94-04-23 Sarcasm – Undone – Fingerprint – Rood Arch

This was a benefit for an Indonesian study-project Kakak Asuh. “1.000 BeF (25 Euro) enables 1 kid to go to school for 1 year!”

Brob

I organised a couple of concerts like this, I think. [Actually this was the second in a row of 3; see 93-02-21 & 95-03-25] A friend of mine worked in Indonesia back then, and supported the project…

Sacha Baelen

‘Sarcasm’ (see also 93-11-07) was a crust-punk band from Leicester with ‘Mr Wanky’ Mark Gardener (vocals; played in ‘Extreme Noise Terror’ for a while), ‘Brillo Brilleaux’ (drums), Paul Reynolds (bass) & Colin Bennett (who had replaced guitarist Ben a.k.a. ‘Bené von Bastard’ by then I believe). Mr Wanky was also guitarist and vocalist for British punkrockers ‘The Wankys’, and he runs Noise Punk recs. The years before this they put out a couple of 7”s: Your Funeral My Party (on the Brazilian label Rotthenness recs, 91) & The Lowest Form Of Wit (on Neil Robinson’s Tribal War recs, 92). There was also a split-tape with the Japanese ‘C.F.U.D.L.’ (tracks from ‘Sarcasm’s unreleased second demo recorded in ‘91). They also did a few tapes for Polish labels: Mist Of Confusion (on Daniel Winiarek’s Demonstracja tapes, ‘93) & Demo I + Live (Kassandra promotion). In ’95 Brave New World was recorded (with Mark, Paul, Leigh & ‘Brillo’; released on a label from Paris) and Pawel Rzóska put the split-7” with ‘Sanctus Iuda’ out on his label Scream recs.

‘Sarcasm’ (photos by Wim De Leersnijder) [#2: local Pedro trying out vocals]

‘Rood Arch’ (an ‘emo’ band from Duncerque/Lille): Tomoy (ex ‘Scraps’) played bass, there was a second bassist Fred (ex ‘6 Feet Over’), and Pierre Anne (ex ‘6 Feet Over’ & ‘Scraps) played drums and sung. This was their first appearance here. Living just across the border they would be back a couple of times (94-11-19 & 95-12-03).

‘FingerPrint’, considered as one of the first socalled screamo bands, but the guys – Nicolas Fisseau (vocals), Christophe Mora (guitar), Thomas Guillanton (bass; also ‘Jasemine’ / ‘Ananda’) and Jérome Bessout (drums; also ‘Jasemine’) – didn’t want that label. They had played a few times at the V.V. before (93-05-22 & 93-09-17). In October ’93 they recorded their 7” We May Be Brothers.

Our mate Henk Loobuyck interviewed them for (the Vort’n Vis zine) Fifi #1 and there they informed us that 2 of them had been playing in a band called ‘Spicy Trick’ before. They mentioned ‘Downcast’, ‘Heroin’, ‘Still Life’, ‘Rorschach’, ‘Ivich’ & ‘Age’ as influences.

‘Undone’ an emo band with attention for DIY and politics from the Paris suburbs, were: Christophe Mora (drums; Stonehenge recs & distro), Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier (guitar, Kleines Mädchen distro), Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (bass & vocals; later ‘Ananda) and Sullivan ‘Sully’ Chédanne (vocals). When Christophe contacted me to distribute ‘Undone’s their stuff, he described their music as a mix of ‘Downcast’ and ‘Neurosis’… Their 1^st (untitled) EP was out on Christophe’s label Stonehenge recs (recorded end of ’93). They’d recorded a demo earlier with Renaud Mary as drummer. Right before this gig they’d also recorded for the split-EP with ‘Shatter The Myth’… They would be back here a few times (94-08-21 / 95-09-15 / 95-12-03) and I published an interview with the band in Tilt! #8.

Brob

Guillaume Caouissin was the bassist of ‘Shatter The Myth’ and ‘Sea Shepherd’. He was the ‘driver’ for ‘FingerPrint’ and ‘Undone’…so he always hung out with us… He lives in Peru [Brob: I think he’s in Ethiopia now.].

Christophe Mora

Christophe intends to re-issue the ‘Undone’ discography on his label. ‘Sully’ lives in Australia (and has a child, I think). ‘Stu’ has played in a (rather metal) band, ‘Carmina’, some time…

At that time, the Vort’n Vis was really an unavoidable place, with its festivals (e.g. Leed), where everyone met up. I think it’s there that I have my best gigs. Practically every band passed by. It was madness! My biggest regret is that I missed ‘Born Against’ and ‘Nausea’! We had no place like that in France. And the punk-scene was still a lot of ‘rock’…

Here’s a live video of ‘Undone’ (not at the V.V.): part 1 & part 2.

Steph Brochier

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-12-03 Merel – Bob Tilton – Undone – Malva – Rood Arch – Kosjer D – [Symptom Of Isaac] – [Churn]

This gig – advertised as ‘Emo In Motion’ – was (probably) organised by Joeri Hoste. Also helping out (more or less) was Guilherme Chalmers (from Portugal) and Jurgen Desmet. Kathy Dejonghe (Genet recs, Pyrrhus store) prepared meals. ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘Churn’ were announced at one timepoint but aren’t mentioned in the Vort’n Vis notes so I reckon they cancelled.

‘Symptom Of Isaac’ was an emo band from Poitiers (with some members of ‘Milkus’): Alain Vidal (vocals; ex ‘Vanilla’ bassist), Gaël Nicolas (guitar), Fabien Decker (bass) and Antoine Demantké (drums). Weena Pauly did some vocals on a self-titled 7” (also known as Seek Me Out) that they put out on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer (94). Later Alain Vidal formed ‘El Vidal Sonido’ with Yves Maisonneuve (drums, ex ‘Ivich’/’Vanilla’). There was also a split-tape (live ‘95) with ‘Ananda’…

‘Churn’ was also an emo band from Leuven & Limburg with Raf ‘Thrasher’ Gelenne (vocals), Peter Peumans (bass), Raf Gielen (guitar), Maarten Beckers (drums) and Jan Beckers (guitar). (The latter 3 went on as ‘Kindred’ with Walter Beckers and Eric Sefton). They had played at the Hardcore Festival already that year (95-08-20).

‘Merel’ was another emo band from New Jersey, with David A. (Dave) Leto (bass; here replaced by ‘Iconoclast’s Kevin K.; see below) and Gregg Leto (drums) – both later in ‘Rye Coalition’, Jon Ariz (guitar), Mike Solski (guitar) & José Juan Ruiz (vocals). They did a split-7” with Iconoclast on Old Glory and a 7” & LP on Charles Maggio’s label Gern Blandsten.

