In 1997 the annual Ieper Rally took place June 27-29. Always a good time to stirr up some shit… Friday 97-06-27 there was the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD. ‘Satanic Surfers’ had been announced – another Genet recs promotion day … “Skool’s Out” – together with ‘Gwyllions’ for Sunday 97-06-29 but apparently that got changed around…

‘Satanic Surfers’, a melodic punk-rock band from Lund (Sweden), were at that time: Rodrigo Alfaro (drums/vocals; later singer of ‘Intensity’), ‘Tomek’ Tomasz Sokolowski (bass), Fredrik Jakobsen (guitar) & Magnus Blixtberg (guitar; also ‘Intensity’). They did numerous albums on Burning Heart recs & Bad taste recs but in ’97 Genet recs released a split-7” with covers (together with the Belgian band skate-punk band ‘Concrete Cell’). They were described as ‘NoFX’/’Bad Religion’ clones… ‘Intensity’ did a show at the V.V. on 99-06-27…

‘Pridebowl’ were mates of ‘S.S.’ and on the same label (Bad Taste recs). They played speedy, melodic punk-rock. The band consited of the Californian Aaron Goulding (vocals) and Henrik Nilsson (guitar), Stefan Glendell (guitar), Oskar Andersson (bass) & Martin Bodin (drums) who are all from Varberg, Sweden. In 1997 Genet recs released their LP Where You Put Your Trust. They did a one-week tour, playing three shows in France, a skate-festival in Italy and a couple of shows in Belgium.

‘Unsure’ (from Kontich) played catchy (skate)punk-rock. They were: Sam Van Meirhaeghe (vocals), Kurt Weckhuysen (drums), Hans Van Den Eynde (bass) and David Du Mont (guitar). Genet recs released their recordings: Buckle-Up LP (‘97) & Sunshine Lake CD (’98).

‘Family Of Dog’ from Deinze, had already performed at the V.V. on 96-09-22 and would be back on 97-07-12. They played “metal” (Steve Noyelle’s words). The band was: Bert Walgraeve (bass), Stijn Everaert (drums), Peter Staelens & Wim De Taeye (guitar) and Tom Claus (vocals; also sang for ‘Congress’ on their Angry With The Sun CD). They released a promo-tape in ’96, did a split-7” with ‘Liar’ in ’97 (Genet recs) and a self-titled CD (Midas prods, ’98).

‘Sincerity’ was another band (metal-influenced HC) from Deinze. Members: ‘Sjaab’ Frederic Chaboteau (vocals), Maarten Kinet (bass; later ‘Lifecycle’ & ‘AmenRa’), Bram Walgraeve (guitar; brother of ‘Family of Dog’s Bert Walgraeve), Fré(derick) De Vogelaere (drums) & Thomas Hauttekeete (guitar; also ‘Instinct’). Bram & Fré were later in ‘King Creole’… The band played 2 more times here (97-07-12 & 97-10-12) but they split up somewhere in ‘98…

Brob

‘Family Of Dog’ did indeed open for ‘Satanic Surfers’, together with ‘Sincerity’. Don’t have the flyer anymore…

Tom Claus, ‘Family Of Dog’

Hilarious that guest-book entry!!! That’s us indeed. All I remember is a decrepit, improvised wooden stage where jumping was ‘not done’.

Sam Van Meirhaeghe, ‘Unsure’

‘Sincerity’ was a band that ‘Sjaab’ and I founded with Bram Walgraeve; soon Frederik De Vogelaere & Thomas Hauttekeete joined. I have vague recollections of ‘Sjaab’ writing something in the guestbook but no idea if it was the day we played the Vort’n Vis. I do know that we played there another time [97-10-12] with ‘Catharsis’, ‘Gehenna’, ‘Natural Order’ and some more bands I forgot about. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Family of Dog’ played then aswell; I saw them so many times that I might mix up some shows. It’s been a while after all. Anyway, we visited the V.V. quite often back then. I also rehearsed there with ‘Lifecycle’ (when I joined them after ‘Sincerity’ split up). Good & bad memories. But I have fond memories of that show with ‘Sincerity’: it was a band that I was proud of.

Maarten Kinet

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Fredrik Jakobsen: “Fruitcake was more of an internal joke in the band.”

additions wellcome!…

Intro: 98-09-18&19 10^th Leedfestival

[all pics here by Henk Loobuyck; except ‘Link’ courtesy of Michael Maes]

Both ‘Oi Polloi’ (Deek Allan was accompanied by Calum Mackenzie – bass / Ade Crawford – drums / Ricky White – guitar) & ‘Doom’ had been here several times before (The Scots even less than half a year: 98-04-18); no need to introduce them. ‘Oi Polloi’s 7” THC was recorded right after this. ‘Doom’ had recorded for the split-10” with ‘Cress’ (out on Sned & Alec’s Flat Earth recs) in March with Chris Gascoigne (bass), ‘Stick’ (drums), ‘Bri’ & Denis Boardman (guitar) & Wayne Southworth (vocals; R.I.P.).

‘Doom’

‘Oi Polloi’

‘Filth Of Mankind’ (Gdansk, Poland) hadn’t been able to play the year before because of the general cancellation of the festival (see 97-09-20). This time they were invited back…

This is from their website (www.filthofmankind.nsm.pl): >>The organiser of the Leed Festival asked us (and ‘Money Drug’ to come over and do 3-4 shows with ‘Doom’. Unfortunately, a few days before we left, it turned out there were only 2; and when we got to Ieper we were told that there was only going to be this one at the fest. Bummer! Even before the journey it was clear that Maciek [Kowalski; vocals] couldn’t travel along, Milosz [Gassan; guitar] & ‘Balon’ [Paweł Szymański; drums] took the roaring nam upon them – off course a enormous mental task. We played early on Saturday; the first part of the V.V. hall started to fill up. Milosz wanted to get things started but – still numb of the night before (alcohol & co) – had to look really hard to find the right strings. Once tuned, it seemed another key than the rest, so he started anew. That took about 10 minutes (if not more)… When we finally managed to get going, things were OK and the audince seemd to like it…<<

I believe the others in the band were Lazej/Anders Storm (later Michał Jędrejek) on bass and Pawel ‘Scream’ Rzóska (guitar). The band did a 7” (Czas Końca Wieku [End Of The Century]; ‘99) and an LP (The Final Chapter; 2000) on Scream recs. Their music was described as “Apocalyptic Crust” (dark, heavy and metal-influenced)…

The band ‘Link’ had people from the Ieper/Ypres & Lille (France) area: Vort’n Vis ‘shitworkers’ Michael Maes (guitar) & his partner Inge Cappoen (vocals), and Greg ‘Briko’ (bass) & ‘Juju’ Julien Dejonckheere (drums). After a couple of demos their 1^st CD The Last Sacrifice (recorded with a drum-computer) was released in 2000. The music: “brutal metallic HC with a serious crust-punk edge & raging female vocals”. One reviewer actually believed Inge was really from Sweden… They’d played the V.V. a few times already (97-09-12, 97-12-26, 98-04-18; those last 2 times also with ‘Oi Polloi’).

‘Link’

‘Sarah’ were Bretons “fighting for their future, their language”. Their address stated “Breizh via France”. Breizh is the Breton name for Brittany (Bretagne, a region in the North-West of France). They wrote: “The French laws are improper for what is going on in Britttany, e.g. concerning water-pollution, agriculture,…” but they didn’t see themselves as nationalists: “We are communists.”. They were also a SxE band…“to show people that it is possible to live without drugs or alcohol”. They played hardcore/punk and also did a zine named An Eeunded. This was also their second appearance at the V.V. (after 98-04-19). The band consisted of Fabien Lecuyer (vocals/fiddle), Michaël Genevée (drums/accordion/fiddle), Erwan H. (guibasse/mandoline/piano) & Jérôme Bouthier (bass). They did 2 demos (Herzelomp Betek An Trec’h & Latcho Drom) and in 1999 they released Ez Eterninmens (4 track CD).

‘Sarah’

‘Alcatraz’ (from Oulmes/Niort/Poitiers) was the band of Gérome Desmaison (who did the zines Cheval de Troie & J’ai le Regret à la Joie Mélé) and Séverine Rambaud (Acajou zine & Soja Service zine-distribution). She was doing bass/vocals, her brother Thierry ‘Titi’ Rambaud (also ‘Robotnička’) played the drums, Gérome did guitar/vocals, and Laurent ‘Ballon’ Daudin (guitar; ex ‘Peu Être’) & Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet (vocals). Gérome & Laurent were also running a distribution called Le Brun, le Roux Corporation. Mike did Opale distro (together with Stéphanie Courret; nowadays his partner). People called their music emo-core.

‘Alcatraz’

‘Outrage’, from the Herentals area, were Sigi Loots (drums), Steven Van Goubergen (guitar), Ringo Van Dingenen (vocals) and Nico Peeters (bass). This was after their 7” To Terrorize Ear And Mind (“a DIY product distributed by a network of friends”; recorded November ‘97) got out… They had played here a few times before (96-03-24, 96-08-16 & 97-03-01).

‘Outrage’

‘Reller’

‘Reller’ were the guys from ‘Outrage’ (Nico – here vocals, Sigi – drums, Steven – guitar & Ringo – here guitar) with Yannick Daems (vocals; later ‘Vuur’) & An Caers (bass; Nico’s partner at that time).

Brob

‘Peu-être’ have split up but 3 of them and 2 other people have formed an other band: ‘Alcatraz’.

Mike Ramounet, personal communication Dec. ‘96

I was proud to be able to play in that fabulous place that was the V.V. I’d already been there as a spectator and I never thought I’ld play there one day. To me the Vort’n Vis was like ABC No Rio. I remember we were wel recieved by everyone. This was a punk festival so there were a lot of people.

Mickaël ‘Mike’ Ramounet, ‘Alcatraz’ vocalist

I don’t remember much about the festivaI where I played with my band ‘Alcatraz’ except for the ‘Oi Polloi’ and ‘Outrage’ concerts (great!). Nico from ‘Outrage’ was very nice. We stayed at his place and I think it’s him who brought us to a woman whose job was producing great tofu. We had some of course :-).

Séverine Rambaud, ‘Alcatraz bassist’

We were and are always close to Breton and Basque separatist circles. Our bassist has been in prison for 2 years, accused of terrorism (he was acquitted). We did over 100 concerts in various countries…

Fabien Lecuyer; ‘Sarah’

That was my first performance ever! I remember that people from France video-taped the gig but I’ve never seen the footage.

An Caers

We did indeed also play with ‘Reller’… I Recently found back an old demo…trying to digitalise that… I know the ‘Alcatraz’ guys filmed our performance…

Nico Peeters, ‘Outrage’ bassist

The atmosphere was rather relaxed, contrary to HC ’98 in August. Only a few idiotic brawls outside the Vort’n Vis.

