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METALLISED #8 (BEL) - Fall 1987

Creep Insanity
The Dirty Scums
Noisome
Repulsives
News Flashes

Well, this is the second part of our search for bands in the Belgian hardcore scene (and it won’t be the last) and this time we deliver to you four Belgian bands. One of them has been known for several years already, but we felt that they had a right to a little bit of space in these pages. Sorely enough we had only one picture, but then again it’s not pictures we’re interested in right now, are we ? So let’s stop beating around the bush and start this feature with

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CREEP INSANITY

CREEP INSANITY is a very young band consisting of Bassy (bass, 16), Rabbit (drums, 18), and Trash (guitar & vocals, 17). Their name was chosen because it sounded good, but they DO give it a certain signification: "Man going insane in this society and not doing anything against the authorities that make him suffer, just thinking about himself …". They didn’t go out of their part of Belgium to play gigs yet, so they are not that well known in the scene yet. Also they didn’t do many gigs, but managed to have some bad experiences already: at their second gig some things were stolen. Trash: "I think it’s stupid to steal from your own collegues while we all have to put as much efforts into saving money for our gear." On the other side of course, there were lots of positive reactions and even people who wrote the band. Activities outside the band ? Bassy helps out in some kind of Animal Liberation Front and used to be in a fanzine (Recht Voor Je Raap), Rabbit is skater and eater, Trash skates too and has begun a new fanzine (Krisis - to appear in the near future). They all hate vivisection, although Trash still eats meat, while the two others are vegetarians. To the question why they‘re only three in the band, Trash answers: "Well, we can’t find anyone from our neighbourhood to fit in and we’d rather keep on playing as we are, ‘cause this is the way we get along best. Besides, we used to have a second guitarist and we had to throw him out … he didn’t even show up on the gigs of his own band." They DO want to make it with the band, and they don’t have anything out yet, but they’re hoping on jumping into a studio later this year to record a demo.

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THE DIRTY SCUMS

THE DIRTY SCUMS are one of the oldest Punkbands in Belgium, having been formed at the end of 1981. They had their first gig in March 1982. Their music in that time was fast, slow, chaotic: it was Punk. A first split occurred when two members of the band left at the end of 1982. It wasn’t until April 1983 before the two remaining members had found replacements. This ‘second era’ lasted till September 1983, era in which the band recorded three songs to be released on the compilation tape "Second Time Around" on Punk Etc. (which was still small in those days). In October 1983 both the singer and the bass player are thrown out of the group because they were only bringing the quality of the band down, which can be heard on the cassette. For the ‘third era’ of the band entered a new bassist and a female vocalist (being the new bassist’s girlfriend). Because of the high voice of the female singer and the low voice of the backing vocalist, comparisons with THE DIRT. In October 1984 the vocalist is thrown out and the band keeps on playing as a three-some, with Pik (guitar and vocals), Jenz (bass), and Zjantie (drums). From that moment on the band comes out of their part of the country and starts playing all over Belgium. After April 1985 they start rehearsing for a first LP, that sees the daylight in July 1985 and gets the name "Dirty Songs", containing twelve so-called "’77 Punk" songs, one of which ("Martens, Jij Ouwe Rukker") becomes a culthit. The album was recorded in a rush time, which didn’t do very good for the quality of the recordings, but the album sold quite well in Belgium. Comparisons this time were SHAM 69, SEX PISTOLS, BUZZCOCKS, RAMONES, … After that they started playing gigs all over the country and even did two gigs in Holland. Since their repertory had gotten strongly re-newed, they decided to go on and record another album in April 1987. They even made a single: a remake of "Martens, Jij Ouwe Rukker" and a new song about Belgium’s Prime Minister "Martens You Son Of A Bitch", in which you can hear a hoempapa-intermezzo with an accordion. The single was released in November 1986, the album (because of a problem with the cover) only came out in February 1987. This album ("Full Speed Ahead") brings a perfect balance between Hardcore and Punk, with a onetime wink towards the Speedmetal genre. The recordings were in the same studio, but this time they DID bring in a producer to ameliorate the sound.

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NOISOME

Very young as they are - and as the band is - NOISOME have no demo out yet. I couldn’t deprave you of this band because the gig I saw seemed to please a lot of H.C.-Metal-Thrashers. NOISOME only exists from September 1986 and two months before (in July) Diederick and Patrick started playing together. In August Pé joined them and in September Theo took up the bass to form NOISOME. Line-up: Pé (vocals), Patrick (guitar), Diederick (Didi) (drums) and Theo (Zombie) (bass). In February 1987 they tried out a second guitarist, but he didn’t fit in very well (they did find someone at the end of April, but they forgot to mention his name). The first four months they rehearsed in a little garden cottage, but the neighbours didn’t like that too much, neither did the local police. "Also during winter we had to put pots, buckets and kettles all over the place to prevent the pouring from falling on our instruments", they told me. So they went out looking for a new rehearsal room, which was, fortunately, quite easily found: a chicken run. There they did a small first gig (together with EXCREMENT and HEIBEL (Speedcore Thrashers from the same vicinity) before an audience of little over 60 closes friends and mad fans. They feel more bands should take such initiatives. The atmosphere on such gigs is intense, friendly and it’s free ! Their first real concert was at the STAGE DIVE PARTY II in Genk (vicinity of Hasselt). "On that concert we learned a lot", says bassist Theo, "the audience accepted our music, we got many positive critics & some advice (their frontman has to learn how to move –ED). We didn’t hear anyone say it was bad".

