SCENE REPORT               

MAXIMUM ROCK'N'ROLL (USA) - 1988

Since I don't get much cooperation from people who make photographs, this scene report is long overdue.

Indecency are no more but they continue under the name 5Les with Fons (ex-Taartje Aardbei and Anguish) on bass. They have a 7" out on Hageland Records that's well worth getting.

Dawn of Liberty have been on the brink of splitting but eventually decided to keep on going (fortunately). They are a bit frustrated about not getting much gigs or a record deal. "I can't see how all those untalented noisebands can get so popular while we are struggling to get only one gig", singer Stefan told me. Dawn of Liberty can be heard on "A vile Peace" and "Attack is No Suicide"-compilation LP's.

Funcore is called Belgian Associlaity here. Their lyrics are mainly in Dutch and therefore most of the fun escapes people who don't know it. Punk Etc. wil shortly release (or has released when this is printed) a full length album of theirs. Some other releases will be coming out of the Punk Etc. stable soon. As there is: a second Eardamage-album. By now the band should have enough material to fill it up. Another one is a demo by Dead Serious. A try out for an album or a way of making them heard with talent scouts ?

Heibel's new album "Drop out melodies from the boulevard of broken strings" is a killer. The band is very pleased with their sound and hope they won't have as much bad luck as with their first release (their label went out of business right after the release of "Yeah, everything's great !").

From the ashes of Taartje Aardbei raises a more metal inspired Mind Exit. From what I've seen of them, they are more than just interesting but they aren't getting too much attention around here. Don't ask me why !

The Dirty Scums released a new 7" called "'Rit'n zat te skit'n bacht'n d'hoage", which means as much as "Henry was shitting behind the bush" in West-Flemish slang. The 7" is not as trashed out as their second LP and goes back to the days of "Dirty Songs", their first album. A new LP is under preparation.

After some inside troubles, Creep Insanity are said to be going again. I haven't seen any flyers for gigs yet so I'm not sure this is still true.

Sad but true, Hate Crew are no more. Is it a curse ? Xcreta, Zyklome A, and now Hate Crew all split up little time after the release of their LP on Punk Etc. ?

Vortex with their new album have taken the opportunity to create their own label (only the third in Belgium so far !). This gave them the opportunity to autoproduce. They don't like to be categorized. "We are open to all genres", Marco says. "Ambiguity is one of the ways in which we express our ideas. That makes it necessary for the listener to be a little bit mature". They finally did what a lot of people have told them so many times before, namely throwing out their bassist. "Le clan des chaotiques" sold very well (it's almost sold out) and their third LP is under preparation under the working title "La descente aux enfers".

Then there is Agathocles, the local "ultra faceripping grindcore band". I need not to say this is noise trash in the vein of bands like Napalm Death, do I ?

Funeral Dress not long ago released their first single. You can easily hear the Sex Pistols and Stooges as their main influences by their retake of "I wanna be your dog" on the flipside.

Another pure punkband should be around but I didn't have the chance to meet them yet. They are called Get Stuffed and I'm told their evolution does slowly into the direction of hardcore.

Other new names are M.A.D. (ultra noisegrind), Jonge Helden, Nospoters, Ripping Trash, Seattle (former The Misery), Ronald Ruck, Social Disease, René Binamé et les roues de secours, Struggle for peace, ...

Unfortunately the Belgium scene has a bit of it's inside troubles and some people even call it censorship. Some examples. Werner (Hageland Records) refuses to let The Dirty Scums or Vortex play any of the gigs he organises. Nabate Distribution don't want to distribute Vortex's material nor Metallised magazine because they feel both of them don't have the right spirit (which they both have proven to have). I'm sure everybody has good intentions but narrowmindedness is something we need just as much as a pain in the butt.

Now, there's two bands that aren't featured in their respective scene report which I feel are worth mentioning here. First is Mottek whose new material rips your head apart if you don't dislike metal. The other one is the UK band Wardance. They are doing their second euro Tour now and will be doing another one in Spring. Their popularity here is grown quite big judging from them not having a record out yet. Everyone into good music should be on the lookout for this brilliant outfit.

Many thanx to Marco (Vortex) for helping me do the report this time.

Stel