93-09-18 Health Hazard – Bambix – Witchknot – Doom – 6 Feet Over – Because – As Usual – Plum

See: 93-09-17&18&19 5th Leed-festival (Intro & Incident)

‘Sore Throat’ (UK) was announced in the preceding newsletter as “very likely” but this didn’t happen….

In Willy ‘Hiatus’ zine (Rabougri #1) ‘Doom’s Brian Talbot & Tony ‘Stick’ Dickens tell how they decided to throw J(h)on Pickering (vocals) & Pete Nash (bass) out, already before the Japan tour (but they did still come along) and after the recordings of The Greatest Invention. They were replaced by Tom Croft & Paul ‘Mall’ Mallen (guitarist & bassist of ‘Excrement Of War’, ‘Stick’ played drums for them aswell). This new foursome recorded for the splits with ‘Selfish’ (Ecocentric recs ’94) & ‘Hiatus’ (Lost The Fight, on Flat Earth recs ’93). ‘Mall’ was replaced by ‘Scoot’ and that line-up recorded Doomed To Extinction (split with ‘Extinction of Mankind’ on Ecocentric recs ‘94), the Hail To Sweden 7” (released in ’94) and Fuck Peaceville (recorded Feb ‘95). The Live In Japan EP (recorded April ‘92) also came out on Ecocentric recs. ‘Scoot Gladok’ played bass at this gig already…

‘Doom’ (photo courtesy of Willy ‘Hiatus’)

‘Witchknot’ (Bradford) played this one with Jane Graham (bass & vocals; later replaced by bassist Kess), Sarah MacHenry (drums), Lianne Hall (guitar & vocals), the ‘foundsters’. They stepped up from 3-piece to a 6-piece (see 96-09-21) when Sally Stone (vocals), Marion (violin), Gaynor Haggerty (cello) joined. They described themselves as “Punky ladies knitting songs with a load of instruments” and said their (experimental jazzy) post-punk was influenced by ‘The Slits’, ‘X-Ray Spex’, ‘The Ex’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, etc. etc. They put on punk and riot grrrl gigs and Witchfests at the 1 in 12. Sned put out ther EP (Suck) and LP (Squawk) on his label Flat Earth recs the years after. Their touring was in a van that they called Fanny the Tranny… I believe I’d gotten in touch with Jane though here zine Shag Stamp when she was still living in Sheffield. It was nice to meet her there.

‘Witchknot’

‘Health Hazard’: Sned (drums), Chris Gazza (bass), Mandy (vocals) & Alec Mac (guitar). The first of their 4 passages at the V.V. They’ld come back 94-03-05, 94-03-19 & 95-02-11.

‘Witchknot’ & ‘Health Hazard’ on tour

‘Health Hazard’ (photos by Karl Penando)

‘6 Feet Over’ had just come back from a very intense tour (14 concerts in France/Spain/Switzerland/Luxemburg) in August with ‘Hiatus’ (Chris ‘Gazza’ on bass then) where Sned was drumming for them. They had met him when he was the interim bassist for ‘Doom’ earlier that year (93-02-27). Pierre Anne had left after these gigs with ‘Doom’ so they asked Sned to fill in…

‘6 Feet Over’

‘Bambix’ played a tuneful, melodic brand of HC/punkrock with great vocals/chorusses. ‘Wick’ Dewilde played drums and sang originally. Just listen to their debut-7” (They Even Took The Memory)! The CD Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking was the last one they recorded with the orginal line-up (‘92). In 1993 first Nat and then Maniet left, ‘Wick’ went on with other people. The line-up changed quite a few times. (For their second album Crossing Common Borders, ‘Wick’ switched from drums to guitar and Beer Delsman started drumming. The 3^rd, Leitmotiv, was still with Maniet, and with Peter on drums.) and nowadays ‘Wick’ is the front-woman, still singing and playing guitar. They play/tour a lot, all over the world (even Latin-America). Check out bambix.org

‘Because’ (from Luxembourg) were Michelle Marnach (vocals), Brego (bass), ‘Gull’ Alain Gouleven (guitar; later ‘D’Rotzbouwen’) and Thierry Thill (drums). Michelle & Brego were a couple at that time. I started corresponding with them because they did the zine Persons Unknown. Some of the band’s music appeared on a demo: Some More Ugly Puke Stories.