‘Bob Tilton’, emo-rockers (some said they played “twisted post-hardcore”) from Nottinghman, were Al(l)an Gainey (drums; ex ‘Downfall’), Chay Lawrence (guitar; also ‘Tribute’), Mark Simms (bass; also ‘Baby Harp Seal’), Neil Johnson (guitar) and Si(mon) Feirn (vocals; ex ‘Downfall’). Nick Royles announced them in his newsletter (How We Rock #6) as “similar to ‘Born Against’ & ‘Heroin’…”. The music on their Crescent LP was compared to ‘Promise Ring’ and the ‘Get Up Kids’. Around that time they had the following out, on Subjugation recs: Wake Me When It’s Springtime Again 7” (‘94), Songs Of Penknife And Pocket Watch 7” (‘95). Later there would be the Crescent LP (’96) a split-12” with ‘Reiziger (on Genet recs) and an LP on Southern recs.

‘Bob Tilton’ (pictured by Vique ‘Simba’ Martin)

I had already invited ‘Malva’ to Vort’n Vis before (94-11-05) and they’d played about half a year before this one here too (95-07-02), when they toured with ‘Policy Of 3’. I also planned to interview them for Tilt!… They had recorded the tracks for their 7” (Das Leben Ist Kein Picknick; released on Equality recs) earlier that year (April ‘95). This emo-core band (from Leverkusen) consisted of Christian Schneider (guitar), Alex(ander) Bokelmann (drums), Flo(rian) Reiss (guitar), Martino Palazzo (vocals) and Alex(ander) Jahn (bass).

It wasn’t the first time I could welcome my Parisian friends of ‘Undone’ (drummer Christophe Mora, guitarist Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier, bassist Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly and singer Sullivan ‘Sully’ Chédanne) at the V.V. either. Steph & Chris released the band’s LP Dark Future (recorded April ‘95) on their respective labels (Kleines Mädchen & Stonehenge recs) that year.

‘Rood Arch’ had played here a couple of times already aswell (94-04-23 & 94-11-19) The guys were from Lille/Dunkerque (just accross the border, in France): Pierre Anne (drums/vocals; ex ‘6 Feet Over’), ‘Tomoy’ (bass; ‘Scraps’, later also in ‘Unhinged’) & Fred (also bass; ex ‘6 Feet Over’). It’s a pity there’s no recordings of them. I only have a vague idea of them sounding emo-ish…

‘Kosjer D’, emo from Limburg, played by Arne Van Petegem (guitar/vocals), Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals), Stijn Persoons (drums; ex ‘Dawn Of Liberty’) and Kristien Hendrix (bass; had replaced Werner by then I believe). They’d performed at the V.V. a couple of times already. Having a female bassplayer in the band, they jokingly said, they could be the Belgian ‘Jawbox’… They had a 7” (True?) and LP out on Genet recs that year. In ‘96 there was the split-7” with ‘Baby Harp Seal’…

A lot of my correspondents came over… E.g. Jeffrey Kroesen visited together with a bunch of mates from the north of The Netherlands (read below). Also Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (singer of ‘Peu-Être’, and later ‘Alcatraz’) from Poitiers was there. (Don’t remember if his partner Stéphanie Courret – Opale distro – was there also.) Etc.

Brob

I was a member of ‘Tribute’, and ‘Bob Tilton’ (for about 5 years – everything apart from the first 7” and last LP), I wasn’t really in ‘Unborn’ (I only went to one or two practices) although the www seems to think I was. Don’t really have anything to share from that event other than cloudy memories. I do remember a bunch of bands played though and it might have been with ‘Merel’ or ‘Iconoclast’ who we played a bunch of shows with around the UK? Anyway, I do remember it being a good show with a large crowd.

Chay Lawrence

‘Kosjer D’ and ‘Malva’ were playing also that night. Excellent gig in very good company. I remember I was dead-tired on the way back and had to stop because I almost fell asleep behind the wheel. Couldn’t trust on the others in helping me stay awake since they were all sound asleep even before we got to Antwerp. Bastards! This was a fantastic line-up… Also the first drive with my mom’s car all the way from Friesland [North of the Netherlands] to Ieper, with a stop in Hoogeveen to pick up some people from Groningen. Because of the distance I didn’t come to Ieper often, maybe like 10 times (including 4 Ieperfests when they were still at the Vort’n Vis was) in the 90s. The first time I stayed over for the night, it was ice-cold. We kept our clothes on in our sleeping-bags.

Alex Oost

I recall that I was very impressed by ‘Bob Tilton’ and ‘Merel’. Also that it took the 5 of us a very long drive all the way from Groningen….

Mark Hoogvliet, ‘Shikari’ vocalist & Graanrepubliek recs

After the ‘Merel’ show in Ieper, I drove with them to Jaak [‘N.O.F.’ drummer] ‘s vegan store, where they slept…

Martin Schwendemann (personal communication, spring ’96)

We corresponded in the past, Brob! I had a little distro which carried your zine Tilt!. We met a few times. The ‘Bob Tilton’ / ‘Undone’ / ‘Merel’ gig was one occasion…

Jeffrey ‘Jigs Wolfsbane’ Kroesen

Because of the big strike in France, there were no trains and I couldn’t make it over…

Olivier Lacoste, ‘Öpstand’ singer, Chill Out zine (personal communication, January ’96)

I played bass on ‘Merel’s European tour because the original guy, Dave Leto, quit at the last minute to stay with ‘Rye’, later called ‘Rye Coaltion’. I have great memories of the time and I also have to thank that time for my romantic situation now because I met Lluvia in a squat in Madrid where the punks put on a ‘Merel’ show; she was involved in the organization. We became friends back then but we lost touch until 2010 – I was in NYC playing drums or bass in rock-bands but several broke up, I’d gotten fired from my job and then met up with Lluvia and figured I should take a chance. Now I’m the bass-player for ‘No Band’; Lluvia is the singer.

Kevin Kajetzke, ‘Iconoclast’ drummer

I was still in school and had to stay home…

Dave Leto, ‘Merel’s bassist

I can tell you you it was one of my personal favorites to play. I remained friends with ‘Kosjer D’s drummers Stijn and his wife Diane for a couple of years but lost touch…

Jon Ariz, ‘Merel’ guitarist

I don’t have any memories of the show as the tour was a bit of a whirlwind for us. For some reason my most vivid memory of Belgium was taking a walk and encountering people ice-skating around a Christmas-tree while it was snowing. I often think about that.

Gregg Leto, ‘Merel’s drummer

I feel my most interesting V.V. memories are of my first visits – I traveled with ‘Bob Tilton’ that played a gig there. I was (am) good friends with Nick Royles, and Ian [Simpson] and Helene [Keller] of Subjugation – we all travelled to the show.

