? NAME + HOW AND HWEN DID YOU GET INTO PUNK?

Geert Mokwinski, nickname Mokka. Beginning 1977 a friend who went to school in Ghent gave me a tape of the ‘Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks and I must say I was a chock for me! I had find a soundtrack for the teenage rebellion I felt  inside of me… I started buying records via mail-order; my first one being Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life. In 1978 I went to my first punk gig in a youth-club in Burst. ‘The Kids’ were playing that night and that gig made such an impression on me that I knew that some day I would be part of this thing, not as a member of the public but maybe as an organizer or a band-member – didn’t knew what but the fire was burnning…

? WHAT WAS YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN THE SCENE BACK THEN?

In 1980 I had a radio-show on a free/illegal radio-station, in the garage of a friend, every Wednesday, with new wave and punk music. We did this until the government confiscated our equipment in 1982 By that time I started my own tape label Smurfpunk tapes. I made my own compilation-tapes with demo songs I got from bands from all over Europe and later all over the world. My first one >24 Love Songs< was a small success selling over 300 copies over the years, I also distributed tapes and some records for bands I knew: ‘Political Asylum’, ‘Post Mortem’, etc. In that year I also sang a bit for ‘Statskirielja’ [played 2 gigs for Smurfpunx: 21 dec 85 & 10 may 86], the band of Ludde and his friends. The rehearsal-space was provided by Wim De Craene [Belgian mainstream musician]!!! But singing was nothing for me. I was more the organizer than the preformer. In 1983 we made the decision to organize a big gig. We had seen so many gigs in bad conditions (for bands and public) that we decided to set up a show in a good hall with a decent PA-system, a good stage, food and drinks for the bands…and we would pay the bands! But we had no money to pay all this. So we started our own savings-program every week we put 50 BeF [€ 1,25] or what we could spare in a box. After a few months we had enough money to organize a TD [dance-party]; there we let ‘Statskirielja’ play. A good evening, no problems, lots of fun and a little bit of profit. But the owner of the place where we did the TD told us that he would never let us rent a hall in Wetteren again because we didn’t respect the contract (by letting a band play). He also told Sabam [Belgian authors-rights organisation] that we had a cover-band that evening. We had to go to the police-station because we hadn’t asked for a permission from the city-council for the TD .After all that shit we didn’t want to set up anything in Wetteren anymore. It took us until December 21^st 1985 before we could do our first real show. In the Roxy in Dendermonde – the bill was: ‘Censured’, ‘Statskirielja’, ‘Dirty Scums, ‘Gepöpel’, ‘Vortex’, ‘Koyaanisqatsi, and ‘Funeral Oration’. (Gepöpel split up a few days before the show and they offered us to have Lärm as a replacement; on the day itself 2 more bands showed up: ‘C.P.D.’ and ‘C.N.C.’ (‘Combat not conform’). So we had 9 bands on stage that night. It was a big success. 450 people showed up. No police harassment, a big punk party!!! We made 40.000 BeF [€ 1.000] profit that night so we had to go on. A few months later we had ‘Stalag 17’ & ‘Toxic Waste’ from Northern-Ireland and ‘Indirekt’ from the Netherlands. A drunk punk from Brussels emptied a fire-extinguisher, whith was not only expensive for us but we also had to look for a new venue. In Aalst we found the De Nieuwe Madelon and in September 1986 ‘Toxic Reasons’ (USA) played there .By that time Brob (Tilt! zine / ‘Repulsives’) and a few young punks joined our collective. Via via we came in touch with the people of the cultural centre Netwerk, an independent non-profit organisation. In December’86 ‘Ceresit’ (Ger) played there and from that moment on it went very fast with nearly every month a gig, sometimes 2 a month. Over the years this took his toll. For some people the band they played in became more important. For others, it became like a job. Some thought it was too political, etc. By 1990 the new Netwerk board had thrown us out. Brob started working for the Vort’n Vis in Ieper and in fact that was the end of the Smurfpunx collective.

In 1999 I started again with an organisation called Streetwise together with some friends. We organised in The Frontline in Ghent, the Negasonic club in Aalst, etc. Did a few gigs with bands I knew from the old days: ‘Coléra’ (Brazil) and ‘Spermbirds’ (Ger). But after a year it was just me and my wife Ann, doing all the shitwork. In 2004 we decided it was to much a hassle for the 2 of us. From then on I only do an occasional show for friends (‘Bickle’s Cab’ (UK) & the local ‘Sunpower’). Since the beginning of 2007 I’m in the organisation of the Loco Loco Festival in Merchtem, a local punk/rawk/HC/reggea festival…

? HOW DID OTHER PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AS A YOUNG PUNK? HOW HARD/EASY WAS IT GROWING UP PUNK?

Well the first years weren’t easy. I lived in a very small town Westrem. I was the only punk in town; you couldn’t even find a hard-rocker there. My parents and the school didn’t like the way I was dressed and all hoped it was only a phase I was going trough. When I was going out in Oordegem, I met 2 other punks. It was fun to find somebody to talk to who had the same interests and ideas as me. But the local motorcycle-gang didn’t like us and even talking to a girl could be enough to have your head kicked in… So we started to go to Wetteren where you had the New Age pub, a hang-out for all freaks and weirdos from miles around. There we had the same problems with rockers and other tough guys but at least we weren’t outnumbered anymore. It was there that I met people who later became the core of the Smurfpunx-collective (Ludwig ‘Ludde’ De Bock, the brothers Kris and Pascal Fiers, etc.). It was also there that I first heard ‘Crass’ and the ‘Dead Kennedys’. And I had to say that the anarchy and DIY message made a big impression on me and my friends. We talked a lot about politics, pacifism, animal rights, war… We started to go to gigs around the country, which meant we had to take the train for a few hours and after the gigs hangout in a city we didn’t knew, waiting for the first train that could take us back home. It became a bit better when I was 18, got a drivers-licence and I could borrow my dad’s car from time to time.

