JOEP KOK, that's Oliver Rickling (vocals, bass), Andreas van Hooven (vocals, guitar), and Sebastian Przyrowski (drums), who have reunited musically for this pop-rock project. One of their new songs, 7th Ave's Gratitude, is a duet. The stirring song featuring Berlin singer Michelle Ailjets plays an important role in JOEP KOK'S story.

Why?

JOEP KOK is also the Amsterdam-based singer-songwriter who – in the novel Klangkörper published 2017 – invites singer Ela onto stage of the Waterhole music club on Leidseplein to sing a duet that thrills the audience.

What's the connection?

The duet performed by Joep and Ela at the Waterhole was Eric Clapton's song The Core with Marcy Levy. Describing this scene in a novel like Klangkörper, naming the musical role models, and mentioning short excerpts from their lyrics is perfectly legal. However, anyone wishing to set this scene to music, for example in an audiobook that is distributed, will run into trouble.

When all attempts fail

When, in August 2025, all attempts to obtain legal permission to use The Core for the audiobook production "Klangkörper – Keine Götter im Himmel” seemed to have failed, the band project JOEP KOK was born to create songs.

Each single note

One thing was clear from the very beginning: each single note, every word and sound had to belong to JOEP KOK – and no one else. Moreover: JOEP KOK picked up so much momentum and gathered so much energy that the songs have to be released before the audiobook will be finished.