No idea anymore who ‘Plum’ were and if they actually played… Henk Lobuyck reviewed their demo in Fifi #5. Apparently they were friends of V.V. shitworker Peter Vanthuyne; a 3-piece from the Brussels area that played punkrock reminiscent of the ‘Ramones’…

Michael Maes (‘Carcer Molochi’, ‘Link’) claims the band he played guitar for at that time – ‘As Usual’ – performed at Leed ‘92. I’m pretty sure it was in ’93 (as is mentioned on the flyer and in Johan Seys’ zine Gash #1). The others in the band were Danny Suffys (bass), Dimi Loonis (vocals) and Frederick Wyckaert (drums). Before this they “experimented” under the name ‘Suffocating Emotions’, covering other HC/punk bands. A few months after this, end ’93, they recorded a first demo (rehearsal). Johan ‘Boeze’ Seys did vocals too.

‘As Usual’

Jon ‘Active’ Elliott came over and did a stall! At that time Bruno ‘Genet’, Joeir Hoste and myself had merged our distros (a project named Fuse!) and since I insisted we expanded the reading-material, this was a good chance to stock up on the vast amont of books that Jon was carrying. A cooperation that lasted when Fuse! broke up and I started Tilt! (the mailorder distro) up again…

Steve Hyland (Attitude Problem zine, A Network Of Friends distro, 1 in 12) was there aswell. A very nice bloke; vegan, sXe (at that time); a mate of Jaak ‘N.O.F.’ aswell. Interesting chap too, studied sociology and social history. And very active… I think, as of today he’s still putting up gigs (Means To An End)…

One of my French zinester-correspondents, Armel Presselin (Auf-Zu) also visited…

Brob

We played our last gig with ‘6 F.O.’ that day…

Karl Penando

My first ever gig ever outside of England, this all-dayer, a life changing moment indeed… It was overwhelming as I had never left the country before & I was playing my first concert with ‘Doom’ – a very special moment for a 19yr old. ‘Doom’ travelled alone, we just did the one gig, we all [Brob: the other bands/people from Bradford/Leeds.] travelled back together though, I felt very proud & happy to be a part of everything – never did I think I would be in a band/bands travelling the world, playing DIY punk music & involved in the community – magical… My memory isn’t as good these days and I’m afraid all my photos of this concert got stolen… ‘Sore Throat’ did not play – this I know for sure. ‘Doom’ arrived quite late if I remember well. I recall seeing ‘6 Feet Over’ and the rest of the bands. It was busy and people couldn’t get into the gig. I don’t remember any trouble!

Scoot (‘Doom’s bassplayer)

I can remember ‘Nations On Fire’ [the next day]… But was this the concert where we slept above the venue and got thrown beer at us?

‘Wick’, Bambix

This was my first time here; I hitch-hiked there with Wojtek from ‘HomoMilitia’. We almost missed the first day but luckily made it on time just to see the 2 bands we wanted to see: ‘Doom’ and ‘Health Hazard’. I kept coming to that fest every year till ‘98…

Pawel, Scream recs (Gdansk, Poland)

If I recall well this was with ‘Oi Polloi’. Hate to admit it but I was very nervous and very drunk after the show, but still: no regrets. I remember having a big discussion with ‘Oi Polloi’ because we accidentally took their sleeping-place…

[Brob: ‘Oi Polloi’ ??? They – Deek (vocals) / Calum (bass) / Murray (drums) / Brian (guitar) – were interviewed in Fifi #1 (published May ‘94). But Calum tells me: “No, I don’t think we played. I’m sure I would have remembered this incident.”.]

