|
|
|
TARGET
Attending the third Heavy Sound festival (as
a fan) in Poperinge on May 26th 1985 made Franky Van Aerde
realise that being in a band and playing on a stage was
something that he wanted to do as well. He spent the entire
summer vacation of 1985 ( July & August ) rehearsing on his own
at home, in order to improve his guitar skills. By September
Franky felt comfortable with what he had achieved and decided to
start searching for other other guys, in order to compile a full
line - up.
By accident Franky stumbled upon an advertisment in Belgium’s
largest Youth & Music Magazine Joepie : Werner Dedecker ( vocals
and bass ) and Danny Van De Meirssche ( guitar ) were looking
for a guitarist and drummer, in order to complete their new
band. As a matter of fact, they had previously been playing
together in a band called VON RAVEN. Anyhow, what attracted
Franky most of all was the fact that Danny lived less than I
mile from where he lived. Despite the fact that both Danny and
Werner were well over a decade older than Franky, the three of
them decided to stick together and give it a try.
Shortly after hooking up with Danny and Werner, Franky bumped into
Christ Braems at The Smash, a metal pub located just opposite of
the railway station in Zottegem. The two of them were playing
truant that day, started talking, and it turned out that Christ
was a drummer, and that his band FIST ATTACK had just fallen
apart. One week later, Franky managed to persuade Christ to
become the drummer in his still nameless band.
Another few weeks later the line - up was completed with the
addition of lead vocalist Guy De Graeve. Once again, this
happened by chance. Franky reacted to another advertisment in
Joepie, announcing the sale of a Boss guitar - effect pedal. He
eventually bought it and when he went out to pick it up, he told
the seller that he was in a band, and that they were still
looking for a vocalist. Up until then bassist Werner had taken
care of the vocals, but he wanted to be able to concentrate on
playing bass only. The other guy told Franky that he knew a
vocalist in the vein of Ronnie James Dio and Brian Johnson. To
make a long story short : Franky hooked up with this unknown
vocalist the very same day, and asked him to join them during
rehearsal the next week. That’s how Guy joined the ranks of what
was to become his first metal band experience. In fact, Christ
and Franky were especially impressed by the fact that Guy’s
voice sounded reminscent of METAL CHURCH’s David Wayne. Not
surprisingly, TARGET would later incorporate the likes of Metal
Church and Ton Of Bricks during their gigs.
With this quintet line - up the band started to rehearse for the
next six months or so, yet they turned out not to be all too
creative, as only two songs were composed : Free & Born For The
Future. Besides, both former VON RAVEN members turned out to be
too slow when it came to making progress. To them, being in a
band was a hobby, more than anything else. The others wanted to
take the band to the next level, and as a result both Danny and
Werner had to retire from the field.
In April of 1986 the band was completed when Christ, Franky and Guy
were joined by guitarist Chris De Turck and bassist Johan
“Wannes” Susant. Both had been playing together for several
years already, in both TRAIN and BATTLECRY. And, just prior to
joining this new outfit, Johan had enjoyed a short spell with
CROSSFIRE as well. Actually, Johan initially recommended Chris
to the others, but didn’t join them himself at first. It wasn’t
until after he had attended a couple of TARGET rehearsals (
including Chris and ex BLACK SHEPHERD bassist Patrick Minnebier,
who was trying out to join the band at the time as well ) that
he decided to join as well. CROSSFIRE was more or less at a dead
end to begin with, and TARGET’s music suited Johan way better.
The band decided on TARGET ( picked by Franky from a long list ) as
a moniker and started to rehearse and write songs at a ferocious
pace for the next two months. That was a real necessity, as they
intended to record a first demo as soon as possible. In June of
1986 the TARGET guys felt ready at last and, together with
co-producers Alex Raes and Jos Van Geit ( ex guitarist of
OVERDOSE, TRAIN and BATTLECRY ), they entered Jos’s home studio
in Erps - Kwerps. The result was the band’s debut 5 - song demo,
entitled Mission Executed. TARGET’s music in those early days
could easily be described as melodic speed metal.
