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BLØF is a Dutch rock band from
Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...
, Zeeland, founded in 1992 by Peter Slager. Current members are Peter Slager (bass), Paskal Jakobsen (lead vocals and guitar), Bas Kennis (keyboards), and Norman Bonink (drums). Former members are Henk Tjoonk (drums) and Chris Götte (drums). The group is one of the most popular bands in the Netherlands and has won 8 Edison Awards. In 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004, they received the Edison Award for "Best Band in the Netherlands". Outside of the Netherlands, they are best known for their collaborations with international musicians. When BLØF played in
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
as part of their Umoja project in 2006, it was the biggest concert in terms of attendance the country had seen to date.Bløf in Bhutan | Bhutan + partners (archived)
/ref>


Biography


Beginnings

BLØF was founded in 1992 by Peter Slager, and originally consisted of Slager on bass guitar, Paskal Jakobsen on guitar, Bas Kennis on keyboards, and Henk Tjoonk on drums. They recorded their 1994 debut album ''Naakt Onder De Hemel'' in just one week. Drummer Tjoonk suggested they distribute the album themselves. The self-produced, self-promoted album was a hit in their home province of Zeeland and the single "Aan de Kust" became a local hit, despite it having little airplay on national radio stations. The album was well received by critics and through this positive attention, the band secured a national distribution contract with
EMI Music EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
,Search for Music: Blof
/ref> Keyboardist Kennis credits their early success partly to the rudimentary website they had live already in 1995, giving fans access to the band and a direct way to find out more about their music and tour dates . For this album, BLØF received a "Best New Talent" award and with the prize money they recorded their second album, ''Helder'', released in September 1997.


Early years

In 1997, internal struggles almost led to the band's breakup, and saw drummer Henk Tjoonk fired and replaced by Chris Götte. With the help of ex-
Doe Maar Doe Maar was a Dutch ska band with punk and reggae influences whose career peaked from 1978 to 1984. They are one of the most successful pop bands in Dutch history. 'Doe maar' translates as ''go ahead'' or ''just do it''. History Early years a ...
manager Frank van der Meijden, the band landed a full recording contract with
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
. The first single released after these changes, "Liefs uit Londen", was a national success. BLØF released two additional singles, updated versions of "Aan De Kust" and "Wat Zou Je Doen", from a live recording of a performance in The Nighttrain, a discotheque in Middelburg. The original versions of both songs appeared on the band's first album. Both songs became hit singles.


Breakthrough

In the summer of 1998, BLØF released ''XXL Live Met Het Zeeuws Orkest'', a live album recorded with an orchestra from Zeeland. With the help of Peter Bauwers (
2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the a ...
) and Ronald Vanhuffel, they released the studio album ''Boven''. This album had a stronger rock sound and saw the single "Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan" become a hit in less than a month. In 2000, the band received an Edison Award for Best Dutch Band and they performed for the Dutch Olympians and their crew at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. After this, the successful ''Watermakers'' was released and in 2001, BLØF once again won an Edison for Best Dutch Band. On 17 March 2001, Drummer Chris Götte was killed in a motorcycle accident while riding from his home to the venue where the band was scheduled to perform later that day. The band took a hiatus from performing and one year later, they released the live CD ''Oog In Oog — Live I in Ahoy'', the last concert with Götte. Götte was replaced by Norman Bonink, who had previously played in
Frank Boeijen Franciscus Johannes Maria (Frank) Boeijen (born 27 November 1957 in Nijmegen) is a Dutch singer and guitarist. His best known songs are ''Kronenburg Park (Ga die Wereld Uit)'' about a prostitute, ''Zwart Wit'' about the racial murder of Kerwin ...
's band. Their next album, ''Blauwe Ruis'', released in 2002, was dedicated to Götte and his family. In 2003, BLØF released a lighter, more positive album called ''Omarm''. In 2003, they travelled to Kenya to play with local musicians. They used this experience as an inspiration for their seventh studio album. In 2004, the American band
Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...
toured with BLØF, and together they rerecorded "Holiday in Spain", a duet sung in both English and Dutch, which gave BLØF exposure in the United States. In 2005, BLØF travelled around the world in order to be exposed to new cultures and inspirations for a new album. These efforts saw the release of a new album, '' Umoja'', in 2006. The goal of the
Umoja project Umoja, the Swahili word for "unity", may refer to: *Umoja, the first of The Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba), celebrated and highlighted each day of the Kwanzaa holiday celebration *Umoja, Kenya, an all-female village founded on the principles of w ...
was to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals. The band collaborated with artists from the 12 countries they visited. The project resulted in a book, ''Umoja Travel Lodge'', concerts in the Netherlands, and a DVD of the Umoja concerts the band performed in the Netherlands with some of the international musicians that participated in the project. The project was very demanding for the band and they later stated that they greatly underestimated the amount of work involved with a project of that scale. For their next album, ''Oktober'', released in October 2008, the band decided on a stripped-down sound. All tracks were recorded in one take with no overdubs. Further recording sessions in January and February 2008 produced enough additional material, so another album, ''April'', was released in early 2009. Neither ''Oktober'' nor ''April'' were successful, so the band went back to the drawing board with the promise of returning to the sound that made them successful previously. This album, ''Alles Blijft Anders'', was released in February 2011. In 2015, BLØF celebrated the 10th edition of Concert at SEA, an annual multi-day music festival organized by the band in Brouwersdam in Zeeland. In 2016, the band members took time out for solo projects: Jakobsen embarked on a theatre tour performing his favourite songs and Slager released the solo album ''Slik''. In April 2017, BLØF put out the album ''AAN'', featuring a collaboration with rapper Typhoon and a tribute to
Thé Lau Matheus J. "Thé" Lau (17 July 1952 – 23 June 2015) was a Dutch musician and writer. Besides his solo career, he was the lead singer of the Dutch band ''The Scene''. He was born in Bergen, North Holland. Music career Lau played guitar in sev ...
, the late frontman of The Scene, who was a close friend of Jakobsen's. Zoutelande, a Dutch cover of the German song "Frankfurt Oder" by Bosse was rerecorded as a duet with Belgian singer Geike Arnaert. It reached #1 in January 2018 and stayed there for more than ten weeks. Later in 2018, they released the single "Omarm me" in collaboration with Dutch rapper Ronnie Flex.


Band members


Lineups


Discography

* ''Naakt onder de hemel'' (1995) * ''Helder'' (1997) * ''Boven'' (1999) * ''Watermakers'' (2000) * ''Blauwe Ruis'' (2002) * ''Omarm'' (2003) * '' Umoja'' (2006) * ''Oktober'' (2008) * ''April'' (2009) * ''Alles Blijft Anders'' (2011) * ''In Het Midden van Alles'' (2014) * ''De Grasbroek Sessies'' (2015) * ''Aan'' (2017) * ''Polaroid'' (2022)


References


External links

*
Interview in English with keyboard player Bas Kennis about the band

Chris Götte memorial website
of ''Oktober'' (in English)


Videos


"Holiday in Spain"
sung in two languages as a
duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
with
Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

"Blof: de wereld draait door"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blof Dutch pop music groups Musical groups from Zeeland Vlissingen