Thierry Till, ‘Because’ drummer

Dominique & Philip Osier (from Antwerp) were 2 brothers playing in ‘Plum’… Later they played in the absurd cabaret ‘Circus Bulderdrang’ and after that they were musicians for Guido Belcanto [street-singer, variety-artist and “rock’n roll chansonnier”] … ‘Plum’ had a demo with 4 songs… I knew them from uni. [see comment]

Peter Vanthuyne

The ‘Plum’ demo was entitled Six Feet Down. Here’s the cover…

Henk Loobuyck

additions wellcome!…

96-09-21 P.A.I.N. – Witchknot – Quarantine – Bad Influence – State Of Filth – Kirous – Carcer Molochi – Clutch Assembly

Intro: 96-09-20&21&22 8^th Leed festival

‘Carcer Molochi’ played on Saturday early in the afternoon with Gork (who had been playing here with ‘Coche Bomba’ the year before: 95-09-16) and myself doing vocals, Michael [Maes] drumming, Yannick [from France] on bass and Erwin [Degryse; still] on guitar.

Inge Cappoen, ‘Carcer Molochi’ vocalist

The band of V.V. ‘shitworker Michael Maes, ‘Carcer Molochi’, had played here quite a few times before. Their line-up had changed here: bassist Danny Suffys, drummer David Stubbe & vocalist Johan Sys had left, Michael switched instrument and some new people joined as Inge pointed out… A few months later (early 97) partners Mike & Inge would start ‘Link’ with Greg on bass and Juju on drums…

‘Witchknot’ (from Bradford) had played here already (93-09-18). Jane Graham (bass & vocals) was replaced by bassist Kess. ‘Foundsters’ Sarah MacHenry (drums; was in ‘Curse of Eve’ in the 80s), Lianne Hall (guitar & vocals) had turned the band into a 6-piece with the addition of Sally Stone (vocals), Marion (violin), Gaynor Haggerty (cello). They were described as “Punky ladies knitting songs with a load of instruments”. They put on punk and riot grrrl gigs and Witchfests at the 1 in 12. Sned put out their EP (Suck; Tilt! #8: >>The music these women produce is not based on the traditional rock’n’roll structures. The untypical use of instruments and the upbeat colliding rhythms make it sound really bright and refreshing. Songs about empowerment and protest. A true kick in the nuts of capitalism and patriarchy.<<) and LP (Squawk; Tilt! #9: >>Complex, rhythmic, yet danceable earthbeat-punk reminiscent of ‘Recusant’, ‘Dawson’… The dashing beats keep putting you on the wrong foot but these women are still able to drag me along in their whirligig. The violin and cello also give it a folky feel. […]<<) on his label Flat Earth recs during the years. Some people labeled their music (experimental jazzy) post-punk and mentioned influences such as ‘The Slits’, ‘X-Ray Spex’, ‘The Ex’, ‘Dog Faced Hermans’, etc. etc. Later Kes and Sarah formed ‘Baba Yaga’… Well into the new century Sarah’s in Wales, playing in ‘Mwstard’ with her partner Alec Mac…

‘Witchknot’ (from Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak #3)

‘Witchknot’ (photographed by Sascha May)

‘Quarantine’ (from Glasgow) were Brian Curran (guitar & vocals; ex ‘Disaffect’; later ‘Debris’), Tracey Fallon (bass & vocals) and Jamie Usher (drums; ex ‘Disturbed’, ‘Headstart’ & ‘Sedition’). If I’m well informed they did a tape – entitled Doin’ It Wrong – in ’95. Their LP Automatic Negative Thoughts was recorded in April ‘96 and released by Nabate. My reviwe in Tilt! #9 goes: >>Brutally refreshing music that provides people with the adequate energy to meet the demands and resist the pressure of life. Great melodic crusty HC with brilliant hooks and catchy riffs. ‘Strawman’ and ‘Jawbreaker’ jump to my mind. […] Wonderful!<< (The 7” Junction was registered July 1997.)

‘P.A.I.N.’ (Propaganda And Information Network) – with some people who were also in ‘AOS3’ and ‘Radical Dance Faction’- brought ska-punk with reggae/dub influences supporting anarcho-style rantings. They were compared to ‘Inner Terrestrials. The band was from London: John Horabin (vocals & keyboard; was here before with ‘AOS3’), Phil ‘Pain’ Beckett (guitar & vocals), Ozzy ‘Captain Ozbert’ Wilkins (bass & vocals) and ‘Dan the Man Bdlang’, Danny Sylvester (drums & vocals). In 1996 they put out the album Oh My God! We’re Doing It! on the Bristol label Inna State recs.