TARGET’s maiden gig was during the second Heavy Metal Night at Zaal
Pede in Sint - Lievens - Houtem on September 13th 1986.
Later on that same month TARGET recorded four more songs in
their rehearsal room : They Walk In Front, The Gathering,
Nuclear Waste & Warriors Of The Holy One. All of them had been
written during the summer vacation, and the least you could say
is that the band had matured a lot since recording the Mission
Executed demo, which was recorded only some three months ago.
This new tape wasn’t made available to the public, yet it was
used as a promotional tool to try and convince concert promoters
and record labels alike of their abilities.
On November 1st 1986 TARGET was part of the Halloween Thrash &
Stagediving Party in Ternat, being second on a bill that also
included openers DEVIANT GEDRAG ( a Hardcore outfit ), X - CRETA,
Holland’s LARM and local headliners CYCLONE. Around that time
the band had already acquired the services of manager Peter Van
Kesteren, who was also one of the people behind the Battle Of
Death festivals.
In fact, on January 17th 1987 TARGET was part of the line - up for
the third Battle Of Death festival at De Kriekelaar in
Schaarbeek. Also on the bill were fellow countrymen BLACK
SHEPHERD, EXPLORER, LIGHTNING FIRE and German labelmates LIVING
DEATH. In the end all of the band’s hard work paid off, as
TARGET received an offer to record a test - tape for Axel
Thubeauville’s Aaarrg Records during the spring of 1987. This
was solely a result of the band sending out a professional
promopack, including the promotape as well as copies of the
excellent reviews that had already fallen to their share.
The band signed a deal to record this proposed test - tape and
headed off ( by car ) to Aaarrg Records’s Phoenix Studio in
Bochum ( Germany ) one early morning in April of 1987. In fact,
the trip to Bochum almost had to be cancelled at the last
minute: just before the band was about to embark, bassist Johan
injured his hand by slamming the door of his car in an
unorthodox way. Johan normally never used a plectrum, but he
simply had to this time, as his index finger was still sore.
Besides, by the time they got to Bochum, all members were
already exhausted from the trip. Nevertheless they set up their
gear in the studio and proceeded to record no less than 8 songs
in 4 hours. The end result however was another 4 - song promo -
tape. The remaining four songs were not included because they
had already been included on the band’s Mission Executed demo.
Label boss Axel Thubeauville ( of Earthshaker Records fame, and
later on Shark Records and US Metal Records too ) was convinced
of TARGET’s abilities on the spot, and sent the band some record
contract proposals soon after. These turned out to be so bad
that the band’s lawyer advised them not to sign any of them.
Fortunately Ralph Hubert took Aaarrg Records over shortly after,
and he offered TARGET a way better deal. Although there were
still doubts as to the label’s distribution was concerned ( in
fact, the band was more into signing with Noise International –
had they been offered a deal – because of this aspect ) the band
did sign a deal with Aaarrg in late May of 1987.
In between all of this, TARGET also managed to pay live a couple of
times. On April 25th they supported RITUAL and OSTROGOTH in Sint
- Lievens - Houtem ( Zaal Pede ), and on May 29th they played
outside of Belgium for the first time, at De Kajuit in Ubach
over Worms ( Holland ), alongside GRIFFITH. The very next day
TARGET played at JH Kameleon in Eindhout - Laakdal.
In the meantime guitarist Chris De Turck had been tied by marriage
and decided to quit TARGET as a result. With recordings for the
band’s first full - length release being scheduled for July and
August already, the band was in desperate need of a second
guitarist. Ex SULFEET guitarist Johan Luyckx was about to become
TARGET’s new sixstringer at one point, but in the end he only
lasted a couple of weeks.
In fact, several guitarists were invited to audition, but none of
them turned out to be capable of playing the band’s intricate
material adequately. Until a TARGET interview surfaced in Dutch
metal magazine Aardschok, that is. After reading said interview,
Lex Vogelaar ( formerly of Dutch band LYCANTROPE ) expressed an
interest in auditioning for TARGET by calling the band directly.
