‘Ebola’s precursor ‘Spite’ had already played at the V.V. (95-09-17). ‘Ebola’ (from Newcastle) was Karin R. (vocals) & her hubbie Micky McGuinness (guitar) – both ex ‘One By One’, ‘Skater’ Chris Patterson (drums), Jonny/Jonathan ‘Lobster’ Shaw (vocals; R.I.P.) and Andrew ‘Andy Stick’ Nolan played (bass; also ‘Sawn Off’ & ‘Shank’). The LP Incubation (out on Flat Earth recs in ’96) was recorded Dec ’95 with Andy, Chris, Karin, Mickey & Jonathan. The 7” Imprecation (Flat Earth & Refusenik; recorded Feb ’97 with Andy, Chris, Karin, Mickey & Nick Loaring (Enslaved recs). The latter became the second vocalist and Jon left between these first two records. They played intense, fast, powerful HC with highly intelligent, critical and political lyrics. Apparently Sned organised this tour here (see guestbook). They would be back again later (97-09-12) aswell. Well into the new century they recorded (with Andy Irvine from ‘Disaffect’ on guitar and Set Dixon from ‘Active Minds’ on drums) for a split-LP with Mickey’s new band ‘ Jinn’.

‘Rubbish Heap’, a HC/metal band from Antwerp were Dave Vanderplas (drums), Kim Vandyck (vocals; later guitarist of ‘King Terror’), ‘Peche’ (guitar), Tijs De Peuter (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’…”) that year (and their other stuff later). It was recorded at Pat DeLabie’s studio a few months after this gig (August ’96). Before this, they had done a rehearsal-tape and a demo (Slow Defeat; the songs appeared on a split-tape with the Greek band ‘Hibernation’).

‘Insane Youth’ (Sint-Niklaas/Gent) had already played a bunch of shows here (94-09-16, 94-10-22 & 95-09-16) and there would a couple more later. Stef De Leersnijder (guitar; ex ‘Corpus Christi’ and later in ‘Visions Of Change’) had joined Tim De Baere (guitar), Jan ‘Fons’ Wuytack (drums), Thomas ‘Tomaz’ Van Rumst (bass) & Steve ‘Stiv’ Descamps. Don’t know if Vanessa Hoskens (their 2^nd vocalist for a while) was still in the band here. The recordings for the split-7” with ‘Boycot’ were done February ’96 where she’s still mentioned doing “throat chants”…

‘Insane Youth’ (pic by Wim De Leersnijder)

Portugese Guilherme Charters was helping out Bruno & Kathy (of Genet recs) getting things done…

Brob

I was the second vocalist – Jonny would have been in ‘Ebola’ at the first gig, as I didn’t play my first gig with ‘Ebola’ until Autumn 1996. Sadly Jonny died a few years back. Micky & Karin live in Brugge, Chris lives in Newcastle & Andy lives in Canada. The line-up would go on to change a great deal over the years. My first and only time at the V.V. was 97-09-12.

Nick Loaring

Andy and Set were both in the 2^nd last line-up of ‘Ebola’. ‘Jinn’ never played in Ieper…

Micky McGuinness (gibboncore.com)

We were called ‘Spite’ for our first two shows only. When we changed our name, we discovered there was a bunch of other bands called ‘Ebola’ – big deal, at least we didn’t live in the same country as them. They called me ‘Andy Stick’ because I was in band called ‘Needlestick’ (which eventually became the much better ‘Sawn Off’).

I live in Toronto, working as a manager at a harm-reduction program for homeless alcoholic males. Also did a masters in Environmental Studies, looking at how space informs identity-politics, particularly issues of race, space and post-colonialism. My thesis was on how contemporary paganism is used in North-America to regain a lost sense of meaning in whiteness. I still play(ed) in bands (‘The Endless Blockade’, ‘Column Of Heaven’, ‘Pick Your Side’)…

There was a a posthumous e-book published after Jonathan died: Chemo Diary…

Andrew Nolan (survivalist-deathcult)

‘Insane Youth’ started out in Sint-Niklaas around 1992-1993 (lo-o-ong ago) with Tomaz (bass), Tim (guitar), Smet (drums) and me (vocals); later ‘Fons’ joined on drums, learning the songs in a few sessions before doing his first gig. Then Vanessa joined briefly on vocals too and Stef on guitar (ex ’Corpus Christi’, now still ‘Visions Of War’, ‘Chaka’). He started ‘Visions Of War’ and I joined him, not leaving ‘Insane Youth’. After 7 years of touring, gigs they called it quits. Releases were the split 7” with ‘Boycot’ and a song on the compilation-LP Europe In Decline’ (Six Week recs).

Luckily ‘Ebola’ helped us out with the P.A.; otherwise we would’ve been ‘mute’…

Steve Descamps

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

‘Spite’ (photo by Albert Cheong)

‘Extinction Of Mankind’ (photo by Wim De Leersnijder) [Yannick Molière on the L]

3^rd day of the 7^th Leed Festival

There was a band called ‘Spite’, from Bristol, with Beckie ‘Beki’ Gibbons (bass; ex ‘Chaos UK’), John Millier (drums; ex ‘Ripcord’ & ‘Can’t Decide’), Pete Rose (guitar, also ‘Icons Of Filth’) and Steve Hazzard (vocals; ex ‘Ripcord’). But the ‘Spite’ that played here was the band that would be named ‘Ebola’ (from Newcastle) – see 96-05-19 & 97-09-12 – with some people of ‘One By One’… This was their 2^nd gig: Karin R. (vocals), Micky McGuinness (guitar), Andrew ‘Andy Stick’ Nolan (bass), Jonny (Jonathan ‘Lobster’ Shaw; guitar; R.I.P.) and Chris Patterson (drums). In the guestbook they compared their music with ‘Green Day’ (irony! – Bruno compared them with ‘Spazz’/’Crossed Out’).

‘Catweazle’, from Groningen, played raw, uptempo HC/punk with a metal touch. Michael Kopijn (drums & vocals; later ‘Tuco Ramirez’, ‘P.C.P.’, ‘Shikari’; Bacteria.nl), Erik Timmerman (bass), Emil ‘Reason’ (vocals; originally Maynard Schut of ‘Fleas & Lice’ was singing) and Axe Kooi (guitar). They did a few demo’s and afterwards the Cash And Pain Remain ‎mCD (recorded Oct ’95 and released by Profane Existence Far East), a split-10” with ‘Seein’Red’ (Kangaroo recs, Wicked Witch recs ’97) and the Form Of Fear ‎7” (Bad Card recs ‘98).

‘Catweazle’ pics; courtesy of Michael Kopijn

After not showing up (or late) on 94-08-06, this was the 2^nd time ‘E.O.M.’ was announced at the V.V. After the 1994 tour with ‘Doom’ Fozzy had left the band and was replaced by Ginny on bass. The others were Ste Dux (vocals), Dave Foz (drums) & Mass Centi (guitar). Work on the Baptised in Shit album began. The album recorded, the band set out on another tour of Europe with ‘Warcollapse’ in 1995 and the album was released during this tour. In 1996 they toured with ‘Misery’, were expected at the V.V. (96-01-20) but again didn’t make it…

‘Extinction Of Mankind’; source unknown

There was something of ‘Contramenation’ (a German band – their guitarist Erol Schilder lived in Köln) in the guestbook and they had been mentioned in a newsletter but I don’t remember them playing. All I know of them, is that they featured on a compilation-7” with ‘Intestinal Disease’ (on Andreas Föcker’s label Born To Booze recs)…

A few of the ‘Uutuus’ (Finland) people improvised with a Turkish guy… This one-and-only project was called ‘Äpärä Kaaos’ (“Bastard Chaos”)… ‘Uutuus’ had played the V.V. already (93-10-31). I though it was Tay Ipek from the Turkish (Istanbul) band ‘Turmoil’ who joined in (He’d been at the V.V. before; 93-08-01) but apparently it was Kerim…

Brob

‘Äpärä Kaaos’ (photo by Wim De Leersnijder)

‘Äpärä Kaaos’ was just a drunken “project” where couple of guys just played some shit. [Marko Karimo (vocals), ‘Pedro’ Anthares (guitar)] We recruited a bass-player from the street during the festival – some Turkish guy [Kerim Gönencer; ex guitarist of ‘Moribund Youth’ & ‘Turmoil’] – and only did this show at the Vort’n Vis. We didn’t have any own songs, just covered classics. Jonne Kauko (‘Kirous’ drummer) joined in too.

‘Pedro’ Anthares

We were called ‘Spite’ at the time (for our first two shows only). The ‘Spite’ with John [Millier] was in, started at pretty much the exact time as us, we changed our name to ‘Ebola’, discovered there was a bunch of other bands called like that but big deal, at least we didn’t live in the same country as them…

That ‘Uutuus’ project was pretty funny/ terrible… ‘Äpärä Kaaos’ being so drunk the guitarist had to teach the bassplayer the next tune between every single song. On stage. In front of the entire audience. Quite the spectacle, I think they were just doing really bad covers of Finnish classics and formed on the spot when whoever it was dropped off…

After we played someone sincerely thanked me for head-banging the entire time we were playing. After the show there was almost a fight in the bar when some locals dared each other to come into the punk-bar and David (I think that was his name and I think he was maybe the drummer in ‘Neuthrone’ [He was in ‘Carcer Molochi’ at this time…]) jokingly said he couldn’t serve them because they were wearing the wrong shoes. A stand-off occurred and Jonathan (‘Spite’s vocalist) very helpfully decided to stand behind me with his hand on my shoulders, jumping in the air and yell “Me & Andy are from Benwell (the not particularly nice part of Newcastle we lived in at the time) and we’re going to fuck you up!”. It was stupid but also hilarious.

It was my first time in Europe and my first time experiencing punk as a global, spatio-political phenomenon.

Andrew Nolan a.k.a. ‘Andy Stick’, ‘Spite’ bassist (later ‘Ebola’, ‘Shank’, …)

This was a memorable concert…

‘Oene’ of ‘Fleas & Lice’ rehearsed with our band (as 2^nd guitarist) for a while (autumn 1995) but he never did any concerts with us…

Michael Kopijn, ‘Catweazle’

Well the thing is: the Vort’n Vis shows were always on the return for the boat… I think the pics were a sort of tour we did with ‘Warcollapse’. The ‘Misery’ one was 28 gigs in 1 month; so full on… When we landed with ‘Doom’ in ‘94 on the Police Bastard tour… I just remember Brian being pissed off as his cab had blown a speaker… Did so many parties since… I remember my mate Wim who took the pics; nice guy. I did look through a box of ‘E.O.M.’ flyers I kept but no info on this… I did see a flyer with a date that we never ever knew about. Think the promoter had watched Wayne’s World: book the band and they will come… Then you get slagged off; LOL! Looks like Foz wrote in the book…

Mass Centi, ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Organised by Wouter Biesemans (from Merchtem; he had put up gigs in his hometown already) who did an internschip at the Vort’n Vis during his studies social welfare.

Info by/on:

A.E.G. (anarchist economical community) was a collective of projects (connected to the Anarchist Centre in Ghent) such as the mobile kitchen Kokkerellen, the garden-group and the people’s kicthen, all working in a DIY/direct democratic manner. (Later also action-groups such as the Autonome Vluchtelingen Steungroep – autonomous refugee support-group.)

Actie Dierenbescherming – animal-protection action

Ghent squatters & Anarchist Black Cross (international network of autonomous groups supporting revolutionary prisoners)

De Nar (anarchist monthly publication)

Blokbuster (anti-racist/anti-fascist organisation)

H.L.B. (association for gay, lesbian & bisexual people) were invited but the Federatie Werkgroepen Homifilie (federation working-groups homosexuality) did a presentation

Tegenstroom (counter-current), distributors of socio-libertarian literature (later also info-, culture- & info-shop)

Zonne-Arc (non-profit organisation working around solar energy)

Esperanto

More on the bands playing on seperate days:

28 feb ’97: Subway Arts (Lux), Bullshit Propaganda (Nl), Counter-Attack (Bel), Katastrophobia (Bel), Holefiller (Bel), Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques (Bel), Cornucopia (Bel)

[Beginning of 1996 Manu had left ‘Unhinged’ because singing made her throat worse and worse. She was replaced by Nat(halie) Linotte (vocals)… They were asked to play here but couldn’t make it.]