‘Bad Influence’ had also been playing at the V.V. many times… This was the period after the Afterbirth 10” was released (marketed as “the Belgian answer to ‘Amebix’ and ‘Zygote’), so this might’ve been with ‘Eggy’ Egbert Verheyen playing guitar…? And Tim ‘Cow’ Shapland on bass?

‘Kirous’ from Joutseno (Finland) were Jonne Kauko (drums; ex ‘Selfish’), Ossi Vepsäläinen (guitar), Toni Eiskonen (bass; editor of Downsided zine), Antti Valius (vocals; here replaced by ‘Sharpeville’s vocalist, later by Teemu Bergman). In 94 they’d put our a 7” the Parisian label Minstrel recs.

‘State Of Filth’ from Preston (Lancashire) played “fast, heavy crust-core with dual vocals”. A DIY/political band; in a later stage fronted by Wayne Southworth (vocals, ex ‘Sore Throat’, ex ‘Doom; also in ‘Blood Sucking Freaks’ with Bri & Stick of ‘Doom’; R.I.P. 2005). They did a demo (Forced Into Silence ; 20 tracks; “mostly sludgy punk/crust at 1000mph”) in 1996. Nick Loaring (‘Ebola’ vocalist) put out a split-7” with ‘Slain’ on his label Enslaved in 1998. 28 of their songs appeared on a split-CD in the noughties… On the 7”: Kev (guitar), James (bass), Adrian ‘Ade’ & Rob(bie) (vocals), and Stu(art) Knowles (drums; later ‘The Day Man Lost’). They also appeared on the The Boredom And The Bullshit 7” compilation (‘96, Refusenik) and on the 7” More Noise By Nice Boys (‘97, Czech compilation).

‘State Of Filth’ (pics courtesy of Kevin Whitlock)

‘Clutch Assembly’ was a duo into techno and techno-house: Hendrik Willemyns & Thomas Laureyssens. In ’97 they released some material on Nova Zembla, a Belgian label (based in Zwijndrecht) with a respected name in the techno-scene…

Brob

‘Clutch Assembly’ is the band ‘Arsenal’ nowadays… Hendrik was a friend of mine from uni…

Peter Vanthuyne (V.V. shitworker)

We always enjoyed playing the Vort’n Vis. Somewhere I have photos from one of our last (maybe the last…?) European gigs when we played there with ‘Quarantine’. Me and Alec [‘Health Hazard’, ‘Suffer’, …] live in the middle of nowhere now, but we do a band with a friend of ours [‘Mwstard’], maybe an oldies band on the way…

Sarah MacHenry, ‘Witchknot’ drummer

‘Quarantine’ played at the Vort’n Vis Leed fest in ‘96 along with ‘Witchknot’ (who were our touring-mates on that trip). First time I’d played in the big barn and not the bar. Really good gig I remember, apart from Tracey got her sleeping-bag stolen, that good times were had by all… We only stayed one day as we we were in Germany the day before and after. Think that was the only time ‘Quarantine’ played the V.V. We did quite a bit in a short period of time (95-98). LP, EP, demo, 4 Euro-tours with some pretty cool bands (‘Kort Prosess’, ‘Counterblast’, ‘Scatha’, ‘Witchknot’, ‘Battle of Disarm’, ‘Active Minds’ and plenty more). ‘I.B.’ and Adam [see guestbook] did come along with us as travelling companions on this trip.

Brian Curran, ‘Quarantine’

We went on our first short euro-tour with ‘Kirous’ in 1996. First we took a ferry from Helsinki to Travemünde (Germany), and since we were young and didn’t have a car we rented one from Germany, the cheapest one available off cource. Something ended up going wrong with the rental company and they replaced our cheap car with a high-end Mercedes which was kind of silly and confusing. Our vocalist Antti was not able to tour, so we decided to double or nothing and ‘borrowed’ the two vocalist of ‘Sharpeville’. With this line-up we played around 5-6 gigs in Germany, some of them with ‘State Of Filth’ and I believe one with ‘Witchknot’ in Düsseldorf, and then the one at Leed festival. I vaguely remember that gig. There was a city festival at the same time and I remember going there to see some Japanese taiko drumming. I had a blast in Belgium and remember the taste of Jupiler quite easily to this day.