That was just three weeks before the band was set to head to the
Phoenix Studio in Bochum again. The band first met Lex in person
on June 8th 1987, in the centre of Eindhoven, Holland. That very
same day the second Dynamo Open Air festival was held there as
well, which was very convenient for both parties. Anyhow, Lex
proceeded to audition for the band, managed to convince the rest
of the guys on the spot and thus became TARGET’s new guitarist.
TARGET spent most of July and August of 1987 in the Phoenix Studio
in Bochum and this resulted in the Mission Executed LP. And
although the albumtitle was identical to that of the demo, none
of the old songs were re - recorded for it, simply because they
were no longer representative of the band’s current style. When
they were over in Germany they got along very well with the
other bands that were also on the Aaarrg Records roster, such as
HOLY MOSES, LIVING DEATH and MEKONG DELTA. In fact, Johan helped
HOLY MOSES out ( after their bassist called it quits all of a
sudden ) by becoming their temporarily bassist, in order to
complete a tour with D.R.I. Johan played two festivals with HOLY
MOSES too, and also recorded a videoclip with them. TARGET
themselves played a show at Die Zeche in Bochum as well, during
their extensive recording stay over there.
The Mission Executed LP clearly marked a step forward in the band’s
development. Gone was the straight - ahead speed metal style
from the band’s demo - days, as Mission Executed was definitely
more in the ( progressive ) thrash metal vein. Let’s just say
that Mission Executed turned out to be an excellent combination
of both speed and thrash metal ingredients. Although England’s
Kerrang! still described TARGET as “Benelux Speed Merchants”,
and Mark Putterford gave Mission Executed only two K’s ( out of
a maximum of five ), the majority of the other reviews turned
out to be more objective and to the point, not to mention
positive.
The only thing that may have kept people from buying a copy of
Mission Executed is the cover design that wasn’t up to par with
the music. Designed by drummer Christ, it turned out to be an
ameliorated version of the demo cover design, but in all
honesty, it still turned out to be rather dreadful. Johan once
claimed that the entire band was behind the idea of using this
particular design at the time though. Luckily the logo, also
courtesy of Christ, was way cooler.
Once Mission Executed was released, in November of 1987, TARGET
started to play live again, especially in Belgium and Holland.
On November 28th they supported VOIVOD and headliners KREATOR at
De Kriekelaar in Schaarbeek, and on December 6th they shared the
stage with the likes of LAAZ ROCKIT, M.O.D. and TANKARD in Tielt.
Prior to these, TARGET had also played a show in Lokeren. By
that time manager Peter Van Kesteren had already been replaced
by Gina Van Den Hove ( Progressive Music Promotions ).
Early on in 1988 the live activities simply continued. On January
8th TARGET supported TANKARD at Zopo in Horst ( Holland ). A
couple of weeks later the band ventured off to Holland again, as
they played a show with Dutch band MANDATOR at Staddijk in
Nijmegen. This was quickly followed by another couple of shows
across the border, supporting PARADOX : at Scum in Katwijk (
January 30th 1988 ) and at Willem II in Den Bosch the next day.
Actually, on that occasion PARADOX didn’t play a full set ( only
three songs - two covers and one instrumental ), since vocalist
Charly Steinhauer had lost his voice.
Shortly after those shows with PARADOX, TARGET vocalist Guy De
Graeve slowly but surely started to lose interest and failed to
show up for rehearsals every once in a while. Nevertheless the
band played at De Steile Trap in Deventer ( Holland ) on April
8th 1988. The next day they were also part of a Metallysee
festival ( alongside INSANE, SIXTY - NINE and TANKARD) at Zaal
Pede in Sint - Lievens - Houtem.
As the situation with Guy evolved from bad to worse, the band was
forced to get rid of him in early June of 1988, and thus the
search for a new vocalist commenced. Johan remembered a guy
named Yves Lettanie, who had already fronted IRON GREY a couple
of years earlier. In fact, IRON GREY had morphed into STEVE GREY
( the band ) in 1986.
The band managed to track Yves down and tried to convince him to
join TARGET. By that time however, Yves had already quit the
metal scene and had continued his career as a pop singer. He had
also changed his name to Steve Gray. At first Steve was very
hesitant to join, as he didn’t want to sing in a speed metal
outfit anymore. He did however agree to do some try-out
rehearsals with the band, and in the end Steve agreed to become
TARGET’s new vocalist.