1 mar ’97: Seein’Red (Nl), Honey Honey (Bel), Outrage (Bel), Confrontation (Bel), Instinct (Bel), Resist The Pain (Bel)

visiters – Voice Your Opinion :-)

intro: 97-02-28&03-01 VV Doe-Wat dagen

‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques (“the alcoholic smurfs”) had been at he V.V. already (96-02-24). Hailing from Merchtem (near Brussels): Gerd Van Hoof (bass), Mike Du Bois (drums & vocals), Raf Du Bois (guitar; R.I.P.). Somewhere in 1997 Tim Leten of Filth Ear distribution released Screams From Belgium, a 4-way split with ‘Les Schtroumpfs Alcooliques’, ‘Muggles’, ‘Hirudo’ & ‘Honey Honey’. ‘L.S.A.’ also recorded a self-titled mCD (at Midas studio 98-10-17). Later Gerd & Mike formed ‘Sunpower’.

‘Holefiller’ (also played 97-12-26) was a misanthropic bunch (from the Ghent squat-scene) playing slow, dark, doom-metal mixed with industrial parts. Sometimes they performed as a combo producing industrial noise, then they’ld call themselves ‘Hellfiller’. The core of the band was Karel Busschop (bass), David Stubbe (drums; ex ‘Neuthrone’) & ‘Leffe’ (guitar; ex ‘Chronic Disease’, ‘Private Jesus Detector’). Their mate Billy did the electronics for ‘Hellfiller’. Michael Maes recorded their demo in his attic-studio in December ‘97. Both David & Karel were in the sludge-bands ‘Thee Plague Of Gentlemen’& ‘Möse’ later on.

‘Counter-Attack’ had played their first V.V. the year before (96-04-27) and they’ld be back (98-03-29). Originally the band was from Alken in Limburg but gradually ‘embedded’ in the anarchist/squat scene in Ghent). They played anarcho-peace-punk influenced by ‘Crass’, ‘Flux Of Pink Indians’ & ‘Dirt’. ‘Groovy’ Jochen (vocals; replaced the original female singer), Stef ‘Irritant’ Heeren (guitar/vocals), Wim ‘Simsallabim’ De Neve (bass), Jeroen (drums; later replaced by Yvan Meers who’s now in ‘Visons Of War’). Autum of 1998 they would record for their Laments And Skulls LP on Prejudice prods (JP Vandestien, Louvain-La-Neuve). The recordings for Masters And Jesters (LP out on Nabate) were done at Michaël ‘Link’ Maes’ studio in December 1999.

‘Subway Arts’ played the V.V. for the last time here after an impressive series (92–12-20, 93-02-06, 93-07-04, 93-08-01, 94-04-02). Guitarist ‘Diff’ had already set up ‘Petrograd’ in October ’96 but there was an overlap with the existence of ‘Subway Arts’. Can’t remember if he played here. He’d also been here with ‘Bakunin’s Children’ about half a year before (96-07-07). Since April 1994 the others in the band were Thierry Thill (drums; replacing Claude ‘Bourano’ Bour; ex ‘Because’, also ‘Bakunin’s Children’), Fränz Laureys (bass; also in ‘D’Rotzbouwen’), Sabrina D’Aurelio (vocals; also in ‘D’Rotzbouwen’) and ‘Gull’ Alain Gouleven (guitar; ex ‘Because’, also in ‘D’Rotzbouwen’).

‘Cornucopia’ had played here on 96-02-24 for the first time and would retun a couple of times more (97-10-04 & 98-04-19). Bert Dexters (bass), Erik ‘Smerik’ Minnen (vocals), Jim Faes (who probably played the drums by then) & the (new?) guitarist Robin served the audience their frantic brand of grindcore.

‘Bullshit Propaganda’, from Hellevoetsluis (near Rotterdam, The Netherlands), were John van der Mee (bass/vocals), Niels van Beers (guitar/vocals) and Bowie de Weijer (drums/vocals). They played fast and heavy punk/crust with socio-political lyrics. They had done a demo called Belo-Fi. Later a 7” entitled Dirth World (‘97) and a split-LP with the Belgian ‘Karma’ on Tim Leten’s Filth Ear label (‘98) followed. There’s also a tape together with ‘Agathocles’) of their performance in Edegem, Belgium April 19^th1997. After ‘B.P.’ split up (somewhere in ’98), Bowy teamed up with guitarist Joop ‘Jopie’ van Reede (related to ‘Die Nakse Bananen’) – who was also present here – to form the 2-piece (Mandy did ‘guest’-vocals) ‘Jesus Cröst’ (crust; they were supposed to play with ‘Doom’ but it didn’t happen…). John formed ‘Het Trio Broertje Dood’ (“furious mix of hardcore, grind and noise”) after the split. Niels became ‘Mr. Point’, guitarist/singer of ‘Low Point Drains’ (garage trashbluespunk).

‘Katastrophobia’ s first appearance at the V.V. (the second time was 98-02-13)… Some of the guys had to play twice: ‘Leffe’ (guitar; ex ‘Chronic Disease’, ‘P.J.D.’, etc.) was also in ‘Holefiller’, Stef ‘Irritant’ Heeren (drums) played also in ‘Counter-Attack’. The others were Gratiën Versypt (vocals; ex ‘4 Minute Warning’) and Nico Van Der Eeken (bass). In the summer of ’97 they would record (at Patrick Delabie’s 195 studio) their 7” (that came out on Nabate). Their next 7” (Homo Morticinus) was released by Morning Star and their LP (Age Of Aqvarius) by both labels.

Brob

Two-day fest. First day grindcore/crustcore. Second day straight-edge. First few bands on Saturday were cool. ‘Counter-Attack’ very neat. ‘Crass’-style with singer Stef. Totally my kind of thing. Then ‘Cornucopia’. ‘Smerik’ on vocals and just a bass-guitar then. We got to know Tim Leten of Filth Ear [record-label/distro] that night. He’ld become a good friend and he released some records on his label, ‘Bullshit Propaganda’ and ‘Jesus Cröst’. Also ‘Holefiller’ played. Sludge. It was quite likeable but it lasted too long for me. The venue was pretty much emptied when ‘B.P.’ played around 1.30. I sang 5 songs as guest-vocalist. We went sleeping – nackered and especially drunk – in one of the rooms upstairs with a bunch of Germans.

The next day fresh straight-edge boys. Also ‘Seein’Red’. We’d already seen them many times the last few weeks al and they made the same jokes between the songs, and we also reacted the same way. Brob was watching ‘Seein’Red’ through the window from outside… Because the distros were in the yard or he didn’t have the money to get in? I don’t know. We laughed about it.

It was a great weekend. Last time we were there.

Joop van Reede

A punk festival at the Vort’n Vis. One of our First ‘foreign’ gigs. A memroable evening, both in a positive and a way zin. In retrospect this had an influence on our attitude and view on the punk-scene, and perhaps this is also true for my later band ‘Jesus Cröst’. What left a positive impression were some of the bands that I saw for the first time that night. ‘Cornucopia’, with singer ‘Smerik’ rolling over the floor (on bare feet!), left quite an impression performance-wise. These guys became pen-pals; very nice people. Musically it was especially ‘Holefiller’ who impressed: slow, heavy music with fast eruptions. In my memory a kind of forerunner of powerviolence. It led ‘Jesus Cröst’ later to do a song called Fileholler – call it a  tribute. ‘My own band ‘B.P.’s kept being postponed; other bands kept getting priority: we finally got on stage around 3 p.m. Not very fair, being a band from The Netherlands, but we just started out and didn’t have much to demand. But because of that our show was for some 3 heavily drunk people and a dog. The audience had pretty much left or laid sloshed on the floor. I recall that most of my liking had already disappeared before we could start to play. A missed opportunity and big downer. Somewhat illustrative for the scene at that time indeed; I’ld experience it many more times later on. The lack of organisation, facilities, structure; the alcohol-abuse and the political correctness… (Our bassist got into a brawl because he ordered a beer – that was associated with being extreme-right…). ‘Bullshit Propaganda’s first and only album wasn’t entitled Don’t Support Your Local Scene [split with ‘Karma’] for nothing. And the first CD by ‘Jesus Cröst’ was – significant – entitled The Feeding Of The Party Punks. Our experiences in Ieper definitely played a role in that.

The next day there were a few Hardcore en Straight-Edge bands on the bill. Also ‘Seein’Red’ performed. Brob – who reminded us strongly of Jopie’s (guitarist van ‘Jesus Cröst’) dad – was eager to hear them play. Unfortunately he obliged himself to stay outside with his distro. We’ll never forget his face, peering through the tinu window during ‘Seein’Red’s show. Something that was discussed many a times afterwards… [Brob: By doing so I wanted to give expression to my conviction that distros should all be treated alike and that it was unfair that I had to pay entrance because I wasn’t part of the association anymore.] There was another great image on Sunday: the exodus of the punks vs. the entry of the ‘new’ audience. A bigger contrast is hardly imaginable. A stumbling procession of staggering, stinking crusties with an excess of dreads and patches, observed by a row of fresh, shaved urban hardcore dudes. Instinctively I was appreciating the second group actually more, while certainly at that time I belonged to the first. At the same time the image also represented the sectarianism of the scene. The narrow-mindedness, the uniformity and the peer-pressure. In fact nothing that you would associate with the ideals of punk (freedom, individuality), but it was there: clear and to a large extent. By the way: the ‘Seein’Red’ show was fantastic (sorry Brob!), and was marked by another funny occurrence. The guys’ talks between the songs were identical to tose we heard at a previous gig. And therefore also the shouted reactions (“Feyenoord!”).

By the way: I can’t remember if, and if so where, I slep that weekend. Probably that’s a good thing. It wouldn’t have been unworthy of man. Luckily the human mind works that way: so that on the long term only the positive things remain. For Ieper these were: the other bands, the meeting of acquaintances and the growing of new friendships. The mentioned negative things didn’t disturb me not very much back then, but would prove a cruel equation over the course of the years.

Bowie de Weijer

We had to play with ‘Holefiller’/’Helfiller’ and ‘Counter-Attack’ as for some reason or other, people tended to ask us in 3s. Some of the ‘Holefiller’/’Katastrophobia’ guys lived together at that time and Stef from ‘C.A.’ was our drummer so in a way it makes sense…I guess. Although we each had a pretty different style. We weren’t anarcho-punk and we definitely didn’t play sludge, although our sound intensified and got more heavy and more guitar-oriented over time. We had played a gig with ‘Bullshit Propaganda’ shortly before in a squat in Ghent (and I saw them for the first time in a squat in Venlo or Veldhoven, in Holland). I especially remember the gig in Ghent because the guys from ‘B.P.’ actually made quite a fuss about some packages of meat they found behind the counter (which actually turned out to be food for the dogs), which I found pretty disrespectful at the time. Not that a lot of people bothered to get their facts straight at the time…

We played pretty early on in the day because there was still light and it was in February so it must’ve been pretty early. There was quite the crowd and we played a long time (or so some people said, which isn’t quite the ‘compliment’ I expected… I mean, gigs who turn out “too long” aren’t mostly the most successful ones). We didn’t have too many songs, as we were just starting up the band but they were all pretty long for a punk-band (one song clocked at around 8 minutes, so yeah). But every crust-band wanted to be a bit like ‘Nausea’ or ‘Antisect’, plus I really like long songs and actually we initially constructed the songs around the lyrics, that’s why they mostly turned out pretty long. It became a bit of a trademark in the long run, I guess because our later songs were really long, the lyrics taking up pages and live we spun ‘em out with a lot of guitar-improvisation and noise which always was a lot of fun. We always tried to approach things a little differently and, of course, that didn’t always turn out as good as we planned. But at least we tried…

The gig felt quite comfortable, meaning I didn’t blow out my voice right away. The other bands I don’t remember clearly enough but I’m sure ‘Holefiller’/’Helfiller’ were nice, and ‘Counter-Attack’ as well. I wasn’t really into the other bands (and after their stunt at the squat in Ghent-, I tended to skip ‘Bullshit Propaganda’ a little..)…or in other bands in general. We lived in a place in Ghent where we organised gigs almost every other day and after a while I guess I had a bit of an overkill of bands repeating each other and sounding like everything else. Hope that doesn’t sound too condemning, it’s just how I felt at the time. And I always got attracted more by the art surrounding the music than the music itself, again something we tried to do with ‘Katastrophobia’, giving befriended artists the chance to get other people to know their work through us (as part of a live-gig or included in the artwork on our records,…). I still do… Don’t really recall if I stayed for the second day but I believe I did because we had our stalls from ABC and the Ghent squat-scene, and I helped out with that. All in all, there were quite a lot of people but I remember the videos and info-stands didn’t quite attract the crowd they should’ve had. I believe they were on the first floor somewhere? The videos disappointed me some, as this was the pre-DVD era: sound and image-quality weren’t always that good at the time, which had its charms of course… So, I guess that’s it, don’t remember all that much about them 2 days so I guess it must’ve been quite okay, considering…

Gratiën Versypt, vocalist of ‘Katastrophobia’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

intro: 97-02-28&03-01 VV Doe-Wat dagen

My ‘brothers in arms’ of ‘Seein’Red’ were at it again! That year saw the release of the split-10” with their fellow countrymen ‘Catweazle’ and the split-7” with ‘Öpstand’ (from France).