David Allen (later ‘Voorhees’ drummer)

‘Merel’ had a woman named Lee Quick on the tour as roadie. José’s girlfriend at the time I believe. José lives in Australia nowadays…

Charles Maggio, ‘Rorschach vocalist’ & Gern Blandsten

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

94-08-21 Iconoclast – Neckbrace – Feeding The Fire – Hopeman Path – Undone – Vanilla – State Of Grace

Intro: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

The ‘Iconoclast’ tour was organised by Bernd B. (‘Abolotion’/’Stack’/Equality recs/Scorched Earth Policy) who drove the whole time. The band, from New Jersey, played emo hardcore. They were: Kevin Sabarese (guitar), Dan Roberts (guitar), Ian White Williams (vocals; here replaced by ‘Merel’s singer José Juan Ruiz – see below), Kevin Kajetzke (drums) and Pat Kelsey (bass). That year their Groundlessness Of Belief 7” got out on Ebullition recs (after an untitled 7” and some others on Kevin S.’s Old Glory recs). They broke up a few months after this tour (last gig with ‘Avail in Philadelphia on Oct 2^nd). I really liked the band (music and people; we’d already met the week before when they played in Herentals) and I think I planned an interview but that didn’t work out. Their last recordings were released ‘post mortem’ on a split double 7” with ‘Abyss’ (from Germany).

‘Iconoclast’ (pic by Massimo Moscarelli) – Dan Roberts (L), Kevin Sabarese (M), Pat Kelsey (R)

‘Iconoclast’ with ‘Merel’s singer José Juan Ruiz (photographed by Albert Cheong)

‘Neckbrace’, a band from Bradford, played powerful vegan sXe HC (hence there 7” on the German hardline label No Cruelty recs; recorded in April of that year) playing “mid-tempo chugga chugga”. In the band: guitarist Andy/Andrew ‘Bez’ Berry (and James – also in ‘Unborn’ – for a short while), singer Heath Powell/Crosby (previously sang in ‘No Way Out’ & ‘Nailbomb’, later ‘Stampin’ Ground’), drummer Neil Godding and bassist Steve/Stephen Harran. (Andy, Neil and Heath had been in ‘Nailbomb’ together.)

‘Neckbrace’ (pics: 1, by Massimo Moscarelli; 2, by Frédéric Falzon)

A bit before Roger played his last show with ‘Feeding The Fire’s. The bassist here was Kay Roderburg, who was also ‘Backdraft’ with Illona and Rob – another band they had started with already (they played the day before this one)… Check the V.V. concert-list for the several shows they did before this one!

‘Feeding The Fire’ (photos courtesy of Heath Crosby) [1. Rob Franssen – 2. Illona Stephan, Rob & Kay Roderburg – 3. Kay & Har(ald) Brosselt]

‘F.T.F.’ pic by Fred Falzon

‘Hopeman Path’ was the band of my mates Dirk ‘Scum’ (vocals; ex ‘Zero Positives’), Stefan Goos (drums; Empower newsletter and later in the band ‘Vuur’), Bart Verelst (bass; also ‘State Of Grace’) & Gunter Braem (guitar). They were from the Kempen area (Herentals/Geel) and had played here already 93-04-25. They lasted a couple of years and would merge into ‘Vuur’ with members of ‘Deconsume’ and ‘Outrage’… Later some of them and myself engaged ourselves for the Newland collective (zine and concerts).

‘Hopeman Path’ (photo by Miguel Angel Lorca) – Gunter Braem (L) & Bart Verelst (R)

‘State Of Grace’ – Jeroen Vanlaer (guitar), Tom Gabriels (guitar), David Heylen (drums), Jan ‘Jakke’ Geeraerts (bass) and Sven De Backer (vocals) – had played the V.V. on 94-04-09. Later Bart Verelst (ex ‘Hopeman Path’) joined on bass and ‘Jakke’ played guitar; then they became ‘Sheen’ (who played the V.V. 95-11). No recollections of them playing this one here…

My friends from Paris, ‘Undone’ played the V.V. many times. They were announced for this one but can ‘t remember if they actually played…

‘Vanilla’ (an emo band from Paris) did a demo in ’94 and put out their I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space 7” on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer (together with Norbert Chomat) in 1995. On that record Jean Lebrun played bass and brothers Yann & Yves Maisonneuve (both ex ‘Ivich’), guitar and drums. Alain Vidal (also in ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘El Vidal Sonido’) joined them later (’96). Bruno released a self-titled LP of them on Genet recs in 1996. They also played 95-01-29, 96-03-24 & 96-08…

Some people thought ‘Nations On Fire’ played aswell but their bassist ‘Goofy’ explains they didn’t. Jaak had left ‘N.O.F.’ and David of ‘Scraps’ abondonned aswell… The line-up around this time (as on the Death Of The Pro-Lifer album) was with Wim Vandekerckhove (also ‘Blindfold’ vocalist) on guitar and Filip Devolder on drums; besides Ed(ward) Verhaeghe (vocals) and Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers (bass).

Bruno (Genet recs) had organised a tour for ‘Scraps’ that turned out rather “disastrous” (with disorganised dates in Spain, administrative & van-trouble in France). Can ‘t recall if Ma Raab (‘Egotrip’) toured with them or in ’95… Amanda Trevens, a correspondent of mine, did a tour-diary about it (Looking Back It Doesn’t Seem So Bad). She played in a band called ‘Timmy’, was helping out at Neil Robinson’s Tribal War recs (actually an internship, studying ‘music technology’) and the HC/punk venue ABC No Rio in NYC, also was the guitarist of ‘Huasipungo’. David of ‘Scraps’ had been staying with her in N.Y.C. the month he spent there and she was asked to be in the band as (guitarist) Raph(aël) couldn’t make it. Touring at that time were David (vocals), Pierre (drums), Tomoy (bass), ‘Straw’ & Alex. Later, Amanda was in band called ‘Ex Teenage Rebels’ with Chris (‘Scraps’ roadie)… The ‘Scraps’ tour had ended prematurely so they didn’t play here, she told me.

Brob

Ed and I hadn’t talked for a few months until I heard that he’d gotten seriously ill in July 1994…

Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers, ‘N.O.F.’ bassist

The Vort’n Vis was pretty rad. I liked it a lot. It’s difficult to tell from one show but it was a nice atmosphere, there weren’t any fights (though I was told it was violent when ‘Oi Polloi’ played). […] I know now why you reacted the way you did when I asked you if you were Bruno when I first got to the V.V. […] Things that were very different at European shows were sound-checking, putting everything through the P.A. at most places, getting fed at shows. This is a rad custom but I still don’t think it should be taken for granted. Most shows are pretty well attended.