? HOW DO YOU LOOK BACK ON YOUR EARLY PUNKDAYS?

Young and uncertain, and angry and unemployed. But I was proud to be a punk, to be part of something bigger All my political ideas were formed back then. Punk has given me a sense of self-respect at a moment that everybody rejected me.

? WHICH THINGS GAVE YOU TEENAGE KICKS BACK THEN?

For a brief moment in the 80s I thought we could make a difference that we could change society. Utopia I know. But punk has always been more than just music or fashion for me. With the Smurfpunx shows we did a lot of benefits for animal rights groups, anti military action support for people who refused military service, etc.

? DESCRIBE THE BEST GIG YOU’VE SEEN IN THE EARLY DAYS.

My first real punk gig in 1978. ‘The Kids’ playing the songs of their 1^st album. The first time I really danced on punk music. I remember the sweat, the energy, I felt electrified…maybe it was just the fact of meeting other punks; it was the first time I saw more the 3 punks together!!! The other one being ‘Moral Demolition’, ‘Zyklome-A’ and ‘More Action’ in a pub in Wolvertem somewhere in 1982. The first time I heard hardcore-punk and it kicked my ass. This hard-edged music with its political and social message had it all for me. It was like punk had got an extra boost…

? HOW WAS THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE AT GIGS?

There was a great atmosphere. Every punk was a friend or at least some one with the same ideas. What I remember of those days is that we shared everything with people we just met, we shared our beer, our cigarettes and even sometimes our money (to get in at gigs). You don’t see that any more…

? WHICH BANDS DID YOU DIG AT THAT TIME THAT YOU STILL DIG NOW?

I still listen to  most of these bands: ‘Clash’, ‘Sex Pistols’, ‘Zyklome-A’, ‘Spermbirds’, etc.

? WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EARLY PUNKDAYS AND PUNK NOW?

It used to be one big scene. People liked lots of styles of music. I remember a gig with ‘Ripcord’ who played UK thrash music, ‘Political Asylum’ playing melodic punk, ‘Lethal Gospel’ (USA) playing a mix of punk, blues & rock ‘n roll and the ‘Violent Mosquitos’ playing hardcore punk at the same evening; and people liked it. Nowadays people would only go see bands they; like it’s as if they are not so curious anymore, as if they do’’t wanna discover new bands anymore…

? THERE’S DEFINITELY A RENEWED ATTENTION FOR 77-PUNK (E.G. ALL THOSE BOOTLEG COMPS). IS THAT A GOOD THING?

Yes it is. I always say you have to know your roots. 77 punk is the beginning of all these sub-genres: hardcore-punk, hardcore, emo, grunge; straight edge. I always listened to all these genres of punk and the only thing I don’t like anymore is that ‘metal hardcore’ and H8000. Or is it me becoming an old grouch.

? ANY FUNNY, REMARKABLE, SHOCKING STORIES THAT COME TO MIND?

The first gig we did in Netwerk Aalst, we had ‘Ceresit’ from Berlin [19 dec 86]. To come over to the gig they had rented a coach so they could bring all their gear but they also brought 50 friends. They never told us that. In stead up sleeping places for 5 we had to find a place for all of them. The only solution was that me and the bartender stayed up all night in bar with all those guys. It was a very drunk night, kind of a German beer-fest, at 7 in the morning we sold the last beer…and than we got some rest…

As I got more and more into punk and hardcore I started looking for ways to expand my network. Terneuzen was never an exciting place to live in. There were no recordshops and we were pretty much disconnected from the rest of The Netherlands. I just started to correspond with people who were in bands or made their own fanzine. Brob -who was doing Tilt! fanzine at the time- was one of the first guys I wrote. I can’t recall how I got hold of his address. Probably through a flyer. He sent me his latest edition of his fanzine + a very nice letter that encouraged me to stay in touch. Which we did from that point. I joined Jamasj as a volunteer helping out with the bar. As my network grew we started thinking about organising punk gigs at this youth-centre ourselves. Brob had offered me to organise gigs on several ocassions. I can’t remember how we worked together in Jamasj but he played there with his own band once (‘Yuppies’ Death’). If my memory serves me well it was a benefit and ‘Profound’ (later ‘Man Lifting Banner’) played there as well. [Brob: The poster tells something different. I think ‘M.L.B.’ played on another occasion…]

In 1988 the city decided that we had to move out of the venue for safety reasons. The surrounding houses were mostly already torn down and there was a risk that our venue would collapse as well. Apart from that we were located in a neighbourhood which caused many problems with the people living there. Almost every gig we got a visit by the police, ordering us to adjust the volume. We negotiated with the city for a while to get a new place where we could continue our activities. They didn’t really care about us all that much. We were completely self-supporting and they had little interest in offering us an alternative. Eventually in 1990 we could move into an old building-complex that belonged to the military in WW II. It was literally called the “bomb-shelter”. Walls with a thickness of 1 meter. Just what we needed. Funny thing was that this place was located in the main area were all the regular bars and discos were. Often we would have people walking in there that were caught completely off-guard once they discovered it wasn’t your average disco. On the other hand lots of people kept coming back because we sold drinks at a much cheaper rate than the bars across the street. Unfortunately the city had other plans for this building so we were only allowed to use this place for about 1 year. I think it was a little longer eventually. Anyway, a lot of work had to be done to make this place suitable for gigs. We had to build a bar, toilets and a stage. There was no running water and poor electricity. A lot of work needed to be done before we could even think about having bands playing there. After a lot of hard work we were ready to open our doors again. We changed the name to Kalashnikov. It sounded nice and there was a link to the political things and benefits we organised.