‘Honey Honey’s second appearance (after 95-07-23) at the Vort’n Vis. These ‘Easterners’ played great melodic HC, which I really liked (see presentation in Tilt! #8 (’95) and set up a gig in Gent, 98-03-15). Wendi Geuens was the singer, later joined by Pat Broux (don’t think she performed here), Gert ‘Gonzo’ Hermans played guitar, Edwin Gielen was the drummer and Sven Cuypers the original bassist (‘Reiziger’s Pascal Hens replaced him on their UK tour during the summer of ’97; later Bart Elen joined.). The latter was on their 7” (released by Dennis’ Tyfus & Phil Merckx (99-05). After the turn of the century Gert & Sven were in ‘Playmobil Assassins’ together…

‘Outrage’ had performed at the V.V. a couple of times the year before (96-03-24 & 96-08-16) and would be back later (98-09-19). It was the band of Nico Peeters (bass) – who ran Day One distribution with (at that time) his partner An Caers, and was in the Newland collective (zine and gigs in the Herentals area). The others were Sigi Loots (drums), Steven Van Goubergen (guitar) and Ringo Van Dingenen (vocals). Their music was powerful emo-metal. Later that year they recorded their 7” To Terrorize Ear And Mind (“a DIY product distributed by a network of friends”). ‘Outrage’ also did a presentation for Tilt! #8…

First of a bunch of shows at the V.V. for ‘Instinct’ (also 97-06-27, 97-07-12, 97-08-15 & 99-08-22), a band from my hometown Tielt (and Deinze). “Positive old-school” HC or “youth-crew mosh” as the were described. Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete played guitar (both were also playing in the new school metal band ‘Eulogy’ with Tom of ‘Family Of Dog’), Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder. They had a promo-tape and did a 7” on Marc Decaigny’s label Braveheart recs, entitled Friendship, A Lifetime Commitment (released in 1998).

The last of 3 shows ‘Resist The Pain’ did at the V.V. (also 96-05-12 & 96-08-18). Soon after bassist Steve Noyelle & drummer Jan Volckaert started to play guitar in ‘Lifecycle’, and guitarist Pedro ‘Fifi’ Fioen would go on with ‘Spineless’. Their vocalist Vincent ‘Murph’ Merveillie later sang for ‘Spirit Of Youth’.

‘Confrontation’: Wasn’t that the band with my hometown-fellow Albano Lo Bue? They were labeled ‘death-core’…

Brob

I don’t know if ‘Confrontation’ actually played…?

Pedro Fioen, ‘Resist The Pain’ guitarist

Pat Broeckx was the second vocalist and Edwin’s girlfriend. Bart Elen played bass at a later stage (after Sven had quit). After I stopped (in 2000, I believe), Gert, Pat & Edwin went on under another name. Jimmy Even was the second vocalist and Sven did the bass again.

Wendi Geuens, ‘Honey Honey’ vocalist

I did 3 tours (in France, Germany and the UK) with ‘Honey’ Honey’ as replacing bassist… But never played with them in Belgium! Wendi was my girlfriend at that time so I hung out with them quite a bit…

Pascal Hens

We had to perform that day but honestly: I don’t have a lot of recollections from that day. Stage-stress haha… Playing at the Vort’n was quite something, right ;-)

Albano Lo Bue

Brob – who reminded us strongly of Jopie’s (guitarist van ‘Jesus Cröst’) dad – was eager to hear ‘Seein’Red’ play. Unfortunately he obliged himself to stay outside with his distro. We’ll never forget his face, peering through the tinu window during ‘Seein’Red’s show. Something that was discussed many a times afterwards… [Brob: By doing so I wanted to give expression to my conviction that distros should all be treated alike and that it was unfair that I had to pay entrance because I wasn’t part of the association anymore.] There was another great image on Sunday: the exodus of the punks vs. the entry of the ‘new’ audience. A bigger contrast is hardly imaginable. The ‘Seein’Red’ show was fantastic (sorry Brob!), and was marked by another funny occurrence. The guys’ talks between the songs were identical to tose we heard at a previous gig. And therefore also the shouted reactions (“Feyenoord!”)…

Bowie de Weijer, ‘Bullshit Propaganda’ drummer

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

If my memory serves me right the very first gig at the Vort’n Vis was on 89-07-09. To celebrate this the autonomous centre served it’s audience a mix of touring and local (H8000 and other) bands; plus drinks at the price of 10 years before…

For full posts on the bands that were playing: click below…

25 jun ’99: Standing (Can), 8 Days Of Nothing (Swe), Shank (UK), Hernandez (UK), Lifecycle (Bel)

26 jun ’99: Faroutski (Bel), The Lovehandles (Bel)

27 jun ’99: Shai Hulud (USA), Intensity (Swe), Hebriana (Bel), Alignment (Bel), Clouded (Bel)

For some more history:

Vort’n Vis genesis

20 (+) years Vort’n Vis

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

‘P.N.A.T.S.H.’ (abbreviation for ‘Paice, Nic And The Stringkilling Homosexual’) were a ‘queercore’ band that played a mix of punk & dub-reggae and were quite original! If I’m not mistaken they were from Berlin… Dudes with dreads, seemingly adhering the Rastafari philosophy… They also had a song entitled Ain’t No Jah… Absolutely the counterpart of the sometimes homophobic Rastafarians though; militant punk.

Henk Loobuyck

‘P.N.A.T.S.H.’ were indeed from Berlin (Kreuzberg, I think). They described their music themselves as “masquerade party-rastafari-punk-core”. A whole bunch of people (on their recordings): Paice (vocals, drums/percussion), Nic (vocals, bass, keyboards), Hilde Hendrix (vocals, guitar, sax), and their horns-section Wolfram Föhse (trombone), Wolfram Segond von Banchet (bariton sax) and Markus Renner (trumpet). Party-music, got everybody skankin’… I know of 2 albums that they did: Fetish (1991) and SmashIt (1994).

The ‘Nessun Dorma’ guys toured the continent quite a bit and this was their 3^rd time here (after 92-05-02 & 92-11-01). I had already gotten them a few gigs earlier during the Smurfpunx days (90-09-02). Hardcore punx from Bristol: Seamus Cummins (bass), Paul (vocals), Phil (drums), and Ju & Tony ‘Tone’ (guitarists). They had a 12” out on Mike Foster’s MCR UK: Chew It Over 12” (recorded in Oct ‘91).

‘Nessun Dorma’ s singer Paul (from Ludovic Haché’s zine Ras l’Bol)

The French ‘Pilgrims’ had been at the V.V. before (92-06-13). They were apparently a straight-edge band but my mate Dirk ‘Scum’ (‘Zero Positives’ vocalist; who organised (a part of) the European tour for the ‘Pilgrims’ in 1992, said they were anything but…) Can’t remember anything about them. I was told the guy singing for them (Ian) used to be in the Parisian HC/punk band ‘Flitox’ and he also ran (the label) Jungle Hop International.

‘Vais’ (from Antwerp) consisted of Ingrid Martens (vocals), David (guitar), Danny Van Honsté (bass, ex ‘Bad Influence’) and Alex Meynen (drums; he replaced first drummer Sacha). They recorded a demo (Forever Roaming) in 1992 with Alex. After ‘Vais’ Ingrid, David & Danny started ‘Kin Without The Blood’; later on Ingrid & David formed ‘Hellsonics’ (a “punky/metal psychobilly” band).

Brob

I remember vaguely seeing ‘P.N.A.T.S.H.’ twice. Only the guitarist was gay; he was a bit timid but very winsome. They played a lot of benefits but also wedding-parties. What I do recall from the gig at the V.V.: they were touring with a hearse. It was a very nice concert, especially because there was an openly gay person present. They had a tape, an LP and a CD…

‘P.N.A.T.S.H.’ (Paice, Nick And The Stringkilling Homosexual) – SmashIt. Hardcore, ska, reggae, dub, techno & punk on one CD, it’s possible. Musical resistance without compromise, it’s possible. From Germany, nothing seems impossible. A CD that everybody has to have in their collection; lyrics you just have to know by heart. Against religion, neonazis, narrow-mindedness and bigotry. For feminism, homosexuality, resistance and fun.

Pat D.

No recollections whatsoever… Could well have been our drummer (Alex) or bassist (Danny) in the guestbook.

David, ‘Vais’guitarist

No, that wasn’t me there. Must’ve been our drummer Alex.

Danny Van Honsté, ‘Vais’ bassist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

According to the ‘Link’ website they supposedly did a show on 97-06-03 but that was a Tuesday. So I’m pretty sure this here was their first gig at the Vort’n Vis (see guestbook). ‘Ebola’ is mentioned in the V.V. notes and also played at Kompas in Sint-Niklaas with ‘Quarantine’ and ‘Unhinged’ the day after this… ‘Link’ (from the outskirts of Ypres) at that time was Michael Maes (guitar), his partner Inge Cappoen (vocals) – both had been in ‘Carcer Molochi’ – and the French-men Greg ‘Briko’ on bass and a ‘Juju’ Julien De Jonckheere on drums. At first they played crust-core-punk. Since their start they did a series of demo-tapes, CDs and a split-7” with ‘Raised By Drunks’ (from Sweden). Their 1^st CD The Last Sacrifice (recorded in 2000, with a drum-computer and Geoffrey Geeraert on bass) 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… The band still exists – (although with a different line-up, Inge left) today with, besides Michael, Geoffrey Geeraert (bass; he returned after Björn Denys; Laurent ‘Lampe’ Lampaert, etc. – see Mike’s history below) and Jens Hoornaert (drums) – and they bring “melancholic atmospheres, heavy tunes, dark lyrics, fast riffs and slow epic parts”.

‘Ebola’ had been at the V.V. already (96-05-19). Karin R. (vocals), Micky McGuinness (guitar, ex ‘Generic’, ‘One By One’), Chris Patterson (drums) and Andrew Nolan (bass; later in ‘Shank’) from Benwell (Newcastle area) were presenting their new singer (replacing Jonathan Shaw) Nick Loaring (vocals; Enslaved recs). By this time their Imprecation 7” (intense, fast, powerful HC) was out (recorded Feb. ’97). Later they also did a split-7” with ‘Servitude’ (’98) – re-issued in 2000 on Enslaved recs as single-sided 7” – and in 2000 they recorded for a split-LP with ‘Jinn’ (that was to come out in 2003) with Andy Irvine from ‘Disaffect’ on guitar and Set Dixon from ‘Active Minds’ on drums.

In the V.V. notes it’s mentioned that ‘Lifecycle’ also got some drink-tickets that they but no other clues if they played or not… Perhaps some of them just helped out.

Brob

I don’t think we’ve ever played together with ‘Link’, I’m pretty sure of that…

Karel Deweerdt, ‘Lifecyle’ guitarist

I was the second vocalist – Jonny [Jonathan] would have been in ‘Ebola’ at the first gig, as I didn’t play my first gig with ‘Ebola’ until Autumn 1996.

Nick Loaring

Princess Di had had died [97-08-31] and every UK band on tour in Europe had stories of American tourists coming up to them in the street and offering them their condolences… I think we got paid partially in out-of-date chocolate soy-milk at this show.