The guitar-player Ossi passed away in 1999 and that’s when ‘Kirous’ ended. Jonne and me formed a new band ‘Yhdeksäs Surmanluoti’ but we never did a record with that band.

Toni Eiskonen, ‘Kirous’ bassist

Angus McPhee, of ‘Glue’, drove ‘Quarantine’ around that tour!!!

Angus Quinn, ‘Sedition’

Your archival skills continue to impress me. It’s really nice to see the entries in the guestbook. ‘I.B.’ and Adam did travel with us and also a third friend Carolyn (not in bands). ‘I.B.’ and I were in a relationship at that time. Adam was Brian’s flatmate. We took Andy [Irvine] (‘Scatha’s) distro with us and Adam & Carolyn helped with that as well amongst other things. ‘I.B.’ played in Scatha – band that ‘Quarantine’ toured and played a great deal with due to mutual friendships and past musical connections – as well.

Tracey Fallon, ‘Quarantine’

I played guitar in ‘S.O.F.’ and bass in ‘The Day Man Lost’ (amongst others). Great to read up the reviews and remember so great times with great people. Even recognise my crappy handwriting in the guestbook ha! I We played the Vort’n Vis as a part of small tour (Chris of Aversion zine did a tour-guide that mentions we did a gig or two with ‘Quarantine’ on that tour. – see below). Loved the gig and people at the venue looked after us so well; real cool crowd. I played guitar. Prior to this I was in ‘Virus Insurrection’ (bass), ‘Hecatomb’ (guitar) and after ‘S.O.F.’ in ‘Belligerent’ and ‘Mass Of Bastards’ (both guitar and both with Stu Knowles) and ‘The Day Man Lost’ (bass). The others were Ade Goddard and Rob (God) Butcher to the best of my knowledge. Jimmy Rodgers played bass in ‘S.O.F.’ and was also in ‘Belligerent’ with me and Stu.

Kevin Whitlock

from Aversion #5

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘I.B.’ (‘Disaffect’), Angus (‘Glue’), Adam Johnston (‘Headstart’) were there as well…

additions wellcome!…

96-09-20&21&22 8th Leed festival

Accounts of the actual festival-days can be accessed by clicking on the links below… My descent into hell had commenced a bit before this, I don‘t think I attended this fest (or not all of it); so not really sure about the playing-order…:

96-09-20: D.D.I. (Ita), Boycot (Nl), Eversor (Ita)

96-09-21: P.A.I.N. (UK), Witchknot (UK), Quarantine (UK), Bad Influence (Bel), State Of Filth (UK), Kirous (Fin), Carcer Molochi (Bel)

– Clutch Assembly (Bel) was invited to set of a techno night/party

96-09-22: Strain (Can), Ananda (Fra), Systral (Ger), Elision (Ger), Sektor (Bel), Vitality (Bel), Family Of Dog (Bel)

‘Portobello Bones’ (from France) were announced at some timepoint but I think they didn’t come… There was a photo of the Berliner band ‘Y’ playing in the V.V. barn in Sascha May’s zine Evilspeak or was that from a gig earlier that year…?

Some pics courtesy of Dario Quatrini (‘D.D.I.’) – taken by the members of the band:

distro-stalls in the pub (first evening) – Joeri Hoste, Jeroen Lauwers, etc.

AZ distro from Pavia (with the charming Irith Davidzon on the left)

The ‘D.D.I.’ gang cooking dinner in the yard, DIY-style (L => R: Mila – Luca – Gio)

‘D.D.I.’s Gallo taking a break in front of the famous corner-shop…

93-09-17&18&19 5th Leed-festival (Intro & Incident)

This is a precursory page to the posts on the 5^th Leed-festival. There was quite some commotion and it led to a substantial evaluation of the Vort’n Vis’ policies…

from the preceding V.V. newsletter

 Accounts of the actual festival will be posted later:

17 sep ’93: Fingerprint (Fra), De Kift (Nl), Beerepoot Brothers (Nl)

18 sep ’93: Health Hazard (UK), Bambix (Nl), Witchknot (UK), Doom (UK), 6 Feet Over (Fra), Because (Lux), As Usual (Bel), Plum (Bel)

19 sep ’93: Nations On Fire (Bel), Strength Of The Will (Bel), Eversor (Ita), Hiatus (Bel)

————————-

I don’t think ‘Viktor’s Hofnarren’ actually played… It’s the evening that Hans [Verbeke] needed to be rescued by ‘Doom’!