Stef Goos; personal communication Oct ‘98

I remember this concert. One of the few posters I kept…with the old ‘Link’ logo I drew…

‘Juju’ organised concerts in Lille for more than 10 years with his association Rock’n’Roll Jihad…

Greg, ‘Link’ bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Intro: 94-09-16&17&18 6^th Leed festival

Helena ‘Inkisiçao’ – This Is Not Amerikka tour

In 1993 ‘Inkisição’ (from Aveiro), a HC/punk band singing in Portugese, consisted of Miguel (vocals), Rui Maia (drums), Oliviera (guitar) and Píncaro (bass). At the time of this gig Helena ‘Lena’ Paula Burbuleta (Rui’s girlfriend/later wife) had joined the band as extra vocalist. Píncaro then played guitar (also in ‘Mentes Podres’) and Sérgio bass. The latter 2 died in the summer of 1995. Lena, Miguel & Rui formed ‘Intervenzione’ then… I think I started corresponding with Rui because he distributed DIY tapes & vinyl (Fuck Off And Act!) and did a zine, Diabo No Corpo (DNC). He put out a compilation taped entitled When The Punks Go Marching In!!! (with live tracks of ‘Inkisição’). I also interviewed Helena for the Women in HC section of my zine Tilt! #8. They did a demo called 2”Arroto (2^nd Burp) with the original line-up (Oliveira, Píncaro, Rui and Zé Vilao) and in ’92 they released a tape called Alternativa. Slime recs (Ataque Sonoro) put out the ‘X-Acto’/ ‘Inkisição’ split-CD in ’93 and a few years later a spit-7” with ‘Battle Of Disarm’. Their music was sometimes melodic, sometimes thrashy HC/punk… They toured with ‘Oi Polloi’ but these played on the Sunday…

Rui & Helena ‘Inkisiçao’ (band live pics will follow)

Third appearance of ‘Citizen Fish’ at the Vort’n Vis (after 93-02-21 & 93-10-24). Singer Dick Lucas had released a split-7” with ‘A.O.S. 3’ in 1993, hence the touring together, I reckon…? In March 1994 ‘C.F.’ recorded a couple tracks for a split-7” with the Japanese ‘Nukey Pikes’.

Paula ‘Spitboy’ & Pete ‘The Roadie’ (wife & husband) were mentioned in guestbook… Pete was roadie-ing for many a band a that time. Nowadays he sings in the Californian band ‘Kicker’ (with ‘Mauz’ from ‘Dystopia).

‘Citizen Fish’ Jasper, Phil & Pete The Roadie

One of the umptieth gigs ‘Bad Influence’ played here. About a year before they already supported ‘Citizen Fish’ – they were the ‘usual’ support for bands from Bath/Bristol area. I reckon this was the Afterbirth (10”) era with bassist Tim ‘Crow’ Shapland (ex ‘Zygote’) on bass and guitarist Egbert ‘Eggy’ Verheyen…

‘AOS3’, now touring with ‘Citizen Fish’ and ‘Bender’, had been here earlier in the year (94-01-30). They were from Sunderland and played reggae-rock-ska-dub-punk. They state they were part of the anarcho-punk movement and that their “lyrics reflect the band’s political stance”. The band consisted of Bill Radford (bass), Colin Cumpson (guitar), Erl R. (drums) and John Horabin (vocals). By the time they played here, they’d already a a couple of 7”s out: one entitled Tottenham 3 (Words Of Warning ’92) and a split with ‘Citizens Fish’ (Bluurg recs ’93); the LP God’s Secret Agent would be released later that year (also on W.O.W.). They also put out a live+studio tape entitled Apparently We Had A Great Time (1992). When they split up (their last gig was December ‘94), singer John relocated to London and formed ‘P.A.I.N.’ (with Phil from ‘Radical Dance Faction’). ‘AOS3’ reformed in 2007.

‘AOS3’; photographed by Helena ‘Lena’ Paula Burbuleta

‘AOS3’ (Colin – John – Bill); photographer unknown (more band live pics will follow)

‘Bender’ (UK; reggae-dub-punk) also came along with ‘AOS3’ & ‘C.F.’ (see guestbook-entry). The band consisted of Alex Gordon (guitar/vocals), Jim Friedlander (bass) & Crum Hall (drums; he replaced Paolo). They had some tapes out and did a 7” & 2 LPs on Words Of Warning (94-96).

The Finnish ‘Selfish’, another band on Genet recs, performed for the 3^rd time (after 92-07-25 & 93-10-31). October 1993 they had recorded for the split-LP with ‘Doom’ (out on Matthias Weigand’s label Ecocentric recs) with Otto Itkonen (drums), ‘Basse’ Sebastian Särekallio (vocals, R.I.P.), ‘Jaba’ Jaakko Penttinen (bass) and ‘Vikke’ (guitar; later also ‘Wind Of Pain’). In 1994 there was also the release of their split-7” with ‘Disclose’ (‘Selfish’ recordings from September 1993). This photo shows Sebastian, Otto & ‘Pedro Anthares’ (Petri Niskanen; on bass!?).

‘Agathocles’ played too… [unannounced; read below] Another appearance of the ‘masters of mincecore’)… I was never a big fan and questioned some of their dealings in the past but I must admit, now that they’re still going, that I admire especially Jan’s perseverance and dedication. With the many line-up changes, I can ‘t really recall who played when. Burt was kind of a constant factor to me; having known him from the Hageland Hardcore days and the gigs in his hometown Scherpenheuvel. In my brain guitarist Steve Houtmeyers doesn’t trigger any neurons and Rudy Pans is connected to ‘Intestinal Disease’…

Forgot who ‘Der Machinisten’ were…

Brob

‘Der Machinisten’… I did backing-vocals for them with my sister Benedicte in Ieper. Didier Volckaert, Matthias Cruyssaert, Ludovic Colpaert was the singer and someone else I forgot… They didn’t use any ‘real’ instruments. All industrial stuff.

Caroline Rouseré

‘Agathocles’ played on this day as well…

Rui Maia, ‘Inkisiçao’ drummer

Yeah, we played there! Around 1993 it was me, Rudy (ex ‘Intestinal Disease’ and nowadays ‘League Of Mental Men’- with an old Australian punk singing) on bass, Burt [Beyens] on drums and Steve [Houtmeyers; also founder of Intestinal Disease’, now in ‘Hypnos 69’]. On the photo below ‘Agathocles’ guitarist Steve is doing the vocals. He couldn’t play then…he had sprained his wrist. We did a few gigs with that line-up then, no recordings. It was in the “hall” of the V.V., not in the pub… Can’t remember much else though…

Jan Frederickx, ‘Agathocles’

‘Agathocles’; pic by Wim De Leersnijder

I used to play guitar for ‘Inkisiçao’ before this. I came over just for the concert because I live in Brussels and caught up with them.

Rui Ferreira

[After their first appearance 94-01-30] We came back to a completely contrasting event – hundreds of punks, a great gig in the bigger space which ended another great tour-run, and many tales from the road-crew of grandads who’d escaped death at Ieper by being seconded to the catering-crew just before the ‘big push’ – both under-age too – weird! The festival was fantastic and we were treated very well, then off to bed – with the biological experiment mattresses and still the same underwear nailed up.

‘AOS3’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

see: 94-09-17

pics from Ras L’Bol #3 (Ludovic Hache):

Helena ‘Lena’ Paula Burbuleta (vocals) – Rui Maia (drums) – Miguel (vocals) – Píncaro (guitar) – Sérgio (bass)

pics kindly donated by the band:

Colin Cumpson (guitar) – John Horabin (vocals) – Bill Radford (bass) – Erl R. (drums)

‘AOS3’ signing the V.V. guestbook…

Workshop ‘Dismantling Patriarchy Using Jedi Mind Tricks’

– ‘Flopi’ (Buenos Aires, Argentina) & Laura Synthesis (London, UK)

‘Flower’ & Laura welcome males, trans, intersex, females and all those who identify with the women’s cause in quest for sex/gender equality to this workshop. We will delve into the Dark Side and beyond in an attempt to deconstruct, resignify and integrate sex/gender. The ultimate aims of the workshop will be experience-sharing, awareness-raising, empowerment, mental enhancement, innermosttransformation and collaborative endeavor so that we can keep on tracing the lines of a future -HERE AND NOW- we are so dearly longing for.

This Vort’n Vis event was for International Women’s Day, and ‘Flopi’, my Argentian friend, and I did a workshop. But I can’t remember anything about it now except that we all sat in a circle on the floor, people made contributions and at the end we did a nice evaluation where people wrote their feedback on bits of paper that were put together to make a flower. I really don’t remember much else of this V.V. event but I think you’re right, that Isabella did an acoustic set. If the programme from the event turns up, I’ll scan it…

Laura W. Synthesis zine and distribution (London); used to put on gigs as the x dot cotton grrrls crew x

At that time I was living in Göttingen [Germany] and would go to Gent [Belgium] on the weekends to visit my friend Bartje Praet [zine-maker]. Not sure how I ended up at the V.V. to be honest… I was 18 at the time. I improvised an accoustic set. There were maybe 15 people there.

Isabella Gargiulo, bassplayer of ‘Dominatrix’ (São Paulo, Brazil)

Maria-Florencia Kais (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) used to be the singer for the all-female Argentinian straight-edge hardcore band ‘Venus GenetriXXX’ (featured on the Emancypunx – Polish label ran by Jenni Ramme – compilation x The Sisterhood x) and is a political activist. She’s also a DJ at Salón Pueyrredón, an anarcho-punk club in Buenos Aires (as DJane Mary Flower).

My friend Laura W. was the editor of the feminist straight-edge zine Synthesis and ran a distro (zines and books) in the second half of the 90s, she was also active in London anarchist women’s collectives and co-ran the London Social Centre Network. Later they did a workshop entitled ‘Dismantling Patriarchy Using Jedi Mind Tricks’, at the Noc Walpurgis Fest in Warsaw (invited by Jenni). The aim of that workshop was to get men thinking and talking about how they are affected negatively by patriarachy.

Brob

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

‘Deformity’ played on one of the fests before this (97-08-17). I found no track of this gig in the V.V. notes but the band mentioned it in their internet-writings of that time… Perhaps it was announced but never happened?

The band played death-core/metal and were from the H8000-area (Menen/Houthulst/Roeselare). They started in the summer of ‘95, with ‘Bolle’ (Dominiek Defrancq, drums), ‘Wulf’ (Kristof Dewulf a.k.a. ‘Christopher D. Wolff’, bass; also sang for ‘Solid’ for a little while), ‘Lookmulle’ Davy Vanlokeren (guitar; also in ‘Regression’, later bass in ‘Spoil Engine’) and ‘Gaze’ Steven Sanders (guitar; later ‘Spoil Engine’). A “power-throat” was found in the person of ‘Becque’ (Laurent Delbecque; later in the blues-band ‘Smoking General’ with Bjorn Lescouhier of ‘Shortsight’ & ‘Regression’). After a few months ‘Becque’ and ‘Lookmulle’ switched places (the latter sang on ‘Misanthrope’ & ‘Murder’…). Around the end of ’96 they recruted Michael (‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon; also ‘Congress’) as second guitarist because “they sounded a bit too empty for your average metal-outfit”.

Their 1^st release was the Beyond live demo (in Dadizele, ‘96; with Dave/y Vanlokeren on guitar and Laurent Delbecque doing vocals). The CD Misanthrope and the split-7” with ‘Congress’ followed (GoodLife ‘97). Recordings for Murder Within Sin were in spring ‘99 and that got released July ‘99 on Next Sentence recs (Charleroi, Bel) and Blasphemour recs (U.S.).

