First-hand accounts from the organizers and everyone who attended. HARDROCK & HEAVY METAL
Puked out by music magazines and the press in general, yet embraced by legions of young and wild teenagers all over the globe who felt the special change and uniqueness of 'metal' music back in the roaring '70s and '80s. It came with a dress code of long hair, spiked bracelets and bullet belts, leather jacke
ts, and denim pants. Against the backdrop of industry labor, poverty, and boredom, a new sound was born. A wave of new bands and directions entering mainly from the U.K and USA didn’t leave some regions in little Belgium untouched. The WEST of Flanders was pretty much the only place in Belgium with that much HARD and alternative activity in that region. Pioneering bands like AC/DC, RUSH, KISS, VAN HALEN, THE SCORPIONS, and many more set foot on West-Flanders soil for the first time in the '70s. And the '80s were no different. METALLICA, VENOM, MANOWAR, SLAYER, MERCYFUL FATE, to name a few, in the massive list of now-famous rockers who are selling millions of records to date.
1983 marked the start of the infamous HEAVY SOUND FESTIVAL, the first-ever metal-orientated festival in Belgium and probably even in Europe, lasting three editions with spectacular line-ups that drew fans from all over Europe and beyond. A new book, "Heavy Sounds from the West," highlights an era of grassroots, determination, DIY, and a load of Idealism and pot luck. A reflection of bands who were young snots back then with hopes and dreams, just doing their thing. Read about the otherwise sleepy West Flanders villages and towns that were rocked by bands from the harder genre. The book tells of the biker culture that made concerts unsafe and the abundance of hard rock pubs, where even Lemmy came for a beer in Roeselare before the Poperinge gigs. Release date: 14-06-2023
