Kruidkoek & Joost Oomen is a unique blend of punkjazz, poetry and everything danceable you can imagine. The four members of Kruidkoek, all very skilled musicians who play in bands like DeWolff, De Niemanders and Broken Brass, form a strong backbone for Joost Oomen to hype up the audience with his loud, ironic poetry with influences from Dada, Ginsberg and John Cooper Clarke. The result? A dance party where people throw oranges at a gong, firing at each other with bananas and yelling ‘Saw, pudding, pudding, saw’ at the highest volume (but never louder than Joost). A Dutch, weirder, jollier version of British counterparts Antony Szmierek and Kae Tempest. At Explore the North Festival 2025, audiences already got a preview, and in 2026 they will tour with this show!
The members of Kruidkoek started their band in 2012 at the conservatory in Zwolle. They did tours to Cairo and Berlin and joined the Popronde to play in almost every Dutch city. As a group but also as individual musicians they are very familiar faces in the Dutch jazz scene.
Joost Oomen started his poetry career in Groningen, more precisely at the famous venue VERA, and performed his poetry, with or without music, from Kaapstad to Paris and at festivals as Lowlands, Into the Great Wide Open and Oerol. His most recent poetry collection sold almost ten thousand copies. In 2025 Kruidkoek and Joost Oomen did their second tour together, and played for approximately 20.000 people.
Joost Oomen – poetry, percussion
Nick Feenstra – saxophone, flute
Tijmen Kooiker – guitar
Reindert Kragt – bass
Bram Knol – drums