Early 2001, ‘Lookmulle’ left ‘Deformity’ due to throat-problems, with ‘Wulf’ replacing him as main singer. Promo-talk of that era mentions: “Nevertheless, ‘Deformity’ kept on raging and sees this effort paying off in a record deal with ‘Displeased recs’, one of Europe`s largest metal-labels”…

additions wellcome!…

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

‘Thumbs Down’ (from Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. If I’m correct the band consisted of Roeland De Keulenaer (bass; later replaced by Andries Beckers of ‘Diablo Blvd’), Ken (drums; since ’99 Benjamin Buschgens – later ‘The Setup’), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar; later ‘The Setup’) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were also signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99).

Barricada #2: “I was baffled by ‘Thumbs Down’ because I thought they resembled ‘Battery’. There was also a black person in the band, reminding of ‘Battery’s Ken Olden (even the guitar was the same). An even bigger surprise was when they played that great old-school ‘Bold’ cover.”

‘Thumbs Down’ (photo by Sergi E. Costa)

‘ODK Crew’ played old-school HC influenced by ‘Judge’, ‘Rise Above’, etc. They were from Oostduinkerke (Belgian coast-town). That year Hans (of Sober Mind recs) released a 7” entitled Old School vs New School. These guys were members of ‘Vitality’ (guitarist Bob Van Lierde & bassist Marc Paccou) and ‘Congress’ (drummer Ilja De Ceuleneire, singer ‘Micha’ Michael Pintelon). They reformed halfway the noughties with Lil’ Wayne (ex roadie of ‘Vitality) on vocals…

Barricada #2: “Boring old fast metal in the vein of ‘One Life Crew’.”

‘Metroschifter’ – from Louisville, Kentucky – did a first tour of Europe (22 days) with the band ‘Omaha’ (from Toledo, Ohio; with Dirk Hemsath of Doghouse recs) Dec ’96 – Jan ‘97. Drummer Chris(topher) Reinstatler (a.k.a. ‘The Hört’; ex ‘Transcend’) had joined the band because Mario Rubalcaba left. Mark Ritcher filled in on bass as Pat(rick) McClimans (ex ‘Endpoint’) was unable to go on the trip. But it was Brendan Bogosian who played bass on ‘Metroschifter’s August 1997 Euro tour. In June ’97 they recorded the Metroschifter 4 LP – “loud, distorted, mathematical rock”; post-HC – (released on Doghouse recs) and then came over to Europe again. The line-up here was Scott Ritcher (guitar/vocals; Slamdek recs; writer and graphic designer – kcomposite.com), Pat and Chris. Dec ’98 they came to Europe for the 3^rd time; and a 4^th time Dec ’99 (with Curtis Mead on bass).

Scott Ritcher (photo by Sergi E Costa)

Here’s a few words by Scott (from the zine Love, Sweat & Tears) on this:

Barricada #2: “They cleaned our dark ears and cooled the air in the hall.”

‘Intensity’, from Malmö/Lund (Sweden) played “fast, intense old-school HC à la Minor Threat”: Jonas Nilsson (guitar; later Mathias Blixtberg & Andy Dahlström, both also ‘Satanic Surfers’; works for Bad Taste), Rodrigo Alfaro (vocals; also ‘Satanic Surfers’; founder of the Putrid Filth Conspiracy label), Kristoffer Lind (bass) and Simon Ricci (drums; later Tommas Svendsen). At that time they had 2 albums our on Bad Taste recs (where Jonas & Rordrigo helped out – Bought And Sold (1996) & Wash Off The Lies (1998), and a 7” – Battered Soul – on Rodrigo’s label Putrid Filth Conspiracy. The band came back to the V.V. on 99-06-27 (because Bruno Genet recs had re-released their Bought And Sold album as a 10”)

‘Intensity’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “Old school with vocals reminiscent of ‘Ignite’ but the music sounds more punk.”

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (Roeselare/Poperinge area; heart of the H8000 area) had played in there new line-up (their “second phase”, more new-school metal-HC) at the V.V. already (97-06-27). Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf (guitar) & Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf (drums), bassist Kris Casier of ‘Solid’ (who played on Source, recorded in May) was replaced by Sim Meersseman (of Strike One zine; later ‘Kingpin’) here, guitarist Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (a.k.a. ‘Tweet’, also Strike One zine) and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (vocals; also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’). They would do 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).

‘Spirit Of Youth’ (pic courtesy of Sergi E. Costa)

‘S.O.Y.’s ‘Marvel’ (+ ‘Lifecycle’s Sofie) (pic kindly donated by Jan Beckers)

Barricada #2: “A mix of metal and old-school. Their new album on SoberMind sounds quite good.”

‘Serene’ (from Gävle, Sweden) – Olle ‘Hård’ Johansson (drums), Petter Karlsson (bass), Fredrik Nygren (guitar), Klas Joakim Eriksson (guitar; later ‘Leiah’) and Anders Nähslund (vocals) – had been at the V.V. earler that year (97-03-30). ‘They did a split-7” with ‘Separation’ on Genet recs that year. Their LP Inward Flowering was released on the same label in ’98. “Melody-driven hardcore and screamo punk.”

Barricada #2: “The surprise of the evening. After some small technical problems, they got started… So we could fly off. A brutal emo band lead by a teenage singer who made considerable effort. Only a shame that the band didn’t talk that much.”

The band with silliest nick-names: ‘Lenny LadyLover’ Wouter Cael (bass), Bert ‘BabyNipples’ Guillemont (drums; also in ‘Liar’), Piet ‘Pete’ Cardoen (a.k.a. ‘Mousti’ or ‘Tripple Nipple’; guitar), Vadim ‘KarateKip’ Vandekerckhove (guitar) and Jeroen Therry (a.k.a. ‘KungFu Mike’ or ‘Morbid Mike’; vocals). Since they were from from “Beseloare”; Beselare, a village close to Ieper, they’d played the Vort’n Vis sevral times already (96-05-12, 96-08-17, 96-09-22). 1997 was the year Hans SoberMind released their 12”/CD Human Spots of Rust.

Barricada #2: “One of the spiritual fathers of the H8000 crew. [Oh irony!] Ultra-fast brutal metal with some aggressive dancing [see video], so we preferred staying outside where we felt safer (but it wasn’t that terrible).”

‘Blindfold’ did NOT play their last ever gig here at the ‘97 V.V. Fest. (see intro) Their set was recorded an released as Live At The Vort’n Vis on SoberMind recs. Mich Decruyenaere (ex ‘Fungus’, later ‘Hitch’) had started as 2^nd guitarist; he’d already played on the band’s 1996 German tour. Most in the band were V.V. ‘shitworkers’ and practically the ‘house-band’ so they played their umpteenth set…

Wim ‘Blindfold’ (pic by JanCoert Toerse)

‘Blindfold’ (photo-shoot by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “When hell passed away, we quickly returned inside since ‘Blindfold’, pioneers [???] of the hardcore in Belgium, started to play. The atmosphere was excellent: they played their most famous songs; music on the border of melodic HC and metal. Their performance was [NOT just yet] the last of the band’s six-year existence.”

‘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 ‘Strength Of The Will’ (92-09-06 & 93-09-19) and ‘Churn’ (95-08-20); later ‘Enemy Of The Sun’, ‘Kabul Golf Club’) – Eric Sefton (vocals) & Walter Beckers (bass). Their earlier sets here (96-05-12 & 96-08-17) were with Raf Gielen playing 2^nd guitar. The recordings for the LP on GoodLife recs (File 01) were done in October ’96 without Raf. The band was touring with the Americans of ‘Culture’ so there was a split out (on GoodLife recs) with tracks from ‘Kindred’s recording-session of March that year. (ad)

Barricada #2: “There were more people on stage than just the band: Belgian fans stood everywhere in-between the band-members. I couldn’t breathe so I went to out to gains some strength for ‘Liar’.”

‘Liar’ (UxJx – bass, Josh – guitar, Bert- drums & Hans – vocals) had recorded the Invictus album in Feb/March at Midas studios. There was also the split-EP with ‘Family Of Dog’ (a freebie with H8Z fanzine #5)…

Barricada #2: “Contrary to last year – when ‘Liar’ seemed to be very intolerant towards people – their performance had changed a lot and there was a new ‘Liar’ in front of us. Even the singer (‘Blindfold’s guitarist) seemed very sympathetic to me. An excellent clear sound and new songs gave the concert dynamics. The hymn Blade was sung along by perhaps all Belgians. I was so excited, the dancing was not so brutal and the band was visible from the back of the hall.”

‘Culture’ was a vegan straight-edge band from Gainesville, Florida that was active from 1992-1998. The line-up changed a number of times over the years. Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker wrote me he was the guitarist of ‘Culture’ when they were on tour with ‘Kindred’ in 1997. The CD entitled Heteronome (“chugga chugga HC”) and the Oath 7” that GoodLife recs marketed in ’97 was recorded with Steve (also ‘Morning Again’), Jason Dooley (drums), Gordon Tarpley (bass; also in ‘As Friends Rust’), Rich Thurston (guitar) and Damien Moyal (vocals; also ‘Shai Halud’, ‘Morning Again’, ‘As Friends Rust’) – the guys who were on this tour.

Damien ‘Culture’ (pic by JanCoert Toerse)

commodification…

Barricada #2: “They started with songs from Born Of You [1995 album on Conquer The World recs], followed by tracks from the split with ‘Kindred’. Towards the end, it got too hot on the stage: dozens of people packed together on a few square meters. They also played new things from the last mCD [Heteronome; which GoodLife released right before the fest] and when the microphone broke (it was astonishing that it lasted so long), they played the last song on this tour (They ended their summer-tour with ‘Kindred’ here in Ieper.): the older song Deforestation – the whole crowd sang and the vocalist could do nothing else than climb the iron girders that supported the roof, and watch the hell below him. Highlight of this Saturday night.”

Brob

I remember playing the Vort’n Vis in 1997 with ‘Culture’ on tour with ‘Kindred’.

Stephen ‘Steve’ Looker, ‘Culture’ guitarist

I didn’t do the first euro tours… I started the band but left shortly after we recorded the ‘Kindred’ split but currently I’m in ‘Culture’ again… Jason Dooley was on the 97/98 tours.

Joshua Williams, ‘Culture’

I played the Vort’n Vis twice with ‘Culture’ in both 1997 and 1998, and it was everything a hardcore punk show should be: sweaty, intense, crowded. I remember the stage being over-run with people singing along, and there was barely room to play. The height of the stage was perfect, the setting was perfect, the era was thriving. I’ll never forget those shows.

Damien Moyal

I remember I had to work and regretted I couldn’t stay. I do recall being very impressed by ‘Abhinanda’ [the day before]. It might be the day when ‘Vinnie’ said someone lost their clock and he’d found it: it was one of those giant clocks hanging on the wall… Vincent wore his giant nerdy specs. At the end of our set, I sang this song… Together In The Sand…? By ‘NoFX’…? No sure if it was then? We did so many gigs. And of course I a lot of had fun… Ah, and I assume there were loads of people sleeping at our house. My mom sometimes couldn’t open the door because our living-room was full of people.

Fred Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’

Our show here is partly on the H8000 DVD. The venue was packed and loads of people were diving and singing along. The best time we ever played there. The video shows everyone from the scene standing around us really, all colleague’s bands. It’s shot from the rear of the stage, in the direction of the crowd…

Dominiek Denolf, ‘S.O.Y.’