I think we were supposed to tour with ‘U.Y.S.’ [‘Use Your Strength’] from Germany. André [Sieg], who ran Maximum Voice Production, was trying to set that up but for some reason it didn’t happen. I don’t know the details there. I would have liked to have seen that band, they were a weird droning hardcore band, quite unlike anything else at the time. We played a show with ‘Hellkrusher’ somewhere in Europe, Sned was most likely leaving a message for them to see when they got to the Vort’n Vis [97-10-28]. At the time both myself and Chris Patterson were in ‘Sawn Off’ ànd ‘Ebola’. ‘Sawn Off’ pre-dated ‘Ebola’ but wasn’t as productive in terms of releasing records and playing shows outside of our local scene at that point…

Andrew Nolan, ‘Ebola’ bassist (survivalist-deathcult.blogspot)

‘Juju’ and me played for ‘Link’ already. We both left the band together in 2004…

Greg ‘Briko’

‘Link’ did indeed start in ‘97 after ‘Carcer Molochi’ quit. The first line-up was ‘Juju’ (drums), Greg (bass), Inge (vocals) and myself (guitar & backings) – we recorded a few demos and there were plans for a tour with ‘Unhinged’ but that didn’t work out. After some time Greg & ‘Juju’ left because the distance was getting a problem. They were replaced by Geoffrey (bass) & Michiel (drums), who both played in ‘Abrogate’. Michiel left the band already after a few months. We chose er to continue with a drum-computer because of the fact there were few drummers or musicians available in the Ypres’ scène. We recorded the CD The Last Sacrefice and toured Europe for the First time. Then we took a break and somewhere around 2005-2006 we started to make new songs, released a demo-CD uitgebracht and toured England (2007). After that tour we started searching for a drummer again and since 2008 Jens became our drummer. A little bit later Geoffrey quit and became the guitarist of ‘Möse’ (with David Stubbe on drums & Karel Busschop on bass/vocals). Laurent ‘Lampe’ joined ‘Link’ on bass. In this line-up we recorded the split-7” (with ‘Raised By Drunks from Sweden) and then the 12” Chapter 1 (2010). After 12 years ‘faithful service’ Inge left band and we continued as a trio with myself taking up vocal duties. The 12” Chapter 2 was released in 2011. In 2013 ‘Lampe’ quit and was replaced by Björn Denys with whom we recorded the split-12” with ‘Absolutist’ (from Scotland). By the end of 2014 Björn quit and Geoffrey rejoined as bassist. Chapter 4 was recorded by the end of 2014 and released in 2015. [‘Link’s story continues…]

Michael Maes

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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

There was record/literature fair going in the Vort’n Vis yard. I believe this is where I met Jon Elliott (Active distribution, London) for the first time. Concerts were in the barn…

‘Oi Polloi’ (Matt – Chris – Calum) closely watched by Stef De Leersnijder (pic courtesy Michael Maes)

According to Michael Maes this was the gig ‘Oi Polloi’s Deek had lost his voice… (Their guestbook-entry hints drummer Chris took over.) The other guys that played in the band that day were guitarist Matt(hew) Finch ‘Finchy’ (a.k.a. Keith Chugwin), bassist Calum Mackenzie (nowadays in ‘Phobia’ & ‘Final Conflict’) and drummer Chris ‘Wheelie’ Willsher. In the Luxemburg zine Persons Unknown ‘Oi Polloi’s bassist was referred to as ‘Clive’… After having played with the Portugese ‘Subcaos’ earlier that year (see 94-04-02), they were now on the road with ‘Inkisiçao’ & ‘X-Acto’ (This Is Not Amerikka tour). A guy named Al was their driver.

‘X-Acto’ (from Lisbon) was a vegan straight-edge HC band at the beginning but left the SxE label when a new guitarist joined. João Pedro (guitar), Pedro Mateus (bass), Diogo Mateus (drums), Pedro ‘Dentes’ (vocals; replaced by Rodrigo Barradas -R.I.P.- here?), João Barrelas ‘Libelinha’ (guitar; also in ‘Subcaos’); guitarist Paulo Segadães joined in 1995, later also Ricardo Avelino. In 1992 They appeared on the split-tape Juntos Contra A Tourada (with ‘Inkisição’, ‘Mentes Podres’ & ‘Subcaos’) and in ’93 on Change Now!, a compilation (on Slime recs) with ‘Subcaos’, ‘Corrosão Caótica’, Inkisição’ & ‘Alcoore’. Slime recs (the later Ataque Sonoro) also released their split-CD with ‘Inkisição’ in ’93. The year of this gig they had a 7” (Somos Uma Só Voz; recorded Sept. ‘93) out on Rage Productions (Portugese label from Cacem). The CD Harmony As One (with guitarists ‘Sega’ & ‘Libelinha’ and vocalist Rodrigo) on Ataque Sonoro came out Oct. ’95 and was distributed by Active. They also started S.E.L.F. to organise concerts/benefits…

‘Rain Like The Sound Of Trains’, from Washington DC, (with records out on Dischord) were Bobby Sullivan (vocals, ex ‘Soulside’), Pete Chramaiec (guitar, ex ‘Verbal Assault’), Douglas ‘Dug’ Birdzell (a.k.a. Dug E. Bird, ex ‘Beefeater’ & ‘Fidelity Jones’; bass) and Joshua LaRue (a.k.a. Josh Payne; drums). They played quirky, rhythmic, funky, jazzy “post hardcore”. Their tour was organised by X-Mist…

‘Ivich’ (the Paris suburbs) [interview] played here a couple of times before (92-07-25 & 93-05-01). A correspondent of mine, Eric Mirguet, sang for them. The others were the bros Yves (drums) & Yann (guitar) Maisonneuve (both were in ‘Vanilla’ later on); and Cédric (bass). Their trumpetist named Thierry was also joining them on stage from time to time. They were dubbed ‘emo’ but they were so much more than that. (As they wrote in the guestbook: “A bit of poetry in a world of brutes”.) I mentioned their earlier releases in the other posts. Their album La Mort Heureuse (“noisy, messy and unpredictable, but equally riveting, passionate and sincere”) was released by my mates Olivier Lépine and Nicolas Fisseau on their label La Libre Expression in ‘94.

Brob

I was driving ‘R.L.T.S.O.T.’ but since I was touring constantly back then I can’t recall anything specific… There was Joshua on drums. He was my first connection to the band. Dug on bass. I loved his cooking-style: vegetables, salt and pepper; that’s it. Anything else would kill the taste. I still do it the Dug way… The guys bought a bike in Amsterdam at the tour-start. So we toured with a bike on board through Europe. Funny tour! Armin [Hofmann; X-Mist] booked the tour, my friend drove them around for a week or so and I accompanied them some days. The first half of the tour I was the driver. I picked them up in Amsterdam.

Ma Raab

I was there when ‘Rain Like The Sound Of Trains’ played. I was in Ieper while riding with my bike to France (was wandering Germany and stopped there before I went to the UK).

Phil Jahnke

I played guitar with ‘Oi Polloi’ 1994-1997. I think I played 3 gigs at the Vort’n Vis. First was on the tour with ‘Subcaos’ [94-04-02] / ‘X-Acto’ [here]. Played a couple of all-day events there… Pretty crust they were; ‘Extinction Of Mankind’ [7th Leed festival, 1995] & ‘Bad Influence’ spring to mind. We probably played on Saturday… [The newsletter and the guestbook say Sunday.]

Matt Finch

Don’t think I drove ‘Oi Polloi’ that time; it looks like a guy called Al Shackelton drove that time (he’s no longer with us). My memories are a bit hazy. Can’t really remember watching the bands. I hung out with some people from Portugal who were friends of ‘Subcaos’. 2 Finnish guys got pissed on KillU…

Col(in) Douglas

The members of ‘X-Acto’ are into electronic music nowadays, the same for the ‘Alcoore’ guys; ‘Simbiose’ are still active and they are going to play soon with ‘Ratos de Porão’ [2013]. ‘Corrosao Caótica’ are over but played a reunion-show in 2012, ‘Tropa Morta’ & ‘Fart’ are ‘dead’ and the vocalist of ‘Censurados’ has a successful melodic/pop-punk band named ‘Tara Perdida’.

João (Pedro) Abrantes, guitarist of ‘Subcaos’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Chris Willsher: “Deek’s guestbook entry says I did ‘a Josef Porta’ (singer/drummer with ‘Blyth Power’, and ex-drummer with ‘The Mob’ and ‘Zounds’) – as in drumming and singing. Nice of him to do such a flattering drawing of me too!”

Brob: “The Slovenian mentioned was most probably Tomaz Trplan (editor of Papermouth zine).” * Chris Willsher: “No, it was a guy called Enzo Giurgevich, who was roadie for ‘Inkisiçao’. He’s in a band called ‘No Limits’ these days…”

additions wellcome!…

We did a pre-show at the Vort’n Vis pub in 2000, on a Thursday…  The actual 2000-08-18&19&20 Ieperfest was in a school-yard. I just remember my band (‘Surge Of Fury’) and ‘Killed In Action’ played, I don’t recall who else played… It’s possible that ‘Retaliate’ was a that show but I can’t remember. At that time ‘Surge Of Fury’ was Emeric on drums, Dave & Sam playing guitars, John on bass and myself, ‘Tito’, doing vocals,… The line-up is different nowadays… I just remember the ‘Killed In Action’ singer’s name… Max…

‘Tito Fury’ [also played at the V.V. with the Liège band ‘Belief’ on 98-04-26]

‘Tito’

‘Surge Of Fury’ (hardcore metal from Liège) did a demo-tape in 1999…

‘Retaliate’ was a band from the Ieper area playing brutal metal-core. Members: 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 recorded a demo in 2000 and released it under the name W.A.R. in 2001, and later (2002) a split with ‘Outcast’ (DHM recs): Hate Injected. This was probably their first show here. They were also on a poster for a gig with ‘Kingpin’ at the V.V. on 2000-09-16 (on which they were labeled “NY HC”). The line-up changed a great deal later on…

‘Retaliate’

People of ‘Killed In Action’ (from Rouen, France) apparently were later in ‘The Elektrocution’… Maxime Prieux was the singer.

‘Killed In Action’

Brob

The pics are indeed pre Ieperfest 2000 with ‘Killed In Action’, ‘Surge Of Fury’, etc. I think also ‘Striker’ played [Brob: No mention of that in the V.V. notes]…

Frederik Plets, ‘Retaliate’ guitarist

I believe we started out in 2000… In 2001 ‘Retaliate’ opened the actual festival.

Geoffrey Verhelle, ‘Retaliate’ vocalist

The pre-fest before Ieperfest 2000 was organised by me and ‘Lorre’ [‘Striker’ vocalist].

Alexander ‘Lex’ Decoene

It was a wonderful time and a super venue!

Maxime Prieux, ‘Killed In Action’ vocalist

additions wellcome!…

Another gig organised by Fred(eric) Driessens – with practical help from his bro, his girlfriend and Jan Claus…

‘Präparation-H’ was a grindcore (“mince crust”; influenced by ‘Napalm Death’, ‘Sore Throat’, ‘Assück’, ‘Hellnation’, ‘Disrupt’, etc.) band from Cincinnati (Ohio) with Dan ‘H’ Sucio (guitar & vocals), Burke (bass & vocals; in stead of Doug ‘Zombie’) and ‘Agent’ Klaus Grabke (drums). Ash (guitar/ bass/vocals/drums) was in the band until 1996. There was a tape with recordings from ‘94, a split-tape (with ‘Agathocles’) entitled Fair Is Fair! – released by Axioma Promotions (1995) – and a promo-tape for the ’97 tour. They also recorded several 7”s (e.g. with ‘Hellkrusher’, ‘Cripple Bastards’ and ‘Agathocles’) for numerous labels.

‘Açao Direta’ came all the way from São Paulo, Brazil. On the ‘97 tour the were: Paulo Gepeto (vocals), Pancho (bass), Alan (guitar) and Marcão (drums). Their (first European) tour was organised by Michael Kopijn and his girlfriend Eva (from Groningen), I believe. It was between the release of the Entre A Benção E O Caos (Between The Blessing And The Chaos) LP and the Intervenção (Intervention) LP. Musically they range from straightforward hardcore to fast crossover.

‘Açao Direta’ (courtesy Paulo Gepeto & Dan ‘Präparation-H’)

‘Boycot’ (from Alkmaar) were Bill(y) Kuiper (vocals), Pim Bakker (vocals; ex ‘C.K.N.), Taco Rietveld (drums), Jeroen (bass) and Lennaert Roomer (guitar; also ‘Distress’; replaced Erik-Jan, who played the first time they were at the V.V. on 96-09-20). I got to know them because of the Only Stupid Bastards Help Epitaph 7” (on Axiome Production, 1995). After that there were several 7”s (together with ‘Distress’, ‘Insane Youth’, ‘Betercore’, ‘Yuppiecrusher’, ‘Fleas And Lice’, …); also a tape with ‘Jobbykrust’‎ with live recordings of ‘Boycot’ (released in 1996)…

‘Bloodsuckers’, from the very South, French-speaking part of Belgium (Arlon area), played grind. Members were Pierre Marchal (drums), Christophe Pels (bass), Gregory Pels (guitar) and Michael Thiry (vocals). They had a few tapes out, one of which was a split-tape with a thrash/metal-HC band with the same name from Slovenia. Later they also did a 3-way split CD with ‘Kisaac’s band ‘Bob’s Bizarre Bazaar’…

After an abonimable set on the fest in September ’94, ‘Força Macabra’ showed up again here. The band with the Portugese name and lyrics are actually from Finland. They ‘worshipped’ Brazilian bands and also did covers of bands such as ‘Ratos De Porão’, ‘Olho Seco’, ‘Cólera’, etc. We got to know them when Bruno (Genet recs) released the split with ‘Corpus Christi’ in ’93. I also hung out with Otto and his mates some time in Ghent when they were staying over at the Genet HQ. The vocalist was ‘Taurus’ (‘Oswaldo’ Otto Luotonen), bassist ‘Chakal’ (‘Jaba’ Jaakko Penttinen), guitarist ‘Porco’ (‘Lalli’ ‘Pedro Anthares’ Petri Niskanen) and drummer ‘Antitese’ (‘Oscar’ Otto Itkonen). Some of them also played in ‘Selfish’. The band did numerous records and tapes. A few days later (97-05-23) they also played the Hogepont squat in Ghent…

‘Konstrukt’ was a grind/noise-core band (unpredictable, fast, chaotic, noisy, brutal stuff with references to ‘Anal Cunt’, ‘Man Is The Bastard’) with avant-garde/industrial touches. Dietmar Eicher (guitar), Sascha Confus (bass), Pablo (drums) & Ronald (vocals) were from Vienna (Austria). That year they recorded for their Dis-Co LP, that was released on Dietmar’s label Hammerwerk. He had already released their split-7” with ‘Kito’ in ’95. There was also a split-7” with ‘Wasserdicht’ on Jay Walk (Dejan Pozegar from Slovenia) in ’96. And in 1999 the In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni 7” was put out by Hammerwerk again. The band had ties with the local squatted social centre E.K.H.

