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!…

97-06-27 Spineless – Spirit Of Youth – Lifecycle – Firestone – Sorehead – D.S.A. – Warcraft – Instinct – [Voices At The Front]

The poster indicates this was the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD. ‘Fifi’ had a hand in setting this up. There’s no mentioning of ‘Voices At The Front’ in the V.V. notes, but ‘Instinct’ is mentioned. Did they replace them?

Some of the bands also played here: 96-12-30 SxE @ 100 hours

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on the fest in August ’96. They were Kristof Mondy (bass; Yoda zine; later ‘AmenRa’), Colin H. Van Eeckhout (vocals; later ‘AmenRa’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar; also ‘Congress’), Mathieu Vandekerckhove (guitar; replaced Koen Sandra – ex ‘The Jedi’ – in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). They played brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96), Hans Verbeke of SoberMind recs released the Painfields 7”/CD (presented here). The album A Talk Between Me And The Stars album would follow the next year (Presentation at the V.V., 98-04-26). They also performed on the Fest in August that year.

‘Lifecycle’, a ‘new-school’ HC band from the Ieper/Kortijk region (H8000 but not with that typical sound), had done their first gig the previous month. Here the line-up was: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie soon went on to sing for ‘Spirit Of Youth’), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Jan Volckaert (drummer of ‘Resist The Pain’; was stand-in a few times for Jan ‘Relle’ Verhelst ex ‘Convict’) and Jurgen Degryse (bass; later there were a few others). They did a demo (There Is Hope Again!; recorded by Michael Maes) and a mini-album (CD) Forever… Until… on Sober Mind recs. When Sofie gave up SxE but still wanted to continue ‘Lifecycle’, Steve decided to quit the band… Because of that, the band split-up, they couldn’t continue without him… He formed ‘Eliot Ness’ (together with Saskia Verbeke). Vincent Tetaert, who used to play drums with the band for a while went on to join ‘AmenRa’ (as guitarist)…

‘Lifecycle’ (Jurgen Degryse – Steve Noyelle – Jan Volckaert)

Not realy sure if ‘Voices At The Front’ actually played… But they’d been here before (96-05-12 & 96-08-17). You can find some history there. ‘V.A.T.F’ was a local straight-edge band (Poperinge) with Gaëtan Golvet (drums), Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (guitar; also Strike One fanzine) Sim ‘Simtje’ Meersseman (bass) and Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (guitar; R.I.P. Vincent’s cousin). A H8000 band that didn’t follow the trend. Metal-influenced but self-willed (thanks to vocalist Vik) HC; they did some ‘Inside Out’ covers. They had a demo (’96) but didn’t release any vinyl… Some of them were part of the New Skate Generation posse (which included Kobe Desramaults, chef of Michelin-starred restaurant In De Wulf). A while after Vik had moved to Gent he started the Smart Art Movement collective, that organised all kind of activities/parties/gigs. Later he started to squat and got even more politically active…

‘V.A.T.F’ was probably replaced by ‘Instinct’, a band my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). They were mentioned in the V.V. notes. ‘Instinct’ had played here before (97-03-01) and would play a couple of times more that summer (97-07-12 & 97-08-15). A “positive old-school” (Steve Noyelle’s words) band. Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar (both were also playing in the new school metal band ‘Eulogy’ with Tom of ‘Family Of Dog’), Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. Later they released a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment. There’s also mentioning of a live-demo at the Vort’n Vis…

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area) played in there new line-up (more new-school metal-HC). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source – replaced by Sim Meersseman of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’), guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (also Strike One zine) and Vincent Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). The start of their “second phase”… During which they did 3 LPs: Source on Sober Mind recs (1998), a split with ‘One King Down’ ‎on GoodLife recs (1998) & Colors That Bleed on GoodLife recs (1998).

promo-pic (GoodLife): Vincent Merveillie / Frederik Denolf / Sim Meersseman / Dominiek Denolf / Vincent Theeten

‘Firestone’ (Kortrijk) had already performed at Hardcore, The Next Generation (96-08-16). They were a H8000-metal band. Their later singer Iris explains the early history below. In August 1996 they had recorded for their Dark Fantasies demo.

