BIOGRAPHY FRANK BLUEKA

Since Frank Blueka combines his creative acoustic style with soulful beats, the interest in Frank's songs grows across all ages, people types and countries. He seems to touch something universal. The essence of his songs gets wider and wider. Since the collaboration with producer Raymond van der Vechte there has been an interesting deepening. The two combine Frank Blueka's acoustic sound with beats and a spherical flow. This creates an almost cinematic broadening. The only musical condition for Frank is that songs can also be performed live with one instrument as accompaniment. This leads to beautiful “unplugged” versions of radio arranged songs.

Frank Blueka is inspired by songwriters such as Ben Howard, Ray Lamontagne, the Irish Luka Bloom and (for the new single) by trip-hop music such as Portishead. "I always want to renew myself in performance and inspiration and yet also build a stable own style. In this field of contradictions I find my way as a Songwriter. And.... I sometimes just get lost in my own ideas. But that makes it human, doesn't it?", says Frank.

Frank finds inspiration for his lyrics in mystical stories, dreams, love and just everyday worries. Supplemented in his own words: "Feelings of love, desire, anger, humor, sadness... can suddenly find a place in a song. I never know exactly how that process works for me. Sometimes a song is created very quickly, sometimes it takes a long time musically planing and sanding. Just like a sculptor can do. Or a painter who mixes his own colours. It is the fragments of emotions and experiences that together form a whole within a song. When that feeling of a whole becomes strong, then I know that a song is almost finished...".

New album 'Paris Midnight'

The album 'Paris Midnight', released in autumn 2023, is an eleven-song investigation into love in its many forms. From the blues-infused 'Holy Mama'. To dark pop meditations like 'Gonna Leave'. We get to know Frank Blueka as a bluesy songwriter and we listen to an almost poetic album with a mix of modern musical influences and roots in tradition.

The New York free-lance journalist Bob Smith, from whom the above words mainly come, briefly goes back to Frank Blueka's debut album Acoustic Avenue. He writes: in his blog: “Frank Blueka is a versatile independent artist who made his professional solo recording debut in 2007 with the album Acoustic Avenue. That record introduced a versatile singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalistwith a soulful genre-fluid vibe…. His sound is an organic and (mostly) acoustic blend of blues riffs, pop hooks and jazz virtuosity.”

In the atmospheric new album Paris Midnight, the piano is given a nice central place this time. Smith writes: “With a heartbreaking bluesy tone in 'Maybe Tomorrow' and a fiery piano ballad like 'Always Remember Us This Way', Frank Blueka is reminiscent of the great pop/rock singer-songwriters of the '70s and '80s. He links to a sultry Peter Gabriel-like soul in 'My Bird', and offers a beautiful and melancholic take on Sir Elton John's classic 'Your Song'. Whether it's whimsical delta blues (“Rollin' Like a Stone”) or introspective alt-pop (“Seven Years”). Frank forms a deep emotional bond with the music and with the listener.

Frank Blueka's album was made in collaboration with producer Raymond van der Vechte. On Spotify we see that the album has reached 200,000 streams. Frank Blueka will play in the Meenthe theater in Steenwijk on December 8, with grand piano, stage piano, his acoustic guitars and beautiful images in the background. That makes you curious!

Life course:

Frank was born in Heerenveen. Played the piano at a young age. Learned parts by heart because he couldn't read music well. Billy Joel, Queen, Chopin, Mozart. But as erratic as he was, he suddenly dropped the music because he preferred to play football and wanted to play outside. The musician in Frank seemed to lose out. At the age of seventeen, however. When he started living on his own and left for big city Zwolle. He picked up the music again by playing the guitar. Why guitar? Frank gives the answer soberly: "Actually purely practical. The piano was not so easy to carry on my back..."

The guitar turned out to be a good choice. After guitar lessons of Jan Bartlema (classical), Anton Arema (pop) and Ralph de Rosario (jazz), Frank Blueka started to find his own style and also to accept that he learned things differently than was often traditionally intended.

The street urban mentality, the underground scene and the band did shape Frank’s qualities the most. But he never lost his soulful playing. Frank played for a short time as a bassist in a punk band. He was lead guitarist of the school band, which later went on as a cult cover band. Frank became a singer in the same band because the then singer was snatched away by a well-known band. Didn't dare to sing at first and went to play on the street in Antwerp, Belgium for a summer to get the guts to sing in public. Got inspired by Belgian bands like Deus and Zita Swoon. He then founded his own bands such as Tuesday's Gone, Ooops Danny and BLZ15 (including DWDD, TV2). Frank later left the band life to definitively start a solo career. As a professional, open-minded, as a bread player, preferably as pure as possible. Jan Douwe Kroeske with his 2-meter sessions and MTV-unplugged were inspiring for Frank's live performances at that time.

The puristic influences show up in Frank's first self-written and released songs. His first already sold out debut album "Acoustic Avenue" was recorded with 2 average SM58 microphones and a digital 6 track recorder. Sometimes half hanging under the microphones to get both the guitar and the vocals together well on tape. He hardly knew cutting, pasting and making loops. The result was an album with semi-acoustic live- livingroom takes.  The album scored plays on national radio and is a classic one nowadays. Frank handed over his talent with the widely highly regarded “Spancil Hill”. The acoustic pop album Room88 followed in 2012, Unplugged Live (recorded theater show) in 2015 and Frank's special combination of Tom Waits and Neil Young in the album - Harvest Waits - in 2018.

In recent years Frank Blueka has had a renowned team of professionals around him. The purity and feeling however remain an important asset within Frank's songwriting. It remains the core of his songwriting. That is why he always works for a long time in his own “White Room Studio” before seeking out the other professionals. On the way to a new album in 2023, singles SEVEN YEARS, MY BIRD, ALWAYS REMEMBER US THIS WAY, HOLY MAMA and now GONNA LEAVE have already been released. Also don't forget the beautiful unplugged B-side versions that are regularly seen. Frank was a spring guest at Omrop Fryslan with a one-hour repertoire interview. This summer Frank played live on national Radio2 at GIEL Beelen.

As far as living is concerned, Amsterdam keeps attracting but his musical heart and roots are actually not limited to one place. . Love brought him back to the East of the country. There Frank Blueka has found his place in cozy Deventer. He has as called his "White Room" music studio and lives there with his love and daughter.