97-08-16 was the first time we met the overly tattooed guys from ‘Endstand’. Great guys! We also hung out with the ‘Serene’ guys. I think we played another gig with them two days later at some small club. Awesome band! I think we were well taken care of at the festival but I don’t remember any details. I do recall that there was a disturbing number of pro-violence vegans everywhere. Guys with tank-tops, lots of muscles and a really bad attitude. And lots of Milk Is Murder shirts. It would surprise me greatly if any of them is still vegan today. They were just bullies looking for a fight, people who could just as easily have been nazi-skins or gay-bashers if they had grown up in a different environment. During our gig there was an extremely violent mosh-pit, where lots of people who had travelled a long way to see us couldn’t get near the stage. It was, of course, the well-muscled guys with shaved heads and tank-tops that were violent. I’m all for a little craziness in the pit but these guys were just nasty. Like entering the pit with a fly kick, hard. Idiots. Rodrigo, our singer, told them to calm down, or we would leave the stage. Anyway, macho assholes aside, the place was cool and I had a good time.

Simon Ricci, ‘Intensity’

That show is etched in my memory as the most intense show ever. The response and the commitment grabbed me by the throat. I still know that I looked at Vadim who was going berserk. Our sets weren’t ever quite long but I always gave myself completely. That time it was as if I could keep going, purely on adrenalin. I will never forget this! Thanks to the Vort’n Vis and everyone that was there that day.

Jeroen Therry, ‘Sektor’

That ‘Triple Nipple’ thing in the guestbook doesn’t ring a bell but it could be about me…

Piet Cardoen, ‘Sektor’

I remember the HC fest quite well; it was still in the ‘barn’. There’s a live LP from our show there. The shack was packed to the top of the roof, 35 degrees, people piled together and on top of these more people :-) Good times. I recall being mega-psyched about the fact that ‘Metroschifter’ was playing; I was already a big fan of that band.

Mich Decruyenaere, ‘Blindfold’

It was really super-hot that day, my lower lip was slightly lacerated because someone from the audience accidentally jumped against my mic. It was really wild in front and on stage. After the show I immediately got of the stage ‘cause I felt like passing out. Dead tired! It was also the lasts show of the ‘Culture’/’Kindred’ tour.

Eric Sefton, ‘Kindred’ vocalist

August ’97 was the only time I went out with ‘Metroschifter’; 5 weeks: Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and England (but the dates in England got cancelled so we just hung out). The bassist at the time (I don’t recall who it was; Pat maybe?) had a family-emergency and could not go on that tour. I was friends with Chris (‘The Hört’) and he asked me a few weeks before they were leaving if I would like to jump on bass! I had to learn a bunch of songs real quick, and rush to get a passport!

Brendan Bogosian

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

The Czech zine Barricada #2 mentions ‘Starmarket’ switched places with ‘Endstand’…

‘Instinct’ was a – “positive old-school” (Steve Noyelle’s words) – band with people from my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar, Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘The Deal’ & ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They’d played the V.V. before (probably a few times that year: 97-03-01, 97-06-27 & 97-07-12)… They did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment (release-party 98-04-18).

On the internet (the German Outspoken forum – outspoken.de) one could read “In 1997 Purification made it to the most important European hardcore festival of those days, the Vort’n Vis fest in Ieper (Belgium).”.

‘Purification’ was a Roman vegan sXe metal-core band and they were inspired by (hardline and pro-life bands) ‘Vegan Reich’ & ‘Earth Crisis’, and influenced by American Straight-Edge. The members were: ‘Puritan’ Maurizio ‘Er Vegano’ Ricci (vocals on the demo and here aswell) – later Matteo ‘Cumenda’ Ferrari (‘P Bird’ or ‘Caustic Bird’, switched from bass – which he played here – to vocals), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar; later together with Emiliano ‘Er Frusinate’ De Santis), Fabio ‘Kappa’ Cappabianca (drums; Demian Campora informed me he wasn’t in the band at that time). They did a demo in 1996 entitled Arkangel. The Vessel Of Wrath 7” was released on Maurizio Ricci’s label Surrounded recs (xCatalystx recs in the US) in 1998. They also had a track on the Animal Truth compilation that SoberMind recs did. Hans also released their 1996-2000 compilation-CD in 2001.

Barricada #2: “I was really curious about ‘Purification’ because their demo is really good. But I was surprised when the new songs turned out even better than those on the tape. A sympathetic band that talked a lot about veganism and ecology. They also played an ‘Earth Crisis’ cover, The Order That Shall (from the compilation Stones To Mark A Fire). Their performance may have taken a wrong turn with the infernal dancing of the Italian fans, but otherwise I was content.”

‘Purification’; courtesy of Adam Malik

‘Clouded’ was a “new-school” metal-core band from Antwerp (Kontich) with Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serch Carriere (drums) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar; he replaced Kurt). They started rehearsing November ’96 and did their first show March ’97. The 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in ‘98. They played a show at the V.V. pub (98-05-10) and also did the ’98 & ’99 fests.

‘Endstand’ was a HC/punk band from Riihimäki consisting of Jani Kivijärvi (drums), Janne Tamminen (vocals), Joel (Asseri) Sipilä (bass) and Mika Kaukonen (guitar). They’d done a demo-tape (Fear Of Future) in ’96. A split-7” with the Swedish band ‘Outlast’ came out on Grey Days recs / Bridge Of Compassion (‘97). The same year as their Tolerance 7” (on Arto Savolainen’s label Rising Justice recs). The next years there was the Freedom mCD (’98, on Impression recs, the later Lifeforce recs) and a split mCD with ‘Aurinkokerho’ (Halla Julkaisut ‘99). Learn more about the band’s history from the documentary Fire Inside that is on the www.

Barricada #2: “I went to relax in the car when ‘Starmarket’ was supposed to play. About half an hour later I went to the hall and I was horrified: instead of the Swedes, ‘Endstand’s show was in full swing. I only saw the last 6 songs but these were full of energy, which was evidenced by the people piling up on stage. The guys in the band said it was their best concert ever.”

‘Endstand’; (1)&(2) from Hobson’s Choice #4 zine, (3) by JanCoert Toerse

‘Reiziger’ evolved from ‘Kosjer D’; their music was described as “post hardcore” and “emo-core”. I think they were an ‘indie’ band on the edge of the DIY scene… The band consisted of Sven Gielen (drums), Pascal Hens (guitar), Kristien Hendrix (bass) & Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals). At this time I think they were about to release their 1^st (12”) EP Don’t Bind My Hands (Genet recs)… They’d just done an intimate show at the V.V. pub (97-06-14) and would return for the ’98 fest.

Barricada #2: “Things calmed down a bit with ‘Reizger’. Pleasantly affectionate emo!”

‘Reiziger’; pics courtesy of the band

‘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). Their music was brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of SoberMind recs released the Painfields 7”/mCD (1997) and the A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998).

Barricada #2: “After peace had filled our hearts, a more violent band came along. A very compact mix of HC and metal, in the vein of ‘Morning Again’. Their new MCD is very brutal.”

Not the first time for ‘Facedown’ (‘new-school’, metal-influenced, vegan SE-HC band from Kontich, near Antwerp) either… Thomas Baeken (bass), Youri Baeken (drums), Daniel Mies (vocals), Niko Poortmans (guitar) and Geert Ceuppens (guitar) saw the Ferket brothers (Evil Twin recs) release their 7” Friendship Is Everything (recorded at Studio 195 in July 1996) but Bruno re-released it – with some additional tracks – on Genet recs this year… … The same for the split-7” with ‘Earthmover‎’ (on Moo Cow recs). “Powerful, brutal, moshing emo-core”…

Barricada #2: “Evening fell when ‘Facedown’ came up. They surprised us last year but now it was really worth checking them out. The whole hall rumbled when they played songs from their EP and also new ones that should appear on the new album. As a bonus, they added ‘Earth Crisis’ Firestorm – that was screamed along by all.”

‘Facedown’; by JanCoert Toerse

The 3^rd appearance (after 94-08-20 & 95-08-19) of the Swedish SxE band ‘Abhinanda’. In ‘96 they had released their self-titled CD. As Mel Hughes put it: “hardcore passion…metallic riffs speaking to you in poetic tones; fuelled by the power of ‘Verbal Assault’, ‘Shelter’ and ‘Inside Out’…”. It was recorded with José Saxlund (vocals), Pär Hansson (guitar; replacing Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass) & Daniel Berglund (drums; replacing Jonas Lyxzén). When they recorded in spring of ’98 for the album The Rumble, Niklas Rudolfsson played guitar instead of Adam. Niklas also played at this gig. Their set was recorded on video.

Barricada #2: “The Swedes appeared with a new guitarist and drummer. During the first riffs everything seemed calm but as soon as the singer started, a wave of people rose and made their way to the stage, striking the microphone. The musicians disappeared in the piles of people, sometimes the guitarist and the singer peeked over the heads of the crowd. They played songs from the last album but also old hits such as Senseless or Needle. All rocking and thrashing. The classic Let’s March! dragged some 100 people along. The best show of this Friday – as could be expected.”

‘Abhinanda’; (1) courtesy of Adam Malik, (2) by JanCoert Toerse

Two years after their first performance ‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) returned. Jens Lauterbach (bass), Flo(rian) Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann played metallic hardcore. In 1996 Ferry Krop (of ‘Crisis Of Society’) had released the 7” Time Will Tell (Threesome recs label) after he did their first self-titled one. The same year their LP The Burden Of Life was released (Frontline).

Barricada #2: “They arrived last minute. People were screaming along to their best songs, such as Everyday or Time Will Tell. But it seemed to me that ‘Veil’ gave a bit extra that evening.”

Brob

It sure was quite an experience to play this festival in Ieper and I have good memories about it.

Joel (Asseri) Sipilä; ‘Endstand’ bassist

We did play at the V.V. in ‘97 (when ‘Abhinanda’ played there as well)… Actually we arrived so late that they were forced to play before us, so we ended up being the headliners of that night… I remember that so well since we got out of the car (had an accident during the day which was a reason for the delay) after an 8 hour drive… When we finally arrived, we stretched out and and got right on stage. Holy moly! I’m pretty sure the first crowd-shot on the intro-page was during ‘Veil’s set.

Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’s vocalist

What I always remembered is the good atmosphere, the warm welcome by the audience. Not obvious at that time , ‘cause ‘Reiziger’ was not a typical hardcore-band.

Sven Gielen, ‘Reiziger’

Our record Our Kodo was just out then… I remember we were the ‘the odd one out’… Geert started our performance with “Hello, we’re ‘Reiziger’ and we’re gonna play half an hour of pop-music for you.”. It was a legendary gig, incredible ambience, very hot on stage, warm reactions afterward aswell. One can hear on the compilation that Bruno released, that Geert’s voice was broken…

Pascal Hens, ‘Reiziger’

I don’t remember that much gigs we played with ‘Clouded’. But the ones I will never forget are the shows at the Lintfabriek in Kontich (our second home) and at the Vort’n Vis festivals. I think we played there the last two times before the festival moved outside, to a much bigger location. We still played in the barn (no other way to call it), with sweat dripping of every wall, people diving from the ceiling-beams,… Chaos, but in a very contagious way. It was amazing to see how much people actually fit in that barn :-) … I remember being knocked out after our show – too many people, too much sweat, too little oxygen – but also kind of high on adrenaline at the same time. The Fest always had the most receptive and the most enthusiastic ‘crowd’. People were singing along with songs we played for the very first time. Songs that had no lyrics yet (I just shouted something). When ‘Kindred’ and ‘Culture’ played (my favorite bands back then), the barn just exploded.

