Biography
Since the closing years of the 1970s, Lukas Simonis has maintained an unbroken chain of projects that range from composing and issuing poetry to curating experimental programs of music and cinema, all while functioning as a solo performer, band member, and spontaneous improviser in formations such as Coolhaven and across the disciplines of stage, screen, and movement. Observers sometimes remark that, for an artist of this breadth, such a list captures merely the opening hours of an ordinary day. The observation does little, however, to illuminate why associates on the cultural landscape of Rotterdam still apply the word “lazy” to him. It was in that major harbor city—devastated by aerial bombardment in the Second World War—that Simonis entered the world in the first half of the 1960s, and he has remained anchored there for virtually his entire career.
Beyond his own performances, he has helped run several key alternative spaces in Rotterdam, among them The Jazz Bunker, Dodorama, and The Worm. His résumé opens with poetic activity that began in 1979 and led, in the first years of the following decade, to the self-published volume Slime. During the remainder of the 1980s he accumulated recording credits as a guitarist in groups including Dull Shickshal and Trespassers W. Even listeners attuned to such work find classification elusive; a single 1993 session featuring Simonis appears in Tom Lord’s jazz discography, yet the bulk of his affiliations lie far from any conventional swing orbit.
Among the most consequential partnerships to reach disc were those documented in 1999 by the Coolhaven ensemble and by A.A. Kismet. The same year saw the first of his recorded encounters with the French instrument inventor and composer Pierre Bastien—an EP issued by Room Records—followed in 2002 by a full-length album with the same collaborator. In 2003 Simonis joined percussionist Chris Cutler and multi-instrumentalist Bob Drake to form the VRIL trio, which released a favorably received album. His film scores encompass the soundtracks to Paniek, Twee Heren Die Het Leven Serieus Nemen, Questions and Answers, and Als Buurman Zingt.
Beyond his own performances, he has helped run several key alternative spaces in Rotterdam, among them The Jazz Bunker, Dodorama, and The Worm. His résumé opens with poetic activity that began in 1979 and led, in the first years of the following decade, to the self-published volume Slime. During the remainder of the 1980s he accumulated recording credits as a guitarist in groups including Dull Shickshal and Trespassers W. Even listeners attuned to such work find classification elusive; a single 1993 session featuring Simonis appears in Tom Lord’s jazz discography, yet the bulk of his affiliations lie far from any conventional swing orbit.
Among the most consequential partnerships to reach disc were those documented in 1999 by the Coolhaven ensemble and by A.A. Kismet. The same year saw the first of his recorded encounters with the French instrument inventor and composer Pierre Bastien—an EP issued by Room Records—followed in 2002 by a full-length album with the same collaborator. In 2003 Simonis joined percussionist Chris Cutler and multi-instrumentalist Bob Drake to form the VRIL trio, which released a favorably received album. His film scores encompass the soundtracks to Paniek, Twee Heren Die Het Leven Serieus Nemen, Questions and Answers, and Als Buurman Zingt.
Albums