Not mentioned on the flyer but in the guestbook and the V.V. notes were ‘Real Chaos’ (grindcore from Germany; “the name says it all”) who’d also been on the bill with ‘Präparation-H’ at the in Sint-Niklaas gig a few days earlier.

Brob

We were only there brieflly because the moment we arrived, we were asked if we could play in Lille [France] too later that day. After some negotiating we could plug in immediately and in the evening we played with ‘Unhinged’! I believe that the day before there was a gig planned in Geel or Diest (about the same line-up) [Diest, 97-05-17: ‘Açao Direta’, ‘Präparation-H’, ‘Konstrukt’ & Honey Honey (Bel)] but when we got there, we were told we couldn’t play… That had also happened the day before, in Veldhoven [The Netherlands]. Good bands by the way…

Bill, ‘Boycot’

On this rainy Sunday the public filled the small room. ‘Boycot’ played hardcore and had an ex-member of the old ‘Sore Throat’ [Lennaert Roomer]. The Finnish ‘Força Macabra’ tried singing in Portuguese and played covers of ‘Ratos De Porão, ‘Armageddon’, ‘Cólera’ and ‘Lobotomy’. ‘Açao Direta’s performance was great. We made many friends and the balance was very positive. We were back in Europe in 1999, 2001 & 2004! In 1999 & 2001 things were organised by Michael [Kopijn; drummer of ‘Catweazle’ etc.] & Eva from Bacteria (Groningen)! 1997 we made it with lots of letters and friends spreading the word around Europe…

Paulo Gepeto, vocalist of ‘Açao Direta’

We played that one… ‘Bloodsuckers’ were immensely entertaining in their insanity. Grade-A ‘developing country grind’! We played many shows with ‘Konstrukt’ along the way.

Otto Itkonen, ‘Força Macabra’

>>Five long weeks of touring around Europe. The Spanish/Portuguese and the French legs were cut off as the van seriously broke down in ex-Yugoslavija. A grassroots-organised tour with a shoelace budget can’t always be the best possible way to do things – and ‘Força’ certainly had its ups and downs in the long series of gigs in squats and bars.<<

forcamacabra.net

There was a great atmosphere!

Chris Pels, ‘Bloodsuckers’

It was our bassplayer’s birthday and the guys in ‘Rubbish Heap’ came to the show with a cake that they smashed in his face. It was really, really funny! I don’t recall much about venue or specifics of the show. I do remember that the guys in ‘Konstrukt’ from Vienna were super, super cool and we remained in touch for years after. We played a few shows with ‘Força Macabra’ and I can tell you, they are great drinking partners! I remember I gave my favorite ‘Los Crudos’ T-Shirt to the singer of ‘Boycot’. It was WAY too small for him. I have a photo. Hahaha!

Dan, ‘Präparation-H’ guitarist

I travelled a few days with the guys from ‘Präparation-H’ when they were touring Europe. The were also joined by Scott (the drummer of ‘Blatherskite’ & ‘Ice Nine’) and a Polish guy named Marcin. The German band ‘Real Chaos’ – German crust/grind with really nice (and a bit smelly haha) people – was touring with them aswell. The days before Ieper, the band played in Sint-Niklaas (97-05-15) – with ‘Wojczech’, ‘Cut Your Hair’ & ‘Real Chaos’, Veldhoven [The Netherlands] 97-05-16 – with ‘Boycot’, ‘Distress’, ‘Real Chaos’ and I believ ‘No ID) and Diest (97-05-17) – with ‘Intestinal Disease’, ‘Açao Direta’, ‘Rubbish Heap’, ‘Real Chaos’, etc. The show in Veldhoven was the same weekend as the Dynamo Open Air festival and the guys from ‘Disfear’ were at the show as they were also going to this metal-festival. The morning after the show in Veldhoven we had a quick visit there aswell. The guys from ‘Präp-H’ were super nice and had a great sence of humor. A few weeks later I met some of them in Liège when ‘Dystopia’ played there. I remember getting that really nice “thank you” card afterwards. Still have it somewhere. Their last show was in Ieper. I was pleasantly suprised by ‘Bloodsuckers’ – as I was allready writing with some of them and this was our first actual meeting. ‘Força Macabra’ and ‘Konstrukt’ were nice additions. The next friday I organised a show for ‘Força Macabra’ in Mol.

Erik Minnen, ‘Cornucopia’ vocalist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Most of these (local) bands had played a month earlier on ‘Spineless’ CD release (97-06-27). Steve Lammertyn and ‘Lifecycle’s Steve Noyelle & Sofie Vantomme organised this one here (see flyer). According to the V.V. notes ‘xSchmitterSx’ (Stijn Desmyter from Oostnieuwkerke) was also involved. Michael Maes & Inge Cappoen attented the bar…

‘Family Of Dog’ were not local (from Deinze) and had already performed at the V.V. on 96-09-22. 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 another show a few months later (97-10-12) but they split up somewhere in ‘98…

‘Spirit Of Youth’ had done a show at the V.V. in their new line-up (more new-school metal-HC) already. Guitarist Dominiek ‘Dompi’ Denolf, drummer Frederik ‘Fré’ Denolf and bassist Kris Casier (who had been in ‘Solid’ with the bros), recruited Vincent ‘Vince’ Theeten (also Strike One zine) on second guitar and Vincent ‘Marvel’ Merveillie (also ‘Resist In Pain’, ‘Lifecycle’) on vocals. ‘Dompie’ had tried to reform ‘S.O.Y.’ with originals Hans Verbeke & Jan Maelfait in ’96 but that didn’t work out.

D.S.A.’ were playing old-school NY Hardcore. Nico ‘Sientje’ Sinnaeve (drums; later ‘Retaliate’), Frederik Vanhee (bass; later ‘Retaliate’), Pieter-Jan ‘PJ’ Vandenberghe (guitar) and the singer was Davy Verhoye (on the 1^st demo) or Maarten Verschaeve (2^nd demo). They did a few more shows at the V.V. (97-10-25, 97-12-26 & 98-04-11)…

‘Fanta’s Farm’ was with Korneel Barbry (bass), Sim Meerseman (guitar; ex ‘Voices At The Front’), Stijn Spruytte (drums) & Jeroen Beyens (vocals). Steve Noyelle labeled them as “melodic pop/rock”. They played again on 97-09-19.

‘Sorehead’, another local (Ieper) band, had also been at the V.V. already (96-12-30 plus the one mentioned above) and would be here again 97-10-25. They were: Laurent ‘Lorre’ Peene (vocals; R.I.P.), Dries Verclyte (bass), Pieter Desmyter (guitar) and Pieter Derycke (drums). According to Steve N. their music resembled that of ‘Sektor’. The music on their demo sounded metal-influenced and the vocals were raw & aggressive. Jan Lazeure (guitar) might’ve quit for half a year… But according to Dries he’s always been in the band…

‘Instinct’ already did V.V. shows on 97-03-01 & the one mentioned in the intro, and they would be back for 15/16/17 aug ’97: Hardcore – the Next Generation festival. Alex Dierickx & Thomas Hauttekeete (also ‘Sincerity’) played guitar (both were also playing in the new-school metal band ‘Eulogy’ with Tom of ‘Family Of Dog’), Vincent ‘Pit’ Maes sang (he was also in ‘Hundred Years Of Forgetting’, later ‘Rise And Fall’), Pedro Tallieu did the bass and the drummer was Tuur Delodder.

‘Lifecycle’, a ‘new-school’ HC band from the Ieper/Kortijk region (H8000 but not with that typical sound), had done their first gig at the V.V. a bit before this (97-06-27, the release-party of the ‘Spineless’ CD) and may more would follow. I believe at that time the band consisted of Sofie Vantomme (vocals), 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).

No idea who/what ‘Cult-T’ was…

Brob

I have vague recollections of ‘Sjaab’ writing something in the V.V. guestbook but don’t know if it was this day… We also played there with ‘Catharsis’, ‘Gehenna’, ‘Natural Order’ and some more bands. It’s been a while… We also used to visit the Vort’n Vis quite often. I also rehearsed there with ‘Lifecycle’ when ‘Sincerity’ disbanded. I certainly like to reminisce that show with ‘Sincerity’, a band that I was proud of.

Maarten Kinet, ‘Sincerity’ bassist

I believe that our singer Tom tooted along on a dilapidated clarion during a song and that our bassist put on a blond wig for the occasion… The usual ‘F.O.D.’ silliness.

Peter Staelens, ‘F.O.D.’ guitarist

I’m almost certain that we [Fanta’s Farm] didn’t play…

Korneel Barbry

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

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

‘Fabric’ was a (post-)hardcore band from Brighton/London that we all got to know through Vique ‘Simba’ Martin (and/or Françoise ‘Hazel’ Lepers & Jeroen Lauwers)… Another great thing she introduced us to. ‘Fabric’ would also play on 95-01-29 (and 95-01-28 @ the ‘Arsenaal’ in Marke) when Jeroen Lauwers wanted to present their EP out on his label Machination recs; but this was their first gig on Belgian soil. ‘Fabric’ was Andrew/Andy Hartwell (vocals), Anthony/Tony Sylvester (bass; ex ‘Ordinary Eye’), James ‘Jamie’ Tilley (guitar; ex ‘Long Cold Stare’), Chris(topher) Turner (drums; nowadays in ‘Orange Goblin’) and Kevin Williams (guitar; he’s on photo so he had joined the band already by then). At the time of this fest they had done a demo (that also contained a cover of ‘Heresy’s song Genocide) and released (a bunch of 7”s (e.g. Colossus, Saturnalia, Dislocations) – on their own label (Whole Car recs) and/or Doghouse recs. Not sure if the Body Of Water LP was out then…

‘Fabric’ photos by Patrick Federli (1 & 2) and Albert Cheong (3) [Nick Royles bottom pic R]

Dennis of ‘Refused’ had been sending me their (second) demo plus a note asking for concerts the year before and they ended up playing in Kortrijk. They were an sXe band from Umeå. Their first tape was with Dennis Lyxzén (vocals), David Sandström (drums), Pär Hansson (guitar) and Jonas Lindgren (bass). Jonas left and was replaced by Magnus Björklund in August 1992. They also added a second guitarist – Henrik Jansson (of ‘Step Forward’). The new tape (Operation Headfirst; that Dennis sent me) was released by the end of ‘92. In ’93 they’d recorded the EP This Is The New Deal, an LP entitled This Just Might Be… …The Truth and the CD Pump The Brakes. The Everlasting 12” was registred in July ’94 with Dennis, David, Magnus, Pär and guitarist Kristofer Steen. Pär left after the recording… Magnus and Henrik were doing their military service. They took Jesper Sundberg as bass-player…

‘Abhinanda’ photographed by Massimo Moscarelli (1 & 2) [René Natzel (‘Spawn’) behind the band] and Jean-Paul Frijns (3)

Also José of ‘Abhinanda’ had provided me a tape of his band, inquiring for gigs… They were on their 1^st Euro tour (we’d seen them at Nieuwland in Herentals 94-08-14; and later played they at the V.V. 95-08-19 & 97-08), also came from Umeå. José Saxlund, their vocalist, was running the label Desperate Fight recs, which released most of their early recordings): Darkness Of Ignorance EP (‘93), Senseless LP (’94; recorded a month before this), Neverending Well Of Bliss EP (’95), Abhinanda (’96), etc. The others were Jonas Lyxzén (drums; later replaced by Daniel Berglund; played also in ‘Separation’, ‘Demon System 13’, etc.), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen (guitar; also ‘Refused’; later replaced by Pär Hansson) and Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass). They were one of the first Swedish sXe hardcore bands. The members were good friends with the band ‘Refused’ (they did a few shows in Norway together, earlier that year).