Amanda Trevens; personal communication Sep ‘94

In ‘94 I came over in May; practiced for 2 weeks (living in Lille) and toured for 6. I was at the Vort’n Vis for one show – dont remember which one. I’m pretty sure we didn’t play the Vort’n Vis or in Belgium at all. I went there with David or Pierre or both, before the tour started and met you, and maybe Edward. Neil [Robinson] and I were involved in putting on shows at ABC No Rio, and being part of the collective for many years and we were roommates for a bit.

Amanda Trevens

‘Goofy’ (‘Nations On Fire’), Pierre Anne (‘Scraps’) & Amanda Trevens (taken from Fifi #2)

I’m pleased to have been at the Vort’n Vis for the festival. I discussed with a lot of people… But I also was a bit disappointed because of what I saw and heard during these 2 days! I’m talking about the people who, like you said, were showing themselves off. It was incredible. A lot of them were rather superficial, relation-wise. I also have a hard time understanding that thing with the X-s on hands and feet! […] On the other hand, I met a lot of people that I never seen before (Vique [Martin of Simba zine] e.g.). […] It was true what you said about ‘scene-celebrities’: it’s rather strange because when you listen to socalled ‘important’ people, they tell us they’re not doing anything extraordinary and that everyone could do what they do (and that’s true), but then why is there this distance that is being created? […] All this irritates me a bit…

Olivier Lépine, Laissez-Nous Jouer (later ‘L’Invention de Morel’; personal communication Sep ‘94

I found my journal from that time and it says that ‘Iconoclast’ played on Sunday. Sadly I didn’t write about the bands we played with, I only remember that I tried Hoegaarden [beer] for the first time. I have some good memories about the Vort’n Vis and I remember that show especially because José from ‘Merel’ had to sing because Ian went home early to prepare for college. I don’t have so many detailed memories, as we were in a different town every single day, making it a lot of experience in little time. The thing is that the experience of being in that underground scene forever changed me and put me in contact with all kinds of cool people. I met Inge Wynants and [her friend] Judith [Wuytens] that day… I lived in Hoogheultje near Olen [Belgium] for nearly a year back in 1996. That was because I kept in touch with Inge and after seeing her again on the ‘Merel’ tour, I went to visit her and then became romantically involved with her sister Katrine for a few years.

Kevin Kajetzke, ‘Iconoclast’ drummer

Like Kevin K., I also found my journal from that time… It was day 51 of the tour; we were just in from a show in London the previous day and had a rare day off the following. Apparently I was on band-finances at the time, because that’s what the page is about. We made good on 350 DM of expenses to Bernd, took in 6.000 Belgian francs for playing (about $275 in 2017 USD), 2.850 Belgian francs in shirts/records were sold (thanks everyone!), and Kevin K. and I got both into and out of a small amount of debt to the band the following day. Well, it was a hell of a lot better of a time than that dry entry suggests, at the tail end of a good two months to get lost in Europe. I have many very detailed memories from those two months but I have not been able to come up with anything specific from this day – I took the time to look at all the inside/outside photos I could find, and so far…nothing. It is a strange feeling to see yourself in a photo at a place you cannot otherwise remember. It is perhaps not so surprising, as while I feel there are so many things I do remember about that summer, it was an incredible number of people and places in a relatively short amount of time. Maybe exhaustion was setting in by then.

Patrick Kelsey, ‘Iconoclast’ bassist

I visited the Vort’n Vis during a festival in the beginning of the 90s. ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Fabric’, ‘Acme, ‘Vanilla’ and more bands were playing. I’m sure ‘Acme’ and ‘Vanilla’ played. ‘Acme’s set was very short and intense… I travelled together with Carlos Arillo and other friends…. Carlos Arillo was the guy organising gigs at that time in Madrid. He booked shows for many bands: ‘Doom’, ‘Shortsight’, ‘Disrupt’, ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Abolition’, ‘Health Hazard’,…

Miguel Angel Lorca, Madrid

I attended this festival at the Vort’n Vis… Mostly straight-edge bands on the bill who didn’t take too kindly to us lot who were all quite big smokers and drinkers! It said it wasn’t a straight-edge festival but it certainly felt like one! My main recollections of the straight-edge bands were they were very young with very expensive guitars and amps that I didn’t have a hope in hell of having myself at the time. Also I found the bands too be quite serious and self-righteous. I remember really enjoying seeing ‘Iconoclast’; I think they were the stand-out band of the weekend. It sounds like I didn’t enjoy it! But that wasn’t the case; I had a real good laugh with my mates I was with – still see Louis [Warren] now who I went to the festival with; he is now singer in ‘Rotunda’…

Marcus Jones, ‘Marker’ guitarist

That was my first longer tour…been on the road for 8 weeks but it was fun.

Bernd Bohrmann

‘Iconoclast’ on tour – with Bernd B. (squatted), Sherry Beth Sacks & Franziska ‘Franzi’ von Hasselbach

I went to 2 Vort’n Vis festivals. I had a brilliant time at both. During the 2^nd visit I sprained my ankle while dancing to ‘Acme’. I had do go to hospital. ‘Acme’ played in the dark… Simon Johnson organized both the trips. He was a punk/hardcore promoter in Birmingham.

Louis Warren, ‘Rotunda’ vocalist

We were there when ‘Iconoclast’ and ‘Acme’ played but I don’t think we were there the day before…

Karl Penando

Bernd Bohrmann organised that ‘Iconoclast’ tour indeed… There was an American young woman named Sherry [Sherry Beth Sacks; Beehive activist and drummer] on tour with ‘Iconoclast’. [Sherry was a friend of Hazel too. H. named a band that Jeroen L. and her started ‘Sherry’…]

Joeri Hoste

I do have memories of that awesome concert. That was an important first trip to Europe for me. I later returned many times and eventually met my husband Pau (Aina/Barcelona).

Sherry Beth Sacks (sherrybethsacks.tumblr.com)

I remember we hired a small car to travel over to Ieper. Four of us cramped in the car with musical instruments and the boot filled with drum-stuff and a guitar amp-head! Travelling along: myself, ‘Bez’ (Andy) on guitar, Neil on drums and Steve on bass. We were totally blown away to be playing and to be given the opportunity to play such a great festival, with so many other great bands. I would play it one other time doing vocals for ‘Stampin’ Ground’ [96-08] but that’s another story… I remember the car-journey well, crammed, sweaty and suffering from cramp! When we arrived we were amazed so many hardcore kids hanging around, we were like “This is amazing”! The show was great, with lots of people supporting ‘Neckbrace’, with a few people even knowing the tunes. I can’t remember the other bands that played; we were only over for the day. The journey back to England was again with cramps because of the confined space, filled with four sweaty bodies!