Our opening gig on June 15^th 1990 was a coop with Brob. He had asked us if we could set up a gig for two bands with former ‘Heresy’ and ‘Ripcord’ members. They were called ‘Can’t Decide’; ‘Force Fed’ toured with them. It was a close call as we weren’t completely ready to get started when we agreed to do the gig. I remember we were still busy fixing the electricity when the band arrived with their van. I remember it was a steamy and sensational gig. Because it was pretty hot that day we decided to open the backdoor of the venue to cool the place down a little bit. Not to the liking of the neighbours. Even one of the local politicians complained that he and his wife had a hard time getting some sleep although they lived about 1 km away. We got a warning from the police but we were able to fix this problem for future events.

Another gig worth mentioning was the ‘Sons Of Ishmael’ gig. Fabulous folks from Canada who were super nice. The gig was very well visited and we had lots of people from Belgium coming over. I think ‘Chronic Disease’ played that night as well (Hi Steve!).

Unfortunately over a little more than a year we had to leave this place. There were plans of squatting the place since it was so perfect for what we were doing but eventually the city decided to relocate us in a new to be build multifunctional centre but it just wasn’t the same atmosphere anymore. Many people who volunteered for Kalashnikov moved out of Terneuzen. We continued to organise gigs there but the spirit slowly died. A new generation slowly took over. I think one of the last dates we set up with Brob was a gig for ‘Green Day’ who weren’t known yet at the time. I think they were on Lookout recs. I think we must have had about 15 paying customers at the door…

I had such great times both organising gigs and visiting all the marvelous Smurfpunx dates. I have been to Aalst numerous times. Thanks Brob for the many times you gave me a ride there and let me use your couch. Good to see all these people share there memories here. Keep up the good work!

Mark Belaert

Some dates I remember…

20 aug ’88: the first ever gig of my 2^nd band ‘Yuppies Death’: with my Hoorner buddies ‘Vernon Walters’ and Winterswijker mates ‘W.C.F.’…

31 aug ’90: my Canadian friends ‘Sons Of Ishmael’ with my ‘bloodbrothers’ ‘Seein’Red’ (pictures by Jeroen L. below)

I booked Lethal Gospel’ there (19 aug ’89), ‘Can’t Decide’ & ‘Force Fed’ (16 jun ’90) and ‘Econochrist’ (?); I think ‘Earth Citizens’ (from Switzerland) played 11 may ’91 [Brob’s tours]

8 dec ‘91: ‘Green Day’ indeed…

There was a ‘Heibel’ & ‘C.O.T.’ bill somewhere by the end of the 80s…

And here were a lot more bands that I saw there… ‘The Ex’, etc.

Brob

Jamasj… Great times! ‘Chronic Disease’ played twice there, first one was with ‘Chaos UK’. Second time with ‘Doom’ & ‘Concrete Sox’. I also remember seeing ‘De Kift’ there. We were all impressed by them. ‘Chronic Disease’ (or was it ‘Private Jesus Detector’?) played once in the Kalashnikov with ‘Hiatus’ and ‘Econochrist’. And then it all ended…

Leffe

‘Seein’Red’

Daragh Hayes & Tim Freeborn (‘Sons Of Ishmael’)

]]> http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/the-terneuzen-connection/feed/ 2 smurfpunx 88-08-20 YD Terneuzen 90-08-31 Seein'Red Terneuzen 2 (by Jeroen L) 90-08-31 Sons Of Ishmael (Terneuzen) 1 by Jeroen L http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/netwerk-aalst-3-mar-91-seeinred/ http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/netwerk-aalst-3-mar-91-seeinred/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:24:07 +0000 smurfpunx http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/?p=2050 ]]>

This one was not really set up by Smurfpunx but we did help out… It was co-organised by Kristel & Jaak and some friends [Pat D.].

The extreme right ‘Vlaams Blok’ was on the rise in Belgium at that time. Quite some people in the hardcore/punk-scene opposed their ultra-conservative, racist, fascist ideology and organised protests. Some time before this one there was a big protest when the V.B. held their annual congress in Aalst. Nationally, groups such as ‘Blockbuster’ and the ‘A.F.F.’ (Anti Fascist Front) organised resistance. Unfortunately it was not enough: on November 24^th, 1991 (the day of the federal elections) they tripled their votes and ended up with 12 seats in parliament. All others lost and called this day ‘Black Sunday’.

Brob

Yep, it was organised by the punks of the ‘A.F.F.’… There was a group undertaking action in general (also animal-rights) in Antwerp. Following the first congress of the ‘Vlaams Blok’ [extreme right party] in Aalst, a demonstration (also with the ‘Voil Janetten’ [wellknown cross-dressing carnival-crowd from Aalst] against fascism was planned; and we needed money for that, hence the benefit-gig.

Patriek D.

Recalling memories is rather difficult (especially because we did hundreds of concerts, multiple tours, over 50 releases the past 30 years)… Our memory has become a bit blurry. We lost a lot of video/ photo/ flyer material over the years. We still do stuff for our bands (‘Seein’Red’, ‘Lärm’ – we perform again, 2 times a year, ‘Man Lifting Banner’ – new recordings are due on a double album for Peter Hoeren’s label) and help out foreign bands with gigs, etc. We’re also still politically active… Hopefully we’ll be able to share more over time.

