Gore (band)
| Gore | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Venlo (Netherlands) |
| Genre (s) | Metal , hardcore punk , noise rock |
| founding | 1985, 2019 |
| resolution | 1997 |
| Website | www.gore-revanche.com |
| Founding members | |
| Martin van Kleef (1985) | |
| Pieter de Sury (Pieter de Swart) (until 1988) | |
| Danny Arnold Lommen (until 1989) | |
| Current occupation | |
Electric bass |
Marij Hel (Rob Frey) (since 1985) |
Electric guitar |
Johan van Reede (since 1991) |
Drums |
Bardo Maria (Bardo Koolen) (since 1991) |
| former members | |
Electric guitar |
Frankie Stroo (Frank Stroobants) (1988-1989) |
Electric guitar |
Joes Bentley (Yussef Benli) (1988-1989) |
Gore is a Dutch hardcore punk / metal / noise rock band from Venlo . Gore play avant-garde hardcore, which is just as influenced by metal as it is by industrial and combines the darkest and hardest moments of Black Sabbath , Black Flag and Big Black , exclusively instrumental. The band gained an excellent live reputation in the hardcore scene of the late 1980s and received very positive reviews. Even so, the band failed to achieve commercial success and notoriety.
history
Gore I: Frey / Lommen / de Swart 1985–1988
Peter de Swart (guitar) and Martin van Kleef (bass) left their band Disgust and founded a new band in 1985 with Danny Arnold Lommen (drums), who had previously played guitar for Pandemonium . A short time later, Van Kleef left the band and was replaced by Rob Frey, who operated under the pseudonym Marij Hel. De Swart used the pseudonym Pieter de Sury and Danny Arnold Lommen different variations of his name like Danny A. Lome or Danny Arnold.
Frey's entry marked the actual hour of birth of Gore and he was the only band member from the time the band was founded who remained in the band until the final breakup in 1997. Although Pieter de Swart in particular wrote numerous songs for the band, Frey was considered the creative mind behind Gore, a role that he held again after the band was re-founded in 1991.
On February 28, 1986 Gore gave their first concert. They supported Swans at the Effenaar Club in Amsterdam . In March Gore recorded their debut album at Tango Studio in Eindhoven . It was released under the title Hart Gore on the Dutch label Eksakt Records . Hart Gore was recorded live in the studio, no overdubs or post-recordings were added. For Hart Gore , the band worked for the first time with producer Theo van Eenbergen . Van Eenbergen produced several of the band's albums in the following years. The cover of the record shows a photograph by Egon Notermans , a pig's heart pierced by a Samurian sword.
The album contains ten reduced, repetitive, riff-heavy and rhythm-dominated songs. The pieces are almost entirely devoid of melody, but interspersed with numerous tempo changes. Feedback and distortion replace harmonies , volume is an integral part of music. Although Hart Gore is purely instrumental, the album includes lyrics to the songs. Except for the band's last regular album, Mest 694'3 , this is the case for all Gore releases. The controversial lyrics are no less radical and raw than Gore's music. The vulgar outbursts of images of violence and profanity give insight into the band's negative worldview. The lyrics are signed with "Val Hard", but this is another pseudonym of Rob Frey.
In January 1987 the follow-up album Mean Man's Dream was created . Again in the Tango Studio and under the direction of Theo van Eenbergen, Mean Man's Dream was recorded live in the studio, no overdubs or the like were added. Mean Man's Dream was more monotonous, minimalistic and metallic than Hart Gore before. There are no frills on Mean Man's Dream , no charismatic fixtures like vocals or solos, just riffs and monotonous rhythm. On the cover there was again a photograph by Egon Notermans. The simple picture shows a butcher's knife lying on a scratched metal surface. The album received mostly positive reviews internationally, sold relatively well and is regarded by many fans as the essential Gore album.
In the summer, Gore went on an extensive European tour with Henry Rollins . On this tour, the recordings were made, which were published on a Gore / Henry Rollins Split LP. Frey then spent several weeks in the US looking for a record company for the US market. He negotiated there with SST Records , the record company of Black Flags Greg Ginn . In the end, however, there was no collaboration.
The Gore / Henry Rollins split LP was released in autumn 1987 and contains four live pieces by Gore, which were recorded at a concert on June 9th at De Bakkerij Club in Eindhoven . Three of the four tracks are from the first two albums, but the song Arena can only be found here. Gore / Henry Rollins Live is the last Gore album to be released on Eksakt Records.
On October 27th, Gore recorded the first of three sessions for the Peel Sessions series by British DJ legend John Peel , which aired on the BBC on November 4th . The recordings for the first peel session are the last recordings that were made in the original line-up of Frey / Lommen / de Swart. Pieter de Swart left the band shortly afterwards.