Heath Crosby, ‘Neckbrace’ singer

‘Neckbrace’ travels (photos courtesy of Heath Crosby) [1. Andrew ‘Bez’ Berry (L) &  Stephen Harran (R) – 2. Heath (L) & Neil Godding (R)]

I remember playing at the Vort’n Vis. I was the drummer in the band ‘Neckbrace’. The band at that time was Heath Powell [nowadays named Crosby] (vocals), Andrew Berry (guitar), James ‘Bim’ Johnston (guitar), Stephen Harran (bass) and myself on drums… We were crammed in a tiny car with all our gear and we drove from Bradford UK, got the ferry across to France and drove to Ypres [Ieper]. I don’t think Rich Corbridge [Armed With Anger zine and label] came with us, we could only fit 5 people in the car. I remember we arrived at the venue to find that the bass-guitar was broken, so I crafted a new headstock nut from an old dirty comb I found in the street. In the venue I remember seeing all the people, the disturbing PETA videos and some band on stage getting crazy. We were (I think) the very last band of the night and we played at maybe 1 a.m. We gave it our all. I was sweating like crazy, so much so my recently tattooed forearm (‘Neckbrace’ tribal X) cracked, and has scars in it, that always reminds me of Vort’n Vis. At some point during the day I walked to the WW1 memorial and found the name of one of ancestors who died in the war.

Neil Godding

I have no recollections of playing this one with ‘Undone’. Not sure that we played! I don’t remember too much… Not even about playing with all these great bands on the concert-list… I just remember that we were all always so happy to drive up to Belgium and meet our friends up there…

Christophe Mora, ‘Undone’ drummer

additions wellcome!…

96-03-24 Undone – Vanilla – Carol – Rusty James – Outrage

Probably ‘Undone’s last gig here (their 5^th at the V.V.) as they split up early ’97… ‘Sully’ (vocalist Sullivan Chédanne) had already moved to Italy. Apparently he’s living in Australia nowadays… By the end of ’97 Christophe (Mora; drummer) wrote me he was in a new band with ‘Scholl’ (Stéphane Brochier; guitarist), called ‘Narodnaya Volya’ (The People’s Will) (No idea if that ever happened?) and he did a fanzine entitled Desiderata (with Gérome & Séverine from the band ‘Alcatraz’)… ‘Stu’ (Stéphane Joly; bassist) would re-surface in ‘Ananda’. Their last release (The Other Side 7”) was recorded May that year at Ape studio. An ‘Undone’ discography is planned (since a long time)…

‘Rusty James’ (from Bremen) played melodic/poppy HC (some compared them with ‘Jawbreaker’). They were: Miguel Andrade (guitar/vocals; ex ‘Abolition’) & Rainer Ohst (drums) – who both used to play in the vegan straight-edge emo band ‘Age’ (with singer Hauke Hersinger, guitarist Markus Czymzik & bassist Ramon Lembke). Dirk Kusche (supposedly in the band between 1995 & ‘97; also in ‘Systral’) came over with ‘Rusty James’ but I can’t remember the exact line-up… Perhaps Pascal Heiduk on bass (replacing Hans Joachim Witt) and Kai Bewersdorf on guitar? At that time they had an untitled 7” out and their Save The Last Dance For Me LP (both on Love recs). Someone described them as “Europe’s best pop-punk band ever”… Miguel, Rainer and Hauke were also in the emo band ‘Assay’ (LP out on Love recs in ’97). The Wolfsburger Andre Pawelzick (Refuge mailorder) & Holger Ohst (Summersault mailorder) might have been there aswell…?

‘Outrage’s first performance at the V.V. They recorded their 1^st 7”, Between Brackets (out on Nico’s Day One recs), in April ’96. They were: Sigi Loots (drums; later ‘Crimson Falls’), Steven Van Goubergen (guitar), Ringo Van Dingenen (vocals; later ‘Crimson Falls’) and Nico Peeters (bass; later in ‘Vuur’ & ‘KingTerror’). The latter was a friend from the Newland collective that did shows in Herentals and a zine with the same name. He also ran a distro and label with his partner (at that time) An Caers. The band would be back for the summer-fest on 96-08-16, 97-03-01 & 98-09-19.

‘Carol’ from Bremen had been at the V.V. already (95-09-15). They played brutal, energetic screamo hardcore with a crusty edge…influenced by ‘Acme’. The guys in the band were (I think) Andy Lehmann (guitar), Björn Schmidt (vocals; later in ‘Mörser’ & ‘Systral’), ‘Hajo’ André Wendelken (guitar), Matthias ‘Matze’ Trenne (bass; also ‘Mörser’), ‘Acme’s bassist Sönke Gabriel did drums. That year (January) they had recorded the Prefabricated 7” (Philipp Styra ‘Queerfish’ was the drummer on the 1^st one) that came out on Markus Haas’ label Per Koro. A bit after this gig – summer of ’96 – they recorded (with André or ‘Shitman’ – also in ‘Mörser’ – on drums) a track for the split 7” with ‘Stack’ that was released on my mate Hoger Ohst’s label Summersault. André Wendelken and ‘Mörser’-guitarist Sven ‘Svenion’ Nienaber later formed ‘Minion’…

‘Vanilla’ had already played here 95-01-29 and probably also 94-08. They were an emo band from Paris that put out their I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space 7” on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer in 1995 (after an initial demo). On that record Jean Lebrun played bass and brothers Yann & Yves Maisonneuve (both ex ‘Ivich’), guitar and drums. Alain Vidal (also in ‘Symptom Of Isaac’ & ‘El Vidal Sonido’) joined them later. Bruno VdV released an untitled LP of them on Genet recs so they were invited back for 96-08.

Brob

I can’t remember who played in ‘Rusty James’ back then – apart from Miguel (singer/guitarist) and Rainer (drummer). I think ‘Hajo’ [André Wendelken] from ‘Carol’ played bass and I was probably playing guitar (or the other way around?). That was in ‘96, I think. I don’t remember the show, though… It was nice, when I had been there with ‘Carol’ [95-09-15]; they played in a smaller room somehow [the Vort’n Vis pub]. Even more exciting when we played on some other date with ‘Systral’ [95-09-16 & 96-09-22] but that was on a quite big stage in front of a big audience. Exciting, but a bit weird too, since we liked it better to play in small steamy venues that were more personal.

Dirk Kusche, ‘Systral’ bassist & owner of Kuschelrock studios

Rainer Ohst was the drummer of ‘Rusty James’. Kai Bewersdorf was the guitar-player, the first guy to play the other guitar was Dirk Kusche – he also played bass and founded ‘Systral’…

Pascal Heiduk

I played in ‘Rusty James’ but only the last year and I’m pretty sure I’ve never played in Belgium unfortunately.

