Warp Records News

‘Big City Loser’, the debut EP by Chok Rock (aka Parisian musician Gael Baillier) is rereleased on Warp on 25 April, re-mastered and with an extra track on the CD entitled ‘Take A Plane’.

Originally released in a limited pressing on the Parisian label Chateaurouge, a copy of the 12" ended up in the Rough Trade shop where one of the band !!! (on a rare afternoon's break from touring last year) heard it, flipped out and brought it to Warp's attention. Gael was immediately tracked down and bundled onto the next Eurostar to London... Further EPs and an album will follow in 2005/6 on Warp. Chok Rock is chopped-up, electronic funk with deconstructed vocals and bits of guitar - "Akufen meets Parliament" as Trevor Jackson put it.

CHOK ROCK will appear alongside other Warp artists at the third annual Vasarely Festival in Aix-En-Provence on 3rd - 5th June.

Gael Baillier started out as a guitarist in the band the Smouth Mohols (the Sweet Mussels), whose short career culminated in a single gig at the Rex Club in Paris. On this mythical stage, Gael hypnotised his friends with never-ending Van Halen-style solos. But faced with a general lack of interest from the public and the record labels he left the ‘mussels’ behind...

After founding and successfully developing a sound design company, he discovered electronic music and rediscovered Shuggie Otis, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and Timmy Thomas and invested all he had in a new studio, bankrupting his company in the process (to this day his business partner wants him dead).
Gael retreated to his small Parisian flat/studio that became a refuge for other wandering souls of Paris by night. One such soul was Camille Bazbaz who memorably defined the CHOK ROCK sound as "a futuristic dampness impregnated with sex" as only a Parisian can. He also met Cyril Kebellian, genius and mega-guitarist. Then Check Morris, graphic designer and videomaker, who created the CHOK ROCK visual universe.

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