Gore II: Frey / Lommen / Stroobants / Benli 1988–1989
After de Swart left the band in 1988, the two guitarists Frank Stroobants (under the pseudonym Frankie Stroo) and Yussef Benli (under the pseudonym Joe Bentley) joined the band. Gore was invited to perform at the New Music Seminar in New York and accepted. There they signed a contract with the record company Megadisc Records , which should release the next album. Wrede (The Cruel Peace) , Gore's next studio album, was recorded in August 1988 at As the Grass Is Two Asses High Studio in Weesp , The Netherlands, and was released as a double LP on Megadisc Records.
Theo van Eenbergen and Steve Albini produced the recordings . It was Gore's last collaboration with van Eenbergen, who worked closely with Henry Rollins in the following years and produced all of the Rollins Band's albums up to 1997 under the pseudonym Theo van Rock . On the cover there is another photograph by Egon Notermans. It shows a green forest through which a path leads. A butcher's knife lies on the forest path. There are only four songs on the album, one on each side of the double LP. The long compositions with running times between 15 and 25 minutes are more differentiated and melodic than the pieces on the earlier albums. The album was not widely recognized, however, and the response from listeners and critics fell short of expectations.
On November 29, 1988, Gore recorded their second peel session with two pieces by Wrede , which aired on December 6th. In early 1989 Gore officially broke up after differences within the band. Drummer Danny Arnold Lommen joined the German band Caspar Brötzmann Massaker , with whom he played until they broke up, and then worked with Dee Dee Ramone . Guitarist Frank Stroobants played in various bands after his time with Gore and continues to publish solo projects to this day.
Gore III: Frey / Koolen / van Reede 1991–1997
It took two years for bassist Frey Gore to revive in 1991. With Johan van Reede (guitar) and Bardo Koolen (under the pseudonym Bardo Maria, drums) he re-formed the band. The first recordings of this line-up were made during another peel session. On July 9, 1991, five new songs from the upcoming album were recorded and broadcast on September 21 on Peel's broadcast.
Lifelong Deadline , Gore's fourth studio album, was recorded in August / September 1992 and released on Armageddon Records as a double CD that winter. In contrast to previous albums, Rob Frey wrote all the material alone from 1989 to 1992 and also took over the production himself. The pieces on the album are more complex than those on the early releases. As the early gores are viewed as precursors to stoner rock and sludge metal , Lifelong Deadline can be seen as an anticipation of math rock . Lifelong Deadline is more experimental than the previous albums, and the first release by Gore that was not recorded purely instrumentally. There is still no singing, but the recordings are peppered with numerous samples of nature recordings and absurd, spoken scenes that were recorded with the twenty-person essemble The United Voices from the House of Suspicion . For the first time a guest musician can be heard on Lifelong Deadline , the pianist Bart Spaan accompanies the piece Waiting Time .
The German label Permis De Construire released a compilation titled Mortar in 1992 , which included two songs that were performed under the name Gore / Hoer . These are not recordings by Gore, but a side project by Rob Frey. Frey had been invited by the choreographer Xander Vervoort to write music for his shows and set two Verwoort shows to music. Stereo was released in 1991 under the band name Rob Frey's Hoer by Megadisc Records. The two tracks of the Mortar compilation also come from this album . A second Verwoort soundtrack, Truth & Trust , was released in 1992 by Barooni Records.
The German band Bohren & the Club of Gore chose their name in 1992 as a homage to Gore.
In June 1993 GORE played again at the New Music Seminar in New York. The concert was recorded and appeared partially on the album Slow Death.
Frey founded the Messback Music label, which exclusively takes care of the releases of Gore and Frey's other projects. Messback first released the albums Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream on CD for the first time, as well as a compilation tape under the title In the Name of Rotten, Evil & Gore . The tape contains live and demo recordings from 1985–1987. Most of the recordings were re-released on the Southern Lord re-releases of Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream in 2008 , but the song Cracking Walls is only found on In the Name of Rotten, Evil & Gore . Gore completed a European tour to promote the publications. In 1995 another Frey project was published by Messback Music. The album This Is No House / This Is A Tree was released under the project name CET .
After it had become quiet about Gore for a while, another, rather unusual publication appeared in 1996. With the Dutch pop singer Henk Westbroek Gore recorded four pieces for an EP . The recordings were made in June and December 1995 in the NOB Audio Studio. The pieces were published as Gore & Henk on Messback under the title Voor Nu De Eeuwigheid . Gore drummer Bardo Maria plays only one of the four pieces, the other pieces are recorded with drummer Johnbert Dijker. It is the only Gore release that actually sings on. Westbroek had several commercial hits in the Netherlands in the 1980s as the singer of the pop band Het Goede Doel and was considered one of the most successful musicians in the country.