Kai Bewersdorf

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-09-15 Undone – Suffer – Carol

1^st day of the 7^th Leed festival

‘Undone’ had been in the studio for the Dark Future LP in April that year. It was the 4^th time at the V.V. (after 94-04-23, 94-08-21 & 94-10-01) for the Parisian emo band and they would be back a couple of times more… Great friends – especially drummer Christophe Mora (Stonehenge recs & distro) and guitarist Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier (also did Kleines Mädchen distro & Infest zine) – so I tried to see them as much as possible.

‘Undone’ photo by Albert Cheong

‘Undone’ pictured by Sned

When Mandy left, the Bradford-based ‘Health Hazard’ reformed into ‘Suffer’ (see 95-04-29): Alec Mac doing guitar & vocals, Chris ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne playing bass and ‘Sned’ on drums. They did 3 7”s on Flat Earth recs (Mac and Sned’s label), one of which was a self-titled one recorded a few months after this tour. The night after this they played in Liège with ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ and ‘Unhinged’. (More pics on the introduction-page)

‘Suffer’ photo by Albert Cheong

‘Suffer’ pic by Kerim Gönencer

‘Carol’ from Bremen played brutal, energetic screamo hardcore with a crusty edge…influenced by ‘Acme’. The guys in the band were (I think) Andy Lehmann (guitar), Björn Schmidt (vocals; later in ‘Mörser’ & ‘Systral’), ‘Hajo’ André Wendelken (guitar), Matthias ‘Matze’ Trenne (bass; also ‘Mörser’), ‘Acme’s bassist Sönke Gabriel did drums. That year (January) they had recorded the Prefabricated 7” (Philipp Styra ‘Queerfish’ was the drummer on the 1^st one) that came out on Markus Haas’ label Per Koro. The next year they came back (96-03-24) and then recorded (summer of ’96 with André or ‘Shitman’ – also in ‘Mörser’ – on drums) a track for the split 7” with ‘Stack’ that was released on the label my mate Holger Ohst’s (Summersault mailorder) did.

‘Carol’ photographed by Sned

Brob

Think this was the 1^st full ‘Suffer’ tour after ‘Health Hazard’ with Max singing 1/2 the set. We’d been touring quite a lot and were in full anti-authoritarian moustache mode, had been having lots of near misses with headline/ body-lice and were finding our feet playing as a 3-piece. Always great to spend time with the ‘Undone’, ‘Carol’, ‘Anarcrust’, ‘Acme’, ‘Systral’ comrades. Lots of great intense, emotional HC that night and lots of cool chats. Proper empowering gig. I seem to remember ‘D.D.I.’ being around  but we played with them a few times so I could be getting confused. [Brob: They played the next day but where there already…] Definitely remember feeling how recharging it was that folks from all over could come together and make something great happen, especially at places like the V.V. which were where the tribes would meet and we’d meet up with the Belgian family.

‘Suffer’s Alec Mac

That weekend was great fun!

Sas (‘Anarcrust’, Kbaal distribution)

It was nice when I was there with ‘Carol’. I think they played in the smaller room, and exciting when we played on some other date with ‘Systral’ but that was on a quite big stage in front of a big audience. Exciting, but a bit weird too, since we liked it better when we could play in small steamy venues that were more personal. [Brob: the first evening of his fest took indeed place in the pub. The next days the concerts happened in the ‘barn’ so ‘Carol’ played in the (smaller) pub and ‘Systral’ in the bigger room the next day…]

Dirk Kusche, ‘Systral’ bassist & Kuschelrock studio

I was in Ieper several times. The first time with ‘Acme’ [94-04-09] (but I didn’t play in ‘Acme’). I played at the Vort’n Vis more than once (with ‘Carol’ in ’95, also with ‘Systral’). I think we also played there once together with ‘International Noise Conspiracy’. [Brob: That must’ve after the turn of the century…]).

Andy Lehmann

‘Shitman’ was drumming in ‘Mörser’. Maybe also in ‘Carol’…

Gregor Iwanoff; drummer for ‘Acme’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

95-09-15&16&17 7th Leed festival

Evolution of announcements in the Vort’n Vis newsletters

=> the actual ‘bill’:

15 sep ’95: Undone (Fra), Suffer (UK), Carol (Ger)

16 sep ’95: D.D.I. (Ita), Oi Polloi (UK), Glue (UK), Coche Bomba (Fra), Insane Youth (Bel), Carcer Molochi (Bel), Rawness (Fra), Systral (Ger)

17 sep ’95: Spite (UK), Catweazle (Nl), Extinction Of Mankind (UK), Uutuus (Fin) => Äpärä Kaaos (Fin/Tur) [don’t think Contramenation (Ger) played]

(Quite a few other bands had been announced: Fleas & Lice (Nl) played a couple of months earlier, Brawl (Ire) came over a week before, Defiance (USA) a month later; gigs for Subcaos (Por; Joao Abrantes had left the band) / Sanctus Iuda (Pol) / Dread Messiah (UK) / Meanwhile (Swe) with ‘No Security’s Jallo Lehto & Mattias Kennhed / Kirous (Fin) / Luzifers Mob (Ger) / Third World Disease (Fin) / Warcollapse (Swe) toured Germany, Poland, Czech Republic & Austria with ‘E.O.M.’ in September ‘95 / … fell through for some reason)

* reviewed in Persons Unknown (Luxembourg zine) #2 by Brego *

Brego interviews Piero Majocchi of AZ distro/label (‘D.D.I.’)

There’s some photos of the distro-stalls, visiters and the run-in with the police in In and around the Vort’n Vis …

Some people that visited that weekend: Ilja S. (Yahoo distribution, Berlin) and his girlfriend, Gregor Kanitz & Sascha May (Evilspeak zine, Düsseldorf), Sas (‘Anarcrust’ bassist & Kbaal distribution, Rotterdam), ‘Enco’ Enzo Giurgevich (vocalist of ‘No Limits’, Koper, Slovenia), ‘Bumpy’ of ‘Sea Shepherd’ (Orléans, France), Luc Ardilouze (Scream zine, Bayonne, France), …

‘Suffer’ meets ‘D.D.I.’ (1: Gazza, Mac, Mila, Gio, Sned / 2: Sned, Dario, Mac)

‘Oi Polloi’ & friends

Matt Finch: “Calum Mackenzie (blue top), I’m holding the bottle, next me is Colin Douglas (‘Oi Polloi’ driver). Don’t know who the guy with the dreads is.”.