Steve Noyelle informs me: >>‘Sorehead’ was a band from Ieper with Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Pieter Derycke (drums); their music resembled that of ‘Sektor’. [The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive.] ‘D.S.A.’ – old-school NY Hardcore – was the band of Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Maarten Verschaeve (vocals) and a guy called Pieter-Jan (PJ; guitar)…<< (see 96-12-30 & …) I believe the vocalist of ‘D.S.A.’ (who were from the Ieper area) was Davy Verhoye (on the 1^st demo) and Maarten (2^nd demo); guitarist was Pieter-Jan Vandenberghe.

Frederik Vanhee (pic courtesy of Karel Deweerdt)

‘Warcraft’ (from Ieper) was with Wouter Keirse. Read what he has to say below… The same guys of what was the band ‘Defence’, that played on 96-12-30…?

Brob

The V.V. was and still is very inspiring to me. We played there 2 or 3 times I think. Once there was a last minute improvised line-up on the top floor (this one here with ‘D.S.A.’ and others). I believe that a band played alternately in the pub and then on the first floor. ‘Warcraft’ was a band with Wouter Keirse (living in France nowadays), which I think performed only once. ‘D.S.A. was with Fré, Sientje & ‘PJ’. ‘Lifecycle’ with Steve, Karel & Jurgen. ‘Voices’ with Vik, ‘Spirit’ with Vincent & Kris. ‘Firestone’ was -I think- with Lennart (who shortly after moved to ‘Janez Detd’ for big money and now plays for ‘AmenRa’. ‘Spineless’ was also with Colin ‘AmenRa’ (I believe ?) and with Pedro Fioen. All very fine shows. I think there were photos taken of everyone at the front-door. ‘Sorehead’ quit when we were all about 18 and not long after our vocalist Laurent Peene died. Sometimes the V.V. organises an in memoriam for him; what I appreciate a lot.

Pieter Desmyter, ‘Sorehead’ guitarist

I wasn’t in ‘Firestone’ at that time. Early on it was Thomas Desimpelaere who sang, then Alexander (who played drums at first), than Pieter-Jan and than me. Mathieu Storms drummed (after Alexander). After him Vincent Tetaert played the drums. In the beginning Matthias Desimpelaere played guitar but in the end Ward Dufraimont replaced him. Diederik Claes and Lennart Bossu were the only constant members I think.

Iris Walgraeve

I joined ‘Firestone’ later, in June ’99. I only played the Fests in 2000 & 2001. In ‘99 & 2000 I helped out in ‘Liar’ quite a number of times (e.g. 99-10-31); from the summer of 2002 until Octobere of 2006 I was a permanent member of ‘Liar’ (with a number of passages at the Fests).

Ward Dufraimont

The Vort’n Vis was ‘a way out’, a place where anyone got a chance and where (20 years ago [and still]) those going against the grain gathered. A bit of a gloomy, shabby place. But great fun. We had a rehearsal-space on the first floor; sharing with Steve Noyelle, Karel Deweerdt, Lieve Goemaere, Vincent Tetaert, etc. ‘Warcraft’ consisted of myself, Kurt Deramoudt [drums], Wim Eggermont [vocals] and Olivier Maes [bass ?]. Or was it indeed Virgil & the Ryckebosch brothers? After that we messed about a bit with Vincent Tetaert and David Lernout: ‘Lizard…’ something…? At no timepoint we were a macth with ‘Lifecycle’ or our other heroes from the Westhoek. We could make a racket, hairless teenagers on stage het, light a spliff, have a beer to many and stay as long as we wanted. I always felt a gentle little guy amongst all those hardcore togh guys. I was at the first hardcore Fests during the straight-edge era. ‘Morning Again’, ‘Liar’,… Jeez, what a fantastic time!

Wouter ‘Wally’ Keirse (“Searching for autonomy in the hills of the Limousin [France]. Permaculture fanatic and plant-grower.”), ‘Warcraft’ guitarist

Not sure if we actually played there. If so, then we came by train. That happened quite frequently. I often had to beg the other bands for a bass-amp. Always annoying and stressful. I do remember that about a month before this ‘Spirit of Youth’ & ‘Lifecycle’ played at my parents’ garage for my birthday: ‘S.O.Y.’ wasn’t announced and did a try-out.