Our favourite bands and influences are:
Pé: ENGLISH DOGS, KREATOR, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, HEIBEL, D.R.I., …
Theo: KRATOR, SLAYER, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, D.R.I., METALLICA, EXUMER, ONSLAUGHT, …
Patrick: 7 SECONDS, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, RAW POWER, MAYHEM (N.Y.), CRUCIFIX, …
Didi: D.R.I., M.D.C., XCRETA, HEIBEL.

As you can see, a Metal and Hardcore mix. Responses we got from the audience in answer to the question what we sounded like were: KREATOR, S.O.D., CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER (a little calmer), some say Deathcore (I would say defiantly a vast KREATOR-influence in both music and vocals- STEL). They are against fascism and racism: "Everybody is a human. Red, white, brown or yellow, there’ s no difference; they can all be our friends. They can be our enemies too, that’s up to them. We are not going to let anybody beat us up !" Their lyrics are Metal-like, but after a little thought you can see reality shining through them ! More con’s: politics, government, animal tests, Satanism, religion, war, … A last remark by Pé: "Keep on Thrashing, Slamming, diving, moshing and staying together (?)!!!". I saw NOISOME at the "Stage Dive Party II" and, as I already said, the audience was very positive to this band & slammed from the first to their last song - something that rarely happens over here with new, fresh bands that enter the gig circuit. The KREATOR influence is very big and if the band keeps on rehearsing and playing shows they’ll get as big as KREATOR themselves.

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REPULSIVES

Playing in a band had always been one of the boyhood dreams of Brob. He had been writing lyrics for a long time and also he had tried to get something decent out of his guitar. Later his cousin Stef bought a bass guitar and when their friend Stinky left NO NUMBERS, REPULSIVES could start rehearsing. In those days (summer 1985) Stinky sang and drummed at the same time, which made that their music wasn’t too fast. Through concerts in their hometown Tielt and a first acquaintance with the Hardcore scene in Eeklo, Punks started to be aware of the band. In April 1986 Dirk came drumming, so Stinky could concentrate on the singing and return toward his first love: playing guitar. The music only gained in power. REPULSIVES became known in Brasschaat, Leuven, Aalst, … In November 1986 Stef left the group for reason of not being interested in the band. Joeri replaced him in more than adequate ways. A X-mass tour saw them making a tour through the country. As mentioned before their music evoluated from slower ’77 Punk towards more energetic but still melodic Hardcore with some Metal edges. Some time ago they went into the studio to record enough material for a split album with the Brazilian band COLERA (the album should be released any time now !). In the beginning it was especially Brob’s lyrics that were used. He made analyses of problems and abuses in our society. Afterwards Stinky started writing playful lyrics of personnel concern. The mix of these personalities makes REPULSIVES a Funcore band with positive ideas. Most of us like a nice pint of beer (hum, that’s a BIG understatement) and eat our steak from time to time, but we completely abjurate the use of drugs. We’re absolutely not against Metal influences in Hardcore music, but we ARE strongly against the behaviour of some Metalheads (sexism, racism, nationalism, …) Since our song "Fascist Skins" seems to be well known, I suppose our attitude towards Skins is known too. Well, nice stories usually have a good ending, and this story will have one too … in the end … ’coz this isn’t the end. Recently a line-up change has happened. Brob and Stinky are the only originals, a drummer was added. Brob now plays bass and Stinky plays guitar and sings. So what’s the good end of this story ? Stinky recently told us: "You know this way (being only three) we get along better. The three that are in the band now have the same views about the music that we want to play, so that’s good, isn’t it ?"

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Belgian Hardcore News Flashes

NOISOME have changed their line-up. One of the guys saw himself being thrown out of the band. The others have turned about the line-up a bit. They had their debut gig (in the new line-up) on the 27th of September, and the audience's reaction was NOT in their favour. Keep on trying boys !

TAARTJE AARDBEI (from the vicinity of Aarschot) have ceased to exist. Fons, former TAARTJE AARDBEI-bassist, is now playing with ANGUISH. The rest of the band have turned up their old bassist and are now playing under another name.

ANGUISH have also undergone quite some changes. Besides Bart & Mumu (vocals), Kris (guitar), Fons (bass) and Steve (drums), the band now also comprises Alain 'Spiritus' on second guitar. Alain was formerly with O.I.L.L. and first joined the band to replace the bassist. Then, when Fons also joined, he could pick up his guitar again. Also (so the band states) Bart has learned how to really sing ("It was really difficult", so he admits). I've heard two raw-mixed rehearsal recordings and they sound GREAT !

HEIBEL, Belgian's rave band, have also had a split. Unanimously thrown out by the rest of the band was Bollie (vocals), with whom they couldn't agree anymore. New vocalist with the band is now Peter, and he does the job well. No "Im a Big Boy"-poses on stage anymore, and he even sings the "old" songs better than Bollie used to do. Heibel have also got a completely new set of songs and they're hoping to be able to make some new recordings for their second album this winter.

C.P.D. is dead ! Long live C.P.D. ! As most of you might already know, the band kinda ceased to exist when drummer Jaak and singer Rudy went off to Norway. Jaak however returned and Rudy came back on a little holiday, which gave the band the chance to do a concert at Winterswijk, Holland (originally there was also a gig planned in Gent (Belgium) and one somewhere in Germany, but they couldn't make it). Now Rudy went back to Norway, so C.P.D was temporarily a thing from the past. Not so long ago however, the three remaining boys decided to reform the band, adding a new bassist, the old bassist will now concentrate on singing only.

Stel