With the line - up back in full force at last, TARGET immediately
started to rehearse and write new material. After all, Aaarrg
wanted to release a follow-up to Mission Executed, and the
studio had already been booked for September 1988. From then on,
the band started to rehearse six days a week, three to four
hours a day. Another pre-production 2 - song demo ( Digital
Regency & Secret Of The Dome ) was recorded as well, just to
find out exactly how Steve’s voice would match with the band’s
new material.
For almost the entire month of September 1988 TARGET were back ay
the Phoenix Studio in Bochum. Despite the fact that the band had
less time to complete the recordings, compared to their debut,
the end result turned out to be even more impressive. This was
of course thanks to the musical progression that the band had
made over the last year, but also because the band was better
prepared this time. Nevertheless the vocals and guitar solos had
to be recorded in a rush, as they were running out of time.
Needless to say that this caused a lot of stress within the
band.
The material displayed on Master Project Genesis could best be
described as progressive or techno thrash, not unlike such acts
as SIEGES EVEN, MEKONG DELTA and WATCHTOWER. In fact, bassist
Johan Susant once described it as techno speed. Excellent
reviews all over were the result. Kerrang!’s Paul Miller give it
a KKKK review. Even the ever critical Andre Verhuysen of
Holland’s Aardschok Magazine was convinced, and gave it a 9 out
of 10. Fellow Dutch fanzine Crionics did the same. Germany’s
Horror Infernal awarded them 13 out of 15, and another 9 out of
10 was their share in Blackthorn. Norway’s Morbid Mag was
overwhelmed as well, and considered TARGET to be “one of
Belgium’s best exporting bands”. Needless to say they were
right, as could be proven by mentioning plenty more marvellous
reviews. But I’ll stop here, as listing all possible reviews
isn’t what biographies are all about …
Lyrically, Master Project Genesis turned out to be a concept album,
which was a fashionable thing to do in those days. Explaining
the entire story ( courtesy of bassist Johan ) here would be
hardly possible either, so suffice it to say that it is a
fantasy story covering a certain period in the future, in which
mankind is about to become extinct. That’s the story in a
nutshell, but there’s really a lot more to it, and I urge you to
check it out yourself. And as far as the cover art for Master
Project Genesis is concerned : this time around it was done by a
professional artist, and the futuristic design tied in perfectly
with the lyrical content of the album. In my opinion it’s one of
the best artworks to ever grace the cover of a Belgian metal
release!
The release date for Master Project Genesis was set for October
28th 1988. However, shortly after the recordings had been
completed, guitarist Lex Vogelaar made it clear that he intended
to leave TARGET. The main reason for this unexpected move was to
be found in the fact that Lex would have to fulfill his (
mandatory ) military service in the near future. Although it
must be said that Lex was already thinking of forming his own
band ( which would be known as ORPHANAGE ) by then as well.
Anyhow, being the nice bloke that he was, Lex did agree to do
the shows that were already scheduled in support of Master
Project Genesis. In the mean time the band would be able to
start searching for yet another member to complete the line - up
once again.
One of the gigs in support of the new release was on December 24th
1988, when TARGET ( together with Holland’s MARTYR ) played at
the Dynamo club in Eindhoven, Holland at last. On the 26th of
January 1989, TARGET was the opening act at a festival held at
the Karregat venue, also in Eindhoven. Holland’s own JEWEL were
called in to replace HOLY TERROR on short notice that day. Also
on the bill were RE - ANIMATOR from the U.K., New York’s NUCLEAR
ASSAULT and San Francisco’s Bay Area headlining thrashers
EXODUS. This was also the last show for Lex Vogelaar. As
TARGET’s guitarist anyhow …
Around the same time TARGET received an offer from German thrashers
ANGEL DUST to support them on a European tour. At first the guys
were promised to be paid a monthly fee, but by the time the
first date approached things had been changed to board and
lodging only. In the end TARGET declined the offer, as both
Steve and Johan already had a steady dayjob by then, and would
thus be forced to take three months off without salary. And as a
direct result, plans of a tour of the West Coast of the U.S.A. (
also in support of ANGEL DUST ) fell through as well.