Pedro Tallieu, ‘Instinct’ bassist

There were so many bands that we ended up playing at 1 a.m. Headlining was no laughin’ matter back in the days. ;-) We almost took of in anger but Eward convinced us because there were some people from New-Zealand that had come over especially to see us. ;-)

Dominiek Denolf, ‘Spirit Of Youth’ guitarist

If ‘S.O.Y.’ played there with their new line-up, then I’m certain that ‘V.A.T.F.’ didn’t play…because I’ve never seen play in that configuration!

Vik B., singer of ‘Voices At The Front’

additions wellcome!…

96-05-12 Voices At The Front – Resist The Pain (photos)

More on this concert: 96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Shaft – Resist The Pain – Sektor – Voices At The Front

Photos courtesy of Letske M. (these are the ones mentioned in the original post by Steve Lammertyn)

Vik B., ‘Voices At The Front’

Vincent Theeten & Vik B. (‘Voices At The Front’)

Gaëtan Golvet (‘Voices At The Front’)

Sim Meersseman & Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (‘Voices At The Front’)

Vincent Theeten (‘Voices At The Front’)

————————-

Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie (‘Resist The Pain’)

Pedro Fioen, behind ‘Murph’ (‘Resist The Pain’)

Steve Noyelle (‘Resist The Pain’)

Jan Volckaert (‘Resist The Pain’)

————————-

the crowd (with Hans Verbeke, Joost Noyelle, one of the Ferket bros, etc.) – great mural by Joeri Stubbe

Virginie Logie

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!…

96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Shaft – Resist The Pain – Sektor – Voices At The Front

That must have been one of the last ‘F.T.F.’ shows ever. ‘Born From Pain’ started a year after that and I know there was almost a year in between.

Rob Franssen, ‘Feeding The Fire’

‘F.T.F.’s trail through the V.V. history is quite impressive: 91-12-21, 92-04-18, 92-09-05, 92-10-10, 93-05-22, 94-08-21 (and perhaps other visits…); illustrating the tight relation between some V.V.-collaborators and the Ducth Limburg HC-scene… A bit before this, they recorded for the Crusade EP on the German label March Through recs. Wouter Alers did the bass on that one (replacing Roger; he played drums for ‘Born From Pain’). The rest of the crew was the usual: René Natzel (drums), Har(ald) & Illona (guitars) and Rob (vocals)…

‘Resist The Pain’ (announced on the flyer as a “local turbo XXX” (on some flyers the XXX was crossed out) – see below) did their first ever show here (though there are pics from 96-04-05, a birthday party). They were Steve Noyelle (bass; later ‘Lifecycle’), Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen (guitar, later ‘Spineless’, ‘Congress’, etc.), Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie (vocals; later ‘S.O.Y.’) & Jan Volckaert (drums).

‘Sektor’ (from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village near Ieper) was a H8000 vegetarian straight-edge metal-core band. They did 2 7”s on Hans Verbeke’s Sober Mind recs: Ultimate Threat (1995) and a split with ‘Vitality’ (1996); later there was also a 12”/CD (Human Spots of Rust, ’97). The line-up was ‘Lenny LadyLover’ (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. Mousti; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. KungFu Mike; vocals).

‘Voices At The Front’ (from Poperinge) were added to the bill… After ‘Settle For Less’ (with Jurgen Desmet on bass, Tom De Pauw on drums and Jeroen Lauwers & Nathalie D. singing), my mate Vik Bulik (vocals; he played guitar in ‘S.F.L.’) started ‘Voices At The Front’, an SxE band. They’d done a few shows supporting ‘Congress’ (’96-03-03 @ ‘Kompas’ in Sint-Niklaas) and ‘Liar’ (96-04-14 @ ‘Mouterij’ in Deinze) before. So Vik – described as the “ideal straight-edge kid, bleached hair, X -ed up, Youth of Today shirt” was singing. Also in the band: “The coolest drummer from H8000, Gaëtan [Golvet], a coloured guy with incredible skills…”. Vince [Vincent Theeten] on lead-guitar, “new-school influences but with a metal touch; inspirer of the funniest fanzine from that time, Strike One!”. Sim [‘Simtje’ Meersseman] on bass… “Played almost every show in a bright-orange XXX shirt, bleached hair, krishna-beads…” 2^nd guitar: Stefaan ‘Merel’ Merlevede (R.I.P.; Vincent’s cousin). (internet-quotes by ‘Murph’ ‘R.T.P.’)

