Netwerk, Aalst, 1 oct 89 (Lethal Gospel & Verbal Assault)

This concert was the end of the tour that Mokka and myself organised for ‘Lethal Gospel’. ‘Papa’ Cherry, their sax-player, drew the poster: drummer Dan, singer/guitarist Mattx and bassist Geoff walking zombified through a sinister, rainy landscape; on a flyer marked “our hosts” are the heads of Mokka & Brob…

Things started difficult with the tour because the van broke down in the South of France, someone had to come down there with another one. But we managed to keep everything going. The day of this last gig for them, I started working in Netwerk at 11 a.m. (building the stage, setting up the PA,…). I was already tired when the first people entered. I got stressy when ‘H.D.Q.’ phoned they had a flat tire: ‘The Abs’ came along with them and they were meant to start playing at 3 p.m. (they arrived at 5!). They both made that up with very good sets. Also ‘Verbal Assault’ were fantastic. Finally ‘L.G.’ hit the stage and they overwhelmed the crowd even though they were a bit affected by the tiredness.

I spent the night in our ‘Gele’ pub where ‘The Abs’ and ‘H.D.Q.’ slept. It was rather late when we hit the sack: there was a lot to talk about (nice blokes!). The next morning I went to wave ‘L.G.’ goodbye at the airport, drove home and collapsed… We didn’t loose any money; the crowd was big enough even though 50 km away ‘Bad Brains’ and ‘Hard-Ons’ were playing.

Mokka and me put a lot of our own money in that tour. It got more and more difficult to get it done in our alternative/independent way with all these agency-vultures around. To deprave those from any prey we wanted to create a network of independent organisers which do things in a real-alternative way. We kept nagging and writing about it, tried to get rid of the business-parasites, to keep HC/punk underground… But it became more and more difficult, started looking ridiculous… Nevertheless there were heaps of people where we got positive energy from and bands/activists who really care. When I read ‘Fucked in the Head #2′ by ‘Dead Silence’, I knew we were not the only ones to have doubts but we tried to keep going…

Brob

‘Lethal Gospel’ (Dan, Mattx, Geoff) pictured by NN (kindly donated by Geoff)

Read here what ‘Papa’ Cherry remembers: Netwerk, Aalst, 11 oct 87 (Lethal Gospel)

The summer before the ‘L.G.’ tour Mokka & me visited the band in San Francisco. Of course we visited/met lots of HC-related places/people (e.g. Gilman Street, MRR House, Blacklist, Mordam, the ‘Yeastie Girlz’, Dave MDC, Daisy Anarchy, ‘Libido Boyz’, ‘Moral Crux’, Martin Sprouse, Murray Bowles, Tim Yo,  ‘Swiz ‘, etc. etc.) and gigs (other bands we saw: ‘Toxic Reasons’, ‘American Standard’, ‘Jawbreaker’, etc.). One of them was in a squat where ‘Verbal Assault’, ‘Neurosis’ and ‘Econochrist’ played (and where I met Kent McClard), so I already knew what a superb band ‘V.A.’ was…  The guys were a bit introvert  but they said they’d played one of their best concerts and appreciated the reactions from the audience very much.

Brob

Some photos of ‘Verbal Assault’ shot by ‘Kockie’:

the band in De Ridderstraat, Aalst (street of Netwerk & Gele Limonade at that time)

the band in action

Pete Chramiec

Christopher Jones

Doug Ernest

Dylan Roy Darren Mock

Sad to say, I don’t really remember that show…but hey, it’s been 20+ years! Anyway, we always had a great time in Europe; and ‘H.D.Q.’ was a cool band, so I’m sure it was a good gig… The picture of our bass-player is actually Darren Mock, not Dylan Roy. Darren was in ‘V.A.’ for both European tours – Dylan played on the majority of our recordings. I believe we hooked up with Konkurrent (and Hetty, who was basically running it) because they/she worked with Dolf Hermanstädter from Trust fanzine. This show here, in Belgium, happened, if I remember correctly, near the end of our first tour, after we got back from the UK (where we hooked up with ‘H.D.Q.’).

Christopher Jones (‘V.A.’ vocalist)

Chris is more senile than even I am. This concert was near the beginning of our second European Tour. It was a little bit similar to our only show in Belgium the year before as we rushed in and out and barely got much time to hang out. If my memory is correct, we were pretty late in arriving to this show and had to leave very quickly for another show. Of all the countries we played shows in, we probably spent the least amount of time in Belgium (due to having to travel). I remember being blown away by all the old architecture and regretting not ever having time to walk around.

From reading your post I remember ‘H.D.Q.’s flat tire followed by some general chaos as the show was pushed back later and later. Did we (‘V.A.’) end up playing first while someone went to rescue ‘H.D.Q.’? Whenever ‘H.D.Q.’ showed up, I recall them pretty much walking right on stage and completely rocking. They were really good dudes. I can’t exactly recall how we (‘V.A.’) did. Good, I hope. Thanks for having us 20+ years ago!

Pete Chramiec (‘V.A.’ guitarist)