BLØF

Beginnings

BLØF was founded in 1992 by Peter Slager, and originally consisted of four musicians: Peter Slager on bass, guitarist Paskal Jakobsen, Bas Kennis on keyboards, and Henk Tjoonk on drums. By late 1994, the band recorded their first album, Naakt Onder De Hemel, (roughly translated as "Naked under the heavens/sky"), which took just one week. Drummer Henk Tjoonk suggested distributing it themselves, and their self-produced, self-promoted record was a hit in Zeeland, a province of The Netherlands. The record was well received by critics and drew enough attention to score promotional support and a contract from EMI Music, which took over distribution of the album nationwide.^[2] The single "Aan de Kust" became a hit song in Zeeland, despite the fact that it got little airplay from national radio stations. Keyboardist Bas Kennis credits their first rudimentary website that was up and running as early as 1995, before other local bands. His maintaining of the website gave fans access to the band and a way to find out more about their music and tour dates.^[3] BLØF received an award for "Best New Talent" for the album. The money that was included with the award was used to record their second album, Helder, which was released in September 1997.

Early years

BLØF's first two singles, Helder and Zeven Nachten, didn't make it to the charts. Due to internal struggles within the band, which almost led to a breakup, by the end of 1997 the band fired Tjoonk and hired Chris Götte in his place. With the help of ex-Doe Maar manager Frank van der Meijden, they got a full recording contract with EMI. The changes in the group worked out well as the first single released after this, a piano ballad called Liefs uit Londen, became a huge success. On 10 March, 1998, BLØF recorded live material in "The Nighttrain", a discotheque in Middelburg. This material appears on an extra edition of Helder. The next two singles the band released, new versions of Aan De Kust and Wat Zou Je Doen, were from the live recording. The original versions of both songs appeared originally on Naakt Onder De Hemel. Both songs became hit singles.

Breakthrough

In the summer of 1998, BLØF performed more and received awards for their efforts. They released XXL Live Met Het Zeeuws Orkest, a live album recorded with an orchestra from Zeeland, and a new studio album called Boven. This album was recorded with the help of Peter Bauwers (2 Unlimited) and Ronald Vanhuffel. It had a stronger rock sound than before and the single Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan became a hit in less than a month. By early 2000, the band received an Edison Award for Best Dutch Band. Before the release of Watermakers, they released the singles Dansen Aan Zee and Hier. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the group gave a concert for the Dutch Olympians and their crew. In October 2000, Watermakers was finally released and became an incredible success. The band gave a huge concert in Ahoy in 2001 and they again received an Edison for Best Dutch Band.

On 17 March, 2001, BLØF received a shock. Drummer Chris Götte died in a motorcycle accident while riding from his home to the venue where the band was scheduled to perform later that day. Stunned by the news, the band stopped performing for some time to mourn the loss of their friend. A year later, they released the live CD Oog In Oog — Live In Ahoy, the last concert featuring Götte. They finally decided to continue, and chose a new drummer; Norman Bonink, who had experience playing in Frank Boeijen's band. Their first album in this new line-up was Blauwe Ruis in 2002, and it was dedicated to Chris Götte and his family. This was followed by another live DVD, Tussen Nacht En Morgen. While Blauwe Ruis is clearly influenced by the passing of Chris, the band decided to create a lighter, more positive album in 2003 called Omarm.

BLØF travelled to Kenya in 2003 to play with artists there, and they later used their experiences there as an inspiration for their seventh studio album. The band performed internationally after this. In 2004, the American band Counting Crows toured with BLØF, forming a strong friendship, and together, both bands recorded and performed during the summer. They rerecorded the Counting Crows single "Holiday in Spain", singing the song as a duet in both English and Dutch, which has added to its popularity and gained BLØF increasing visibility and interest in the United States.

In 2005, BLØF began travelling around the world for exposure to new cultures and inspiration for a new album, and were successful in their efforts,^[4] with a new album, Umoja, being recorded. It was eventually released in 2006. The Umoja project tries to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals, collaborating with artists from the 12 countries they visited on their tour.^[4] The project has resulted in many spinoffs: concerts in the Netherlands with almost all musicians that participated in the Umoja project, a special concert with the Kodo drummers from Japan, a book titled Umoja Travel Lodge, and a DVD of the Umoja concerts. While being a very successful project, it has also been very demanding for the band. They have said that they greatly underestimated the amount of work that goes into such a project.

On BLØF's next album, Oktober, released in October 2008, they went back to basics, with a stripped-down sound, and all tracks were recorded in one take with no overdubs. The recording sessions in January and February of 2008 produced enough material for two albums so a second album appeared in early 2009, named April.

Neither Oktober nor April were a big success, so after the 2010 club tour, the band went back to the drawing board and promised to come back with a new album with the old BLØF sound. This album came out on 25 February, 2011 and is called Alles Blijft Anders (Everything Stays Different).

In the summer of 2015, BLØF celebrated the 10th edition of Concert at SEA, an annual multi-day music festival organized by the band taking place at the Brouwersdam in Zeeland.

In 2016, the band members took time out for solo projects: Jakobsen embarked on a theater tour performing his favourite songs, Slager released a solo album (Slik), on which he played all the instruments himself.

In April 2017 BLØF released AAN, which featured a collaboration with rapper Typhoon and a tribute to 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 the last week of January 2018 and stayed there for more than ten weeks.

Line-ups

Listening

• "Holiday in Spain" sung in two languages as a duet with the Counting Crows
• "Blof: de wereld draait door"