All posts by Jos

Lyrics

This is the day

Almost everything I have
used to make me feel ashamed:
my job, my flat, my friends,
and my name
the bicycle I got from my brother
the presents I got from my mother

But now that my father is hanging on,
hanging on five tubes,
and now that his hoarse mouth
speaks of adieu,
my shame squats in a corner
now my shame squats in a corner

He died the way he drove his car
calm, controlled, correct might be the word
looking bravely at the road
jumping the lights he considered to be illogically absurd

Absurd, how everything I still wanted to say
has slipped away under the wheels of time :
the presence of my mother
the bicycle of my brother
my father in his suit . . .

And so I say adieu
with everything I have
and I’m looking at the road
calm and controlled?
correct

(Based on a poem by Menno Wigman)

> back to Some Lyrics

Lyrics

Medicine

I speak of thoughts that cross my mind:
the world is chaos, unconfined;
she moves around, and round she goes
like flames around a firehose

I never thought that I could sleep
among firm flocks of sheepish sheep
and yet I’d join the sick poor souls
to wake and watch the world go whole

Medicine . . .

What do I want in these sickbays
primed with monitored medals?
How does it feel to be losing your health?
If I put new spurs on my boots,
expose my profile
reeking of facebooks, twitters, and death,
pampered with sneers and smears of bullshit lies
coughed up in criminal companies,
arsonic arcades,
ballistics’ statistics,
bureaucratic cesspits,
war rooms?

Medicine . . .

I would rather throw my body from the chair,
tied to a table in a fastfood diner;
rather go shit my pants
in front of family on prime-time tv
rather laud rotten vegetables
with hobnob fries and make-believe pie
rather,
stuffed like a cooked goose in France
dressed as a sitting duck in Disneyland
hung on a nail in Christie’s
sliced extra at the Worldwide Bake-Off
taught how to ski jump with Eddie the Eagle,
resurrected in 1988 somewhere on Calgary Hill,
than come down roaring
in a blaze of violence,
filth,
and villainy

Medicine . . .

> back to Some Lyrics

Biography

Biography

Leave a comment

in English
2020   G.W. SOK – ANYWAY… (45 RECORDS IN 45 DAYS)
00000(annecdotes, antidotes, and record sleeves, 100 p.) Druxat
2017   G.W. SOK – WHY CAN’T WE ALL BE HAPPY ALL THE TIME
00000(the collected Sok-lyrics  2010-2016, 144 p.) Druxat
2014   G.W. SOK – A/B/C & SHE
00000(poem on a postcard) Half Letter Press USA
2011   G.W. SOK – A MIX OF BRICKS & VALENTINES
00000(the collected Sok-lyrics written for The Ex between
000001979 and 2009, 384 p.) PM Press USA
2011   G.W. SOK – LIVRE UN: LE DÉBUT D’UNE BELLE FRÉNÉSIE
00000(26 Sok-lyrics translated from English in to French, bi-lingual,
0000076 p.) La Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne CH
2002   G.W. SOK – INTO THE GRAVY
00000(an essay on punk ideas and personal ideology, originally
00000released in 1989 in Threat By Example. Re-issued in 2002
00000by Temporary Services, 32 p.) Druxat
1997   G.W. SOK – EX-RATED
00000(a series of Ex-lyrics, 102 p.) Druxat

in Dutch
2022   IJSBRAND KOUDVUUR I.O. – DEELT WEE
00000(drie verhalen, 24p.) Druxat
2022   G.W. SOK – KIJK KIJK
00000(een “solar sok tv” gids, 8p.) Druxat
2021   G.W. SOK & ARNOLD DE BOER – DUEL|DUET #2
00000(duels en duetten, tijdschrift, 32p.) Petrichor
2009   G.W. SOK – EEN KLEIN ZWARTWIT VECHTBEK MANIFEST
00000(acht vertalingen/hertalingen van engelstalige songteksten
00000van de band The Rondos, 12 p.) Druxat
2008   KLEIJ & ROEST – PANTKRAND 25
00000(de zin en onzin van het leven in een woonwerkpand,
00000middels gedichten, berichten, al dan niet verzonnen
00000verhalen, feiten en reportages, ditjes, datjes,
00000en rondgeslingerde kladjes, 104 p.) Druxat
2002   IJSBRAND KOUDVUUR I.O. – BESCHUIT MET PUISTJES
00000(verzamelde puberpoëzie, 48 p.) Druxat
2000   GOEROE OVERFLAKKEE – VAN GOD LOS
00000(alle columns voor muziekblad Opscene, 112 p.) Druxat

Concerts 2009-2024

Concerts 2021

OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
01 . 17-07 . Nijmegen (NL) – Theater de Goffert (Valkhof festival)
02 . 18-07 . Amsterdam (NL) – Occii, 19h30 (1)
03 . 18-07 . Amsterdam (NL) – Occii, 21h30 (2)
04 . 17-09 . Lyon (F) – Subs
05 . 18-09 . Yverdon-les-Bains (CH) – Amalgame (cinéconcert)
06 . 25-09 . Toulouse (F) – Festival Ellipse (cinéconcert)
07 . 01-10 . Cherbourg (F) – Le Circuit (cinéconcert)
G.W. SOK + L’OEIL KOLLECTIF
08 . 08-10 . Liège (B) – L’An Vert
G.W. SOK (solo)
09 . 04-11 . Amsterdam (NL) – Occii (Grrrt 50)
CODDIWOMPLE
10 . 19-11 . Nantes (F) – Salle de de la Cité
11 . 20-11 . Dijon (F) – La Vapeur (IndieDay #2)
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
12 . 11-12 . Liège (B) – KulturA