I don’t know what it’s like nowadays, but back then all the bands (also the American ones) stayed at the same camping-site. We all hung out in the city and we played soccer together. I made friends in Ieper that I’m still in touch with 20 years later. Sweet memories.

Jeroen Verelst, ‘Clouded’ singer

What I particularly remember of that show is that we, being a young band, got a lot of support from the audience. Our song Positive Kids was enregistred that day and used for the H8000 sampler.

Alex Dierickx, ‘Instinct’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Introduction => 97-08-15&16&17 HardCore – The Next Generation festival

The Czech zine Barricada #2 mentions ‘Starmarket’ switched places with ‘Endstand’…

The last day started earlier – right after lunch – so that it all could be finished by 9 o’clock.

‘Lifecycle’ had played the V.V. their 1^st gigs a bit before (97-06-27 & 97-07-12) and they would become one of the ‘house bands’ in the future… I believe here they played in the early line-up: Sofie Vantomme (vocals; co-founder Vincent Merveillie had joined ‘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).

Barricada #2: “A young band with a metal sound and a girl singing; a lot like ‘Shortsight’. The guitarist mentioned how terrible the garbage was around the concert-venue and that Hardcore should go all the way and not make a mess in the city. I tought wasn’t that bad with the waste last year though.”

‘Acheborn’s music was “raw, heavy, violent and brutal: thick guitars, hard-pounding rhythm-section and screaming vocals building a wall of metallic crust”; some compared them with ‘Unbroken’. They came from the Darmstadt area: André Liegl (bass), Heikki Eiden (vocals), Sascha Salipurovic (drums), Steffen Heller (guitar) and Jens Wucherpfennig (guitar). At that time I believe they just had the Demon Love (7”) out (Defiance recs). The split-7” with ‘Systral’ (on Trans Solar; Christian Mix-Linzer’s label) came in 1998. The LP Tuesday Is Dead LP (also released by Trans Solar) in ’99. Sascha Franzen of Alveran recs (vocalist of ‘Nyari’ – from Bochum) intended to release a split-7” with ‘Upset’ but that didn’t work out.

Barricada #2: “Next up were the Germans of ‘Acheborn’, an enjoyable thrashing of the ears.”

‘Starmarket’, an indie-rock band from Sweden Piteå (north of Umeå), were: Fredrik Brändström (guitar/vocals), Patrik Bergman (bass; later Jesper Löfroth), Johan Sellman (guitar), Magnus Öberg(-Egerbladh) (drums). They did a bunch of records on the Swedish alternative/indie label Dolores recs. Around this time their album Sunday’s Worst Enemy was out…

Barricada #2: “Melodic punk, but they played for a minority of the people attending (everyone seemed to load up power for the evening).”

The band ‘Deformity’ played death-core/metal and were from the H8000-area (Menen/Houthulst/Roeselare). They had started in the summer of ‘95, with ‘Bolle’ (Dominiek Defrancq, drums), ‘Wulf’ (Kristof Dewulf a.k.a. ‘Christopher D. Wolff’, bass; also sang for ‘Solid’ for a little while), ‘Lookmulle’ Davy Vanlokeren (guitar; also in ‘Regression’, later bass in ‘Spoil Engine’) and ‘Gaze’ Steven Sanders (guitar; later ‘Spoil Engine’). A “power-throat” was found in the person of ‘Becque’ (Laurent Delbecque; later in the blues-band ‘Smoking General’ with Bjorn Lescouhier of ‘Shortsight’ & ‘Regression’). After a few months ‘Becque’ and ‘Lookmulle’ switched places (the latter sang on ‘Misanthrope’ & ‘Murder’…). Around the end of ’96 they recruted Michael (‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon; also ‘Congress’) as second guitarist because “they sounded a bit too empty for your average metal-outfit”. Their 1^st release was the Beyond live demo (in Dadizele, ‘96; with Dave/y Vanlokeren on guitar and Laurent Delbecque doing vocals). The CD Misanthrope and the split-7” with ‘Congress’ followed (GoodLife ‘97)…

Barricada #2: “After a lengthy tuning and sound-check, and even longer intro, they started playing. The second guitarist of ‘Congress’ was in the band. Just metal, nothing more. This didn’t have much to do with hardcore.”

‘Mainstrike had played here a few times already (95-04-09, 95-08-19 & 95-10-20. At some point they split with bassist Jasper Meijerink and Johnny van de Koolwijk of ‘Reaching Forward’ became the new bassplayer. In March 1997 ‘Mainstrike’ recorded the Quest For The Answers album. Here the line-up was Roland ‘Big’ Roller (vocals), Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar), Johnny (bass), Jonas Moberg (guitar) & Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums). Their set here was recorded on video…

‘Mainstrike’ (photoshot by Sergi E. Costa)

posi crew crowd; pics by Sergi E. Costa

Barricada #2: “The Dutch ‘Mainstrike’ started of with the words ‘Do you remember real hardcore?’. Somewhat older people playing classic old-school sXe, similar to bands such as ‘Wide Awake’, ‘Youth Of Today’ and others of those acient times. There was a great atmosphere and especially during the last covers of ‘Y.O.T.’ and ‘Chain Of Strength’, the crowd gathered on stage again.”

‘Rubbish Heap’ had been hear already on 96-05-19. They were a HC/metal band from Antwerp with Dave Vanderplas (drums), Kim Vandyck (vocals; later guitarist of ‘KingTerror’), ‘Peche’ (guitar), Tijs Geerts (bass; later ‘Bad Influence’) and Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Royers (guitar). They were friends of Joris De Buysser (Conspiracy recs) who released their Path Of Lies 7” (“mix of ‘Rorschach’ & ‘Downcast’…”), and their other stuff later. Early on they had done a rehearsal-tape and a demo (Slow Defeat). Here Kim was injured and had to be replaced… (read his comment) Was their set also video-taped?

Barricada #2: “This gave me power; emo with a metal sound!”

Not new (96-08-16, 96-09-22) for the V.V. each either: ‘Vitality’s “tough-guy edge-metal”. By that time the band, from Oostduinkerke (ODK; Belgian coast), consisted ‘Chief’ Steve De Clercq (vocals), ‘Noptje De Mens’ Bob Van Lierde (guitar) & ‘Alien King’ Chris Paccou (guitar; nowadays sound-engineer for ‘Carcass’), Olivier ‘Ollie’ Dobbels (drums; also nick-named ‘Simon’ or ‘Original Gangster’) and ‘Switch’ Marc Paccou (bass). Hans ‘Liar’ released 2 7”s for them on his label Sober Mind: a split with ‘Sektor’ an one entitled Bloodline. In 1998 their Crucial Wires CD appeared on the French (from Rennes) label Overcome recs.

Barricada #2: “Crazy Belgians again, H-8000 power! I prefered to leave…”

In 1997 ‘Congress’ put out a split-7” with ‘Deformity’ (Exhume The Truth / God Defined; on GoodLife recs). Angry With The Sun (released in ‘98) was with Michael Pintelon as second guitarist.

‘Congress’ (photographed by Sergi E. Costa)

Barricada #2: “With the exit of the moon, ‘Congress’ path of immortality conquered the stage. They started with the old songs Lifting The Ban & Prayers [from Blackened Persistance], and finished with new songs. During the concert, the bassist sang more than the singer, who climbed in the ceiling-beams and jumped down on people’s heads. The Belgian fans got angry; I expected the worst. At that moment the hall was about to burst with people.”

‘Morning Again’ toured with ‘Congress’. They were a vegan straight-edge metal-core band from Fort Lauderdale, Forida. The line-up here was Kevin Ray Byers (vocals, bassist of ‘Outcast’; he replaced Damien Moyal, who was “asked to leave the band”), Joseph Lee ‘Joe’ Simmons (guitar; also ‘As Friends Rust’, ‘Culture’), Matt Thomas (drums; replaced Louis Ogburn Long), John Michael Wylie (guitar; ex ‘Culture’) and Gerardo ‘Jerry’ Villarroel (bass). In the guestbook there’s mention of Kevin, Joe, Matt and Jerry; Jordan Leitner did the merch… They’d done a few 7”s on various US labels in ’96 and in ’97 GoodLife recs released the album Martyr (recorded in February).

‘Morning Again’; by JanCoert Toerse

Barricada #2: “Then the last band (also from Florida) was on! I was curious: ‘M.A.’ & ‘Culture’ are some of the American bands that are widely recognised in Belgium; thanks to GoodLife recs. (I noticed almost every girl in the scene wears a ‘Morning Again’ T-shirt!) So I was curious about what would happen on the ‘home ground’. Although the sound wasn’t excellent, they melted the crowd. The stage was packed with 100 people all singing along; the vocalist couldn’t even sing because they were all-over, he stumbled all the time. There were several moshpits. I was pleased with the sympathetic behavior of ‘M.A.’: it didn’t matter a lot how they were playing; it didn’t exactly work out because the crowd had such a power and the whole stage was rocking! After back-breaking hits such as Turning Over, America On Line, Puppet And Soldier, and Martyr, the whole crowd joined in for the finale: Remedy. The bomb exploded! Count the victims! On the brink of collapse, we crawled out of the hall into the courtyard, where we could take a bit of breath. After regaining my senses, I had to start thinking about heading home, and with tears in our eyes we left the nightly city.”

Brob

Finally, a brief evaluation… Compared to last year, there were fewer that were breath-taking, we probably also already knew what was going to happen and the Belgian bands didn’t seem that dangerous anymore. But where else can you see so many wonderful bands and people together, find things that you don’t have at home, and especially meet new friends and learn about European scenes. Beautiful memories, which we won’t forget… That was Ieper ‘97 … Goodbye Belgium!!!

Jan and Jakub, the bros. of Barricada zine and ‘Balaclava’

I remember playing football with a huge bunch of festival-visiters. There’s a photo of that somewhere at home.

Johan Sellman, ‘Starmarket’ guitarist

I toured with ‘Morning Again’. I did merch for them for a number of years.

Jordan Leitner

>> I didn’t like touring Europe. I did pretty much everything for the band so it wasn’t really fun anymore. I think I just reached my breaking point. […] We all agreed to finish off the tour for financial reasons, and also because we were in Europe and we wanted to enjoy it one more time. Everyone had different reasons for wanting to finish the tour. <<

John Wylie, ‘Morning Again’ guitarist (interviewed on xstuckinthepastx.blogspot)

At that time I had a dislocated hip from skateboarding. Kris Delacourt (‘S.Y.C.’, ‘Stifled Cries’, …) replaced me and sang.