‘Backdraft’ played moshy sXe HC. They were: Rob Franssen (vocals) & Illona Stephan (guitar) – both also in ‘Feeding The Fire’ – and Marc Vleugels (drums), Kay Roderburg (bass) & Luc Vleugels (guitar). The Stream… 7” must’ve been out on Crucial Response recs. Peter Hoeren was there bringing that along, I believe. I think they’d also been recording already for their CD (The End)…

‘Backdraft’ photos by Massimo Moscarelli (1, 2 & 3) [Vik B. (1 – R)] and ? (4) [Saskia Verbeke (‘Shortsight’) behind the band / bottom pic L José Saxlund (‘Abhinanda’) & Chris van Dornick (‘Spawn’)]

The next months (Sep-Oct) ‘Blindfold’ recorded (@ Midas studio) for the World Of Fools 7” (in the original line-up). It was released on Jeroen ‘Goofy’ Lauwers’ Machination recs in ‘95. Hans reminds me that it was available on green vinyl only at a local show (94-12-23 at the Pits in Kortrijk). Also some recordings for the Astreroid 164 LP were started here but that one was only mixed in ’95 to be released in ’96 (by SoberMind and GoodLife recs).

‘Blindfold’ shots by Massimo Moscarelli (1) and Albert Cheong (2)

I believe this was the last time ‘Shortsight’ played at the Vort’n Vis. (Their very last concert ever was in November 1994, in Poperinge.) They just finished the recordings for the Cold Wounds Waking CD (at Midas Studios, July 1994). Drummer Björn Lescouhier would move on to ‘Regression’ (nowadays he plays for ‘Smoking General’). Guitarist David Dumont and Saskia’s relation finished in ‘95 and after finishing his studies he became a backliner/roadie for several (commercial) bands (‘Goose’, ‘Das Pop’ and Flip Kowlier, etc.) and later played for ‘Waldorf’ & ‘Drums Are For Parades’ (all mainstream bands). He’s also into “electronica” and vintage synthesizers. Bassist Kurt Deprez lives/works in Indonesia and singer Saskia Verbeke withdrew from the scene…

‘Shortsight’ or ‘Blindfold’? (pic by Miguel Angel Lorca) [yours truly with the AK Press sweater]

‘Acme’ from Bremen played metal-core with ‘screamo’ vocals with references to ‘Born Against’ & ‘Rorschach’; Heavy stuff! Hannes Stang did the vocals, Gregor Iwanoff drummed, Sönke ‘Sonne’ Gabriel played bass (he also hit the drums for ‘Systral’ & ‘Carol’, later he was also in ‘Mörser’ for a while) and Sven Thora was the guitarist. They had been here already on 94-04-09, a day after Jeroen of Machination recs did a show for them in his hometown. We also were able to see them perform in Herentals (94-07-22). Even though they always left a big impression, they didn’t leave a lot of ‘traces’ (unfortunately). Jeroen Lauwers (‘Nations On Fire’s bassist) released their only 7” (referred to as The Demo) in ‘94. There was a ‘post-mortem’ discography (with some extra tracks from compilations) later on…

‘Nothing Left To Grasp’, an emo band from Augsburg, were: Marco Walzel (guitar; he ran Join The Team Player recs, owns and operates Avocado Booking), Simon Czermak (drums), Ralf Bamberger (vocals), Nina Hille (bass) and Markus Hofko (guitar). After their initial demo, they did 2 7”s: The Monotonous Beat Of Nothing New (Emotion X recs ‘94) and a split with ‘Kassiopeia’ (95; on Christian Mix-Linzer’s Outlet recs). They would be back the next year (95-07-02).

Vique Martin had become the zine-queen and heroine of many. We’d been writing and I think we’d met the 1^st somewhere in spring ’94. Talking to her showed she’s a damn intelligent woman; the kind of person that can influence a whole bunch of people (in a positive way)…

Brob

I was staying at Hans’ house… ‘Macca’ [Mark Wilkinson] was there, Edward demanded a lot of my attention… When the ‘Fabric’ kids arrived, I was with them all of Saturday night. I was also absorbed with Marco [Walzel] & the Americans (Sherry [Beth Sacks; see picture in the intro] & ‘Iconoclast’)…all good friends. There were many kids I left feeling I didn’t talk to ‘properly’; Kurt for one, a friend from France, Olivier for another. I had a fucking fabulous time, didn’t want to talk about negative things (consumerism, etc.) I didn’t want to be ‘brought down’. I wanted to stay on the high of being with friends, seeing bands and being really happy.

Vique Martin, Simba zine, personal communication Sep ’94 [This was a response on a column that I, Brob, did on the fest…]

I remember having a great time, we were treated well and well received from what I can recall. The place was full, kids standing on top of stuff to see the stage. Cool stalls set up, good vibe. It was hot as fuck too, I remember that much. I’m sure I was asked to lend my cymbals to ‘Acme’. Hadn’t seen/heard them before at that time. When they started I thought the dude was going to destroy them. Terrifying and awesome at the same time. Didn’t people also sleep over there? I have a memory of the gig finishing, and then people throwing sleeping-bags everywhere they could and crashing; it was nuts.

Christopher Turner, ‘Fabric’s drummer

‘Fabric’ chillin’ in Ypres (photo by Vique Martin); L=>R: Jamie-Kevin-Andy-Chris-Tony

I can’t believe there was so many bands! Have been racking my brains trying to remember stuff but I’m coming up vague… It’s 20 years ago! I remember I had a cool ‘Parliament’ shirt. The food was great and we did a lot of hanging out with all kinds of people, was fun times to be in Europe. We were at the festival the whole weekend but we did stay with someone… I still do music, just my own one man band (soundcloud.com/dootraanougat); I play the drums, the gits, the whole shabang!

James Tilley, one of ‘Fabric’s guitarists

I know that we where on our first Europena tour ever. We played Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. The Senseless album was released just before the tour and we sold alot of CDs at the festival. From what I recall we stayed there the whole weekend, played some soccer (we were the unbeatable Swedes!!) and watched a lot of bands. I think I even made a guest-apperence with ‘Refused’ and sung some silly Swedish rap (not sure though!). As it was our first time we got to know alot of people and made a lot of new friends. I discovered bands such as ‘Spawn’, ‘Blindfold’, etc.

José Saxlund, ‘Abhinanda’ vocalist

There’s a ‘black hole’ in my memory for Friday and Sunday (2 nights of no sleep). I think the UK bands played on Friday, and Sunday ‘Iconoclast’, ‘Undone’ & ‘Vanilla’. [???] On Saturday ‘Refused’ did a semi acoustic set, ‘Fabric’ played their first show outside the UK, ‘Acme’ probably their last ever. ‘Iconoclast’ was another US band that had actually already split but toured to get a free European tourist-trip (same as ‘Downfall’, ‘Merel’, … during that period). For me personally this day was the best ever at the V.V.: no bullshit, good atmosphere… I’m certain that everybody knew everybody that day. It also was the last time the fest took place in the pub. The next year it was in the ‘barn’ in the back and there were loads more people. I also attended in ‘96 or ‘97 and that was totaly shit, with 2/3 of the bands being metal-core ‘Congress’ clones an the rest playing uninspired emo-core. Then there was a huge crowd but you knew nobody and most had no idea about hardcore/punk before GoodLife recs. Most had never heard about the ‘Dead Kennedys’ or ‘Zyklome-A’ according to me…

Jeroen Lauwers

I remember our first European tour and our first Vort’n Vis gig quite well. We recorded Senseless in the spring of ´94 and in August we rented a van and drove the long way from Umeå down to play HC in Europe. To afford the trip we brought Sara Almgren [‘Doughnuts’ guitarist; see guestbook-entry] and Jonas Lyxzén’s girlfriend Jenny along (they contributed with gas-money, great spirits and helped selling merchandise). On our way South we stopped in Stockholm and the record-store Sound Pollution (with which Desperate Fight and Birdnest [Swedish punk label formed in 1980 and run by Per Granberg] collaborated with for distribution) to pick up a few boxes of our newly pressed album which none of us had seen prior to that. Excited we set off to Hultsfred (12-14 of August), Sweden’s biggest music festival at the time, where our friends ‘Refused’ were to play. Since we could only stay for one day (and didn’t have the cash to pay for the entrance); me, Adam and José gate-crashed the festival by pretending to have bracelets to be able to see the ‘Refused’ show, worked like a charm. I remember that we gave the guys in ‘Refused’ a copy of Senseless and they seemed a bit shocked when they could hear the massive improvement between Darkness of Ignorance and the new album. The contributions and musical influences Kristofer Steen brought with him to ‘Abhinanda’ had really upped our ability and musicality.

José had set up the tour so we didn’t really know what to expect but we drove South and played a couple of decent shows in some punk-squats in Holland. On the 19^th of august we arrived in Ieper and we were greeted by some truly amazing people (Bruno and Edward) who took the time to show us around. The first night we slept in the loft assigned for the bands but then decided to sleep on some of the grassy spots around the city, running naked around the cemetery and a church became a regular routine.

At the time vegetarianism hadn’t really taken off in Sweden so we were really impressed with all the vegan alternatives Belgium could offer. On the 20^th we were supposed to play and we received a meal-coupon for a fantastic vegan meal that we all appreciated (having only eaten punk-stew and chips for the last week). The atmosphere at Vort’n Vis was amazing, everybody seemed very supportive and though the ’94 festival was quite small it was quite big for us, since we hadn’t really played any HC festivals earlier.

‘Refused’ arrived quite late on the 20^th (if I remember correctly), just in time to see our show. They were probably the only ones who had heard the new material. But it seemed like the audience had heard a rumor regarding the new album because the small venue was packed with people when we entered the stage. I remember that we wanted to start the gig with something different (as many of the bands we heard played a quite generic version of HC), we wanted to stick out. And for some reason I had the idea to play Bulletproof Poet by Dogs D’amour in a semi-acoustic fashion. Still don’t remember why but I did and the crowd cheered on and gave the start of the show a real boost in energy. The show was amazing, a milestone for us, the first really awesome show in Europe with one of the best crowds in my life. I think a real starting-point for us and Desperate Fight. That show made the word of mouth spread about the new album and the intensity of our live shows all across Europe. Hardline was a big thing at the time but our new song Competition In Hatred that opposes it was really appreciated, we had the ‘Refused’ guys on back-ups on that one, easy to sing along to…

Later at night ‘Abhinanda’ and the other Swedes got a guided tour of the Ieper (by Edward and some other guys). I remember David Sandström reading a book about WWI and the battles in the trenches in Europe at the time. And finding some names off the memorial arches that contained names from the book, crazy coincidences like that happen often on tour. The next day we enjoyed playing football and all the other bands. I remember another band borrowing the 5150 head we had borrowed from Pär Hansson [guitarist of ‘Refused’] and blew a fuse so we had to drive around in order to search for a store that could replace it so that we’d have something to play on. Big hassle back then without internet, GPS, etc.

After the festival I remember Edward setting up an extra gig in order to help us out with money for gas. Fantastic how the HC-scene can help you out! The rest of the tour we played with a self esteem and energy that the festival had given us. Thanks again for a fantastic festival. August of ’94 still has that extra place in my heart and Vort’n Vis especially.

Mattias Abrahamsson, ‘Abhinanda’ bassist

‘Abhinanda’ soccer-team (in Herentals, Belgium), by Jean-Paul Frijns

We only played Ieper once and it was a pretty wild. We had a good time. I remember that all the punks were really sceptical about us since we showed up wearing new shirts but the show was great. Really sweaty and intense!

Dennis Lyxzén, ‘Refused’ vocalist

I thought ‘Kassiopeia’ played there as well with us, at least I remember them being there… Claudius Gagalka was with us most of the time; he might have some photos…

Markus Hofko, ‘Nothing Left To Grasp’ guitarist

I do remember that show. I was there. But I never played guitar for ‘Acme’, that was Sven Thora. I was the singer of ‘Abyss’…

Sven von Thülen

Volker [Pohlschmidt] and me were just one time in Ieper for this one: we saw ‘Abhinanda’, ‘Backdraft’ and so on.