In early summer 1989 the TARGET guys acquired the services of
MEKONG DELTA guitarist Uwe Baltrusch ( aka Mark Kaye ) to join
them for a European mini - tour. Aaarrg boss Ralph Hubert ( aka
Bjorn Eklund, and as such being MEKONG DELTA’s bassist )
considered this a good idea, as Uwe had only recently joined
MEKONG DELTA and thus could do with some extra live experience.
Anyhow, performing those intricate TARGET songs as a one -
guitarist - band simply wasn’t an option …
The Chaos Over Europe tour consisted of only a handful of gigs,
both locally as well as in Holland and Germany. On June 30th
1989 the Chaos Over Europe tour visited Zaal Sint - Martinus in
Oordegem: supported by SIXTY - NINE, TARGET were able to display
Master Project Genesis on home soil at last.
TARGET’s record company Aaarrg also had an offer to let the band
present Master Project Genesis at the Marquee Club in London,
England, but since they would have to pay U.S. $ 3.000 they
backed out at the last minute. There was also talk of TARGET
performing at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Holland, yet that
never happened either, for reasons unknown.
On August 12th 1989 TARGET was part of a festival line - up (at
Zaal Ped in Beerse) that featured 7 Belgian bands ( including
MYSTERY and KILLER ), plus Dutch headliners EMERGENCY. TARGET
was the fifth band on the bill, just prior to MYSTERY, and they
played a cover of RAVEN’s Mind Over Metal on that occasion.
Another thing that Franky remembers clearly from that particular
day, is that his Marshall amp was stolen!
By the end of 1989 vocalist Steve Gray had cleared out already. The
remaining TARGET members ( Franky Van Aerde, Johan Susant and
Christ Braems ) continued to rehearse as a trio for another
while, but when it turned out that they couldn’t find a suitable
vocalist and guitarist, they eventually laid TARGET to rest.
Bassist Johan Susant joined Belgian Rock band THE CANDY DATES and
released one CD ( Candied Orange Peel – 1993 ) with them.
Drummer Christ Braems did one European tour as the tour manager
for American Techno Thrash Gods WATCHTOWER. As mentioned earlier
on already, former guitarist Lex Vogelaar started ORPHANAGE and
would become a producer ( i.e. for WITHIN TEMPTATION ) later on
as well. Vocalist Steve Gray continued in the music business
afterwards as well, even up until today, albeit that nothing
ever related to his heavy metal roots. Original vocalist Guy De
Graeve is rumoured to be still singing sixties, seventies and
eighties covers these days.
Guitarist Franky Van Aerde joined a buch of friends that he had
known for years already, in a Pop / Rock band called TEEN
SPIRIT. Eventually TEEN SPIRIT’s style changed more towards the
FAITH NO MORE vein. Their biggest claim to fame was a support
slot to Dutch Rockers GOLDEN EARRING in Sint - Eloois - Vijve.
After a couple of years of hiatus, Franky started to experiment
with electronic music as of late 1998. These days Franky
continues to experiment with music at his home - studio. In
fact, he had his old Kramer and Fender guitars being patched up
during the summer, so who knows what’s in store for the future …
Discography:
1986 Mission
Executed ( demo )
1986 Demo 2 ( rehearsal demo )
1987 Promo ( demo )
1987 Mission Executed ( LP ) Aaarrg Records
1988 Promo ( demo )
1988 Master Project Genesis ( LP / CD ) Aaarrg Records
2009 Mission Executed / Master Project Genesis ( 2 CD )
Stormspell Records
2017 Mission Executed ( LP ) Floga Records
2017 Master Project Genesis ( LP ) Floga Records
2017 Mission Executed ( digibook CD ) Archivist Records
2017 Master Project Genesis ( digibook CD ) Archivist Records
2017 Mission Executed ( CD ) High Roller Records
2017 Master Project Genesis ( CD ) High Roller Records
2017 Mission Executed ( CD ) Blacksmith Productions
|
|
