Gore were a
DutchThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band formed in 1985, characterized as instrumental
noise rockNoise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
, who released six studio albums, one live album, and had two compilation appearances between 1986 and 1997. One of the band's studio albums was released on the Megadisc label. They split up in 1997.
The band's initial line was Pieter De Sury (guitar, previously played in Venlo-based band Disgust), Martin Van Cleef (bass, also from Disgust) and Danny Arnold Lommen (drums, previously played guitar in Venlo-based band Pandemonium). With this line-up, the band's concept was developed and the music heard on the
Hart Gore LP was written. After a short period of time, Van Cleef left the band and Rob Frey (aka Marij Hel) took over on bass.
With the line-up of Pieter De Sury, Rob Frey and Danny Arnold, the band began playing live locally. In march 1986, they entered the studio to record their first LP, entitled
Hart Gore. After
Hart Gore and in 1987 the follow-up,
Mean Man's Dream. They then released a live album featuring Gore on one side and
Henry RollinsHenry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
on the other.
In 1988 Pieter De Sury left the band and was replaced by two new guitar players. the line-up now was: Marij Hel (Rob Frey) - bass / Danny Arnold - drums / Frankie Stroo - guitar & Joes Bently - guitar. The band played at the
New Music SeminarThe New Music Seminar was a series of multi-venue music showcases held annually in New York City, in the month of June, from 1980 to 1995, then relaunched in 2009....
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and signed to the large Megadisc label, releasing the double album
Wrede/The Cruel Peace in 1988, the album co-produced by
Steve AlbiniSteven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
. The lack of commercial success led the band to split up.
Frey reformed the band in 1991 with new musicians (guitarist Johan Van Reede and drummer Bardo Maria), and released the double-CD album
Lifelong Deadline. The following year they again performed at the New Music Seminar in New York, playing at The Knitting Factory.
In January 1994, Gore toured Europe in support of the CD reissues of
Hart Gore and
Mean Man's Dream on Messback Music CD.
Gore released their final album,
Mest/694'3 in February 1997 with the line-up from
Lifelong Deadline intact.
A final Gore CD, entitled
Slow-Death, was included free in an issue of 'Gonzo Circus' magazine late in 1997. It contained a mixture of alternate/unreleased and live versions of songs from
Lifelong Deadline and
Mest/694'3.
Rob Frey went on to play guitar in the band De Nieuwe Blijdschap.
Gore received considerable airplay from
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ
John PeelJohn Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, and recorded three sessions for his radio show between 1987 and 1991, amounting to a lot of airtime given the length of their tracks.
Studio albums
- Hart Gore (1986) Eksakt
- Mean Man's Dream (1987) Eksakt
- Wrede/The Cruel Peace (double) (1988) Megadisc
- Lifelong Deadline (1992) Messback
- Mest/694'3 (1996) Messback
- Slow Death (1997) (6000 copies issued free with Gonzo Circus magazine)
Compilations
- Out of Nowhere CD (1990) Out Of Nowhere
- Mortar CD (1992) Permis de Construiere Deutschland
- HartGore & Mean Mans Dream CD (2008) Southern