Paul VDB

pictures by Kockie (of course…):

Olav working hard…

Paul with a grim face… Brothers in arms, Jos & Paul… (this one was taken by Phil A.)

]]> http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/netwerk-aalst-3-mar-91-seeinred/feed/ 0 smurfpunx Smurfpunx (Aalst 91, Seein'Red) 90-02-17 Seein'Red 2 90-02-17 Seein'Red (Olav) 90-02-17 Seein'Red (Paul) 90-02-17 Seein'Red (Jos & Paul) by Phil http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/de-marbel-closed-down/ http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/de-marbel-closed-down/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:10:42 +0000 smurfpunx http://smurfpunx.wordpress.com/?p=3756 ]]> As indicated earlier before joining the Smurfpunx-collective but I was involved in a series of gigs organised in my hometown’s venue ‘De Marbel’ (my band ‘Repulsives’, and others, rehearsed there for a while). For an overview click on the category Marbel, Tielt or search Concerts * NOT Smurfpunx: some were done by ourselves (‘Repulsives’, ‘No Numbers’ and/or ‘Dirty Scums’), some I did together with Smurfpunx (before I actually joined them) and some in cooperation with Hageland Hardcore…

On May 31^st 1987, the local band ‘Dirty Scums’ organised their 5^th Anniversary Gig there. This turned out to be an eventful day… As you can read below it all ended with the authorities closing the place. The local bands didn’t have too much trouble securing an new rehearsal-space but we couldn’t organise any more gigs there. Luc ‘Zak’ Vannieuwenhuyse had always been very supportive/helpful and made things ‘easy’ for us. Of course we weren’t too pleased…

Nevertheless, in hindsight, one wonders how history would’ve evolved. Perhaps I wouldn’t have joined Smurfpunx, wouldn’t have started organising tours, etc.? Would Smurfpunx have become what it became? No-one will know…

Brob

Here’s my thoughts on the events shortly after that day and the resulting situation, that I published in my ‘zine Tilt! #3:

The whole thing caused a lot of commotion in the Belgian hardcore/punk scene and some other zines published about it aswell…

>>May 31st, we could again experience how lax and excessive the power of the police is. Many among you know very well what I’m talking about but for the reader who has witnessed it: I’ld like to let you know about what ruined such a nice day. It was the day that the ‘Dirty Scums’ celebrated their 5^th anniversay. All was set up at De Marbel in Tielt, where ‘Full Time Drinkers’, ‘Vortex’, ‘Black Vampire’, ‘Crisis-C’, ‘W.C.F.’, ‘Dirty Scums’ and ‘Ear Damage’ played. When the concert started around 2 p.m. with ‘Full Time Drinkers’, there were already a few with some alcohol in their heads… But things didn’t stay that innocent. A guy named Clochard from Antwerp went outside for a breath of air, so we were told, and blind-drunk he hit for the street where he pounded a dent here and there in the parked cars. Two police-vans immediately drove up, Clochard was arrested in a violent manner. Many punks didn’t accept that and started pounding/beating into the or smashing empty beer-bottles against the windows. The took off rapidly. The concert went on. About 2 hours later, by 7 p.m., reinforcements showed up: all entrees of De Marbel were blocked. A general identity check-up was conducted, where a metre long truncheons were used against anyone deemed acting somewhat ‘troublesome’; these all got a knock. Those who weren’t able to present their ID, were forcefully taken by the arm and dragged towards the vans as if they were criminals. There was a real chaos in the venue and on the street, that was barricaded by 2 police-vans and 3 gendarmerie-trucks. Nobody was able to get in or out of the street, and those in the venue who didn’t want to show ID, were not allowed to get out. A few got ‘lucky’ and were arrested and held in the 2 vans – Eddy, Dirk Verkain (Extra Punk Special) and another guy from Charleroi; they got out after about an hour. These vans were from the gendarmerie of Tielt, and they seemed reasonable. In the other they shoved 6 people (Victor of ‘W.C.F.’, Kris, Pascal, a girl from Lille and a few others. These cops came from Roeselare; they were lax, hypocritical and very violent. One of the lads was hand-cuffed and hard-handedly pushed into the van, the boy screamed in pain, his hand-cuffs were way to tight. After severe pains he was dragged from the van to loosen his hand-cuffs but they twisted his arms until he almost fell to his knees, the 4 gendarmes seemed to find great pleasure in this. When we tried to approach the van, they were waving their truncheons at us. We were totally powerless: it’s hard to imagine how you feel like when they treat your friends in such an underhand way! This whole scene lasted over 4 hours. Some missed their last train and about 8 were taken away by the gendermarie. I’m still angry for what happened yesterday. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep.[…] Totally incomprehensible all of this but what can you do…<< [Durty Skum #19 (Kim Deschacht)]

