Did ‘Gluebag’ play??? Can’t remember… (See guestbook… Was a short-lived band with Phil ‘Hiatus’…)
Brob
I think ‘Dystopia’ didn’t play that show [They did write something in the V.V. guest-book and ‘Mauz’ remembers…]. It was our (‘Deconsume’) 1st gig by the way… I believe ‘Unhinged’, ‘Hypocritical Society’ and ‘ABC Diabolo’ were billed but ‘ABC …’ never made it over… So there were only 3 bands.
‘Deconsume’ were 6 class-mates [Koen, Bart, Steffen, Pieter, Michiel, Nico] who decided to make music. After having seen ‘Disrupt’ (93-10-31) at the Vort’n Vis the choice to also play crust was easily made. We did about 6 or 7 shows I think, but they were all great: two at the Vort’n Vis but also with ‘Masskontroll’ in the Antwerp region, with ‘Kosjer D’, ‘Insane Youth’ and a lot more bands in Tongeren. After secundary school the band fell apart. Half also got different musical interests. One of our singers (Steffen Geypens) sang for ‘Visions Of War’ for a moment (he’s on their first split 7”). Koen Luyckx became the second singer for ‘Vuur’ for a few years after Yannick Daems had to stop singing. I still jam with Stef ‘Empower’ & Nico Peeters (‘King Terror’) sometimes (in the vein of ‘Drop Dead’, still hard and fast). I’m also in ‘Nervous Mothers’…
Bart Jansen, ‘Deconsume’ guitarist
I clearly remember being really disappointed when ‘ABC Diabolo’ was supposed to play but didn’t turn up as one of their guys had to get his welfare-stamp that day or something…hehe. [They did play the year before: 93-12-20.]
Stijn Druyts
It was the first appearance of ‘Deconsume’ (Bart Jansen – guitar, Koen Luyckx – vocals, Michiel Mostmans – bass, Steffen Geypens – vocals, Pieter Brosens – drums & Nico Braspenning – guitar) here but they came back 95-04-29…
‘Unhinged’, from Liège, was the band of my mates Manu (vocals; later Nat) & Alain (guitar) – both running Nabate recs & distribution, with some lads of ‘Hiatus’: Wills (later Tomoy of ‘Scraps’) on bass and Azill (later Ben) on drums. They’d played at the Vort’n Vis a few times before (94-01-30 & unannounced on 94-08-06). Their 2nd demo was recorded (at Ape studio) April ’95 and these songs were later released (combined with 4 songs recorded in ‘96 at 195 studio) on the band’s debut LP Win Our Freedom In Fire (released by Nabate in ’96).
‘Hypocritical Society’ had been here before with ‘Disrupt’ (93-10-31)… Bart ‘Deconsume’ had the idea they were due here again but no-one seems to be able to confirm this…
‘Dystopia’ (from California) was termed ‘sludge’ (a mix of heavy metal and crust-punk – “doom-laden, metal-tinged, down-tuned punk”). Their sound embodied all of the horrors, pain, agony and desperation of modern day society; brutal, hateful and misanthropic – a “love earth – hate people” philosophy. The band consisted of Anthony ‘Dino’ Sommese (drums/vocals; nowadays in ‘Noothgrush’ & ‘Ghoul’), Matt ‘Mauz’ Parrillo (guitar/vocals), Todd Kiessling (bass/vocals) & Dan Kaufman (vocals; also ‘Mindrot’). Their very first European tour was booked by Michael Knopp of the German label Common Cause (he also did their tour in ‘97). They had a split-12” with ‘Embittered’ & a split-7” with ‘Grief’ out on Misanthropic recs (1993). The Human = Garbage LP (1994) was without Dan. (Later it was released as a 12 track CD on on Life Is Abuse (Mauz’ label), Misanthropic recs and Common Cause, featuring additional songs from their splits with ‘Embittered’ and ‘Grief’, and one unreleased track).
Brob
‘Dystopia’ did indeed play. ‘ABC Diabolo’ did not, they were supposed to but one of the guys couldn’t miss work that day for some reason… I think half of the band was there with us. We had van-trouble along the way there and arrived late, showing up right when ‘Unhinged’ was starting. So I don’t remember if ‘Deconsume’ played? I don’t think ‘Hypocritical Society’ played as we’d met them before and I don’t remember them being there. But yeah, we had a great time playing there with ‘Unhinged’ which was the beginning of a long and great friendship with them and the ‘Hiatus’ folks. After the gig we had wonderful evening partying with them and the locals… The equipment was still set up after the doors were locked and we started jamming covers with Azill and Wills. And I remember drinking a lot of amazing Lambics as well!
Dan wasn’t there as he left the band 6 or 8 months after we formed. Everyone in ‘Dystopia’ are still in contact with each other and we’re still good friends (though the band will remain finished; it’s much easier for all of us). Dino is still in Oakland and now singing in ‘Noothgrush’. Todd lives in Minneapolis now – he was playing in ‘Sour Vein’ for awhile but not active with any music at the moment. Dan lives in Long Beach, working at postman and plays in the band ‘Destroy Judas‘. I’m currently playing in the band ‘Kicker‘ and running a print-shop.
Matt ‘Mauz’ Parrillo, ‘Dystopia’ guitarist (monolithpress.net)
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