Bruno Vandevyvere

‘Viktor’s Hofnarren’, squatters (autonomous centre Schrottbar) from Biel/Bienne (Switzerland) played anarchopunk with a crusty edge. (Later on they did a split-LP together with ‘Jobbykrust’ from Belfast out on Maximum Voice.) They were: Steph(ane) Guillet (bass/vocals; Panikeshi zine & distro), Niggu Rimann (drums), Bänz (guitar), Annette Wagener/Suri Dawicki (vocals) and Tez (vocals). Annette later joined the Groninger band ‘P.C.P.’. Steph & Annette were also running Panik Bourgeoise (concerts, zine).

They’d come all the way from their hometown for the fest together with a whole bunch of friends. After all this time it isn’t clear anymore whether they were invited to play or just wanted to see the bands. I guess ‘V.H.’ and their mates got rather drunk pretty fast (or they arrived drunk/stoned). Their friends also didn’t feel like they had to pay entrance… This attitude certainly annoyed most of the V.V. collaborators. There was some friction between them and SxE people (to say the least) but the way I remember it is that the main issue was that they didn’t feel like contributing their share to the organisation of the event and the fees of the bands. The fact they were so wasted and behaving irresponsibly amplified everything…

At some timepoint V.V. collaborator Hans (perhaps provoked by the animosity) supposedly (tried to) hit someone with a baseball-bat (actually it was a table-leg; I didn’t see it happen with my own eyes) for attempting to sneak in for free… He was “physically attacked from various sides”. Things were threatening to go out of control and it was decided it was best for him to leave in order to remove the fuse from the powder-keg… He had to be more or less secretly evacuated from the V.V. premises and was driven out of town in the van of the band ‘Doom’…

The whole incident drove some of the collaborators to tears for realising there were people who didn’t value their hard work and that some (who came from far away) couldn’t care less that there was a huge risk the autonomous centre could collapse (organisationally or as a result of being shut down by the authorities). Personally, I was disappointed and angry because I had already seen it happen when the 1^st venue where I organised – in my hometown (De Marbel) – got shut down…

All this (together with previous) lead to the V.V. ‘shit-workers’ making up some sort of pamphlet calling for mutual respect, and listing some ‘rules’…which on it’s turn raised some questions with certain factions of not being ‘anarchist’ enough, etc.

Some people (squatters) from Gent and Liège even thought they were going to be refused entrance (Willy of ‘Hiatus/‘Unhinged’ wrote me that at that time). Of course that wasn’t the case… The 1^st issue of Fifi (Vort’n Vis zine), May ‘94, states: “The Swiss assholes of Zürich (…) are no longer allowed in the Vort’n Vis. Reason: violence, intimidation and a broken window.”

Brob

————————-

Quite a lot has been published on the matter. Here’s a few bits – not to stir things up after all these years but for history’s sake (so that perhaps a younger generation will learn of it)…

This excerpt from the Swiss zine No Sanctuary #22 gives a rather detailed account …

This is the initial bit by Steph of ‘V.H.’ in No Sanctuary #21.

Another bit from No Sanctuary #22 shows that ‘V.H.’ had caused similar problems in Germany.

Pamphlet issued by the V.V. collaborators after this event.

Letter by Willy ‘Hiatus’ & response by Vort’n Jan

Willy’s intro to his zine Rabougri (March ’94)

————————-

Niggu (‘V.H.’ drummer) sings for ‘Unhaim’ nowadays. They released an excellent LP… [Brob: I tried hard to get in touch with anyone of V.H.’ but didn’t succeed…]

Pablo, Resistance prods, Biel

————————-

Despite all the commotion, numerous people enjoyed themselves (crowd-shot by Karl Penando); in the foreground: Kurt Deprez (‘Shortsight’), Bruno Vandevyvere (Genet recs), Pierre Anne (‘6 Feet Over’) – in the back: Rudy Penando