>>Some find that speed-metal destroys punk because there are still many stereotypical (old-fashioned) heavy-metal-boys around. But there are certainly also stereotypical 77-punx (not all of course) who believe that punk is nothing more than getting drunk, blowing and following your dick. As long as they don’t bother anyone else in doing so, they have every right, but they don’t have a clue about what punk is about. One can also find machos, wanting to act tough and treat a woman solely as the sum of a cunt and 2 breasts, amongst punx. The very same that mostly lie on the floor, stoned & drunk, at an energetic concert. It seems as if a part of those 77-punx have turned into the new hippies, whose apathy they were supposed to rebel against. They’re the same who, year after year, walk around in their Sid Vicious & ‘Exploited’ T-shirt for lack of a personality. It’s exactly them, wearing that well-known ‘punks not dead’ T-shirt, who spoil the whole thing every time. Usually I tolerate them but now I’m extremely angry at them! Because it’s these – asking everyone for some spare changes (the 10-frank-punx), stealing from others at gigs and always making a lot of fuss, throwing cans and acting tough – who again succeeded to fuck up a whole concert. What could’ve been a fun party at De Marbel in Tielt; was spoiled by a small group of boozers. Everyone was the victim of that. Late in the afternoon a whole army of the gendarmerie burst into De Marbel in true Starsky&Hutch-style. All 80 to 100 people had to show her/his ID, one by one, and the whole street was blocked. The police had to show its muscles once again. But where were they when in Nijvel innocent people were slaughtered in a supermarket? Great opportunity to get a good reputation that was… But the truth has its rights too. What makes me even more furious, is that the provocation didn’t come from the cops this time, but from a few drunks who offered them the stick, that they had been looking for since a long time, to beat us. They had deemed it necessary to pester innocent passers-by and someone even thought it was funny to kick a few cars. If his friends had taken the trouble to calm him down a bit, then nothing would’ve happened. But only after quite some time someone gave him a knock to calm him down. By then it was too late because a few cops came to get him after a complaint was made. It could have stayed to this one person if his friends hadn’t attacked the vans, bombarding them with beer-glasses and kicking them full of dents. If you do something like that, you would have to have a good reason, for instance a squat being evicted – that’s about fundamental rights and not for some misguided solidarity with a quarrelsome boozer who had asked for it. But some just wanted to be macho. Well done, keep it up! Then you’ll have one place less to go see your favourite bands and you can get bored some more. Congratulations! I thought this kind of senile, old jerks were gradually dying out because there hadn’t been any fuss at alternative punk/hardcore-concerts for a long time. When there were troublemakers, they were thrown out by the audience itself, so that the police didn’t interfere. Unfortunately there still seems to be many of them around. Do we have to get bouncers like in a stupid disco!?. The modern speed-metal fans seem to have more principles than some 77-punx. So, please, stop that bullshit about speed-metal! If punk and speed-metal have to be kept seperated, it’s not just because speed-metal fans would destroy punk but because some 77-punx would better stay at home in their beds sleeping of their booze.<< [De Rattebeet #2 (Jan Claus)] [‘Ear Damage’ and ‘W.C.F’. didn’t get to play because the concert was ended.]

Of course the establishment thought all this served these “druggies”, “rebels”, etc. just right. Here’s what appeared in some of the local newspapers…

>>‘Punk pub closed’ – Sunday evening the Tielt police received a complaint about a punk damaging cars in the vicinity of café De Marbel. The gendarmerie of Ruiselede and Roeselare were called in as reinforcement to pick up the perpetrator from a group of about 40 punks. The drivers were able to indicate the person and he was put in a van for interrogation. Then the skirmishes started. Pints were thrown at the police-vans while some pounded and dented the vehicles. They retreated with the culprit, but not for long. Help was called in from Gent and a bit later some 15 gendarmes arrived at the scene. In the back of De Marbel there was a room with some 100 congeners. Everyone was subjected to an ID check-up while about 10 of them were detained. Around midnight, once the fury was over, some were released. Four punks had to stay overnight. Tuesday-morning the mayor of Tielt decided to close the pub for a year.<<

>>The inglorious end of café De Marbel – After the disturbances of Sunday evening the police of Tielt, ordered by mayor Vander Meulen, shut down the pub De Marbel for one year. Because of that the person running it, ends up without any livelihood and a group of youngsters looses its ‘mekka’. “Of course it’s a pit that we have to take away someone’s income”, mayor Vander Meulen tells our editorial office, “but what is for us of utmost importance, is that all goes well in Tielt and that the peace is not disturbed. For years residents have serious complaints about noise and certain forms of vandalism. After what happened Sunday evening, we thought ‘enough is enough’ and after consultation with the security-forces we decided to suspend the pub.” The fact that we’re using a rather rough brush and forbid entrance to the pub immediately for a whole year, is mostly inspired by similar interventions in pop- and rock-pubs in the surrounding communities such as Oostrozebeke and Roeselare. “Initially I didn’t think of suspending De Marbel for a whole year”, the mayor tells us, “but we were advised to do so by qualified authorities”. Moreover, the mayor added that this period is not so binding. After a possible negotiation it can be shortened if an agreement is reached. The mayor thought it was especially serious because the guy running the pub had shown no signs any goodwill. “He knew that his venue was disapproved by the fire-department and hence was prohibited, but he ignored all of that. Well, if one doesn’t want to listen, then we have to intervene.” Pub-owner Vannieuwenhuyse himself of course has a totally different view. He claims he hasn’t received an official notification of the fire-department about the fact that the venue was rejected. Furthermore he particularly regrets that his pub and his public became the victim of the irresponsible behaviour of a few ‘strangers’ who normally don’t have anything to do with De Marbel. These outsiders usually agree among themselves to ‘grace’ a certain concert and last Sunday they chose the one organised by the ‘Dirty Scums’ at De Marbel. “When the whole thing got out of hand, I closed my pub for a while myself, and when everything was over and my pub was open again, then came the showdown of the gendarmerie. They’re out to find me. I’ve learned to live with the fact that there’s a razzia from time to time but what has happened now, I find very serious. Agreed, things were loud sometimes but after repeated insistence of the neighbours I cut down the amount of rehearsals to reduce that nuisance to a minimum.” What he will do now, Vannieuwenhuyse doesn’t know yet. So far he hasn’t undertaken any steps towards the mayor or the security-forces. All posters have from the front-window to make place for one: the closing-order that the police put up. De Marbel, a name known far beyond the Tielt borders, is (temporarily ?) no longer.<<

