Blank & Jones are a German electronic music duo, consisting of the members Jan Pieter Blank, known as Piet Blank; René Runge, better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold . They have released twelve albums and more than two dozen singles since their first single release "Sunrise" in 1997.
History
Piet Blank, who became interested in music after purchasing his first record "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde, had his first experience spinning a record on a turntable at age 16. René Runge, who resides in Düsseldorf and who is better known as Jaspa Jones, had his first experience as a DJ at age 19. Together with help from Andy Kaufhold, they formed the trance production team Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones after meeting at the Popkomm music conference. Even though they had been together for a few years, they did not release their first single, "Sunrise", until 1997. Their first album, In the Mix, was a studio production that came out in 1999. As of 2008, thirteen of their singles have made it into the German Top 50, and three into the Top 20. Each album made the Top 50, including two which reached the Top Ten. Blank & Jones have teamed up with Robert Smith from The Cure, Anne Clark, Sarah McLachlan, Claudia Brücken from, Pet Shop Boys, and Delerium. They have also contributed to the Café del Mar compilation series and produced their own chill-out albums, Relax, Relax, Relax, Relax, Relax, Relax and Relax .
''The Singles''
In 2006 Blank & Jones and their long-standing production colleague Andy Kaufhold collated their finest material on one release, The Singles, which also included two new tracks: The album was also released in Limited Edition format, in which The Singles are complemented by a DVD, bringing together all Blank & Jones videos on one disc for the first time. The videos feature people such as Estella Warren and Til Schweiger in "Beyond Time", the latter having also directed the clip. The DVD was produced and designed by Thomas Jahn, scriptwriter and director of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and also responsible for "The Hardest Heart", "Mind of the Wonderful", "Perfect Silence" and "Desire". The video for the single "Catch" was directed by Conchita Soares and Toni Froschhammer which features TV actress Nadine Warmuth.
Current activities
The chart success of Blank & Jones is partially based on their club-gigs, radio shows and other live-performances including events such as Love-Parade, StreetParade and Mayday. The success is further boosted by their activeness as moderators on Eins Live-TV and by being the Co-host on Viva-Clubrotation. When asked about the key to their success, their response is: Blank & Jones perform at major festivals and raves in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia. They also travel further afield on a regular basis, to Canada, Mexico, South America and Australia. Piet Blank is also the host of the Club Mix that is aired on international flights by Lufthansa, where he hosts a two-hour radio show that shows different artists such as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Fritz Kalkbrenner. The show is hosted in German as well as in English. They released their latest single entitled "Miracle Cure" on May 30, 2008, off their new studio albumThe Logic of Pleasure which is a collaboration with New Order's frontman Bernard Sumner. This collaboration was realised with the help of renowned Berlin based record producer Mark Reeder who is a long term friend of Sumner's. Blank & Jones invited Reeder to remix "Miracle Cure" and this in turn, brought about their collaboration with him and a new project was conceived. This resulted in Reeder completely reworking most of the Blank & Jones vocal tracks for the successful and highly acclaimed 2009 album "Reordered".