Kim Vandyck, ‘Rubbish Heap’ vocalist

I remember spending more time in our van than in the venue. Not everyone was into ‘Rubbish Heap’ back then, I believe. Not really SxE (guess what the cloud hanging over the van was). I also recall that a lot more people than I expected were shouting along, and that eventually made it into a good show. ‘Rubbish Heap’ were my local (from the same village as myself) heroes at that the time and it was honour for me to this replacement (a series of 3 concerts, if I’m not mistaken). We also played an encore at the V.V. (which we didn’t expect): the song Broken (which we didn’t rehearse and I fucked up big time). The sound-engineer recorded that concert so if he still has them, I would like to hear it…

Kris Delacourt

When ‘Deformity’ first came out, they were called ‘Race Deformity’. I told them to change their name, which they did ‘cause HC isn’t about race…

Edward Verhaeghe, GoodLife recs (on the www)

There was a report on the regional TV-station (WTV) about this. I still have it on tape…

‘Bolle’ Dominiek Defrancq, ‘Deformity’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Not sure how this one really came about but the bands were mentioned in the V.V. notes. That night the bar was attended by Davy Bauwen, Tim Denutte, Steph Quintens, Christophe Deconinck & Karel Willemyns). It was probably one of the last shows before the end of the Vort’n Vis at the Kiekenmarkt…

As I wrote before (2000-11-11) ‘Edgecrusher’ was a band that rehearsed in the Vort’n Vis. There’s also a guestbook-entry by them on 2000-04-22. Their vocalist was Davy Bauwen, a V.V. ‘shitworker’ (volunteer) that organised quite a few gigs there. They also wrote something in the guestbook on 2000-04-22… They played “melodic death-metal”. Besides Davy, there was Isaac Delahaye (guitar; also singer in ‘Panopticum’), Jo Decaesteker (guitar), Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; replaced by Karel Willemyns and then Arian Van Weesenbeek), Frederik ‘Freddy’ Vanhee (bass; replaced by Thijs Lanoye). ‘Freddy’ & ‘Sientje were both ex ‘D.S.A.’ and also played in ‘Retaliate’. The first ‘Edgecrusher’ demo Damnatio Memoriae (recorded by Michael ‘Link’ Maes) was out for a while and their second demo Impressions Of Mankind (2002), was with Michael ‘Link’ Maes on drums.

No idea who and where from ‘Modilia’ and ‘Cradle Of Dismission’ were…

Brob

I still have quite some photographic material of shows; I was always in the background taking pics. I also have some video-recordings of Vort’n Vis shows. I lack the time to get all that sorted… Some day, I suppose?…

Davy ‘nachtthoth’ Bauwen (co-organiser of the Ieperfest, vocalist of ‘Edgecrusher’)

I believe I wasn’t in the band anymore then. I was too much of a HC drummer. The others wanted pure metal. That’s when I decided to start ‘Retaliate’…

Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve

I don’t recall that much from this period (especially the recordings of the first demo are a blank – perhaps because I hate studios). I do know that ‘Edegcrusher’ began with ‘Siene’ and myself who started jamming with Jo. It was the intention to do something à la ‘All Out War’ but soon it turned out a lot more ‘metal’ than originally planned. Davy joined and after him Isaac. We did some shows and Davy plus myself organised a lot around that time. ‘Edegcrusher’s music was very technical. If I’m not mistaken we covered ‘Death’ and ‘At The Gates’… (Not sure about the last.) That was the reason why I quit and concentrated on ‘Retaliate’. Those technicalities were nothing for me: I wanted to go crazy on stage in stead of staring at the frets of my guitar. We combined the 2 bands for a while but the moment ‘Retaliate’ started to go well, ‘Siene’ and myself said thanks but no thanks.

I remember that Isaac also played in ‘Panopticum’ and in ‘Forcible’ but I’ve no clue about those other two bands.

Frederik Vanhee

The flyer indicates this one was organised by Frederic Plets (guitarist of ‘Retaliate’) & Bert Hoofd (guitarist of ‘One Outta Six’, ‘All My Sins’, …)

‘Kingpin’ formed in the summer of 1998 when: Sim Meerseman (guitar; also ‘Spirit Of Youth’), ‘Vinnie’ Vincent Merveillie (drums; singer of ‘Spirit Of Youth), Clovis ‘Vez’ Segers (bass; ‘Natural Order’, ‘Congress’) & Pedro Fioen (guitar, ex ‘Spineless’) started jamming. Joost Noyelle (‘Congress’/ ‘Liar) joined the band, doing vocals. They played “groovy and catchy New York HC” (references to ‘Cro-Mags’, ‘Leeway’, etc.). In 2000 they recorded a 5-song demo. Their first gig was at the GoodLife Fest in July 2000. They also played at the IeperFest in 2001. Hans Verbeke released the Bad Habits Die Hard 10” on his label Pyrorex (2002).

‘187’ (or One Eight Seven; from Ingelmunster / Meulebeke) played “deathcore”. Kathy Verhelle (vocals; later replaced by a guy called Nico), Steve Vanhoutte (bass; later vocals for ‘All My Sins’), Wesley Gielen (drums), Steven De Backer (guitar) & ‘Rumme’ Rumminick Vanluchene (guitar). Some of their tracks were recorded live at the Animal Truth Benefit Festival in Eeklo (98-02-22). They did a demo in 1999. Some of them are currently still active in ‘Rock Stovrie’, a (hard) rock cover band, quite popular in Flanders. Kathy & ‘Lenny’ Wouter Cael (‘Sektor’) had a project going called ‘Edge Of Life’ for which they used a drum-computer. Kathy’s brother Geoffrey Verhelle (vocalist of ‘Retaliate’) was also involved.

‘Retaliate’ (from the Ieper area) started out early 2000 (first gig @ V.V. on 2000-08-17) and played brutal metal-core (“a mix of ‘Merauder’, ‘Hatebreed’ & ‘Bolt Thrower’). The members were: Frederik ‘Freddy’ Vanhee (bass; ex ‘D.S.A.’), Geoffrey Verhelle (vocals), Thomas Allegaert (vocals), Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; ex ‘D.S.A.’), Nick Rebry (guitar) & Frederik Plets (guitar). They released a demo-tape entitled W.A.R. in the summer of 2000. In 2002 they did a split with ‘Outcast’: Hate Injected (DHM recs).

‘Outcast’ (from Gullegem, the Kortrijk area) started out as “a heavy NY-styled mosh-band”. Later on they took a different singer and played death-metal; also dubbed as “deathcore” or “tuff guy hardcore death-metal mosh” (They “used to be an all straight-edge band”.). They played the V.V. already on 98-04-26. Around this time the people in the band were Tim Vanglabeke & Wesley Bral (guitar), Nick Vanglabeke (drums), Nico Degroote (bass) and ‘Gerre’ (vocals; quit halfway ’99; replaced by Pieter Vanham and Gerrit Van Horebeek who sang for the band briefly). They featured on a 3-way split, entitled Sweets For My Sweet: Chapter I (that was released on Lowlife recs in 2000). Their style “changed from NYHC to more death-metal influenced grind”.

‘Striker’ had aslo played the V.V. previously (98-04-11 & 99-11-27). They consisted of Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; ex ‘Sorehead, R.I.P.), ‘Gerre’ Gerald Goedhart (guitar; later guitarist of ‘Core of Anger’), ‘Tomme’ Tom Bordeaux (guitar; later ‘One Outta Six’ & ‘The Boss’), PJ Vandamme (bass; later guitarist of ‘Retaliate’ & ‘Outcast’) & David ‘Terre’ Termote (drums). They released a demo entitled High Hopes For Nothing in 1999.

‘Kalashnikov’ was a “H8000 metalcore” band from Diksmuide. They had played at the V.V. before (99-11-27). Thijs Plovie played guitar, Dave Willaert was the bassist, Tom Verheecke sang and Bart Gouwy hit the drums.

No idea about ‘Legacy’…

Brob

‘Legacy’ [“Göteburg influenced metalcore”] were the band of mates of Thomas Allegaert; from Ledegem I believe…

Nico Sinnaeve, ‘Retaliate’ drummer

We played the V.V. a few times with ‘Outcast’ (in the barn – with a striptease – and in the pub). Also with ‘Whatever It Takes’ later on. And I set up a few gigs myself aswell.

Pieter Vanham, ‘Outcast’

We still have a video of us playing here… I remember that our vocalist at the time (Nico) had to perform a small bodyslam on a totally pissed guy (a Vort’n Vis regular) that was constantly annoying – wanted to grab the mike and that sort of stuff. A bit of a sad story. I believe he died shortly after…

Our first line-up was with Nico Degroote on bass (who later also played for ‘Whatever It Takes’). We switched vocalist and bassists a couple of times, also had a few second guitarists. Nico, Nick and myself were already doing things in ‘95 but the name ‘Outcast’ (We wanted to sound different from the H8000 bands.) came into existence in ‘97 when Nick bought his drumkit (before he was hitting pots & pans), then we started doing shows. We were the first to play slow beatdown in West-Flanders; because of the evolution of Nick’s drum-style we sounded more and more extreme, and the speed went up, the breakdowns stayed. We’ve never been an outspokenly SxE band – we wanted to be different from the rest of the scene – but we were for a while and then SoberMind wanted to release our material. All of a sudden there were Xs next to our name (not what we’d planned). Nico wrote some lyrics and one was about SxE but we’ve never been militant about it. But we’ve always been veggie.

Our first V.V. show was in ’97 (NOT 97-06-27), upstairs in the rehearsal-room with ‘D.S.A.’, ‘Spineless’ & ‘Firsetone’ – the complete Kortrijk ‘chapter’. I believe it was a Sunday in October ’97 for the birthday of ‘D.S.A.’s Freddy & Sientje; shortly after we became good friends with them (we did a show in Gullegem together)… We did a first demo in ’97, for Esophagus recs (Sven ‘Aborted’ [De Caluwe]). The second was is ’99 (who was planned to be released on SoberMind). Then Gerrit left and we got another singer (Nico Ruysbergh), what made us sound even more extreme. After we did that thing on Lowlife (2000) everybody but myself & Nick quit. Enter Pieter and Gerrit Van Horebeek. They both sounded good so we couldn’t choose. That’s when we did that ‘striptease’ show and after that Gerrit Van Hoorebeek left…

Interesting perhaps: the band ‘Retaliate’ from Ieper is named after our demo Total Retaliation…

Tim Vanglabeke, ‘Outcast’

About a year after our first appearance we played at the Vort’n Vis again. During our performance ‘Lorre’ set the place on fire and at one timepoint there were so many people on stage that we ended up playing in front of the stage.

Thijs Plovie, ‘Kalashnikov’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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!…

This was the first day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis

‘Shank’ from Glasgow played super-fast screaming HC/thrash; influenced by ‘Half Off’ & ‘Stupids’: John ‘Wurzel’ Burridge (vocals), Jamie ‘Lamberta’ Thomson (guitar), Jason Boyce (drums; ex ‘Stretchheads’, also ‘Scatha’), Andrew Nolan a.k.a. ‘Andy Stick’ (bass & vocals; ex ‘Ebola’, also ‘Sawn Off’). At the time of this concert they had 2 split-7”s out: with ‘Minute Manifesto‎’ (on Nick Loaring’s Enslaved recs, 1998) and with ‘Scalplock’ (Retribution, 1999). Recordings for the 7” with ‘Unholy Grave’ were just finished. Andy once described their music as follows: “We just rip off old Boston and Japanese bands, dropped the tune to B, speed shit up, slow shit down, chuck in a few cheesy breakdowns…” (he didn’t like the term powerviolence).