Smurfpunx helped at the Gele Limonade pub for some time (see Smurfpunx @ Gele Limonade) and kept it open during one of these carnivals…

Myself, I had to opportunity to witness the whole thing working the bar… People – already totally drunk at 2 p.m. – entering the pub with ‘trophy’s’ (such as a traffic-sign on a 3 m pole e.g.), pulling down their pants and unashamedly pissing against the bar, etc. etc. No-one interferes… “If you can ‘t take it, don’t go to Aalst during Carnival!” Coming from another province, I didn’t know it was gonna be that over-the-top… I was sober, my ethics were fine,…and I was shocked!!! Left the place gutted after a mere few hours…

In this context I want to tell a bit about the ‘Pitbull Boys’, a fun-punk band from Aalst. Their MySpace mentions they were founded in the late eighties by Bart Ravyts (Bad B) and Jean-Claude Roosen (JC of ‘Violent Mosquitos’). The instruments they used at first were a small synthesizer/drum-computer and a guitar. Later Koen ‘Kotz’ Taeleman (‘Rough Justice’) joined on bass-guitar… After a few years the ‘PB.B.’ exchanged their synthesizer and drum-computer for a real live drummer: Ben Notaert (‘Benimal Bonzo’). ‘Kotz’ left the band and was replaced by a new bassplayer: Manu (‘El Manuel’). Also some guest-musicians (‘De Piep’ & ‘D-Day Danny’) came along… They were frequenting the Gele Limonade when Smurfpunx were working there as volunteers (some had connections to the collective) and played there sometimes aswell. Later they even made up some real carnival-songs…

Brob

Bart – J.C. – Koen (with the obligatory crate of Safir, locally brewed pils…)

Bart – J.C. – Koen …& Frank

The pictures [Brob: taken by Nathalie G. during a concert at the Gele Limonade] show the first version of the ‘Pitbull Boys’ with Bart Raveydts, Koen Taeleman, Hans Van Ooteghem, Jean-Claude Roosen, Jean-Yves Bogaert and Frank ‘Drank’ Parewyck [the latter 4 of ‘Violent Mosquitos’]. Mind you: this was probably the actual line-up of that evening; who played live changed regularly. Koen, Bart & JC were regulars, the rest was guest-musician. Later also Piet Marcoen, and others that I forget, played. The second generation ‘Pitbull Boys’ of the late 90s (at first Bart Ravyts on vocals, Emmanuel Cambier on bass, JC Roosen on guitar and Ben Notaert – ‘Funeral Dress’ drummer) recorded a CD. After a first gig with Frank on bass, Bart took another direction (hip-hop) and Frank replaced him doing the vocals.

Manu Cambier

J.C. – Jean-Yves – Frank – Hans

Jean-Yves

Carnival = Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday. The ‘voil zjanetten’: men wearing women’s clothing, high heels, net-stockings, fake boobs, a shopping-cart filled with beer and your own stereo, and – typical attributes – a bird-cage and a dried fish. Carnival is also escaping the daily grind for a moment, dressing up, making fun, laughing, partying, meeting friends, satirize local (and national) politics. Anything goes. No censorship. Prince Carnival possesses the keys of the city during those 4 days. Party like animals. In the parade all political scandals are tackled, openly and frankly. Often a whole year’s work goes into the floats.

One carnival it snowed and there was a snowman inside the Gele Limonade…

Keizer Kamiel is the official emperor of carnival, and that’s for life. Since many years Kamiel has been doing all kinds of charity (e.g. distributing food) for the poor in Aalst; a fulltime occupation – supported by many volunteers. For many poor families that makes the difference between the gutter and living with at least some dignity. During carnival he also visits the de old people’s homes in Aalst.

Carnival is a lot more than boozing, boozing and boozing.

Anmie G

With the ‘Soulfinder’ album just out, my mate Frank Babel got ‘H.D.Q.’ to tour (again with the Welsh ‘The Abs’). He always did a great job and with his printing-skills, the poster turned out really great. But then he told me he was gonna stop booking tours. I guess he was fed up of having to keep fighting the commercial agencies. He wasn’t the first to give up: “It’s no fun anymore. There’s too much shit to put up with. I get depressive after a night of phoning around.”, he wrote me. “There are just so few people being honest in this concert-scene, who care about everything, specially about the bands. The situation is getting perverted, there’s lots of agencies booking tours a half year in advance, so us smaller ones get no chance to get a good tour together.”

This was another great show! Not so much people attended but very good bands and an excellent atmosphere. It became a tendency: the bigger crowds only turned up for the ‘big’ bands. We got the very dedicated people. The rest went to death-metal bands or commercial shows organised by agencies.