Colin Douglas: “There is 4 people that I know from Slovenia there. Is that Riley beside me? The person next to Deek is Lea, and Matjaž in front of Deek. The guy behind Calum is Enzo and his partner is in front of Calum.”

‘Enco’ Enzo Giurgevich: “Matjaž, Lea ‘Piercing’, Marija and myself. On the left are two Finnish guys [Jonne & ‘Pedro’ from Äpärä Kaaos]. Matjaž [Lican] used to do the Atomic Fart distro-label [live-tapes of concerts at MKNZ in Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia]. We traveled from Koper [Slovenia] to Ieper in my old Yugo (car). I did around 20 hours of driving in one direction…”

And fun was had by all… ;-) “dancing king Lalli” dixit Wim De Leersnijder

French visitors at Leed ’95; with Bumpy (white t-shirt) from ‘Sea Shepherd’ (Orléans), died in a car-accident in 1997… [the alley opposite of the V.V.] (photo by Ivan Brun)

Italian cuisine à la ‘D.D.I.’ (with on the left Deek ‘Polloi’ & Kerim Gönencer)

For some pics of the cops getting hassled here: scroll down => In and around the Vort’n Vis

94-10-01 Jawbreaker – Undone – Lash Out – [Bitter Smile]

This ‘Jawbreaker’ tour was organised by Mary Jane Weatherbee (later MRR collaborator; she ran Lookout! recs UK, together with Aidan Taylor & Christy Colcord). ‘Jawbreaker’ resided in the Californian Bay Area (Berkeley/San Francisco) and played melodic hardcore. They were guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach (and lead-vocalist; with very recognisable, hoarse vocals), bassist Chris Bauermeister and drummer Adam Pfahler. Their music was melodic mid-tempo HC. I’d seen them play live in San Francisco in 1989 and liked them a lot… But when they signed to Geffen recs (a major label) – after this tour – my ‘love’ for them cooled down a lot…but hey, they were “never punk” (their own words)… They had been announced already before (92-10-04) but didn’t show up then… They had a bunch of 7”s and LPs under their belt by this time. Their latest ‘DIY’ LP 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (out on S.F. label Tupelo recs) was recorded May/August ‘93.

photo from Stonehenge #3 (Christophe Mora’s zine)

‘Lash Out’ was a Norwegian hardcore/metal (“combining dark metal and classic hardcore”) band from Molde. Members were: Anders Wimpelman (vocals), Bjørnar Næss (guitar), Vegard Waske (drums), Frank Johannessen (guitar) and Håvard Godøy (bass). They had some records out on Stormstrike recs from Germany. The Worn Path 12” was recorded in June 1994. That year there was also a split-7” released with ‘Contention’ (also from Norway; ‘Onward’s Arne Olav Haabeth sang for them); these were supposed to come along as support but that didn’t happen. The tour-schedule mentions two dates in Langemark but I guess that was because this was where their contact Joost Noyelle (‘Congress’) was living. They played there the day after this one (with ‘Blindfold’ and ‘Congress’).

‘Undone’ appeared here for the 2^nd time (after 94-04-23) and they’ld play here a few times more. A bunch of great friends: Christophe Mora (drums; Stonehenge recs & distro), Stéphane ‘Scholl’ Brochier (guitar, also did Kleines Mädchen distro & Infest zine), Stéphane ‘Stu’ Joly (bass & vocals; later ‘Ananda) and Sullivan ‘Sully’ Chédanne (vocals). They had recorded for the split-EP with ‘Shatter The Myth’ earlier that year. The studio-sessions for the Dark Future LP weren’t until April 1995…

‘Undone’ photos courtsey of Joeri Hoste

Can’t remember who ‘Bitter Smile’ (also from France but not ‘Behind The Smile’) were…

Nice meeting up with Olivier Lépine (another correspondent) here aswell. And Aaron ‘Cometbus’!

Brob

‘Bitter Smile’ was actually ‘Behind The Smile’ under a new name (due to a new line-up) but if I remember well, they didn’t play that night!!! I have great memories of that gig: especially ‘dancing’ with Aaron Cometbus… Not a lot of people attended though…

Philippe Klur, Uprising Decay zine

To be honnest, I don’t have a lot of specific memories of ‘Undone’s gigs in Ieper… All I remember is that it was always such a pleasure and a great moment for us to drive up there and meet up with all our friends. We had the feeling to be part of something larger and more coherent, thanks to the people we met there and the experience we had…

Christophe Mora

‘Jawbreaker’ in 1994; I must have been there. Christy & I organized that tour together.

Mary Jane Weatherbee

I was at the ‘Jawbreaker’ show in the Vort’n Vis. I was so overwhelmingly happy to see people again after moving alone for so long and far… [Aaron (who’s zine Cometbus I’d been distributing) was riding his bike through several European countries; he wrote about it in one of his issues.]

Aaron ‘Cometbus’; personal communication

I certainly remember our Vort’n Vis gig, midways in our European tour… ‘It was initiated and organised by Johannes Schrammel of our German record-label Stormstrike recs. We were on the road for approximately 2 months, playing shows in Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and UK. As far as I can recall, our show at V.V. was OK, an enjoyable affair, musically and socially. I guess we did our usual ‘94 European tour set, which mostly contained material from the mini-album released the same year (Worn Path), in addition to maximum 1 song from our ‘93 debut The Darkest Hour, 1-2 songs that were to be featured on the ‘95 album (What Absence Yields) and probably a cover (Burning Fight by ‘Inside Out’, Just Like You by ‘Judge’ or Break Down The Walls by ‘Youth Of Today’)…

We were all fans of ‘Jawbreaker’ and pretty stoked to play a show alongside such a great live act, as much as we were thrilled doing it at V.V. It was already a legendary venue (that we had read all about in many fanzines) in those days. I’m sorry to say but I don’t remember what the other bands were like.

The aftermath of our V.V. concert was kinda funny: instead of crashing at the V.V., Bjørnar (our guitarist), our roadie Erik and me hooked up with Saskia ‘Shortsight’ (who I had met at a ‘Shortsight’ show in Denmark the previous year). She took us to our very first rave, somewhere outside the city, where we hung out until dawn. When we got back to V.V., we found the rest of the band lying around on the floor of this shit-hole of a room (no offence but it was probably the most dirty and messy place we ever saw during this tour), scratching their bodies like maniacs. The rave actually saved us from catching scabies (!).