Stefan Uhe, ‘Steadfast’ guitarist

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

Spanish visiter

additions wellcome!…

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

Vik B. crowdsurfing + Letske M. (L) smiling – during ‘Veil’s set?  (pic by Patrick Federli)

‘Veil’ (from the Hannover area) were: Jens Lauterbach (bass), Florian Schul (drums), Raoul Festante (vocals) and Nils Nordmann (guitar). They played metallic hardcore. Around that time they the Dutch (Sittard) label Threesome recs (Ferry Krop of ‘Crisis Of Society’) put a self-titled 7” our (recorded in April). In 1996 Ferry did another one entitled Time Will Tell… and their LP The Burden Of Life was released by Frontline. The band was also on the bill of the 1997 HardCore – The Next Generation festival…

‘Veil’, photographed by Steve Lammertyn

‘Concrete’ was a (screamo) “chunky” hardcore band from Rome. Their line-up: Cristiano ‘Capoccia’/‘Nerone’ D’Innocenti (drums; later ‘Comrades, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Comrades’), Giorgio Gregorio ‘Greg’ Luciani (bass; also ‘Comrades’), Matteo Fadighenti (guitar), Tommaso ‘Tommy’ Garavini (vocals; tommasogaravini.com). At that time I think they had released, a demo (’93), The Sound Of Rome 7” (’94; mentioned on cristianodinnocenti.blogspot) and the Patior Ergo Sum 10” (recorded Nov ‘94) on Paolo Petralia’s SOA recs. Their next release was the Sescenti Sexaginta Sex 7” (recorded Feb ‘96) on Hailey recs.

‘Concrete’, pic by Steve Lammertyn

‘Doughnuts’ was an all-women vegan SxE (metal-influenced) hardcore band from Umeå (Sweden): Asa Forsberg (vocals), Linda Lundberg (drums), Sara Almgren (guitar; later in ‘Saidiwas’ & ‘International Noise Conspiracy’, and a bunch of mainstream acts), Sara Sjögren (guitar; on the 1994 CD) and – I think – Jenny Johansson (bass; replacing Helena Löfgren). In 1994 Desperate Fight recs put out their 1^st CD called Equalize Nature (recorded March ’94). The following years Victory recs did their albums The Age Of The Circle (1995) and Feel Me Bleed (1996). They had just come back from a US tour with ‘Snapcase’ when they played here.

‘Doughnuts’, pictured by Patrick Federli

The Dutch ‘Rancor’ had played the V.V. a couple of months before (with ‘Strain’, see 95-04-09). They were Michel ‘Mike’ Senden (guitar; also ‘Bloodsport’), Fabrice Zander (bass), ‘R2D2’ (drum-computer) and Pascal Crombach (vocals). Later it was intended that Armand ‘Persecution’ would take over the bass so Fabrice could play guitar… They recorded a CD entitled Distinguish, released in ’97 by Lifeforce recs (Leipzig). Mike & Fabrice had the idea to do a label, One Solution recs…

‘Mainstrike’ (The Netherlands) also played the above-mentioned gig (95-04-09). Jeroen ‘Beertje’ Vrijhoef (guitar), Jasper Meijerink (bass), Jonas Moberg (guitar), Roland ‘Big’ Roller (vocals) and Pepijn Oostenbrink (drums) had this ‘practice’ a few weeks before they recorded for their 7” (Times Still Here). On the back-cover there’s a photo of the pit during ‘Mainstrike’s performance here… (also on the insert there’s pics from the V.V.). I read somewhere that “When the microphone broke down during their set, they played a three-song cover-set with a crowd of hundreds singing along.”… Later that year they would do a brief tour with ‘Onward’ (95-10-20).

‘Mainstrike’, shots by Steve Lammertyn

‘Blindfold’ were one of the Vort’n Vis’ ‘house-band’s. Hans, Wim & Sascha were also volunteers at the autonomous centre. Hans and and his sis Saskia also had a big hand in the ‘organising’ of this fest. The band came back from a summer-tour. Mike Warden (Conquer The World) traveled with them but I can ‘t recall if he was here. Mich Decruyenaere (guitar; also in ‘Fungus’ and later vocals for ‘Hitch’) played on their German tour but wasn’t on the LP (Astreroid 164) that had been recorded..

‘Blindfold’, stills by Patrick Federli [1 (with an admiring Vique Martin) + 2 (with an enthusiastic Joeri Hoste)] & Steve Lammertyn [3 + 4]

‘Comrades’ (Rome) was the band of Paolo Petralia (vocals; SOA recs). He told me that at that time the others in the band were, Cristiano Fini (guitar; also ‘Concrete’, ‘Bruma’), Andrea Marra (bass), Giorgio (drums) and Greg of ‘Concrete’ was the other singer. This was one of their last shows, I guess, ‘cause they split up in September 1995 (to re-form later). Their music was harsh, crusty grindcore with dual vocals. Their early work was released on SOA recs (a self-titled 7” in ’97 and a split with ‘Eversor’ in ‘98). Later they did a few splits (with e.g. ‘Agathocles’, and ‘Cripple Bastards’; there is also one with ‘Los Vaticanos’ – Cristiano’s other band – on Fulvio Dogliotti’s label Angry recs).

‘Comrades’ (from Ludovic Haché’s zine Ras L’Bol #5)

‘Kosjer D’ had played here a couple of times before, even a month before this fest (95-07-02) and their last would be 95-12-03. They started out as a 3-some (acoustic guitar, bass & drums) and then Arne (Van Petegem; who was in a mainstream pop-band before and nowadays known as the person behind the indie/electronic/dance project ‘Styrofoam’) joined. The name was originally ‘Kosjer Dill’ (nickname of the singer’s girlfriend, who was from San Diego). They were an emo band (personal lyrics) hailing from Limburg, with (besides Arne – guitar/vocals), Geert Plessers (guitar/vocals), Stijn Persoons (drums; ex ‘Dawn Of Liberty’) and Kristien Hendrix (bass). The band did some recordings and asked Bruno (Genet recs) to release them as a 7” (entitled True?). People can read about how it came about in Wim ‘Blindfold’s zine Reminder #5…

‘Congress’ were regulars… Joost ‘Josh Fury’ Noyelle (guitar), ‘Uniform’ ‘UxJx’ Jan Vandekerckhove (bass), ‘Pitbull’ Pierre Vanrumbeke (vocals), Ilja ‘Chill Jay’ De Ceuleneire (drums) and guitarist Michael ‘Micha Soprano’ Pintelon. This was the Blackened Persistance (should actually be ‘Persistence’) period. The album is supposed to be released in ‘95 on GoodLife but actually the label started officially on Jan 1^st ‘96…

some material from Steve Lammertyn’s ‘Congress’ collection… [J-F Fleury was video-taping the show but unfortunately the footage got lost… According to U.J. the bassplayer in the 2nd pic was Fabrice from ‘Rancor’, he did the soundcheck because “no one could see me before I got on stage”]

UxJx ‘Kiss’ Simmons ;-) (pic by Roel Brals)

Another Euro tour for ‘Abhinanda’ (named Ever Increasing Bliss) and the second time at the V.V. (since 94-08-20). The EP Neverending Well Of Bliss was recorded in April 1995 with Mattias ‘Abris’ Abrahamsson (bass), Jonas Lyxzén (drums), Adam Nilsson (guitar), Pär Hansson (who had replaced Kris(tofer) ‘Stone’ Steen) and José Saxlund (vocals). There’s a video of their performance at this fest.

the ‘Abhinanda’ show, documented by Steve Lammertyn [1] & Roel Brals [2] (‘porter’ Hans Verbeke with Adam Nilsson on his shoulders; Raoul Festante upper R-corner white T-shirt)

Brob

We had arranged a gig for ‘Blindfold’ in Haldensleben [Germany] but a few day before we got a phonecall from Marko Raboldt (Emotion X recs; who was arranging their tour) that it was cancelled because M.A.D. tour-agency [Ute Füsgen & her partner Marc Nickel from Berlin] had promised them more money elsewhere…

Kirsten Klatt; personal communication ‘95

Man, I miss those days! Such a great time at both festivals we played. A very special place for me. On the pic of ‘Mainstrike’s 7” you can see Big in the middle and the guy with the ‘108’ shirt that’s me… Peter Hoeren is also there… Man, that show was magic!!! I remember quite a lot about this event. There was a was very good fanzine called Statue and we got an interview in it. Then I remember that I slept on that stage because there was no free place anywhere else. It was pretty interesting to wake up and then perform on the same spot. I remember meeting the guys from ‘Mainstrike’ and how great they were and I wish someone took a picture of that super packed sleeping-place on the second floor of Vort’n Vis where all the band-members and friends slept and had farting-contests.

Raoul Festante, ‘Veil’

Probably it wasn’t the best line-up we had. Bad show as far as I can remember. It was the year full of Italian & Swedish bands. We were probably the only semi-grind ultra-core band and we were playing for Italians only. It was still at the V.V. but in that bigger place. We share a song on the first GoodLife compilation too: at that time all in the band were sXe. The other guys [e.g. Cristiano D’Innocenti (‘Concrete’, ‘Los Vaticanos’), Andrea ‘Monster’ Campanelli (‘Opposite Force’, ‘Bruma’)] joined later. We’re all still in bands even if we’re all over 40.

Paolo Petralia, ‘Comrades’ vocalist

I remember sleeping in the cold attic without a sleeping-bag, but we had immense fun. There was a Swedish invasion. I saw a green Straight Edge/Go Vegetarian shirt for sale there. I wanted it so desperately that I instantly threw away my sandwiches with salami…

Pascal, ‘Rancor’

About us wearing identical T-shirts: we might have found those on tour. Just a gimmick…

Wim, ‘Blindfold’

Indeed: halfway our set the mic got fucked up so we couldn’t play all those new songs. I was pretty pissed. But the fest was great!

Jonas Moberg, ‘Mainstrike’

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

“Hello! This festival is completely cool!! Hope we will be back next year!!”

additions wellcome!…

The yearly hardcore festival (around half of August) organised by the Vort’n Vis, is nowadays usually referred to as Ieperfest. Since the scope of this website is the concerts related to the Vort’n Vis until leaving the premises at Kiekenmarkt 7 (May 2001), only the fests until 2001 will be listed…

Brob

Besides the names Hardcore Vistival and the nickname Ieperfest the several editions of this festival in the 90s were called differently…

(1992) Hardcore 1992

In 1993 there was no fest…

(1994) Hardcore Festival ’94; (1995) Hardcore Festival ’95]

(1996) Hardcore, The Next Generation

(1997) Hardcore – The Next Generation

(1998) Hardcore: The Next Generation

(1999) Ieper Hardcore festival

(2000) Hardcore: The Next Generation ???

(2001) 2001: A Hardcore Odyssey [flyer: Vort’n Vis HC Fest]

As far as I can remember the organisers were: Edward Verhaeghe (1992) [with the help of the V.V. ‘shitworkers’], Hans Verbeke [and friends] (1994-1995), vzw [not-for-profit assiocoation] ART [Autonoom Regionaal Trefcentrum (Autonomous Regional meeting-space)] Vort’n Vis & Genet recs [Bruno Vandevyvere’s record-label] (1996 -2004)…

From 2005 to early 2015 there was the “factual association” IeperFest/YperVist (consisting of 2 “members”: vzw ART Vort’n Vis & vzw Genet). The summer-edition of 2015 was still prepared by the “factual association” but vzw Ieperfest (that started halfway 2015) effectuated it. The reason why people decided to switch to vzw Ieperfest was because the risks surrounding the organisation of the festival were increasing (the heavy weather and the disaster it caused at Pukkelpop in 2011 – where a few Ieperfest-collaborators were present); and to preclude the personal liability of individual IeperFest-collaborators.

Between 1992  & ’98 the fests took place at the Vort’n Vis pub (and/or barn), located at Kiekenmarkt 7, Ieper/Ypres. In 1999 & 2000 at the Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek en Woord [Municipal Acadamy for Music and Drama], d’Hondstraat 59, Ieper/Ypres. And in 2001 things were happening at the Jeugdstadion [Youth Stadium] Ieper, Leopold III laan 16, Ieper/Ypres. (There were also some WinterFest editions – at Zaal Fenix, Leopold III laan 16 and at the JOC Ieper, Fochlaan 2.)

Jan Claus

We’ld like to encourage the ‘old’ and the ‘next’ generation to keep contributing their recollections/impressions/stories about all of this…!

