Biography

THE EARLY YEARS (1984 - 1992)

These were the years Martijn Koek found out he had a passion for making his own music. He started with long and searching, mostly improvised epics. A lot of these piano/voice tunes were recorded to cassette - none of them were ever published, of course. He also wrote some genuine songs for the first bands he played in: Einstein Reveals and Dead Parrot. The latter band, incidently, was coached by the famous late Herman Brood-bass player Freddie Cavalli.

THE SLEEPWALKER YEARS (1993-1998)

The first steady band Koek played in, was called Sleepwalkers. Together with childhood friends Cliff Tjong-A-Tjoe (bass) and Wouter Wurdemann (drums) and newly found guitarist Pieter de Lange (ex-Gyre) he formed a band that became very productive in the next four years, making a lot of songs (Tjong, De Lange and Koek all three delivered tunes to the band) and recording three e.p.'s: Time to be Old (1994), Sleepwalkers (1995) and Rhythms (1998). In 1998 life, family and careers put a stop to the Sleepwalkers adventure. First, only Koek went on playing and writing, but after a 10-year hiatus De Lange also released new songs, under the name Ampa Vista. In 2013 a suprisingly good live recording of the 1996 Twin Pigs show in Amsterdam unearthed. Rumors of a Sleepwalker reunion will probably never stop coming up. 

FIRST SOLO ALBUM (2001)

Equipped with the beautiful Roland VS880ex harddisk recorder, Koek started to record songs in his living room. The result became his debut album What are you doing here? featuring 12 songs. Koek plays and sings every note on the album. It was his first recording project and it shows. Still, the Koek-style is evidently audible on this early work, in the typical searching and story-telling songs. The album also contains the first recording of later public favorite North Carolina, september 24.  

THE CUNNING PLAN YEARS (1999 - 2008)

After Sleepwalkers had ended, Koek soon found another band, called Kenneth's Frequency. Inspiring but chaotic years followed in which new members joined and old members went. Eventualy the name was changed to Cunning Plan and the band found a steady basis with Peter Storm (guitar), Rob Mes (drums), Cees van der Maat (bass) and Koek (keys and vocals). The four men were accompanied first by singer Paula Bollen and after her departure by Susan Arnon. Cunning Plan recorded two albums: Updated and Expanded (2003, with Bollen) and Thoughts of the Little Grey Girl (2006, with Arnon) and played live in Amsterdam (Paradiso...) and Haarlem. After the succesful album-presentation in fall 2006, in the Theater Kameleon, the band lost focus. Arnon and Storm found eachother, got married and eventually called it a day. Mes, Van der Maat and Koek immediately decided to go onwards together.

NEW SOLO RECORDINGS (2006)

In 2006 Koek released an e.p. with only three songs: 2006, revisited. This was the year he started recording solo songs again, now using a much more sophisticated machine than the Roland VS of before: a dedicated PC with Cubase running on it. Between 2006 and 2011 he recorded at least two albums (Chaos Therapy and Human Frailty) but never released them.

THE PRESTER JOHN YEARS (2008 -  now)

After Cunning Plan broke up the three remaining band members found a new guitar player in no time: Guido Demaret (ex-Stoneface). His ferocious AND subtle playing gave the band focus again, and changed the overall sound. The band adopted a new name and was joined by female singers also (Jobbeke de Jong, and later Patricia Franse). A major change occured in winter 2013, when long time member Cees van der Maat decided to leave. A new bass player was found in Sjoerd Rebers and Prester John continues to evolve and write music, up until this day. The band has released two e.p.'s until now: Alright, right now! (2009, with De Jong) and Timing is Everything (2011, with Franse) and is currently in the proces of writing another e.p. Older songs can be listened to via www.presterjohn.nl

BLACK T MINISTER (2010 - 

Koek has always written more songs than any band could cope with, so in 2010 he decided to embark on another musical project, besides Prester John. That became Black T Minister. This project is a collabaration with Guido Demaret. November 2013 the first BTM album saw the light of day: The World and You and I.