In February 1997 a new Gore album was released on Messback Music. Mest / 694'3 - The 10 Ultimate Hart Gore Rhythm Tracks contains material that Frey had already written in 1994, and that Gore with the line-up Frey / van Reede / Bardo Maria in January and December 1995 in the Total Recall Studio in Venlo, as well as in December 1996 at Trauma III Studio in Het Brook. The recordings were produced and mixed by Rob Frey and the producer Remko Schouten. As with earlier albums, the cover image is a photograph by Egon Notermans, it shows a red-hot screw. The cover of the CD also has the following warning: "Warning! This CD is not suitable for Radio Air Play! It is mastered at 10 dB overhead! If radio broadcasted: dear DJ - take all Limiters off!" (German: "Warning! This CD is not suitable for the radio! The mastering was done with 10 decibels above normal! If it is to be played on the radio: Please, dear DJ, remove all limitations!").
As on Lifelong Deadline , the songs on Mest 694'3 were interspersed with samples and voice recordings. Guest musicians were also involved in the recordings. In the song In the Name of Rotten, Evil and Gore , Gino Taihuttu plays the jaw harp and R.Yen keyboards. Yen had already accompanied two songs on the Gore & Henk CD.
With Slow Death , Gore's last sign of life appeared in May 1997. The compilation album was in a print run of 6000 copies in issue 27 of the Gonzo Circus magazine. Slow Death only contains one new track. In Beyond the Black Hole Pt.III is a sound collage of electronic noise. The album also features several versions of tracks from the album Mest 694'3 , remixed by Frey ("Deranged Slow-Death Remix") , as well as some live versions of tracks from Lifelong Deadline . Gore recorded these on June 27, 1993 in the New York club "Knitting Factory" when they were playing at the "New Music Seminar". There is also a version of In the Name of Evil, Rotten and Gore on Slow Death , which was recorded live by the renowned entertainment orchestra Metropole Orkest in February 1997. The last track on the CD consists of an 11-second speech sample followed by 10 minutes of silence. The CD bears the imprint "Play loud on lousy equipment" ("Please play loud on lousy equipment"). After the release of Slow Death , Gore broke up for good.
After the end of the band
Rob Frey joined the folk-pop formation De Nieuwe Blijdschap in the following years , where he played guitar. Guitarist Johan van Reede founded the band Super Spade with singer / guitarist Annemiek van Gründling , which plays classic rock cover versions.
In 2008, the American label Southern Lord Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream re-released. It contains the songs from the original LPs, remixed by Martijn Alsters, as well as all songs in previously unreleased live and demo versions. The albums were each released as a double vinyl LP and a booklet is included with photos, texts and detailed liner notes by Rob Frey. A double CD was also released containing both albums and a 32-page booklet.
Reunion 2019
In April 2018, Gore announced a reunion with the cast of Rob Frey, Bardo Koolen and Johan van Reede. On March 22, 2019, the band released the album Revanche . The release includes ten tracks from Lifelong Deadline , the 1992 double CD, the production of which the band saw as a failure. The pieces on Revanche were partially re-recorded and remixed by Gore and Terry Date, who had previously worked with bands such as Slayer , Slipknot or Limp Bizkit . The record was released on the German label Exile on Mainstream . In addition, the band announced a number of live performances.
Discography
Albums
- 1986: Hart Gore (Eksakt Records)
- 1987: Mean Man's Dream (Eksakt Records)
- 1987: Gore / Henry Rollins Live (Eksakt Records)
- 1988: Wrede (The Cruel Peace) (Megadisc Records)
- 1992: Lifelong Deadline (Armageddon Records)
- 1997: Mest 694'3 (Messback Music)
- 2019: Revanche (Exile on Mainstream Records)
EPs
- 1996: Gore & Henk: Voor Nu De Eeuwigheid (Messback Music)
Compilation albums
- 1994: In the Name of Evil Rotten & Gore (Messback Music, Cassette)
- 1997: Slow Death (Messback Music, limited to 6000 copies, free supplement to issue # 27 of "Gonzo Circus Magazine")
- 2008: Hart Gore / Mean Man's Dream (Southern Lord Records)
Web links
- Gore Official Homepage
- Gore at Discogs (English)
- History of Gore (private weblog)
- Gore on Exile on Mainstream Records
Individual evidence
- ↑ Simon Reynolds in Melody Maker, 1987
- ↑ a b c Rob Frey's liner notes on Hart Gore / Mean Man's Dream , Southern Lord
- ↑ a b c Gore Peel Sessions on the BBC's Keeping It Peel page
- ↑ Gore biography on MTV.com
- ↑ Rollins Band Discography at Discogs
- ^ Frank Stroobant's homepage
- ↑ Bohren & the Club of Gore Homepage
- ^ Gore biography on the Dutch Muziek Encyclopedie
- ^ Henk Westbroek biography on the artist's homepage
- ↑ De Nieuwe Blijdschap on the Dutch Muziek Encyclopedie
- ↑ Super Spade Homepage
- ↑ Gore on the Exile on Mainstream Records homepage.