Anders Wimpelman, ‘Lash Out’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival

The first weekend of September 1992 the Vort’n Vis organised what was then called Hardcore ’92. A festival with a mix of punky/crusty bands and straight-egde outfits. The same was intended in September 1993. I wrote about the incident that happened there… Although it was unfortunate, even reprehensible; for myself the motivation to try and bring all sorts of people together stayed. However other people made it so that the 2 ‘factions’ wouldn’t meet so easily anymore. In 1994 an SxE fest (weekend around half of August) and the Leed fest (half of September; the Vort’n Vis’ alternative to the city of Ieper’s mainstream Leet festival) were organised independent from one and other; and caused this ‘split’. One of the protagonists in the aforementioned incident (Hans Verbeke, ‘Blindfold’) obviously was reluctant to see the same thing happening again and set up (with good intentions, I’m sure) a “Positive Festival” – together with his sister Saskia (‘Shortsight’) and Rob Franssen (‘Feeding The Fire’).

This setting would over the years grow into a huge event (not unlike a lot of the commercial summer-festivals) and moved outside of the Vort’n Vis premises. Unfortunately (and that already was from the beginning), it turned out to be a market-place for big/commercial labels and distributions (local and others). I’ve never been able to see what the value of that was and I kept reacting against it. Having SxE and non-SxE friends I also wasn’t keen on the separation.

I wrote about it in a column that appeared in my friend Joeri Hoste’s zine Emotive Impulse (Sep. ’94):

>> We were all very excited about it for months. Myself not in the least; as it came closer it promised to be something wonderful, something that could last a week instead of a weekend. (…) After some shitwork, I wanted to start a bunch of conversations but unfortunately practically all ended up being quite short and superficial (…) consuming seemed like the most important thing again… (…) “I BUY, therfor I am” (actually this goes for the whole capitalist system – ergo: the HCpunk-scene is not so diffrent form the capitalist system nowadays, no?) (…) Another thing: no matter what we all say, there are distinct cliques in our scene. We all pretend they don’t exist but they do… I’m not talking about the obvious devide between SxE and ‘crustpunx’. Also within SxE (as within the crustpunx) there are micro-communities with their own rules, prescriptions, ‘incestuous’ behaviour, etc. How are you ever gonna evolve, learn,… when you never break out these micro-units. You don’t have to know everyone but at least look for different things once and a while; and on the other hand: allow others to get into your group of peers. I try to pick up things from various people, why restrain and stick to one groove? This scene we’re in, this subculture – again – is supposed to offer an alternative to the mainstream, the capitalist/patriarchic system. Let’s all work to create this. Don’t fool yourself and others. (…) <<

The newsletter of March that year started out with announcing a “3-day festival with ‘Scraps’, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Voorhees’, ‘Iconoclast’ and plenty more”. A few months later there was mention of 3 bands on Friday, ‘Blindfold’, ‘Refused’ & 5 or 6 more on Saturday, and ‘Iconoclast’, Scraps’ & ‘Voorhees’ on Sunday. And as you can see on the flyers that were made this expanded/changed gradually.

This is from the newsletter right before the festival:

As far as I can remember this was the actual programme:

19 aug ’94: Spawn (Ger), Congress (Bel), Kosjer D (Bel)

20 aug ’94: Refused (Swe), Abhinanda (Swe), Fabric (UK), Blindfold (Bel), Shortsight (Bel), Acme (Ger), Backdraft (Nl), Nothing Left To Grasp (Ger)

21 aug ’94: Iconoclast (USA), Neckbrace (UK), Feeding The Fire (Nl), Hopeman Path (Bel), Undone (Fra)

Also got on the bill/played: ‘State Of Grace’ (Bel), ‘Vanilla’ (Fra), … But can’t remember which day… Pretty sure ‘Stormwatch’ (Ger) didn’t play.

‘Nations On Fire’ didn’t do a show. Also Steve W. tells me his band ‘Neuthrone’ didn’t play, ‘Scraps’ cancelled and ‘Voorhees’ didn’t show up (read 94-08 [Voorhees])…

Even though this fest attracted a lot of people, it still took place in the pub (and not in the ‘shed’). The distros had a lot of space in the courtyard… So did the people who wanted to ‘socialize’…

L corner: Stéphane Cormary, Ludovic Hache and Agnes (photo by Miguel Angel Lorca); the ‘Abhinanda’ crew on the R

Besides the bands I remember Vique ‘Simba’ Martin was there. So were Nicole ‘Upsi’ Vokrouhlik (from Augsburg) – who was doing a mailorder/label and organised a festival – and her boyfriend Daniel… Volker Pohlschmidt (‘Steadfast’) most likely… Marco Walzel (‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, Speak So That I May See You zine); some of the ‘Doughnuts’ girls signed the guestbook; Albert Cheong from Barcelona (Heartcore zine) took pics… Alan Davis who did Train Of Thought zine (Bristol) was there… Also Nick Royles (Sure Hand recs, How We Rock zine and various bands)… Miguel Angel Lorca from Madrid came over with a friend. My correspondent Amanda Trevens (guitarist of ‘Timmy’ & ‘Huasipungo’) who was helping out Neil Ribonson at Tribal War recs (actually an internship, studying ‘music technology’), and volunteering at ABC No Rio (all in NYC) was in Europe (actually toured with ‘Scraps’) and visited… Some French non-SxE people came over aswell (which was great): Ludovic Hache (Ras l’Bol zine) and Agnes, Karl & Steph (‘6 Feet Over’). And a hell of a lot more… Olivier Lacoste (‘Öpstand’ singer, Bordeaux)?

There were also some people that tried to get to the Vort’n Vis but didn’t make it (unfortunately)… In his zine J’Ai Le Regret A La Joie Mélé #4, Gérome Desmaison (guitarist of ‘Peu-Être’ / ‘Alcatraz’) describes how him and his friend Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (vocalist in the same bands) took of hitchhiking from Niort/Poitiers (France) to the Vort’n Vis but got stuck (spending the night in gasstation along the highway) before reaching the border, somewhere between Paris and Lille… They returned home but decided to rent a van the next time…

Brob

audience (Wim ‘Blindfold’ centre); pic by Patrick Federli

I was at every ‘fest’ there in the 90s (I guess up until 2001) and all I can say, is that I always had the best of times. The first couple of times at the V.V. were the best. The yard, the stinky toilets, the little shop at the corner, playing football with the Swedish kids… The list is endless… Best of times and always the highlight of every summer!

Patrick Federli

We ended up at the Vort’n Vis because it was basically the place to be for red edge kids like us! ;-). I went from Marseille to Bordeaux to meet up with my mate Manu who was doing a red edge zine called Wolfpack. We took the train all the way to Ieper, that was a long fuckin’ ride! Ah ah and we sure didn’t regret it.

Frédéric Falzon

 

photo courtesy of Heath Crosby (Sherry Beth Sacks in the background)

Marco Walzel

see also: 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival * Italian impressions

additions wellcome!…