‘Yuppicide’ were here a year before (see 92-03-29) but already some changes had occurred: Pete Guinan (drums) replaced John ‘Kid’ Lynch. The rest remained: Joe Keefe (bass), Steve Karp (guitar) and Jes(se) Jones (vocals). By then the Shinebox LP was released (on Wreck-Age). Ma Raab of ‘Egotrip’ was driving for them…

‘Sarcasm’ was a crust-punk band (“brutal, distorted and totally out of control”) from Leicester. The original line-up was Barney (guitar) – Mark (vocals) – Paul (bass) & Nidge (drums). In ’91 there was Your Funeral, My Party 7” (on a Brazilian label). In ’92 they did The Lowest Form Of Wit 7” ‎(out on Neil Robinson’s Tribal War recs) and there was also a split-tape with the Japanese ‘C.F.U.D.L.’ (tracks from ‘Sarcasm’s unreleased second demo recorded in ‘91). In ’95 Brave New World (recorded with Mark, Paul, Leigh & ‘Brillo’) was released on a label from Paris. The band here was vocalist ‘Mr Wanky’ Mark ‘Gardener’ Gardner (was in ‘Extreme Noise Terror’ for a while; nowadays he’s the guitarist/vocalist for the punkrockers ‘The Wankys’ and also runs Noise Punk recs), bassist Paul Reynolds, drummer ‘Brillo’ Brilleaux & guitarist Ben a.k.a. ‘Bené von Bastard’ (Colin Bennett took up guitar from ’94 on, I think). ‘Sarcasm’ came back to the V.V. 94-04-23.

‘Sarcasm’, photo by Wim De Leersnijder

‘Core’ were a band from London that sent me a demo which I reviewed in Tilt! #8: >>Strong material with a gloomy feel, based on metally riffs reminding me of ‘Prong’ or ‘Metallica’ by times. Slower to mid-tempo but well-structured. Steve ‘Neuthrone’s kinda stuff, I guess…<<. Don’t remember anything else about them… The demo mentioned a guy named Alex as contact and there was a reference to the Norwegian band ‘Punishment Park’…

1993 was the year ‘Neuthrone’s As The Grey Skies Opened / Stough 7” was released. It was recorded with Steve Wackenier (guitar/vocals), David Stubbe (drums), Tim ‘Nutje’ Denutte (bass) & ‘Bako’ (vocals). Phillipe Bakeroot only appeared on Neuthrone’s second 7” and did partake in their live shows from time to time. He was found dead (murdered) at his house in 2003 at the age of 37. The vocalist at this gig here was Jimyh Anti (editor of International Objection zine; from Mouscron). Their music can be descirbed as doom, death-metal, sludge; as influences Steve mentioned old ‘Celtic Frost’, ‘Prong’, ‘Voivod’, ‘Melvins’, ‘Amebix’, etc.

Brob

I have very little memories of our gigs at the V.V. They went well I think, sleeping at the venue was cramped and uncomfortable (L.O.L.)… The singer of ‘Yuppicide’ wasn’t as straight-edge as he was supposed to be (L.O.L.) but -shsss- don’t tell anyone héhé ;-).

‘Brillo’, drummer of ‘Sarcasm’

I remember not being the biggest fan of ‘Yuppicide’s music but brought their…10”? – I think – because I thought they were cool and they gave an absolutely mental performance… They made the place seem absolutely tiny… I remember it not being large anyway but they filled it. I felt welcome and part of an organic whole at every gig in Belgique… I carried the sense of comradely familiarity and a set of values, attitudes and proactiveness that I got from interacting with all kinds of people when we toured… Although I have retired from putting gigs on now from the point of getting back from a tour, I always aspired to follow the European model and also truly considered myself European from then too.

FYI… The original line-up of ‘Sarcasm’ ca. 1984 was Rich Boot (guitar), Paul (bass), Nidge Good (drums), Mark & ‘Bené’ (vocals). Mark and I formed ‘Sarcasm’ after a visit to our town by German punks Cliff and ET… They were as mental as is and we did a drunken performance using pots and pans one evening in the garden of a friend. We decided to form a band and I suggested ‘Sarcasm’ because that was descriptive of us. Barney moved to Scandinavia. Both him and I were in ‘Dirge’ in the 80s but never at the same time…

Ben, ‘Sarcasm’ guitarist

I did 5 concerts as ‘Neuthrone’s vocalist in 1993 (93-10-23 @ JOC in Ypres, 93-10-29 @ the Pits in Kortrijk, 93-11-07 & 93-11-13 at the V.V. and 93-12-18 @ De Kelk in Bruges). In September ’93 when the summer had gone (the last festival I went to was Graspop Dessel, which wasn’t a metal-meeting yet – I saw ‘The Cramps’, ‘Ramones’, etc.), I went over to the V.V. to see ‘Contropotere’, ‘Bad Influence’ & ‘Herb Garden’ (93-09-04) and talked with Steve W. (‘Neuthrone’s guitarist) who told me they were looking for a ‘singer’ so the week after that I was a part ‘Neuthrone’…

Jimyh Anti

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

1^st day of the 7^th Leed festival

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

‘Undone’ photo by Albert Cheong

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

‘Suffer’ photo by Albert Cheong

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

Brob

That weekend was great fun!

Sas (‘Anarcrust’, Kbaal distribution)

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

Dirk Kusche, ‘Systral’ bassist & Kuschelrock studio

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

Andy Lehmann

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

Gregor Iwanoff; drummer for ‘Acme’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Another night organised by grindcore/ death- & black-metal lover Frederic Driessens…

‘Appalling Spawn’ was a band from the Czech Republic playing “brutal progressive death-metal and grindcore”. They had a demo out entitled Bestial, Mystical & Spiritual. Members were: Ondřej ‘Ondra’ Martínek (guitar/bass), Petr ‘Ptoe’ Tománek (vocals/guitar/bass) and Gabriel ‘Gábin’ Pavlík (drums). They replaced their fellow Czech death-metallers ‘Fleshless’…

‘Rhymes Of Destruction’, a black-metal band (in their own words “symphonic pagan metal”) from Deerlijk/kortrijk, were: Frédéric Caure (bass; later ‘Thee Plague Of Gentlemen’ with ‘Neuthrone’s Steve W.), Martijn ‘Tyne’ Debonnet (guitar), Bart ‘Barre’ Marescaux (vocals) & Christophe Verhaeghe (guitar). The band used a drum-computer until Wouter Debonnet joined. They’d put out a demo in 1995 (Dark Pagan Wartunes Stray Above The Land Of Huarochiri) and 1996 (Under The Spell Of The Mist); and a split-CD with ‘Cosmic Interfluvium of Silence (’96).

‘Slow End’ was described as “gothic rock from West-Flanders”.

‘Darkgods’ was a doom/trashcore band from Poperinge (near Ieper/Ypres)

Brob

I believe we played the V.V. twice [???] with ‘R.O.D.’ but can’t remember when. Have good memories of the Vort’n. Saw numerous concerts, both in the ‘barn’ and in the pub. Also ice-cold stay-overs upstairs… On that Oct. 11^th there was mini-tour (3 dates that Bart and I set up [96-10-12 @ the Pits in Kortrijk]) planned with ‘Fleshless’ from the Czech Republic, they didn’t show up but their Czech (not German) friends were there: ‘Appalling Spawn’…

Frédéric Caure

I only started to play in ‘R.O.D.’ around ‘99 I believe, so this was before my time. I do recall having attended a few gigs at the Vort’n Vis but it’s too long ago to remember any details… I do know it was a cool place!

Wouter Debonnet

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

Start of the 1999 Leed festival – “a meeting of grind, HC, punk, crust & noise” – organised by Frederic Driessens.

Playing here in ‘Phobia’, at that time a grindcore band from Mission Viejo, Orange County, California – a “crust whirlwind” – were (I believe) Shane McLachlan (vocals; also ‘Final Conflict’), Steve Burda (guitar), John Anthony Haddad (drums; Dino Sommese of ‘Dystopia’ during one recording-session) and Bruce Reeves (bass – originally guitar). Earlier that year they had recorded for the Destroying The Masses 10”…

‘Phobia’, courtesy of Erik Minnen

‘Yacøpsae’, a noisecore/power-violence (the announcement says “highspeed grind”) outfit from Hamburg, were Stefan ‘Stoffel’ Jenkel (guitar/vocals), Frank Venet (bass; replaced by Ramiro later on) and ‘Emu’ Oliver Ebeling (drums). They had done several split-EPs (e.g. with ‘Active Minds’), appeared on a buch of compilations (e.g. Chards Of Civilisation 7” on Grinding Madness recs) and done some tapes (e.g. a split-tape with ‘Selfish’ & ‘Mrtvá Budoucnost’ with tracks recorded live in the practice-room of ‘Völkermord’ and ‘Impftest’ – Düsseldorf, 98-05-17). You can watch them play this gig here (part 1 & part 2).

The next day LoggerHead (a band that was due here) turned up. Also played: ‘Distress’ (Nl), ‘Disbeer’ (Fra), ‘Insult’ (Nl), ‘Suppository’ (Nl), ‘Bloodsuckers’ (Bel), ‘Sickness’ (Fra). More on that: 99-09-11. On ‘Yacøpsae’s website it’s mentioned that ‘Container Crusties From Hell’ played but Dave ‘Opoespook’ (their drummer) assures me they never played the V.V. It was also announced that on Sunday there were a bunch of SxE bands playing but I find no track of these…

Brob

Me and Shane were in ‘Final Conflict’ together. We met on that tour. I think I joined ‘Phobia’ in 2008 or 2009. I’m still in the band. Bruce is back in the band right now [Oct 2016]; he’s playing guitar while Cece [‘CC Grind’ Loessin] takes some time off: she’s opening her own vegan bakery in Austin, Tx.

Calum Mackenzie, ex ‘Oi Polloi’

I know I had a blast playing everywhere we went in Europe. Hard to sift through all the memories exactly per show to be honest. I do recall though the show in Belgium being a great one. Lots of support from the fans, and great food and hospitality.

John Anthony Haddad, ‘Phobia’ drummer

I’m a painstaking archivist of our band’s chronology and so I list àll our shows (incl. the other bands of the bill). To be correct, here’s the precise list of that weekend. It was a two-day-event. September 10^th 1999: ‘Yacøpsae’ & ‘Phobia’; September 11^th 1999: ‘LoggerHead’, ‘Container Crusties From Hell’, ‘Bloodsuckers’, ‘Disbeer’, ‘Distress’, ‘Suppository’ & ‘Insult’. The first day ‘LoggerHead’ was supposed to play too but someone told me that they couldn’t make it, so they would catch up their gig the following day. Our show here was taped on video.

‘Stoffel’, ‘Yacøpsae’ guitarist

For me it was a really good concert and there were very nice people there. I liked the place and the people, and I remember we got a little bit drunk… Our dummer ‘Emu’ tasted all beers he could get. I sat on stage after the concert with some guy and saw Sonia for the first time (one of the biggest fans of ‘Yacøpsae’)… Some French guys slept there in tents on the first floor.

Frank Venet, ‘Yacøpsae’ bassist

excerpt from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…

The ‘artist’ must’ve had a beer too many when he was making this flyer… Gig organised  by Michael Maes (‘Link’).

‘Stratford Mercenaries’ (from London) were vocalist Steve ‘Ignorant’ (Steve Williams; formerly ‘Crass’, ‘Schwartzeneggar’), Gary ‘Gazzer’ Buckley (from ‘Dirt’) on guitar, drummer Phil(ip) Barker (later incarnation of ‘Buzzcocks’) and bassist Ed(ward) Addley (ex ‘Suicidal Supermarket Trolleys’). The band played anarchopunk. They self-released their 7” Live In The U.S.A. 1997 and did 2 albums for Southern recs: No Sighing Strains Of Violins & Sense Of Solitude. This gig was the last of a 3-week European tour…

‘Counter-Attack’ (originally from Alken in Limburg – far East of Belgium – but gradually ‘embedded’ in the anarchist/squat scene in Gent) played anarcho-punk influenced by ‘Crass’, ‘Flux Of Pink Indians’ & ‘Dirt’. In the band at that time: ‘Groovy’ Jochen (vocals; replaced the original female singer), Stef ‘Irritant’ Heeren (guitar/vocals), Wim ‘Simsallabim’ De Neve (bass), Jeroen (drums; later replaced by Yvan Meers who’s now in ‘Visons Of War’). They’d played at the V.V. already on 96-04-27 & 97-02-28. Nowadays Stef is the main man behind ‘Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat’… In autum that year they would record for their Laments & Skulls LP on Prejudice prods (JP Vandestien, Louvain-La-Neuve). The recordings for Masters and Jesters – with Yvan on drums – were done at Michaël ‘Link’ Maes’ studio in December 1999 (LP out on Nabate).

Brob

This was the second gig we did with ‘Counter-Attack’. [Brob: 3^rd time at the V.V.] It was in the pub and we supported ‘Stratford Mercenaries’… A ‘dream come true’ for me at that time…to be able to come so close to some of my ‘punk idols’. That whole concert I played on the guitar of Gary (from ‘Dirt’)! Some years before we’d played on a Leed Festival at the Vort’n Vis. [Brob: 96-04-27 or 97-02-28; not Leed…] That was our first concert outside of Limburg then; being very young punks it was an enormous enterprise at that time to travel from Hasselt to Ieper.

Stef ‘Irritant’

excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:

additions wellcome!…