At that time, people were asking us why the starting-time of the concerts got later… 6 or 7 p.m. wasn’t actually thát late compared to when gigs in other European countries started. Ours had to end around 10 p.m. to avoid complaints about the ‘noise’; and that was time enough to catch the last train. Our schedule was usually tight and the break between 2 bands short. We had been doing afternoon-shows for years but people began to stay away, turn-outs diminished. The younger part of our public preferred the matinees but others didn’t… Those wanting to come in the afternoon were the first to stay away (band not known enough, entrance-fee too high, distance too long,…). We had to make a compromise. Gigs elsewhere started at 8-10 p.m. Furthermore: in case of a matinee, touring bands have to get out of bed very early (to drive a long way) to get here in time. I’ve toured myself; believe me: in other countries one mostly hits the sack after 3-4 a.m. It’s not that pleasant to get up at 8-9 p.m. to drive 300-400 km…

This was turned out to be the last real Smurfpunx-concert at Netwerk…

‘H.D.Q.’ had already seduced us with their melodic HC and ‘The Abs’ with their tuneful punk-rock charmed us likewise, when they were over the year before. (Netwerk, Aalst, 1 oct 89 (Lethal Gospel & Verbal Assault)) So there wasn’t a lot of persuasiveness needed to convince us to set up another show. Few people knew that ‘H.D.Q.’ actually stands for ‘Hung, Drawn and Quartered’. They were often described as influenced by the likes of ‘Descendents’ and ‘Dag Nasty’. Some brits claimed that they sounded “too” American. What the hell, what is ‘American’ anyway. I certainly liked their tuneful but political HC a lot… In the band at that time were Richard ‘Dickie’ Hammond.(guitar) and Dave ‘Golly’ Golledge (vocals). Who did the rhythm-section at that time? Bassist Rob Bewick had already left the band in the summer of 89… ‘The Abs’ were from Newport in Wales and they played catchy punk-rock. The band consisted of the brothers Barrie ‘Baz’ (guitar & vocals) and John (a.k.a. ‘The Rev’, ‘The Reverend’, ‘Rev John D’; drums.) Oldfield. Don’t know anymore who else was in the band at that time…

We also invited ‘Pullermann’ over for the 2^nd time in less than a year [see: Netwerk, Aalst, 31 mar 90 (Subterranean Kids)] because they were such a great band and nice people…

Brob

‘H.D.Q.’ were ‘Golly’ (vocals), ‘Dickie’ (guitar), Terry [‘Turbo’ Phipps] (bass) and ‘Dicka’ [‘Damage’] (drums)… ‘The Abs’ were ‘Baz’ (vocals), ‘The Reverend’ (drums), ‘Dingo’ (bass) and Bryn [Jones; also second vocalist] (guitar). We were friends from doing a gig with them in ‘88 in Birmingham. We just stayed in touch…

Dickie Hammond

Another Netwerk show with the same 150 people that, just like me, went to almost every show to hang out. I remember ‘Pullermann’ had 2 singles by then which had some really catchy tunes and the show was good. I really liked ‘H.D.Q.’ and ‘The Abs’ but I just can’t remember seeing them on this show, I know they played but I have no memory of it whatsoever. But I still like their early records to this day, both solid UK bands that worked hard and toured a lot and are now sadly forgotten.

Jeroen Lauwers

Local metal-lovers (Nathalie G. 2^nd from R)

Some pictures of ‘Heibel’ by Nathalie Guyot

(singer here is Peter Daniëls, so it must’ve been after the summer of ’87):

Peter & Pé on a break

Peter, Erwin & Pé in action

Erwin dreaming of playing the bass for ‘Excel’ – Erwin, Peter, Jo & Pé (where was Steven?)

I got to know the Winterswijkers quite well through the contacts with and visits at the (in)famous venue over there, the Chi Chi Club. Also: vocalist Victor Van Bruggen was hanging around here quite often (because of his relation with ‘Anguish’s singer Murielle). The others in the band were Ronald Hogeboom (guitar), Lambert ‘Lampie’ van Druenen (drums) & Harm Kortschoot (bass).

‘Swampsurfers’ were a quartet from Limburg (The Netherlands) who release an album on Hageland recs. They were: Rino Vincken (vocals), Jo Kieboom (guitar), Han van der Gouw (drums) and  Frank Smeets (bass).

‘Oh, Dev’ – also from Dutch Limburg -  played punky, noisy garage-rock. Their line-up changed a few times but must’ve been Ruud Wolters (drums), André Albers (vocals/guitar),  André Kaysers (bass/backing-vocals) & Chris Reutelingperger (guitar) at that time [Peter Janssen van 'Pandemonium' speelde in '87 naar eigen zeggen bass]…

‘No Tomorrow Charlie’ was a trio from Gent playing music in the style of ‘Gore’, ‘Melvins’ and other ‘heavy’ bands.

Brob

The line-up of ‘N.T.C.’ at that time was: Nicolas Vanelslander (bass), Rudi Vansteenkiste (guitar), Foane Vandoorne (guitar), Ludo Huyghe (drums). I seem to recall that Linda Arts was the one who introduced us (she was an trainee/student at Netwerk).

Ludo Huyghe

some photos of ‘W.C.F.’ by Kockie (can’t remember whether they’re from this or their later concert…):

Victor & Harm

Lampie

<- Ronald —– Harm —– Victor ->

Was this a Smurfpunx concert? Don’t think so… I would’ve been there but I don’t recall ever having seen these bands play live (with all the fireworks and jinglebells, I should remember if I did). I was asked to help ‘em out but maybe I was busy with other things (‘Force Fed’ & ‘K.O.O.’) or (more likely) I didn’t feel like it… It’s quite possible that Michel DC’s team was then contacted and they did the show…

Brob

‘Heresy’ say that you are the best, most competent organiser they have encountered, so I’ld like to ask you if you’ld be interested to organise a short tour for ‘Intense Degree’. They formed in 1984 and play this ultra-fast speed style. They’re now coming to attention as the ‘new UK Thrash Gods’ hahaha…

Dig; Earache recs (personal communication ’88)

‘Jailcell Recipes’ were good but ‘Intense Degree’ were (for me) disappointing. Don’t know what it was but their sound was so ‘full’, heavy. ‘Doctor and The Crippens’, on the other hand, were very good; very original with their costume-play, wigs, etc. The singer was going for it: spitting fire, playing with foam (A pile of foam on a plate, cracker in it and of it went!).