CANCELLED (20) IN 2021

CANNIBALES & VAHINÉS
01 . 05/02 . Labastide de Serou (F)
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
02 . 26/02 . Cherbourg (F) (ciné-concert)
03 . 27/02 . Brest (F) (ciné-concert)
CANNIBALES & VAHINÉS
04 . 17/04 . Biarritz (F) – L’Atabal
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
05 . 05/05 . Bern (CH) -Bee Flat (cinéconcert)
06 . 06/05 . Lyon (F) – festival Subsistances (cinéconcert)
07 . 07/05 . Yverdon-les-Bains (CH) – L’Amalgame (cinéconcert)
08 . 20/05 . Périgueux (F) – Sans Reserve (cinéconcert)
09 . 21/05 . Toulouse (F) Le Metronum (cinéconcert)
10 . 30/06 . Lärz (D) – Fusion Festival
11 . 18-07 . Gent (B) – Parc de Citadel
12 . 08-08 . Liège (B) – Micro Festival
13 . 11/09 . Chartres de Bretagne (F) – ArtInsti
14 . 11-09 . Gent (B) – Parc de Citadel
THE AND
15 . 15-09 . Toulouse (F) – Sorano Theatre
16 . 16-09 . Toulouse (F) – Ches Bovy dit Chanpagne
CODDIWOMPLE
17 . 15-10 . Pau (F) – Festival de ATRDR
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
18 . 22-10 . Auray (F) – Nuits Soniques
19 . 19-11 . Gent (B) – Parc de Citadel
20 . 18-12 . Périgueux (F) – Sans Résèrve (cinéconcert)

News

Update 2021

So now it is September 2021, and somehow the world is slowly getting back to some kind of normal… Some kind of new normal, though. This virus thing has done some seriously strange things to people’s minds. Then again, happy to be able to play a series of shows again, in front of real people not screens.

The album of G.W. Sok and Ignacio Córdoba… we are waiting with its release till we are sure we can really do a tour, so that won’t be any sooner than 2022.

The album of L&S… Basically it is ready, but like with the album above, we are waiting with releasing it till next year.

The album of King Champion Sounds… What can I say? The sleeve is okay? “Asking for a friend”…

Meanwhile, also working with Arnold (Zea, The Ex) on a small writing challenge called “Duel:Duet”, initiated by Petrichor publishers.

News

What’s up, Sok?

Hard to tell, right? This year, all shows so far have been either cancelled or postponed or redirected to other uncertain dates. Concerts with Oiseaux-Tempête, L&S, King Champion Sounds, OMA, Zoikle, GW Sok & Nacho Córdoba, solo stuff… they’re all waiting in the wings, and quite a lot of wings there are.
Meanwhile, OMA‘s album Under The World was released after all. The album of L&S (together with the GAM orchestra), When The Vowels Fall has been mixed and mastered and we’re looking for a label to release it. The album of G.W. Sok & Nacho Córdoba, Is This A House, is also almost ready, we’re working on the sleeve and stuff. King Champion Sounds, too, are working on their next, 5th album, and I guess right now it’s somewhere around mixing time.
Concertwise I am focusing on September as the earliest month that Something Audible might be Happening Again. Hard to tell, though, everything is bound to change before you know it. In the meantime, maybe I should start to write another book?
Hm… I don’t know.
But then again?
Anyway…
Fingers crossed.

Concerts 2009-2024

Concerts 2020

CANNIBALES & VAHINÉS
01 • 02-02 • Toulouse (F) – Le Taquin
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
02 • 06-02 • Clermont Ferrand (F) – Museum d’Art (fest. Court-Métrage)
03 • 12-03 • Tunis (TUN) – Institut Français de Tunisie
G.W. SOK & IGNACIO CÓRDOBA
04 • 06-08 • Copenhagen (DEN) – RMC
L&S + L’Orchestre GAM
05 • 06-09 • Nancy (F) – L’ Autre Canal
CODDIWOMPLE
06 • 15-10 • Nantes (F) – Stereolux
07 • 16-10 • Blois (F) – Chato’do
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
08 • 26-11 • Bourges (F) – Le Nadir (live-streaming)

CANCELLED (36) IN 2020

OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
14/03 . Liège (B) – Kultura
09/04 . Périgueux (F) – Sans Reserve
30/04 . Yverdon les Bains (CH) – L’Amalgame
22/05 . Die (F) – Théatre de Die
G.W. SOK
29/05 . Haarlem (NL) – t.b.a. (Wigmania)
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
25/06 . Lärz (D) – Fusion Festival
27/06 . Poitiers (F) – festival
07/08 . Liège (B) – Micro festival
03/09 . Nantes (F) – festival Résidence
OMA
15 till 29 August USA
CODDIWOMPLE
09/10 . Pau (F) – La Ferronnerie
14/11 . Dijon (F) – La Vapeur
15/11 . Chalon sur Saône (F) – Lapeniche
L&S
20/11 . Brest (F) – Festival Invisible
G.W. SOK
29/11 . Oostende (B) – Kaap (book-launch)
xx/12 . Amsterdam (NL) – Occii (book-launch)
OISEAUX-TEMPÊTE
04/12 . Brest (F) – La Carène
05/12 . Rennes (F) – Les Bar en Trans (1)
05/12 . Rennes (F) – Les Bar en Trans (2)
09/12 . Toulouse (F) – Metronum
11/12 . Yverdon-les-Bains (CH) – L’Amalgame
12/12 . Audincourt (F) – Le Moloco
21/12 . Cherbourg (F) – Circuit