Andrew Nolan tells me ‘Hernandez’ were Simon Henderson (vocals, guitar, keyboards; ex ‘Curll’; lives in NY), Derek Brown/Sexton (bass, vocals, keyboards; nowadays in ‘Headless Kross’) and ‘Hoppy’ (drums). They were touring with ‘Shank’…

‘Standing 8’ “sounds like ‘The Locust’…” it said on the flyer. This hardcore band from was Pickering, Ontario (Canada): Jesse Frederick Keeler (guitar/vocals), Sean Chamberlain (guitar/vocals), Mark Wallis (drums) & Robin Young (keyboards). They had a (self-titled) 7” out and a split-10” (1998) with ‘This Robot Kills’. The latter was released on Bates recs (that also released the 7” by ‘8 Days Of Nothing’). Scott Henderson became the band’s singer right before their European tour.

‘8 Days Of Nothing’ … “A legendary punk band in Sweden; formed by 4 friends in Gislaved in the spring of 1997. During 3 years they played about 100 shows (including 3 European tours) and released 2 records. The last show was at Kråkenäsryd festival in August 2000.”. Their 7” was entitled The Next Thing That Happened Was A Mind-Mangling Explosion Of Noise & Light, and they did also a 10” (split with ‘Die Kosmo Gesellschaft’). Members of the band were: Daniel ‘Fagge’ Fagerström (guitar), Henrik Grevesmühl (vocals), Janne Hanhela (drums) and Pär Fridholm (bass; Reinforced zine). Their music was described as emo/screamo. The flyer states “ex ‘End In Sight’ (guitarist Janne) (who played at the V.V. 95-08-20)…

One of the many times ‘Lifecycle played at the Vort’n Vis… A couple of months after this (99-08-01) Lieve Goemaere interviewed the band for her zine Ugly Duckling; present there were Sofie Vantomme (vocals), Steve Noyelle (guitar), Karel Deweerdt (guitar), bassist Peter Leuwers & drummer Vincent Tetaert. So I’m guessing that was the line-up here…

Brob

At the show, someone randomly asked if they could play The Trooper by ‘Iron Maiden’ (I think that’s what they said) on my bass in front of everyone as I was setting up. I told them no and they looked really disappointed. Being the person I was back then I told them to get off stage and stop wasting everyone’s time.

The Canadian band that played had a guitarist (Jesse) that went on to be one half of the mildly famous ‘Death From Above’ (bass and drums rock band). They were doing this vaguely ‘The Locust’ inspired thing (i.e. not wearing punk uniforms and having keyboards) and I remember enjoying them live and liked hanging out with them and the Swedes after the show.

‘Hernandez’ were 3 good friends of ours from Glasgow that we took on tour; they were good touring partners, unfortunately nothing ever really came of that band. They played a sort of heavy post-emo but that was probably a few years too early to be fully understood and appreciated by people at the time. ‘Disaffect’s drummer IB was driving. He was a friend of all of ours, bandmate of Jason and co-worker of ‘Wurzel’.

Just before the show started a guy dressed as Jesus Christ (complete with a giant crucifix he was carrying) dramatically dragged himself on stage, said a few words in Flemish, then threw his crucifix to the ground and left. I have no idea what that was about and he didn’t seem to be a part of the event or Vort’n Vis. I may have a photo of him somewhere…

Andrew Nolan (survivalist-deathcult.blogspot)

It was a pretty fun night so I have some good memories of it. But whether anyone else will agree, I can’t say…

Jamie Thomson, ‘Shank’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘Lifecycle’ (Steve, Peter, Sofie) & crew (Brecht ?, Aline Noyelle)

additions wellcome!…

The second day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis. This was the day there were no bands of Bruno VdV’s label playing but where 2 bands from Kortrijk’s indie-scene around The Pit’s (a place that started organising gigs almost at the same time of the V.V.) were asked to perform. It happened from time to time that people from the Pit’s exhibited their talents here; see: The Pit’s aficionados performing @ Vort’n Vis

‘Faroutski’ (from the Kortrijk area) had played at the Vort’n Vis before (95-06-18). They called their music punkrock’n’roll and stated they were “a DIY band in the tradition of old punk-bands”. They released their material on their own Funarchy label (previously Rocklabyrinth recs). The band consisted of people of the scene around the Pit’s (small rock/indie venue): Geert ‘Barney’ Blomme (drums), ‘Kyvie’ Johan Dekyvere (guitar) and Rine Amelynck (bass).

‘The Lovehandles’ were Greet Tanghe (drums & vocals), Annette ‘Unwanted’ Declercq (guitar & vocals) and Rine Amelynck (bass & vocals). On the flyer here dubbed as “the ‘L7 from West-Flanders”. Nowadays Annette & Rine play “punky rock‘n’roll” in the band ‘Unwanted Tattoo’ (with Rine’s partner ‘Barney’ on drums).

Brob

I’m Johan’s brother; I used to play in ‘ErsatzNoise’, ‘D.M.H.’ [‘Dallas Memorial Hospital’; with Rine singing], ‘The Valentine Girls’ [also with Rine], ‘Wij Stinken’ [= “we stink”] and ‘Wij Klutsers’ [= “us dumbfucks”; with ‘Barney’] myself; bands with ‘Bowy’ (Dirk Bouwens [Pit’s co-founder])… I remember a gig somewhere in Ieper (several bands) a long time ago (before ‘Faroutski’) with ‘Bowy’, ‘Barney’ and a drummer – but I don’t think the Vort’n Vis even existed then…

Luc Dekyvere

Can’t remember anything about this concert but I know we played some other time in the pub too with ‘The Lovehandles’…

‘Barney’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

The third day of the 10 year anniversary weekend of the Vort’n Vis: 99-06-25&26&27 10 years Vort’n Vis

‘Shai Hulud’ (“hardcore with progressive metal influences”) were originally from Pompano Beach, Florida. The line-up of the band changed quite a few times… The people that signed the V.V. guestbook here were Matt Fletcher (originally guitar, but then moved on to bass) & Andrew Gormley (drums; ex ‘Rorschach’) (plus Matt Haraway (?) & Lauren (Gormley ???); probably friends). Matt(hew) Fox was playing guitar and Dave Silber bass, I assume. Damien Moyal, Steve(n) Kleisath (drums) and Chad Gilbert (vocals) had quit the band. The www mentions Matt Fletcher filled in as singer until Geert van der Velde joined the band to do vocals during the tour. In June 1999, the band recorded a cover of Fearless Vampire Killers for a ‘Bad Brains’ tribute-compilation.

‘Intensity’, from Malmö/Lund played “fast, intense old-school HC à la Minor Threat”: Jonas Nilsson (guitar; later Mathias Blixtberg & Andy Dahlström, both also ‘Satanic Surfers’), Rodrigo Alfaro (vocals; also ‘Satanic Surfers’; founder of the Putrid Filth Conspiracy label), Kristoffer Lind (bass), Simon Ricci (drums; replaced by Tommas Svendsen late ‘99). At that time they had 2 10” albums our on Bad Taste recs (The label where Jonas & Rordrigo helped out – Bought And Sold (1996) & Wash Off The Lies (1998).), and a 7” – Battered Soul- on Putrid Filth Conspiracy.

‘Hebriana’, from Merksplas, were described as an emo/post-HC band with references to ‘Reiziger’. Earlier on they had a punkrock band going called ‘Sidewinder’. The guys in the band were Stijn Colson (guitar), Sven Hoskens (bass/vocals; later in ‘Confuse The Cat’ with Geert Plessers from ‘Kosjer D’/‘Reiziger’), Peter Bols (drums) & Vaast Colson (guitar/vocals). They did a split-7” with ‘Leiah’ (from Sweden) ‎on Genet recs in1999.

‘Clouded’, a metal-core band from Kontich/Antwerp, were: Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals), Serch Carriere (drums; later ‘The Setup’, also toured with ‘Liar’ in 2006, replacing Bert Guillemont) and Wout Bosschaert (guitar). Their 7” Inheritance was released by Genet recs in 1998. They’d already played on the festivals (97-08 & 98-08)

‘Alignment’ was labeled as H8000 but I believe they were from the Deinze-area and Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes (‘Instinct’) was involved… The guestbook mentions Ringo (guitar), Kristof and Liselotte…

Brob

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Vort’n Vis Kim Lefevre has constructed a few podcasts (only in Dutch unfortunately) on the early days of the Vort’n Vis and its association:

* Trailer

* Vort’n Vis Origin Story

Midden jaren ’80. Enkele tieners zoeken een ruimte om te repeteren met hun bandjes maar worden overal buitengezet. Ze ontmoeten Jan Claus, een iets oudere punk die hen wil helpen en tegelijkertijd een vrijplaats wil creëren in hun thuisstad, wat niet zo simpel is in het oerconservatieve Ieper… /// Mid 80s. A few teenagers are looking for a place to rehearse with their bands but are refused everywhere. They meet Jan Claus, a slightly older punk who wants to help out while at the same time trying to create some kind of sanctuary in their hometown, which wasn’t that simple in the ultra-conservative Ypres …

* Leed (the annual alternative festival in September)

Het is juni ’89 in Ieper. Op de Kiekenmarkt is een bouwvallig voormalig burgercafé de uitvalsbasis geworden van een bende jonge punks. Ze hebben nu niet enkel hun repetitieruimte maar ook een café inclusief publiek. En zelfs een naam. De Vortn Vis. Jan Claus kan nu eindelijk zijn droom om in Ieper een autonome vrijplaats te creëeren waar maken. Ze vliegen er meteen in en organiseren van eerste keer een festival, het Leedfestival. Maar dat was buiten het stadsbestuur en de politie gerekend. /// June ’89 in Ypres. On the Kiekenmarkt, a dilapidated former popular pub has become the base of a gang of young punks. Now they not only have their rehearsal-room but also a pub, including an audience. There’s even a name. The Vort’n Vis. Finally Jan Claus can realize his dream of creating an autonomous sanctuary in Ypres. They immediately get started and organize a fest (the Leed Festival) for the first time. But that didn’t take the city-council and the police into account.