A pity ‘Extreme Noise Terror’ didn’t come over. Rumour went there’s some disagreement in the band… I don’t like grindcore too much but ‘E.N.T.’ are a special case, with their 2 singers and all…

There wasn’t that much of a crowd. Very annoying were those nihilistic 77-punks: with their heavily studded leather jackets and their mohawks (which I rather like): they definitely stood out; especially ‘cause they were also very drunk. Otherwise, the new ‘hooded sweatshirt’ fashion nowadays to me seems also highly exaggerated and commercial!)…

Ingo Meskens (personal communication ’90)

‘Doctor & the Crippens’ played in Liège (organised by the people of Nabate), the day after they played for Smurfpunx. Alain & Manu hated that band for one reason or the other. Was it because of the puppet-show they brought along (I remember that their singer was spitting fire in the middle of the floor in Netwerk) [Brob: There’s a few vids (not from the gig in Aalst) on YouTube to get an idea…] or because they just thought they were incredibly annoying blokes? Can ’t remember that…

Philippe Vanden Weygaert (‘Ronald Ruck’)

Yes I remember this one quite well… I’m not sure how the gig came about as Wayne used to arrange the bookings for us. I do recall we were in Aalst for quite a few days and sleeping in the bar just around the corner. Touring with ‘Intense Degree’ was a lot of fun as they were totally crazy like us. ‘Jailcell Recipes’ were friends of mine from Wigan. I seem to recall we did 3 gigs in Belgium. But to be honest my memory from those days is a little blurred to due the excessive alchohol-/ weed-intake…

These days I’m a techno DJ performing internationally and releasing my own productions on various labels. As well as having my own label.

The ‘Crippens’ members were Nick Palmer (vox), Tom Myall (guitar), Wayne Elliot (bass) and myself, Dave Ellesmere (drums). I know that Tommy and Nick formed a new band but I don’t know if it’s still going as one of their members died recently. I have had contact with them over the years but after the band finished we never really stayed in touch. I did form a new band with Wayne called ‘Brainless’, which I did after ‘Disgust’ as we were working at Plastichead (a punk / metal distro based in Oxford) together.

David Ellesmere (‘Dr & The Crippens’)

‘Dr & The Crippens’; pictured by Philippe Anthonis

‘Intense Degree’ [Frank Pendlebury (drums), Liz Thirtle (bass), Rich 'Dick' Hill (vocals), Richard Collins (guitar) & Richard Cutts (guitar)]

‘Jailcell Recipes’ [Dave Arnold (bass), Ian Barwick (drums), Jamie Owen (guitar) & Robbie Reid (vocals)]

One of the best gigs ever I set up in my hometown! My own band ‘Repulsives’ was at it’s zenith (with the recordings of a bunch of tracks – destined for a split-lp with Cólera on Hageland recs – later that month); and so was the Marbel-scene. Little did we know that the place was going to be closed down permanently by the end of that month, after a riot-squad cleared up the nearby streets (during an anniversary-gig of the ‘Dirty Scums’)…

Anyway, for that day I had managed one of favourite bands at that time to come over: ‘Negazione’ (with the help of Werner E., I think). We’d all been shouting along to the songs of ‘Tutti Pazzi’ & ‘Lo Spirito Continua’ and eagerly wanted to experience them live. Earlier that year ‘Repulsives’ had played with ‘Skeezicks’ (at a Hageland Hardcore concert) and since Armin & myself were corresponding/helping each other out, it was evident that these energetic Germans had to play aswell. The bill was completed with the (at that time) omnipresent [Netwerk, Aalst, 15 mar 87 (Cólera), Netwerk, Aalst, 17 apr 87 (Cólera), Concerts * NOT Smurfpunx] ‘Cólera’ (practically residents of Scherpenheuvel those days)…

I’ve floated throught that day… I recall ‘Repulsives’ did an awesome set (with ‘Fascist Skins’ as a climax and several encores/covers); the other bands were of course equally if not even more appreciated; and a great time was had by all. It was truely a network of friends… A big contrast with the afternoon leading to the fall at the end of the month.

That afternoon I also made some preparations for an interview with the Italians (at that time: singer Guido ‘Zazzo’ Sassola, bassplayer Marco Mathieu, guitarist Roberto ‘Tax’ Farano and Fabrizio Fiegl on drums) for my ‘zine Tilt! And I hope that, before I die one of the remaining ‘Skeezicks’ (bassplayer Armin Hofmann & his bro Andy on drums, guitarists Carsten Bauer & Marc Helber, and singer Jürgen ‘Sunny’ Findlinger – R.I.P.) can let me know if there was actually a video shot of that concert… They’d also hung out at our rehearsal-space earlier the day because they came over early from Hasselt (where did they’d played the day before)

Brob

From an interview with ‘Skeezicks’ in the Belgian ‘zine ‘Total Chaos’ #1:

>>What d’you think of the Belgian scene? Over the years, the Belgian scene has developed! A lot of gigs, nice people and last but not least great bands such as ‘Heibel’, ‘Repulsives’, etc. I’m looking forward to see more.<<