BLØF w/NORMAN BONINK is a multi award-winning four-piece rock band from the Netherlands, founded in 1992.

During the past 20 years they got huge success and have become immense popular and highly respected within the music scene nationally, but also internationally for its music, its frequent collaborations with bands from other parts of the world, willingness to incorporate other genres into their "sound".

They have won several times the Edison Award for "Best Band" in the Netherlands and were numerous times the band with most airplay on Dutch radio.

Though, unfortunately the band also had to suffer some serious set-back when early 2001 original drummer Chris Götte died in an accident. Shocked and stunned by the news, the band stopped performing for some time to mourn the loss of their friend. But later that year they finally decided to continue, and chose a new drummer… and here’s where NORMAN BONINK steps-in, who had experience playing with artists like Frank Boeijen Groep.

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 made a single together called "Holiday in Spain", singing the song as a duet, in both languages, which has added to its popularity, and gained 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, with a new album, Umoja being recorded. The Umoja project tries to raise awareness for the Millennium Development Goals, collaborating with artists from 12 countries they visited on their tour. The project has successfully 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 Umoja Travel Lodge, and a DVD of the Umoja concerts.

Also since June 2006 they are annually organizing a two-day popfestival in Zeeland called Concert at Sea, with yearly approx 60.000 people visiting.

During their many intense live shows they can rely on countless top chart hit singles, like: “Aan De Kust”, “Wat Zou Je Doen”, “Liefs Uit Londen”, “Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan”, “Dansen Aan Zee”, “Hier”, “Blauwe Ruis”, “Omarm”, Holiday In Spain”, “Alles Is Liefde”, “Oktober”, “Wijd Open”, “Mooie Dag”, “Hou Vol Hou Vast”, Spijt Heb Je Morgen Maar”, “Open Je Ogen” and many more…

When you’re a high-profile band playing that much and are always in the picture like he is, Norman obviously has to be sure that he not only can play the gear he likes sound-wise and how the drums look like, but also has to be certain that each and every show, TV performance, studio recordings etc. his drums perform the absolute best way possible… and for those reasons he decided to play Pearl’s Reference PURE series and Pearl hardware only!!

http://www.blof.nl/