Simplon UP
The Earwurms + Alice's Paralysis

Medieval science and medical journals implied that earwurms can burrow into the brain or at least into the ears and cause serious harm. This fear caused the cryptic insects to recieve a dangerous reputation. Many fear that they bite people and think they should be kept far away but they actually can’t harm you…

The Earwurms are a ‘conceptual’ riot grrrl-punk band from Amsterdam, created by three women. They’ve been compared with The Raincoats, but also can’t be compared with anybody. The band has Carmen on guitar, Inez on drums and Paloma on bass. They started playing together in 2016 at their high school, as a reaction to not having enough female musicians in our little world and going to a project full of passion and ambition. The songs that they wrote in the past years, are now collected in their first album called ‘Conceptual Mikmak’ that was released in August 2023. The band has also played themselves in a children’s movie called ‘okedoeibedankt’, in which they’ve played their songs ‘Sex in Het Maïsveld’ and ‘Butterflies’. Their songs mention themes like the joy and understanding of the banal. They explore how being a woman affects their lives and how to deal with the confusion that comes along with it. With savory words and a shebang of sound they wiggle their way into your ears. 

Alice’s Paralysis is an experimental rock band that aims to captivate the audience in multiple ways. Comprised of Anisa Jasmo on vocals and guitar, Luka Moller on vocals and synths, Elçin Ersan on guitar, Aukje de Boer on bass guitar, and Sem Smeets on drums, the five-member band is now coming to Simplon UP to mesmerize the audience. In April, they performed in Leeuwarden as part of the Hands Off project. The music of Alice’s Paralysis can be described with the genres post-rock, slowcore, folk, noise-rock, and ambient, and the band blends these elements into a hypnotic whole. The band leads you to supernatural realms with their shamanic sound repertoire and surrealistically confronts you with your uncharted inner world.