TO BE CONTINUED …

This gig was first planned for (Saturday) 95-01-28 but got switched over…

Here’s a description of ‘Ambush’s music I read somewhere: “An intense mix of heavy sounds. Imagine combining ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘Neurosis’, ‘Acme’ (the same feeling of despair), ‘Black Flag’ and a spoon of ‘Spazz’… Gloomy, powerful, sludgy intense stuff; mostly on the slow side of things, it just rumbles along but occasionally speeds up. Lots of changes from really quiet passages to really intense, angry, agonizing passages with feedback, etc., heavy riffs all over.”… In the (German) band were (at that time): Gunnar Jakobson (drums), Thomas Schaal (vocals), Tobias Werner (guitar) and Tom Rusnak (bass; also ‘Rorschach’). By that time they had a few 7”s out (Ocean Of Irrelevance & Zebaoth, on Winter recs), a 10” (Amarcord, on André Sieg’s Maximum Voice productions) and 3 albums (Lach!, Pigs & Revue, on Common Cause recs). ‘Ambush’ and ‘Neuthrone’ were touring together but I believe ‘Ambush’ actually didn’t play (they also weren’t mentioned in the V.V. notes)…

‘Neuthrone’ were locals so regulars… This gig here was probably their last ever at the V.V. The next year there was mention of ‘7 Hate Day’ as ex ‘Neuthrone’. Around 1997 David Stubbe started ‘Holefiller’ and later he drummed for several bands (such as ‘Möse’ and nowadays ‘Gura’). Steven W./ Steve McM. ended up in prison for a while…

If ‘Liar’ actually played (they weren’t mentioned in the V.V. notes and in the final newsletter either) it was probably their 1^st show at the V.V. They had already been announced (as “new locals”) on 94-12-10 but that whole gig got cancelled… They rose from the ashes of ‘Wheel Of Progress’ (see 93-01-09 & 93-06-13). Hans Verbeke (vocals), Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), Jan ‘UxJx’ Vandekerckhove (bass) and Raf (or Raphael; drums; replaced by Bert Guillemont in ‘96) played socalled edge-metal (straight-edge metallic hardcore). They were to become some of the most ardent H8000 promoters. It was early days for the band so no records yet…

‘Fabric’ had been here before (94-08-20) aswell… The guys were writing for and planning the recordings (May ‘95) of their Lightbringer 12”.

‘Fabric’; photography by Vique Martin

‘Vanilla’ (an emo band from Paris) put out their I Can’t Stop Hating This Empty Space 7” on Olivier Lépine’s label Laissez-Nous Jouer 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. Bruno released an untitled LP of them on Genet recs in 1996. They had been announced already for 94-12-10 but bassplayer Jean had hurt his hand then. They’d also ended up on the bill opf the 94-08-19&20&21 Hardcore Festival and would come back a few times more (96-03-24 & 96-08-18)…

It was ‘Badgewearer’s 2^nd visit aswell – though they didn’t get to play the first time (after 93-07-04). The band (from Glasgow, Scotland) played complex jazz-punk with quirky guitars and groovy bass-lines. They released their stuff on Jer Reid of ‘Dawson’s label Gruff Wit recs. The band consisted of Tony Kennedy (bass & bugle), Neil Bateman (guitar & sax), Jim Carstairs (vocals) & Ross Main (drums).

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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

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

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

‘One Fine Day’ (described as a “post-hardcore” band) were Adriano ‘Baulo’ Fontaneto, Alessio Fornasiero (bass), Andrea ‘ics’ Ferraris (guitar; also ‘Burning Defeat’, ‘Permanent Scar’, etc.), Luca ‘Mouth’ Fontaneto (vocals; editor of the zine Outlet) and Stefano Bosso (drums). In 1998 the Vladimir Illich Ulianov’s Failure 7” (with Matteo Masciaga instead of Andrea) came out on Cycle recs (Stefano’s label) & Tough Guy Anthems CD on Impression recs. They did a demo earlier on.

‘One Fine Day’ (pic by Federico Albertini)

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

‘Driven’ (photographed by David Pujol)

‘Building’, a “youth-crew style” SxE HC from Antwerp, were: Olivier ‘Paco’ Packolet (vocals; later ‘True Colors’), Jelle De Cremer (guitar), (P)Andy Van Den Wijngaert (bass; later Werner Boes), Bruno (drums; replacing Joris) & Gert (guitar; ex ‘Teamspirit’). They released material on SoberMind recs: In Time We’ll Grow (1998) & split-7” with ‘Up Front’ (1999). There’s also a live-tape of them playing at the GoodLife 1999 summer-fest.

‘Building’ (pic Martijn Wouters)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brob

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

Lennart Bossu

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

Michael Bergweiler, ‘Stack’ bassist

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

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

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

Jan Matthé, One X More

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

‘One Fine Day’

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

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

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

Luca Fontaneto

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

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

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

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

Nickel van Duijvenboden, drummer of ‘Driven’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

On Friday June 23rd, 1989 (at noon) the Vort’n Vis was opened. It was on the day of an ‘Ieper rally’. A month before (Sunday May 21st) the association, that has been operating the Vort’n Vis since then, was founded. It was then called Autonoom Jongeren Centrum (AJC) [autonomous youth centre]. A few years later the name was changed into Autonoom TrefCentrum (ATC) [autonomous meeting centre]. After the turn of the century the name became Autonoom Regionaal Trefcentrum (ART) [autonomous regional meeting centre], which remains until today. A few weeks earlier (op May 2nd) the first cracks had appeared in the Iron Curtain; that was the beginning of a new era in which the Vort’n Vis could blossom.

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

Laurent Chopard (from Besançcon, France) wrote in his zine Co-existence (that he did with his mate Olivier Bresson): >>Saturday I saw two or three songs by ‘Sad Origin’ who played trite and uninteresting metal. Then the Germans of ‘Highscore’ impressed me with their very successful old-school HC (Olivier would have loved it!), ‘Seein’Red’ didn’t disappoint me musically but also attitude-wise (long explanations between the songs): fantastic! ‘Spineless’ with their unconvincing death-metal, ‘Facedown’ and their personal, technical HC gave a good concert in front of an active and convinced public, and finally ‘Earthmover’ who’d listened and looked too much at ‘Earth Crisis’… a pale copy.<<

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‘Sad Origin’ (from Dendermonde) played metal-core with NYHC influences (style: ‘Facedown’, ‘Chokehold’, ‘Strife’). The line-up was Peter De Bondt, Wim Aerts (drums), Wes(ley) Steels (guitar) & Hans ‘Link’ Teirlinck (vocals). In 1997 they did a first demo Sober & Clean. Window Of Sarcasm (self-releases on Inner Belt recs) followed in 1998. Genet recs would release the LP A Double Edged Sword In A Triangle Of Emotions (reviewed in On Display #3 as “bad death-metal”) in  1999 (presented on the Fest of that year). Alain Herszaft put out the split-CD with ‘Misura’ on Released Power Productions in 2000.

‘Highscore’ were from Münster/Göttingen/Berlin and played energetic and intense old-school SExHC (sometimes compared to ‘Minor Threat’ or ‘Uniform Choice’). Guitarist Jobst Eggert (had been at the V.V. with his old band ‘Peace Of Mind’ on 94-11-05 & 95-03-25); the others were Sebastian Stronzik (vocals; later ‘Short Fuse’), Matthias Volke (guitar), Matthias Borgmann (bass; Chris Fold according the guestbook) and Volker Schlüter (drums). That year they released a demo (It’s For Real) and a self-titled 7” on Sebastian’s label La Familia.

‘Highscore’ (photo by Vincent Troplain)

‘Opposite Force’, a vegan SxE band from Rome, played “tough as hell in-your-face old school hardcore”. After a demo (’93), they had done an LP entitled Near on Vacation House recs (label of Rudy Medea, the singer of ‘Indigesti’) in 1994. Their LP History As We Lived It was released by Genet recs in 1999. Performing on that record were Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (guitar), Cristiano Suriano (drums; also ‘Timebomb’), Marco Ciccone (bass; also ‘Timebomb’) and Simone Tripodi (vocals).

‘Pray Silent’ was a vegan straight-edge metalcore band from Switzerland (Sankt-Gallen) who released records on Genet recs (The Golden Flag 7” in ’97 and a split-7” with ‘Andromeda’ in ’99). The people in the band: Andi Grob (guitar), Attila Varga (vocals), Etienne Geyer (guitar; ex ‘Cwill’), Philipp Zimmerman (bass; replaced Jan) & Roger Cadalbert (drums). They came back the next year…

‘Pray Silent’ (photographed by Patrick Federli)

‘Clouded’ (from Kontich) were: Björn Van Loy (bass), Jeroen Verelst (vocals; also did Paradise Regained zine), Serch Carriere (drums) & Wout Bosschaert (guitar). Their 7” Inheritance was done by Genet recs (’98).

‘Clouded’ (courtesy of Steven Anthonis)

1998 was the year of the split-releases for ‘Seein’Red’: they did an LP with ‘MK Ultra’ (recorded October 1997) and with one with ‘The Judas Iscariot’ (recorded April 1998), both released on Coalition recs (Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef & Marcel Palyama). No further introduction for the band necessary I guess… Jos & the brothers had been here already a bunch of times (90-09-15, 95-04-28, 97-03-01)…

‘Seein’Red’ (picture taken by Vincent Troplain)

‘Spineless’ (from Kortrijk) played their first gig at the Vort’n Vis on the fest in August ’96 (96-08-18). They band consisted of 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 in ‘97; later ‘AmenRa’) and Stefaan Buyse (drums). They played brutal sXe H8000 metal-core. After their initial demo (’96) Hans Verbeke of Sober Mind recs released the Painfields 7” (1997) and the album A Talk Between Me And The Stars album (1998) – inspired by their “near-dead-experience” (car-crash on tour)… There’s a video them playing their song Exalt The New God here…

‘Thumbs Down’ (Antwerp) played “youth crew hardcore”. They were Andries Beckers (bass; later ‘Diablo Boulevard’; or was it still Roeland De Keulenaer?), Ken (drums; from ’99 on Benjamin Buschgens – later ‘The Setup’), Raf(aël) Balrak (guitar; later ‘The Setup’) and Steven Tuffin (vocals). They were also signed to Genet recs (Going For Gold 7” – with bassplayer Roeland – in ’97, No Retreat No Surrender 7” and Crossroads LP in ’99). They also played the fest the year before (97-08-16) and earlier that year (98-05-10).

‘Thumbs Down’ (shot by Vincent Troplain)

‘Facedown’ had been playing at the V.V. various times (96-08-16, 97-08-15 & 97-10-12). The ‘new-school’ (metal-influenced) vegan SE-HC band from Kontich consisted of: Thomas Baeken (bass), Youri Baeken (drums), Daniel Mies (vocals), Niko Poortmans (guitar) and Geert Ceuppens (guitar). Genet recs released the Beyond All Horizons album earlier that year and the Education, Contemplation, Dedication EP in ’99. They changed their name to ‘Calibre’ when they got a record-deal with a major label (Warner Music).

‘Facedown’ (pic by Steve Lammertyn)

‘Earthmover’ (from Detroit) played pounding metal-core and were Andy Dempz (guitar; owner of Ann Arbor based hardcore/punk label +/- recs), Mike Hasty (guitar; also ‘Walls Of Jericho’), Wes Keely (drums; ex ‘Walls Of Jericho’), Chris(tian) Mueller (bass; replaced Nick Bristow), Jason/Jay Clifton (drums) and Len Adams (vocals). Releases: Abuse (7” on Autonomy recs ’95), Themes From Everyday Life (10” on +/- recs ’96), split-7” with ‘Facedown’ (Moo Cow recs ’97) and Death Carved In Every Word (LP on Genet recs ’98).

‘Earthmover’ (photo by Patrick Federli)

Brob

I liked the atmoshere at the festival. Ieper seemed occupied by (straight-edge) HC troops, and the streets surrounding the venue seemed like they were ours, haha. Until today this is my best moment on stage. Memorable line-up too. A quite unique registration of Members Of Futility: the only time we played that song live. Heydays of 90s metalcore. It gives me a lot of pleasure that influences of that 90s metalcore are emerging again with new and old bands. With my new band ‘Royal Jake’ we try to keep doing similar things. Our EP definitely has a number of musical references to my time in ‘S.O.’

Peter De Bondt, ‘Sad Origin’ bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…