (awesome songs but ‘Kosjer D was better). There were a lot of French people (the Boislève bros, guys from Strasbourg, perhaps Christophe Mora from Stonehenge recs, …)

Vincent Troplain, Rouen (nowadays Emergence recs & photo-zine)

Two friends of mine wanted to go to the unholy Vort’n Vis to meet / see & hear ‘Seein’Red’, ‘Highscore’, ‘Stack’, ‘Grade’ [???], … I didn’t give it much thought and drove to Ieper, and was very surprised to see so many stupid, trendy HC kids. It was terrible …

Christian Dreker, ‘Asmodinas Leichenhaus’ (Germany); personal communication Nov ‘98

column by Sophie, singer of the French band ‘Aside’, in Empowerment #9

additions wellcome!…

(full posts with photos of some bands playing follow…)

98-08-14: One X More (Bel), One Fine Day (Ita), Driven (Nl), Building (Bel), Contrition (Ger), Stack (Ger), Timebomb (Ita), Liar (Bel), Culture (USA)

98-08-15: Sad Origin (Bel), Highscore (Ger), Opposite Force (Ita), Pray Silent (Swi), Clouded (Bel), Seein’Red (Nl), Spineless (Bel), Thumbs Down (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Earthmover (USA)

98-08-16: Reply (Bel), D.S.A. (Bel), Lifecycle (Bel), Inflexible (Pol), Ashlar (Bel), Caliban (Ger), Firestone (Bel), Arkangel (Bel), Reiziger (Bel), Eyeball (Ger), Congress (Bel)

crowd-shots by Patrick Federli

British HardCore women – Camilla Bradshaw Burke / Louise Brown / Nicola Waterson (photo Nick Royles)

96-08-16&17&18 Hardcore, The Next Generation

pre-posters

Right before this fest Stephane Boens (74-04-17 * 96-08-06) a.k.a. The Famous Vegan (a friend of some collaborators at the V.V.) passed away…

photo: Roel Brals

This trend that had silently been creeping in during previous years (commercialism, violent/sexist/homophobic attitudes) got even more established here. Earlier in ’96, I had been isolated, denigrated and vilified because of my criticisms (by the H8000 buisnessmen and their disciples). For many I wasn’t wellcome but I tried to be one of the few who offered radical/political literature, and went over to explain to those who wanted to listen and support my few remaing friends. This here below shows there were also still a few people trying to get (part of the) message across…

someone from The NL in Yann Boislève’s SxE Bulletin #20

It was the last time I attended… I refused to pay entrance and hardly saw any of the bands. I believe this was the programme (but some might have been added):

96-08-16: Firestone (Bel), Facedown (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Outrage (Bel), Victims Of Society (Bel), Down For The Count (Spa), Liar (Bel), Spawn (Ger), Unborn (UK)

96-08-17: Voices At The Front (Bel), Kindred (Bel), Sektor (Bel), Saidiwas (Swe), Regression (Bel), Timebomb (Ita), Burning Defeat (Ita), Congress (Bel), Racial Abuse (Öst), Despair (USA)

96-08-18: Spineless (Bel), Resist The Pain (Bel), Stampin’ Ground (UK), Vanilla (Fra), Approach To Concrete (Ger), Bruma (Ita), Separation (Swe), Swing Kids (USA), With Love (Ita)

the marketplace… :-(

courtesy of Karel Deweerdt (Wim ‘Blindfold’ & UJ ‘Liar’ on the left)

photo by Joeri Hoste (central: Eric Allen, Marco Walzel, Justin Pearson)

the international crowd… :-)

even the local girl-scouts visited…

…and a little British kitten named Vique… (photo courtesy of Joeri Hoste)

photos by Sergi E. Costa (unless where otherwise mentioned)

There were people from all over but there was especially an Italian invasion… Quite a few bands from there played and some people who were in Italian bands that didn’t play also came over. One of them was Federico Oddone (ex ‘Maze’), the guitarist of ‘Sottopressione’ (from Milano). In that band he played together with ‘Diste’ Andrea Di Stefano (bass), ‘Kuku’ (drums; replaced Mauro Dossi ex ‘Crash Box’) and Mayo Maggiore (vocals). The band released a 7” through Mele Marce recs and 3 albums on Rudy Medea’s Vacation House recs. Federico wrote this entry in the guestbook:

Veganism was a big issue too… Animal Truth zine (by Cindy Frey & An Lehaen) a reference…

additions wellcome!…