‘Kindred’ was an SxE outfit from Limburg (metallic style of HC, often compared with ‘Unbroken’) with Jan Beckers (guitar) and Maarten Beckers (drums) – Jan was in ‘Acoustic Grinder’ (see: 93-02-27) & both in ex ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06, 93-09-19 & 94-08-19); later ‘Facedown’, ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Raf Gielen still played 2^nd guitar here. They did an LP for GoodLife recs that year (File 01). They would be back for the Ieperfest in summer… A split with ‘Culture’ got out in ’97.

Raf Gielen in One Step Down #3: >>We started from the remains of 2 bands that split up: the one was ‘Churn’ (where I was in together with Jan & Maarten) and the other was ‘Forewarn’. Since we played a few shows with them, we asked their singer Eric. […] The show was kinda cool and we got some reactions of people that supported us.<<

No idea what ‘Shaft’ was about… But ‘Dompie’ got me on track: the members were Miguel De Paula (bass), Adam Borosch (drums), Michael ‘Mike’ Cordas (lead guitar), Arthur Galenziok (guitar) & Dirk Jochums (vocals). There were some flyers where their name was crossed out so perhaps they didn’t even play…?

Brob

‘Shaft’ did a 7” called Taskmaster [Brob: Actually a mini-CD…also a self-titled 7” on Stormstrike and a split-7” on Alveran recs]… We (‘Solid’) played with them in their hometown… They played a brutal H8000 style [“death-metal/metalcore”; the CD was recorded @ Midas studios].

Dominiek ‘Dompie’ Denolf

‘Voices…’ played a cool show, allways had a good response, were cooler than most of the bands that came from the H8000 at that time.

‘Murph’ (somewhere on the internet)

I do remember this as our first or one of our first shows with ‘R.T.P.’. Good line-up… We were incredibly enthusiast to do it because we were rehearsing at the Vort’n Vis and it was a great honour to be able to play there…

Vincent Merveillie

Vincent was vocalist for ‘Spirit Of Youth’ and drummer for ‘Kingpin’ & ‘Man’s Ruin’ later. Myself, I’ve played with ‘Spineless’ afterwards and from ’99 on with ‘Congress’. My last achievements were ‘Trenchfoot’ (cross-over à la ‘D.R.I.’, ‘S.O.D.’). Later Michael Maes joined as our drummer…

This was the first show of ‘Kindred’ in the H8000-area. A year later they were considered as an H8000-band, while they were indeed from Limburg. It was rather unusual then that non-H8000-bands were succesful in our region. It’s funny to see that bands that succeeded in this, were immediately labelled as H8000. The scene was growing exponentially. In order to be omplete I’m obliged to say that a band didn’t stand a chance if they weren’t SxE. I saw a whole bunch of fantastic bands pass by, that hardly anyone cared about, solely because the X on their hands was lacking. As a ‘member of the herd’ I have to plea guilty myself.

‘Feeding The Fire’ stood out because a girl was playing guitar. At the time that was (and still is) a curiosity in hardcore, which was mostly a ‘boys-thing’. The few girls that were present, were mainly there because they were the girlfriend of someone or as ‘trend-queen’… [Brob: ???!!!???; some women would disagree, I’m sure…] I believe that she was playing a BC-Rich ‘metal-model’ guitar – which was (also back then) rather not-done. Anyway, I didn’t like their music too much. Rob, now of ‘Born From Pain’, was singing.

All in all most people attending, came to see the local bands. ‘Voices At The Front’, with Vik, played a home-match and ‘Sektor’ was the new hype. Lyrics were about the meat-industry and drug-abuse; and the songs dedicated to the scene, organisers and … SxE… Very original…

Pedro Fioen

Vincent was replaced by Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers [later ‘Congress’] and Jan by Michael Maes [‘Link’, etc.]…

Steve Noyelle

Unfortunately none of the pictures I took remain: regretably I had to throw them all away, because of water-damage.

Steve Lammertyn

extras:

96-05-12 Voices At The Front – Resist The Pain (photos)

96-05-12 Feeding The Fire – Kindred – Sektor (photos)

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…